PROTECTIVE DEVICE FOR ELECTRICAL APPLIANCES AND PARTS GROUP INCLUDING SUCH DEVICE
DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to the technical sector of electrical installations of homes and offices, and more particularly relates to a protection device for electrical appliances as defined in the preamble of claim 1. For the purposes of The present description is understood by electrical apparatus, in general, any electrical means or device that forms part of electrical installations in civil buildings and the like, and usually intended to be mounted, for example embedded, in the walls of such buildings. This definition includes, therefore, in a non-restrictive way, the switches, the mains sockets, the data network sockets, the TV sockets, the telephony sockets, the push buttons, the switches, the circuit breakers, the regulating electrical devices in general, connectors, thermostats, timers, fuse holders, bells / buzzers, for example removable emergency lamps, signaling lamps, for example LCD screens, and the like. As is known, a large part of the devices
Ref. 194247 mentioned above are installed on the wall using only composite assembly structures, or groups of parts, which usually include: a box intended to be inserted into the wall; a mounting frame for apparatus (or support frame), which can be fixed to the box and which comprises a frame body extending around at least one opening defining a mounting seat, suitable for receiving and retaining one or more electrical appliances, and a removable cover plate that can be fixed to the frame, and provided with an opening to allow a user to access, either visually or manually, the electrical appliances installed in the support frame. As is well known, the electrical appliances of an electrical installation of a building are normally intended to be installed in support frames, fixed, for example, to respective boxes embedded in the walls of the building, before any work on the building is carried out. finishing of the building. For example, it usually happens that the supporting frames of the respective electrical appliances are installed on a wall before painting the walls, or before mounting the windows and doors, or before finishing the floor, or before transporting the furniture and adapting them. inside the rooms that make up the building. This situation is a consequence of the requirement, or the need, to have to finish substantially and provide the electrical installation before carrying out numerous other finishing works in the building. In order to avoid damage to the cover plates during finishing work, the plates are normally installed on their respective supports only after the finishing work has been substantially completed. However, it frequently happens that, during the finishing work, various types of damage are caused to the electrical devices mounted on the support frames. For example, due to the presence and entrance and exit in the rooms of the building of many technicians (carpenters, plumbers, marble workers, painters, etc.), and due to the numerous tools
(drills, brooms, buckets), materials (paints, solvents, powders, liquids in general, etc.), and other objects (ladders, furniture, trucks) that are used and that move around the workers inside the building , it often happens that the parts of electrical appliances normally intended to remain visible during the use of these, are irreversibly damaged by scratches, more or less superficial, by accumulation of dust, or by contact with substances that stain or They are abrasive. These damages are in some cases of an aesthetic nature, in the sense that they modify the surface appearance of electrical appliances, but in other more serious cases they are such that they irreversibly compromise the operation of the appliances themselves. Despite the requirement to protect electrical appliances from the aforementioned damages, the prior art does not offer many solutions to the problem. These solutions, on the other hand, have often proved ineffective or have been uncomfortable. For example, a solution is known that suggests associating the cover plate to the support frame once the electrical devices have been wired and fixed to the frame, and covering the resulting point of light (or control point) by means of an adhesive protective film. and in plastic material, which covers substantially all the free surface of the point of light. In this way, it is possible to protect both the cover plate and the visible part of electrical appliances. This solution however, still has the following drawbacks: the cover plates must be installed prior to the remaining finishing work, while a recent trend is to leave open the possibility that the end user of the building select and acquire the plates of cover after the finishing and furnishing work has been completed; the protective film prevents access to electrical appliances, so, for example, the outlets can not be used during finishing work unless the protective film is previously repeated or punctured; in the case of an undesired impact of a cutting object against the film, it can easily be damaged, with serious risk of damage to both the electrical equipment and the cover plate itself. The object of the present invention is to provide a device that allows to meet the protection requirement of electrical appliances during finishing work, and at the same time to overcome the drawbacks described above in relation to the solutions of the known art. Such an object has been achieved by a protection device as defined in appended claim 1 in its most general form, and in the dependent claims according to some particular embodiments. A group of parts as defined in appended claim 9 also constitutes the object of the present invention. Additional features and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the following detailed description of an illustrative but not limiting embodiment thereof, as illustrated in the figures, wherein: Figure 1 shows a front elevational view of a support frame for electrical appliances to which a protection device according to the present invention is associated; Figure 2 shows a perspective view of a particularly preferred embodiment of a protection device according to the present invention; Figure 3 shows a perspective view of a group of parts, including the protection device of Figure 2 applied to the support frame of Figure 1; Figure 4 shows a perspective view of the group of parts of Figure 3 with three other electrical appliances fixed to the support frame; Figure 5 shows a mode of use of the group of pieces of Figure 4; Figure 6 shows a perspective view of an accessory associable to the protection device of Figure 2, and Figure 7 shows