US298326A

US298326A - Edwaed weston

Info

Publication number: US298326A
Authority: US
Publication date: 1884-05-06
Anticipated expiration: 1901-05-06

Description

(No Model.)

B. WESTON.

. ELECTRIC CIRCUIT CONNECTOR. No. 298,326. Patented May 6,1884.

UNITED STATES i ATENT Fries.

EDWVARE WESTON, OF NEYVARK, NEWV JERSEY, ASSIGNOR TO THE UNITED STATESELEOTRIO LIGHTING COMPANY, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

ELECTRIC-CIRCUIT CONNECTOR.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 298,326, dated May 6, 1884.

Application filed October 31,1883. '(No model.)

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, EDWARD WEs'roN, a subject ofthe Queen of Great Britain,aud a resident of N ewark, in the county of Essex and State of 5 New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Electric-Circuit Gonnectors, of which the following is a specification, reference being had to the drawings accompanying and forming a part of the same.

My invention relates to devices commonly known as plug or circuit connectors, for connecting portable orhand lamps, motors, or similar devices with the conductors of an electric circuit. Such devices usually consist of a socket or its equivalent fixed to awall or stationary support, and containing the terminals of a branch or main electric circuit, and a plug adapted for insertion in the holder, and carrying terminals to register with those in the holder. To the plug is attached a cord or cable from the lamp or other electrical device, the conductors of such cord being connected to the plug-terminals.

The objects of my invention are to permit the plug to be easily and readily inserted in and removed from the socket, and to turn freely therein without injury to the connectors, and also to conceal and protect the terminals of the socket, so that the circuit cannot be completed except through the conductors of the cable by any one using the device or by the accidental contact of any objects, or, in other words, so that no portions of the terminals or conductors shall be exposed or acces- 3 5 sible when the plug is or is being inserted in the socket. To this end I employ a wooden or insulating base, which I secure to any fixed support. The base is provided or formed with a socket, in the bottom of which is a semicir- 40 cular spring, to which one of the line-wires is connected. In the center of the bottom of the socket or recess is a perforation leading into a chamber in the base, in which is a second spring, forming the other terminal of the line.

5 The plug is cylindrical in shape, with a post or pin extending from the end. The wires of the cord or cable are carried through the plug and connected one to a plate on the end of the post, the other to a circular plate on the end of the plug, these parts being so arranged that when the plug is inserted in the socket the post will extend through the perforation in the bottom of the same, and contact be estab- Y lished between the springs and plates. To hold the plug in place against the force of the springs, 1 use aflanged rim for the socket, cut away at two points, and lugs or cars on the plug, which are adapted to enter the cut-away portions,and by engaging with the flange when the plug is turned hold the latter securely in position. This construction in detail is illustrated in the accompanying drawings.

Figure 1 is a perspective view of the socket and plug detached, and Fig. 2 a central section of the same parts united.

A is the base for attachment to any desired support.

B is the socket or recess.

0 is a chamber in the base, separated from the socket by a partition, D, through which is an opening, a.

E F are the line-wires, connected, respectively, to a spring, I), and a spring, 0, the former secured within the chamber 0 and directly over the opening a, the latter in the bottom of the socket.

H is a metal cover or cap with a flanged rim, and cut away at two points, 6 c.

G is a cylindrical plug of insulating material, through which are led the wires f f of a flexible cord or cable, K. These wires connect onewith a plate, 9, on a post or projection, h, the other with a circular plate or ring, it.

On the sides of the plug are cars or lugs L 8 5 L, which, when the plug is set in place, are passed through the cut-away portions of the flanged rim, and turned so as to rest in the depressions m. By this means the plug is held in place and the circuit-connections completed. 0

It is evident that the lugs may be on the walls of the socket and the plug grooved, if so desired, it being only essential to the main fea tures of the invention that when the plug is inserted it will necessarily complete the cir- 5 cuit between the line-wires and the conductors of the cord, that the plug shall be held in place, and that the contact plates or terminals shall be concealed and protected, so as to be inaccessible when the plug is inserted. 'r'co In other applications Ihave described means similar to those here shown for holding an incandescent lamp in its socket, and I do not claim herein the construction of the parts that serve to hold the plug in position apart from the particular combination in which they are here employed. Vithout, therefore, relinquishing the right to those features of novelty herein shown but not claimed,

What I claim is 1. The combination, with a body of insulating material, and provided with lugs or ears, contact-terminals seen red to the insulatingbody, and electrical conductors connected with the terminals, of a socket formed or provided with a notched flange for admitting the body, and retaining the same by the engagement of the lugs with the flange and terminals secured within the socket, as set forth.

EDWVABD WESTON.

lVitnesses:

HENRY A. BEOKMEYER, FRANK N. CRANE.