US1990176A - Fused connecter - Google Patents

Description

Feb. 5, .1935. I FRlED 1,990,176

FUSED-CONNECTER .Filed se p. 29, 1931 INVENTQR Patented Feb. 5,1935

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE Philip Lauter, New York,

Application September 29, 1931, Serial No. 565,811 7 Claims. (Cl. 200-1155) This invention relates to a fused connecter for electric wiring, and an object of the invention is to provide an article of this type which shall be at once small, simple and inexpensive to manufacture, efiicient in use, one which shall conform 0 rectness by even the r is it may be made with all requirements for safety to the user and to the wiring'with which it may be connected, and one in which the fuse or fuses present may be removed and replaced with great ease and cormost unskilled persons.

A further object is to provide a fused connecter having all of the above characteristics and which may be be made up in various forms, that up with prongs at one side by which it may be plugged into a standard socket and withsockets or prongs at one or more of its other sides by which conductors may be led from it or it may have only simple openings at one or more of its sides for incoming and out-going lead wires.

Other objects and aims of the invention, more or less specific than those referred to above, will be in part obvious and in part pointed out in the course of the following description of the elements, combinations, arrangements of parts and applications of principles constituting the invention; and the scope of protection contemplated will be indicated in the appended claims.

In the accompanying drawing which is to be taken as a part of this specification, and in which I have shown merely a preferred form of embodiment of the invention:-

Fig. 1 is a front elevational view of one of the two halves of the connecter, interior parts being shown in elevation and the retaining bolt for the two halves being shown in cross-section.

Fig. 2 is a vertical sectional view on the line II-II of Fig. 1, looking in the direction of the arrows.

Fig. 3 is a top plan view seen in Figs. 1 and 2, and

Fig. 4 is a bottom plan view as seen in Figs. 1 and on line IV-IV of Fig.

Referring to the drawing for a detail description of the exemplary structure illustrated, the reference character 11 designates one of two symmetrically disposed halves of the main body of the connecter, and 12 is the other half. A bolt 13 is provided for joining the said halves to each other.

The body 11-12 may be made of any suitable non-conducting material, such as hard rubber, phenolic re'sin, porcelain, wood, or the like, and each of the two halves is provided with suitable of the structure as of the structure 2, being partly in section, 1.

grooves and cavities for receiving therein the metal parts employed and the fuses 14 and 15.

The fuses 14 and 15 are of a well known type including a tubular body portion having opposite end metallic ferrules or contacts 16-16 which 5 interengage with the upper and lower spring clips 17 and 18.

The two lower clips 18-18 are carried by the two-plug-in bars 19-19 which serve as electrical connecters when inserted into corresponding contact openings in a suitable electrical fitting in the usual way.

The two upper clips 17-17 are secured to the two contact members 20-20.

In the instance illustrated the members 20-20 are each formed with a spring contact part as 21 and these are positioned within slots 22-22 which open outwardly through the upper end face 23 of the body, it being here noted that the bars 19 project relatively downwardly through slots 24-24 which open through the bottom face 25 of the body.

If desired the contact formed with other spring contact parts as 26 and 27, within which are provided transversely through the halves.

Branch connections may be made through said slots 28 and 29 to the contact members 20-20 at the front face 30 of the connecter and at the by inserting suitable plug- 28 or 29 into electrical connection with said contact parts 26 and 27.

- Aligned with the fuses 14 and 15 the body is formed with a pair of holes 32 and 33 which open downwardly through the bottom face 25 and which are of a size and disposition to permit easy lengthwise passage of the fuses therethrough into or out of engagement with the clips 17 and 18 Also aligned with the fuses is formed with a second pair of holes as 34 and 35. These open upwardly through the top'face 23 and are preferably of smaller diameter than the holes 32 and 33.