a perspective view of the accessory of Figure 6 associable to the group of pieces of Figure 4. In the figures, the same or similar elements will be indicated by the same numerical references. In Figure 1 there is shown a particular example of the support frame 1, applicable to a wall, to allow the mounting on the wall of one or more electrical appliances, not illustrated in Figure 1. The support frame 1 includes a body essentially molded as a frame, made with insulating material, and having approximately the shape of a substantially laminated frame, for example of quadrangular plane with rounded edges. In the particular embodiment that has been shown, the frame-like body 1 has been represented with a substantially rectangular shape, with rounded edges. The support frame 1 includes fixing means to the wall 3, 4, to allow the fixing of the support frame 1 to the wall. In the support frame embodiment shown in Figure 1, such fixing means include two slotted through holes 3, provided in the body 2 of the frame 1 to allow fixing, by screws 5 or other equivalent means, of the frame itself to a box, not visible in the figures, embedded in the wall, in case, for example, the wall is a thick wall of masonry (ie, a wall in which it is possible to embed a box). The fixing means 3, 4 on the wall further include other holes 4 (pitch or pre-fabricated), to allow the fixing of the frame 1, through screws or other equivalent means, directly on the wall, i.e. without the use of any box. For example, this situation occurs in practice when the fixing wall is not a masonry wall but is, for example, a panel, for which it is not possible to provide a box embedded in the wall. The support frame 1 further includes coupling means 6, for coupling the frame 1 to a cover plate, not shown in Figure 1. In the example shown in Figure 1, such coupling means include, without limitation, four coupling channels 6, capable of receiving respective fixing wings provided on the cover plate. As is known to those skilled in the art, the purpose of the cover plate is to either guarantee minimum protection for electrical appliances, for example against dust, or to prevent dangerous access (for example, by means of pointed objects). to the electrical conductive parts of electrical appliances. Another fundamental objective assigned to cover plates consists, on the other hand, in masking unattractive products, such as the presence of a cavity in the wall, and the presence of the box and the supporting frame that, rather than having a aesthetic value, have a functional value. The body 2 of the frame 1 extends around at least one main opening 7 defining a mounting window 7 capable of receiving or retaining one or more electrical appliances, not shown in Figure 1. A plurality of coupling elements 8 is projected of the body 2 of the support frame towards said opening 7, preferably along two parallel sides of the body 2 of the frame delimiting the said opening 7. Such coupling elements 8 are able to interact with corresponding coupling elements provided in two opposite sides of the electrical appliances for coupling the support frame 1. Typically, the coupling elements 8 allow a snap-fit type coupling and locking of the electrical appliances with the support frame 1. In Figure 2 has shown a particularly preferred embodiment of a protection device, generally indicated with 21, removably applicable to a frame support 1 (as, for example, the support frame 1 shown in Figure 1), for the protection of electrical appliances intended to be fixed to the frame 1. The protection device 21 made, preferably, in hard plastic, and more preferably made with recyclable plastic. The protection device 21 includes a base part 22, intended to be oriented towards the main body 2 of the support frame 1, when the protection device is applied to the support frame 1. The base part 22 of the protection device 21 is extends around a substantially central passage opening 27 provided in the base part 22 to interact with the mounting window 7 of the support frame 1. In other words, the passage opening 27 and the mounting window 7 are substantially coaxial and coextended. In the particularly preferred embodiment depicted in Figure 2, the base part 22 is implemented as a substantially grille-shaped mask, which has the shape of a frame extending around the passage opening 27, and which It is substantially counter-molded with respect to the main body 2 of the support frame 1. In practice, in the embodiment, the base part 22 of the protection device 21 envelops the main body 2 of the support frame 1 in the manner of a housing. base 22 of the protection device 21 includes fastening means 26 for removably applying the protection device 21 to the support frame 1. Preferably, such fastening means 26 are means for fastening by embedding, and preferably pressure adjustment. In this way, the operations of application and extraction of the protection device 21 in frame 1, do not require any specific tool, being particularly simple and fast. In a particularly advantageous embodiment, to simplify subsequently the removal of the protection device 21 from the support frame 1 to which it is applied, molded fastening means 29 have been provided in the protection device 21, and preferably in a peripheral portion of its base part 22, in such a way as to provide a manual grip for an operator who wishes to perform the separation operation in a completely manual, that is, without the use of tools. As best seen in Figure 3, in which the protection device 21 is applied to the support frame 1, such fastening means 29 are preferably molded in such a way as to define between the base part 22 of the protection device 21 and the support frame 1, opposite spaces 10 in such a way that the insertion in each of them of an end portion of a finger is possible, to allow the removal of the device 21 from the support frame 1. In a particularly advantageous embodiment, the fixing means 26 of the protection device 21 are intended to interact with corresponding complementary fastening means 6 provided in the support frame 1 for mounting a cover plate. This strategy has the advantage of not having to provide in the support frame 1 other specific fixing means for the application to the latter of the protection device 21. For example, in the particularly preferred embodiment of the protection device 21 shown in the Figure 1, such fastening means are represented by a plurality of projection fins 26 intended to be inserted into respective fixing channels 6 provided in the body 2 of the support frame 1, for fixing to the support frame 1 of a cover plate (not shown in the figures). In Figure 2, only one of such projection fins 26 is visible, so that it