GB656004A - Electrical connector comprising vapour and explosion proof plug and socket - Google Patents

Abstract

656,004. Two-part couplings. DOANE, L. C. Dec. 20, 1948, No. 32885. Convention date, Dec. 20, 1947. [Class 38 (i)] A vapour - proof plug - and - socket connector comprises a socket member having a body 21 provided with openings 44 through which project the plug pins 29, 30 and with a uniformly thick flexible insulating diaphragm 45 with self-closing apertures 47 in alignment with the openings 44. The body 21 also receives a yieldable base-member 48 in which are mounted the split socket contacts 49 which are pressed on by the base member which has recesses adjacent thereto to form chambers for quenching the arcs as the plug pins are withdrawn from the socket contacts. The plug body 20 carries an insulating base 32 for the pins which are surrounded at their lower ends by a flexible corrugated washer 34 of which the corrugations 35 are flattened when the plug-and-socket connector is assembled. A spring. clip 36 in a groove 37 on the plug body retains the connector parts together by engaging projections 42 on the socket body 21, the plug body being grooved to accommodate them. To completely seal off the plug cable 22, an extension 23 on the plug body is provided with bushings 25 acted on by a screw plug 24. The apertures 47 terminate the conical projections 46 in the diaphragm 45, and may be either round or flat, Figs. 13, 16 (not shown). The connector can also be made liquid-tight by placing a concavo-convex flexible washer 110 with its projections facing outwards in the body of the socket member between rigid discs 112, 114 apertured for the plug pins, Fig. 15. Several socket members may be mounted in a single casing provided with plug ejectors and a hinged lid and a magnet on the base of the casing to retain it in position on steel surfaces (Figs. 9, 10, 11, not shown).