US2644143A

US2644143A - Electrical receptacle having screwtype socket and center contact guide

Info

Publication number: US2644143A
Application number: US113158A
Authority: US
Inventors: Richard P Ballou
Original assignee: Federal Electric Products Co
Current assignee: Federal Electric Products Co
Priority date: 1949-08-30
Filing date: 1949-08-30
Publication date: 1953-06-30
Anticipated expiration: 1970-06-30

Description

A June 30, 1953 R. P. BALLOU ELECTRICAL RECEPTACLE HAVING SCREW-TYPE SOCKET vAND CENTER CONTACT GUIDE Filed Aug. 30, 1949 I? '4 I la V IN VEN TOR. filcl/ARD F! 544400 BYMM+ Patented June 30, 1953 ELECTRICAL RECEPTACLE HAVING SCREW- TYPE SOCKET AND CENTER CONTACT GUIDE Richard P. Ballou; Hartford, Conn., assignor to Federal Electric Products Company, Newark,

N. J., a corporation Application August30, 1949, Serial No. 113,158

1 This invention relates to electrical receptacles and more particularly to receptacles'which are provided with screw-type sockets. The present invention is particularly advan tageous in connection with .receptaclesor bases for screw-type fuse plugs, and'i'shereinafter described with specific reference to such receptacles, but it will be understood the invention maybe applied to screw-type socket receptacles orbases' for other uses.

It is the usual practice to assemble the shell, the washer, the terminal conducting strap and the center contact member for a screw-ty fuse and to insert the assembly into the recess in the insulating fuse base. In doing this, it is frequently difficult to insert the center contact member, which is in the form of ascrew, into the aperture in the bottom wall of the recess for connection to a bus bar or other conductor, especially since the aperture is usually surrounded by a -boss or projection on the upper surface of said bottom wall to prevent the terminal conductingstrap from making electrical contact with the center contact member and thereby shortcircuiting the fuse. It is therefore an object of this invention to provide an improved insulating fuse base or receptacle which has provision'for facilitating the insertion of the center contact member through therecess wall, said base also having provision for preventing electrical contact between the terminal conducting strap and the center contact member.

A further object is to facilitate the assembly and to reduce the manufacturing costs of receptacles for screw-type fuse plugs.

The above and other objects, features and advantages of the invention will be fully understood from the following description, considered in connection with the accompanying illustrative drawings.

In the drawings:

Fig. l is a plan view of a multi-socket insulating fuse base embodying the invention;

Fig. 2 is a sectional view taken along the line 22 of Fig. 1; and

Fig. 3 is a sectional view taken along the line 3-3 of Fig. l.

The insulating fuse carrying base or block member ID, to which the invention particularly relates, is illustrated in Fig. 1 as comprising four separate molded insulating sections l2 each secured by screws l4 to a rear supporting wall [6, such as the rear wall of an enclosing box, a portion only of said Wall being illustrated. Each base section is provided with a pair of recesses [8 for 4 Claims. (01. 339180) removably receiving a screw shell assembly I!) for a screw-type fuse (not illustrated), as shown in that it may have provision for any desired number of fuse sockets, and that each section I2 may alsohave any desired number of fuse sockets, th arrangement and construction of the base It), in general, not being part of my invention;

Each recess 18 is of circular conformationand is provided with a terminal opening 20, in the side thereof, from which there extends apart 22, for mounting a terminal conductingstrap 24,'as is well known to those skilled in the art. The bottom wall 26 of he recess is provided with a central circular aperture 28 for registry with the internally threaded aperture 30 in a bus bar 32 mounted in a suitable manner on the undersurface of base It]. Integrally formed on the upper surface of bottom wall 25, preferably during the molding of base section 12, is a raised boss or U-shaped projection :34, having an intermediate circumferentially interrupted portion 36* adjacent to and preferably as a continuation of the wall portion of aperture 28 nearest opening 20 in the side wall of the recess. Said boss includes also the diverging arms or raised linear guide parts 38 extending toward the side portion 40 of the recess, opposite side opening 20, to provide a guideway 42 between said arms. The bottom wall surface portion between said arms is downwardly inclined from the outer ends 44 of said arms to aperture 28 thereby providing a downward slope 46 for the guideway (see Fig. 2).