A suitable rod, such as a tang of an ordinary carving set fork, to serve as an ejector, may be inserted into one of said holes 34-35 and against a burned out fuse which is to be removed and by pressing or pushing on the rod the fuse may be ejected through the corresponding bottom hole 32-33, leaving the clips 17 and 18 empty and in position to receive a new fuse, which may be inserted through the bottom opening and pushed 14 and 15 the body 2 up into the waiting clips either by the operators finger or by the same tool or rod used in removing the burned fuse. 7

It will be understood that the plug-in bars 19 must obviously be removed from their sockets in the wall fitting before a burned fuse can possibly be removed or a new fuse inserted, this being due to the fact that the holes 32 and 33 through which the fuses must pass are always sealed by opposing parts of the wall fitting whenever the plug-in bars 19-19 are plugged into the wall fitting. The presence of the opposing parts of the wall fitting also positively prevents the possibility of the operators fingersever reaching the fuses or clips while current is present in said fuses or clips.

The fuses 14 may be made of a construction to blow out before the main fuse of the circuit blows out, for obvious reasons.

The plug-in bars 19 and the contact member 20 constitute only one form of means which may be utilized as in-coming and out-going electrical connections, and it will be understood that incoming and out-going electrical connection with the opposite ends of the two fuses may be provided for by any other approved means if preferred without interfering with the renewability of the fuses in the safe and easy manner set forth.

In any event the fuse clips are preferably each independently held in its appointed position by being fixed to suitable contact members, as 19 and 20 illustrated, which are in turn held in cavities of the body spaced apart so that all of the contact members are properly insulated from each other.

Preferably the severr' cavities of the body which receive the contact members, as well as those which receive the fuses and fuse clips, and those which form the slots 22 and 24, and also the holes 32-33, and 34-35, are formed as halfcavities in the respective body halves 11 and 12. Ease of assembly is thus afforded, it being required only that the several loose parts he placed in the appropriate half-cavities of one of the body halves before connecting the two body halves together. When the two halves are brought together the opposing walls of the two half -cavities may serve as clamps to hold the loose parts against undue movement.

in order to facilitate the easy longitudinal insertion and removal of the fuses in the manner described the jaws of the spring clips 17-18 have their side edges flared out, as at 36, so that the fuses may easily wedge themselves into and through the jaws, as will be readily understood.

The bolt 13, or its equivalent holding means employed to retain the two body halves together may be such as to perform a permanent seal of said halves to each other, or it may be such as to permit of convenient separation of said halves to expose the interior of the device, or in some instances the interior of the device may be made easily accessible by other means, and it may be noted in this connection that in instances where the interior of the device is readily accessible the arrangement of the fuse clips within the interior of the device may be such as to permit of easy insertion and removal of the fuses without necessity for providing the holes 32-33 or 34-35.

It is also important to note that while it is desirable that the holes 32-33, when present, should be formed through the bottom iace 25 of the body so as to be closed to access when the device is plugged into a wall receptacle as hereinabove pointed out, nevertheless in some instances these holes may, if desired, be arranged to open through one of the other faces of the body, the faces, and likewise the holes 34-35 if present, being in that case of course suitably arranged to facilitate removal of the fuses through the openings 32-33 wherever said openings 32-33 are placed.

The device as herein disclosed may be used in various relations but it finds probably its most desirable use in the ordinary household installations where wall receptacles are used for the attachment of such electrical accessories as toasters, coflee pots, grills, wafile irons, floor and table lamps, etc. In these cases it is common practice for the house-wife to plug in a number of different accessories at a single wall receptacle usually by first plugging into the receptacle a multiple outlet connecter and then attaching the accessories one into each pair of outlets of the multiple connecter. If for any reason the local circuit in any of the accessories should become shorted, or if an excessive number of accessories should be in simultaneous use, the protecting fuse cf the main line would be blown thereby causing much inconvenience and annoyance, and of course putting out of use all of the accessories as well as all other outlets on the main line concerned.

By utilizing one of the present fused connecters, as the multiple connecter for insertion into the wall receptacle, in place of the usual non-fused connecter, the fuses in the present device would protect the main line and its fuses, and it is worthy of notice that due to the presence of the fuses in this device either or all of its branch outlets may serve for the attachment of any reasonable number of accessories by using multiple connecters plugged-in to the outlet openings of the present device. It is practical to do this since any overloading would result only in the blowing of the fuse or fuses in the present device and thereby positively guard against the imposition of any overloading on the main line.

