GB582939A - Electrical plug and socket connectors with retractable contacts - Google Patents

Abstract

582,939. Two-part couplings. MODREY, H. J. Aug. 27, 1943, No. 14013. [Class 38 (i)] A plug or socket member has the contacts retracted by spring action when not engaged with its counterpart, and projected by the relative axial approaching movement in the action of plugging in the coupling, which action also effects the locking of the coupling members together. In one construction the contacts 5 are carried by a disc 4 attached to the cable casing 10 and slidable within the shell 1 so that the contacts 5 pass through the body 12a into which they are retracted by springs 14. The locking device is of the kind described in Specification 561,043 and comprises a rod 8 having a head 8a co-operating with a stud 15 the latter being secured in a casing 16 that slides in the body 12a as far as a rib 16a will allow. When the casing 10 is pressed down to plug the member 1 into the socket 20, the pins 5 are projected into the sockets 22 and the head 8a enters a floating bush 32 which afterwards receives the stud 15 which with the rod 8 fills the hole in the bush and prevents the return of the head 8a. On withdrawing the plug member by a pull on the shell 1, the body 12a acting on the rib 16a withdraws the stud 15, compressing the springs 14, 18 so that as soon as the stud 15 leaves the hole in the bush 32 the head 8a springs out of the bush 32 and the pins 5 snap out of the sockets 22. The rod 8 and bush 32 may constitute electric contacts. The arrangement may be modified by making the socket elements retractable and the plug pins stationary.