can be imagined that the protection device 1 of Figure 2 includes, for example, a number of fins 26 corresponding to the number of channels 6 provided. in the support frame of Figure 1. In a particularly advantageous embodiment, the base part 22 includes a plurality of through holes 23, 24 interacting with the respective holes 3, 4 provided in the body 2 of the support frame 1, for fixing the support frame 1 to the wall in which the latter is intended to be installed. Such through holes 23, 24 are molded in such a way that the protection device 1, when applied to the frame 1, does not interfere with the fixing means, such as for example the screws 5, used for fixing the support frame 1 to the wall. Advantageously, this strategy makes it possible to install the support frame 1 on the wall when the protection device 21 is applied to the support frame 1, and to be able to extract the protection device 21 from the support frame 1 when the latter is installed in the support frame 1. the wall without requiring separation of the support frame 1 from the wall. With reference to Figures 3 and 4, advantageously, the protection device 21 according to the present invention includes a protective part 28, attached to the base part 22, which encircles the passage opening 27 provided in the base part 22, in a manner which defines at least one protection chamber 41, provided with an open side, in such a way that it can house inside portions of one or more electrical devices 40 intended to be fixed to the support frame 1. Preferably, this protective part 28 is formed by walls perpendicular to the base part 22, projecting perpendicular to it. In a particularly advantageous embodiment, the protective part 28 is represented by a projected wall surrounding the opening 27 to form a projected collar 28 extending coaxially with the opening 27
(and, therefore, also with the mounting window 7 of the support frame 1). In a preferred embodiment, the collar projects from the base part in an amount between 0.6 cm and 1.5 cm. In a particularly advantageous embodiment, the protective part 28 (as, for example, in the case of the projected collar 28) is molded so that: it can allow the attachment of the electrical devices 40 to the support frame 1 when the protective device 21 it is applied to support frame 1; - may allow the removal of the protection device 21 from the support frame 1 without requiring the separation of the electrical devices 40 from the support frame 1. It is further noted that, advantageously, the provision of a protective camera 41 having an open side , allows a full use of the electrical devices 40 also when the protection device 21 is applied to the support frame 1. In other words, the electrical installation of a building can be fully utilized during the finishing work of the building without separating the device 21. For example, in Figure 6 it has been shown how it is possible to insert a plug 45 into an outlet 40 fixed to the frame 1 to which the protection device 21 has been applied. It has been observed that, although the protective chamber 41, individualized with respect to the protective part 23, has been provided with an open side, the provision of the camera 41 in the prot device Ection 21 greatly reduces the likelihood of accidental damage to electrical appliances 40 during typical building finishing work. Just to give an example, one can think of the case of sharp objects that fall along a trajectory that crosses the protective frame 1, or for example, of a wheelbarrow that is dragged along the wall in which the support frame 1 has been installed. With reference to Figure 6, in case it is desired to guarantee complete protection for the electrical appliances 40 installed in the support frame 1, the protection device 21 can optionally be equipped with a cap 50 removably adaptable to the protection device 21, for provisionally closing the open side of the protective chamber 41. This requirement typically occurs during finishing work in which projections of splashes, or spills of liquids, are possible on the walls of the building, as for example in the case of painting works. Preferably, the cap 50 is made of a transparent material, for example of hard plastic, so that it can allow the display of the electrical devices 40. In an alternative embodiment, the cap 50 is made of a soft and transparent synthetic material. , such as, for example, silicone, so that it can allow the use of some electrical devices which can be actuated under pressure (such as, for example, switches of the lighting installation), without requiring the separation of the cap 50. In this way, an operator may, for example, turn a light on or off without having to worry that the electrical appliances 40 may become dirty or stained. With reference to Figure 7, in which the cap 50 is coupled to the protection device 21, in FIG. a particular embodiment in which the protective part 28 of the protection device 21 includes a projected collar 28, the cap 50 can be snugly fit around of the collar 28. On the other hand, in this case, by making the cap 50 with silicone, an impermeable protection is advantageously obtained. Based on what has been described above, it is possible to understand how the protection device 21 is such that it completely overcomes the drawbacks mentioned above with reference to the known technique. It is further noted that a protection device 21 according to the present invention can be made with a low cost material, so that it can be provided as a disposable (possibly recyclable) element, provided together with each support frame 1 and, for example, provided for greater comfort already applied to the respective support frame 1, so that a group of pieces is formed which is now ready for installation on the wall. In addition, in such a protection device 21, and in particular in the protective part 28, it is possible to provide molded profiles 30 that allow stacking of groups of pieces, formed by protection devices 21 and by respective frames 1, to be made that you can create comfortable compact sales blocks, formed by a multiplicity of groups of pieces stacked together. Obviously, in the protection device and in the group of parts that have been described above, a person skilled in the art, in order to satisfy particular and specific requirements, will be able to provide numerous modifications and variants, all of which are otherwise contained within the scope of the invention. scope of protection of the invention, as defined in the claims that follow. It is noted that in relation to this date, the best method known to the applicant to carry out the aforementioned invention, is that which is clear from the present description of the invention.