As many changes could be made in this construction without departing from the scope of the invention as defined in the following claims,

it is intended that all matter contained in the above description, or shown in the accompanying drawing, shall be interpreted as illustrative only and not in a limiting sense.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:-

1. A fuse adapter comprising a body member formed of insulating material, a pair of fuse supports arranged within the body in insulated relation to each other collectively constituting a run-way to longitudinally slidably support a fuse, means by which electrical conductors may be connected with said fuse supports respectively, and said body having a passage extending from exteriorly thereof to adjacent one end of the runway through which a fuse may be moved along said run-way out of the body.

2. A fuse adapter comprising a body member formed of insulating material, a pair of fuse supports arranged within the body in insulated relation to each other collectively constituting a runway to longitudinally slidably support a fuse, means by which electrical conductors may be connected with said fuse supports respectively, said body having a passage extending from er.- teriorly thereof to adjacent one end of the runway through which a fuse may be moved along said run-way out of the body, and said body having a second passage extending from exteriorly thereof to adjacent the opposite end of the runway through which a tool may be inserted to cause movement of the fuse along said run-way out of said first passage.

3. A fuse adapter comprising a body member formed of insulating material, a pair of fuse supports arranged within the body in insulated relation to each other collectively constituting a run-way to longitudinally slidably support a fuse, means by which electrical conductors may be connected with said fuse supports respectively, said body having a passage extending from exteriorly thereof to adjacent one end of the runway through which a fuse may be moved along said run-way out of the body, and said body having a second passage extending from exteriorly thereof to adjacent the opposite end of the runway through which a tool may be inserted to cause movement of the fuse along said run-way out of said first passage, said body being formed with a shoulder therein at the inner end of said second passage to limit inward movement of the fuse along said run-way.

A fuse adapter comprising a body member formed of insulating material, a pair of fuse supports arranged within the body in insulated relation to each other collectively constituting a run-way to longitudinally slidably support a fuse, means by which electrical conductors may be connected with said fuse supports respectively, a fuse of the cylindrical type having contact portions at its opposite ends which portions longitudinally slidably engage the fuse supports respectively, and said body having a passage extending from exteriorly thereof to adjacent one end of the fuse through which the fuse may be moved along said run-way out of the body.

5. A fuse adapter comprising a body member formed of insulating material, a pair of fuse supports arranged within the body in insulated relation to each other collectively constituting a run-way to longitudinally slidably support a fuse, plug-in means extending through one end surface of the body electrically connected with one of the fuse supports, means by which electrical connection may be made with the other fuse support from without the body, said body having a passage extending through the mentioned end surface thereof to adjacent one end of the runway through which a fuse may be moved along said run-way out of the body, and said body having a second passage extending from exteriorly thereof to adjacent the opposite end of the run-way through which a tool may be inserted to cause movement of the fuse along said run-way out of said first passage.

6. A fused connecter comprising a body formed of insulating material and having one of its surfaces intended for resting flat against the opps ing surface of a wall receptacle with which said body may be connected, a pair of plug-in bars carried by the body in insulated relation to each other and extending through the mentioned surface of the body adapted for plugging-in to the wall receptacle in the usual manner, two pairs of fuse clips arranged within the body all insulated from each other one clip of each pair being connected with one of the plug-in bars, means by which electrical conductors may be connected with the remaining clips of each pair, and the body having a pair of openings therein opening outwardly through the first mentioned surface of the body adapted to be closed by the opposing surface of the wall receptacle when the plug-in bars are plugged into said receptacle, said openings being adjacent to the fuse clip pairs respectively providing for removal of fuses therethrough from said clips except when the plug-in bars are plugged into the wall receptacle.

7. A fuse adapter of the character described comprising a body having a bore extending into the same from one end thereof, a smaller counterbore extending from the inner end of the bore through the opposite end of the body to define a shoulder, a fuse for disposition into the bore and against the shoulder, a spring contact for engaging the end of the fuse adjacent the outer end of the bore, a contact prong extending outwardly from one end of the body and having its inner end embedded in the body and in contact with said spring contact. said body being provided with a pair of cavities in the opposite end, a spring in each of the last-mentioned cavities, a contact prong complementary to the first-mentioned contact prong. and having one end embedded in the body and electrically connected with one of the spring contacts in the cavities at the opposite end of the body, the remaining spring contact at the last-mentioned end of the body being provided with an extending portion for engaging the opposite end of the fuse.

JOSEPH A. FRIED.

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