The socket shell 48 and the conducting strap 24 are positioned in the recess, in the usual manner, the opening 50 in the shell facing the opening 20 (see Fig. 2), the U-shaped portion 52 of conducting strap 24 encompassing portion 36 of boss member 34 (see Fig. l), the terminal portion 54 of the strap, provided witha terminal screw 56, being mounted in the terminal part 22. An insulation washer 58 is disposed on the U- shaped portion 52, and if preferred, a metal washer 60 is disposed on washer 58. The threaded center contact member 62 is inserted through both Washers and the forward end 64 thereof, if not in proper registry with aperture 28, will enter guideway 42 between arms 38 and, due to the incline of slope 46, will be carried into aperture 28, for engagement with the interiorl threaded aperture 30 in but bar 32, the substantially semicircular portion 36 or closed end of the guideway serving to aid in the movement of the contact member into the aperture.

From the foregoing description, it will be apparent that my invention is wel adapted to fulfill the objects set forth herein by providing for the ready engagement of the center contact member or screw of an electric socket in the aperture of an insulation receptacle.

While I have shown and described the presently preferred embodiment of my invention, it will be understood that various changes in the details of construction and in the form and arrangement of parts may be made without departing from the underlying idea or principles of this invention within the scope of the appended claims.

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

1. In a fuse block having a fuse-socket recess provided with an apertured portion adapted to be engaged by a contact member, a raised U-shaped guide member in said recess bordering said aperture, the arms of said U extending linearly from the base thereof in mutual diverging relation to form a guideway therebetween extending from the ends of said arms to said aperture to guide said contact member in a linear direction to said aperture, said base of the U serving as an abutment at one end of the guide member to limit lateral movement of said contact member in relation to said aperture in assembling the fuse-socket with the fuse block, said abutment forming a continuation of the wall of said aperture.

2. In a fuse block having a fuse-socket recess provided with an apertured portion adapted to be engaged by a contact member, a raised U- shaped guide member in said recess bordering said aperture, the arms of said U extending linearly from the base thereof in mutual diverging relation to form a guideway therebetween extending from the ends of said arms to said aperture to guide said contact member in a linear direction to said aperture, said base of the U serving as an abutment at one end of the guide member to limit lateral movement of said contact member in relation to said aperture in assembling the fuse-socket with the fuse block, said abutment forming a continuation of the wall of said aperture, said guideway sloping linearly '4 downwardly from said arm ends to said aperture.

3. In a member having a recess defined therein, said recess being closed at one end and open at the other end therof, said closed end having an aperture defined therein for the insertion of a complementary elementtherein through said open end, a raised U-s'haped guide member in said recess bordering said aperture, the arms of said U extending linearly from the base thereof in mutual diverging relation to form a guideway therebetween extending from the ends of said arms to said aperture to guide the element in a linear direction to said aperture, said base of the U serving as an abutment at one end of the guide member to limit lateral movement of the element in relation to said aperture during insertion of the element therein, said abutment forming a continuation of the wall of said aperture 4. In a member having a recess defined therein, said recess being closed at one end and open at the other end thereof, said closed end having an aperture defined therein for the insertion of a complementary element therein through said open end, a raised U-shaped guide member in said recess bordering said aperture, the arms of said U extending linearly from the base thereof in mutual diverging relation to form a 'guideway therebetween extending from the ends of said arms to said aperture to guide the element in a linear direction to said aperture, said base of the U serving as an abutment at one end of the guide member to limit lateral movement of the element in relation to said aperture during insertion of the element therein, said abutment forming a continuation of the wall of said aperture, said guideway sloping linearly downwardly from said arm ends to said aperture.

RICHARD P. BALLOU.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,127,088 Platt Feb. 2, 1915 1,638,257 Gunn Aug. 9, 1927 1,642,626 Paiste -1 Sept. 13, 1927 1,736,269 Lawrence Nov. 19, 1929 1,988,489 Gunthrop Jan. 22, 1935 2,124,083 Rypinski July 19, 1938