Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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Prior Art
Conventional electri.cal wall outlets have a box
containing an electrical receptacle with two or more
sockets, the receptacle being moun-ted by end lugs ln the
box, and the socket portions of the receptacle protrude
slightly through a face plate which is flush with the
wall. With cer-tain new receptacles, the whole
rectangular front of the receptacle containing two
socket portions for plugs protrudes slightly from the
face plate.
This conventional arrangement has several shortcomings:-
(1) Wi-th or without plugs inserted into the
receptacle, the arrangement is somewhat untidy
and detracts from the appearance of a wall; -.
(2) The plugs project horizontally from the
receptacles which are flush with the wall
surface; to allow enough space for the cable to
bend it is usually necessary for furniture to be
spaced 3 or 4 i.nches from the wall. Pushing
furniture against the plug can damage the
receptacle or plug, or cause unsafe bending of
the cable; and
(3) The conventional arrangement provides little
protection for children who can insert metal
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objects into the live terminals of the
rece2tacle, and who can freely remove æ]ugs when
they are in place. Also, during cleaning
operations, water may enter the live terminals
of the receptacle.
Summary of the Invention
In accordance with the invention, an electrical outlet
for receiving at least one wall plug comprises a housing
having an open front and being arranged for mounting
within a wall cavity such that the front is substantially
flush with the wal].. The housing has side walls
extending rearward].y of the front and has an upper rear
wall extending between the side walls and arranged to
accommodate a receptacle for a plug or plugs, this upper
.rear wall s].oping downwardly and rearwardly at an angle
of between 25 and 50 relative to the plane of the
front, the receptacle being held at an angle so that its
front is parallel to the upper rear wal].. The
arrangemen-t is such tha-t when a plug of typical length,
say 4.5 cm or less, is inser-ted into the receptacle it is
contained wholly within the housing, and the cord hangs
from the cavity close to the wa]l. This avoids the
problem of p]ugs projecting from the wall and provides a
neat appearance for the cord.
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Further in accordance wi-th the invention, one or more
doors are provided which norrna]]y substan-tially close the
front of the outlet, the doors lying in a plane just in
front of the wa]1 surface. This greatly improves the
appearance of -the out]et, and the doors can readily be
painted or decora-ted to match the appearance of the wall.
The door or doors are provided with notches to allow the
cables to pass from the outlet, close to the bottom
thereof. The doors are not only aesthetically pleasing,
but is readi]y provided with child proof closure means so
that a chi]d cannot gain access to the sockets. The
provision of doors also restricts entry of water into -the
live parts of the outlet during c]eaning.
Brief Description of the Drawings
The invention wi]l further be described with reference to
the accompanying drawings, in which.-
- Fig. 1 shows a view of one form of the outlet
mounted in a wal], with two plugs in place and
with the door closed;
- Fig. 2 shows a simi]ar view of the same out]et
but with door removed;
- Fig. 3 shows a front elevation of the housing
portion of same outlet;
- Fig. 4 shows a sectional elevation through line
4-4 of Fig. 3, and showing additional components;
- Fig. 5 shows a plan view of the housing portion
of the outlet, without the receptacle;
- Fig. 6 shows a perspective view of an alternative
outlet mounted in a wal], with two doors which
are closed;
- Fig. 7 shows a sectional elevation through the
housing and doors of the outlet of Fig. 6, with
the doors closed;
- Fig. 8 shows a perspective view of a third form
of outlet, with two closed doors;
- Fig. 9 shows a front view of the outlet of Fig.
8, with the plugs removed and doors removed;
- Fig. 10 is a side view of the housing of the
outlet shown in Fig. 8;
- Fig. 11 is a side view of a fourth form of the
outlet; and
- Fig. 12 is a front view of -the out]et of Fig. 11
with plugs removed and doors open.
Referring to Figs. 1-5, and particularly Fig. 4, -the
electrical outlet is designed to fi-t within a metal
outlet box 10, which is of generally conventional form
although slightly deeper than the most usual type of
outlet box. In the preferred embodiment, the depth of
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the outlet box is about 3 inches or 76 mm, and is
suitable for fitting within a standard wall W formed by 2
x 4 inch studs. Apart from the depth, the one special
feature of the box is two receptacle mounting brackets 12
S each of which slopes downwardly and rearwardly at an
angle of 45, from a top end which is about 2 cm behind
the front face, to a bottom end which is about 1 cm in
front of the rear of the box and slightly above the
center. The ~wo mounting brackets are both close to the
opposite si.de walls of the box and are coplanar. They
provide screw holes for mounting the end lugs of a
laterally extending receptacle 14, having two spaced
sockets each for a three pin plug. The plugs of course
will be spaced laterally rather than vertically as in the
usual arrangement.
Instead of the usual face plate which fi.ts over a
receptacle in conventional outlets, there is provided a~
housing 20 which is moulded of plastic material and which
has:-
- a peripheral, rectangular flange 22 arranged to
fit against the open end of the box 10;
- two rearwardly extendi.ng, paral.lel side walls 24,
which fit within the sides of the box lOi
- rearwardly extending upper and lower horizontal
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wall portlons 26 and 27;
- an upper rear wall portion 28 which extends
rearwardly downwardly from the rear end of wall
portion 26, at an angle of 45 to the plane of
the fronti and
- a lower rear wall portion 29 which extends
upwardly and rearwardly from the rear of the wall
portion 27.
The wall portions 28 and 29 are connected at the rear of
the housing by a narrow, vertical but horizontally
extending wall portion 30. This wall portion 30 is
provided with two screw hoIes, and allows the housing to
be connected by screws 32 to tapped holes in the rear of
the box 10. This holds the housing in place in the box.
As seen in Figs 3 and 5, the upper rear wall 28 has a
rectangular, laterally extending aperture 34 designed to
fit over the front of the receptacle 14 carried by the
box. The housing provides an enclosed and insulated
space while allowing access to the receptacle 14.
As shown in Figs. 1 and 5, the front flanges of the
housing have extens1ons in the front which provide
inwardly facing guide grooves for the flanges 40 of a
vertically sliding door 42. The lower ends of the guides
13S
have stops 43 which act against lower ends of the door
flanges to limit downwards movement. As shown in Fig. 1,
the door has two s]ots 44 in-tended to accommodate the
cables extending from the two 3-pin p]ugs P inserted in-to
the receptac]e; the upper ends of the notches are angled
as shown in Fig. 4 to minimize the distortion of the
cable. At the bottom of the center of the door is a
horizontal bore, and the lower flange of the housing has
a threaded brass insert 45 which corresponds in portion
to this bore when the door is in the c]osed position.
This threaded brass insert is intended to receive a thumb
operated screw 46, indicated in Fig. l; this screw is
preferab]y of the multi-start type which can be secured
with less than a full rotation. This provides a child
proof feature preventing easy access to the receptacle,
and especially preventing chi]dren from inserting objects
into the receptacle.
It will be noted from Fig. 1 that not only does this
outlet give a neat appearance, but the manner in which
the receptacle is angled has two advantages; firstly it
allows the use of a plug somewhat longer than wha-t could
be used within the same size of box 10, if used
horizontally, and secondly it a]lows the cord to hang
down at a small angle to the wa]l so there is very little
restriction on placing furniture against the outlet. The
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outlet is designed so that plugs having a length of 4.5
cm or ]ess, when inserted into the receptac]e, can be
contained wholly within the housing. Preferably, -the
arrangemen-t is such that the cable passes out of the door
a-t an ang:le of ]ess than 30 to the vertica].
In the variations shown in Figs. 6 and 7, the general
nature of the outlet is simi]ar so only -the differences
will be described.
Firstly, it will be noted that the angle of the upper
rear wall 28' of the housing is set at 30 to the
vertical, rather than 45 as in the first embodiment.
This different angling means that the outlet cable from a
plug will pass out of the out]et close to its vertical
center, rather than near to the bottom. Instead of a
sliding door, upper and lower pivoted doors 50 and 51 are
provided. For this purpose, the front flange of the
housing provides pairs of horizontally aligned bores
adjacent the top and bottom of the out]et, and the doors
have horizontally extending pivot rods the ends of which
are located to pivot in these bores. Each door has a
pair of semi-circular notches positioned to receive the
cables which, as indicated, ex-tend from around -the
vertical mid point of the housing. Each door has a
projecting lip 52 at its lower end allowing it to be
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pulled open. At the vertical center of one side flange
is a threaded insert 53 for receiving a child safe screw
which also passes through an extension of one of the two
doors.
Figs. 8 to 10 show a third embodiment which is similar to
-the second embodiment in relation to the geometry of the
housing, but which differs from both earlier embodiments
in that:-
(1) The receptacle, instead of being a conventional
type of receptacle held by brackets in the box,
is integrally moulded with the housing so as to
extend rearward]y from the upper wa]l portion of
28" the housing. Accordingly, assembly of the
unit is simpler than with the previously
described arrangements; and
(2) A pair of horizon-tally sliding doors 55 is
provided. The guide means for these doors are
provided by extensions 56 of the top and bottom
flanges of the housing, these providing guide
means in the form of facing grooves which receive
projecting flange portions of the doors. Each
door has a centrally located, horizontal notch 57
for accommodating the cables, the notches cut
being cut at about 30 to accommodate such a
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slope of the cable. At the outer edges of each
door there are provided child proof screws 58
which engage in threaded inserts 59 in the side
f]anges of the housing.
In the fourth em~odimen-t of the invention, as shown in
Figs. 11 and 12, again the housing and receptacle is an
integrally moulded unit, although in this case two
receptacle porti~ns are provided one above the other, the
outer face of each receptac]e portion being set at an
angle of about 30 to the plane of the fron-t of the
outlet. As shown in Fig. 11, in this embodiment there is
also provided a power surge reset switch 60, which is a
commercially available item. The door arrangement of
this embodiment is shown in Fig. 12, as including two
side by side doors 61 each pivoted, by internal
brackets, to the top and bottom wall portions 26' and 27'
of the housing. At the top and bottom of each door is a
]ug 62, having a screw threaded bore, and one of each lug
- carries a finger operated screw which can be engaged with
the other lug when the two doors are closed, as a child
safe feature. Another feature of this embodiment is that
the notches 65 of the door, which accommodate the two
cables, are provided with resilient linings which close
tightly on to the cables leading to the plugs.
