Channel outlet

A channel outlet comprising a housing of insulative material has means for mounting the outlet in an opening in a channel-shaped cover of a channel housing and includes a terminal-receiving member and a cover member. Power terminals and a ground terminal are secured in cavities in the terminal-receiving member. The terminals have a first section adapted to terminate a respective electrical conductor thereto. The power terminals have wrap-around receptacle sections adapted to receive blade terminals of a conventional electrical plug therein. The ground terminal includes a contact member for sliding electrical contact with a ground pin of the electrical plug and a ground tab extending exteriorly of the cover member for ground connection to a channel-shaped base of the channel housing.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
This invention relates to electrical outlets and more particularly to 
channel outlets. 
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
Channel outlets are needed on work benches, lab benches, in room areas for 
connecting electrical equipment to electrical power when required. 
Commercially-available channel outlets have satisfied this need, but they 
have presented difficulties in connecting the electrical conductors to the 
electrical terminals in the channel outlets, the grounding of the ground 
wire, and the cost of manufacture. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
According to the present invention, a channel outlet comprising a housing 
of insulative material has means for mounting the outlet in an opening in 
a channel-shaped cover of a channel housing and includes a 
terminal-receiving member and a cover member. Power terminals and a ground 
terminal are secured in cavities in the terminal-receiving member. The 
terminals have a first section adapted to terminate a respective 
electrical conductor thereto. The power terminals have wrap-around 
receptacle sections adapted to receive blade terminals of a conventional 
electric plug therein. The ground terminal includes a contact member for 
sliding electrical contact with a ground pin of the electrical plug and a 
ground tab extending exteriorly of the cover member for ground connection 
to a channel-shaped base of the channel housing.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF A PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
FIGS. 1 and 2 illustrate channel outlets 10 secured in spaced openings 12 
of a channel-shaped cover 14 that is slideably or latchably secured to a 
channel-shaped base 16. Channel-shaped cover 14 and channel-shaped base 16 
form a channel housing 18 which can have varying lengths as desired with a 
desired number of channel outlets 10 disposed therealong. 
FIGS. 3 through 8 illustrate the channel outlets in greater detail. Channel 
outlet 10 includes a terminal-receiving member 20 and a cover member 22 
which are molded from a suitable insulation material. Terminal-receiving 
member 20 is of rigid construction and has power terminal-receiving 
cavities 24 and a ground terminal-receiving cavity 26. Each of cavities 24 
includes an L-shaped member 28, a spaced wall 30, and a projection 32. 
Rectangular openings 34 having beveled entrances extend through the front 
of member 20 and communicate with cavities 24. A D-shaped opening 36 is in 
communication with cavity 26. U-shaped recesses 38 are located in the 
sides of member 20 in alignment with cavities 24 and recesses 40, 41 are 
in alignment with cavity 26. 
Terminal-receiving member 20 has a projection 42 which extends through 
opening 12 in channel-shaped cover 14 while shoulder 43 of member 20 
engages the inside surface of channel-shaped cover 14. Wedge-shaped 
latching members 44 extend outwardly from the sides of terminal-receiving 
member 20 to facilitate inserting terminal-receiving member 20 into 
channel-shaped cover 14 and into opening 12 with shoulder 43 engaging the 
inside surface of cover 14 and the inner ends of latching members 44 being 
disposed against double-curved outer ends 46 of cover 14 to latchingly 
retain member 20 in position therein as shown in FIGS. 6 and 7. Recesses 
48 are located in opposing sides of member 20 and straps 50 extend 
thereacross. 
Power terminals 52 are stamped and formed and disposed in power 
terminal-receiving cavities 24 of terminal-receiving member 20 with 
conductor-terminating sections 54 being disposed in L-shaped recesses 56 
along spaced walls 30 as shown in FIG. 5 with triangular-shaped lugs 58 
digging into walls 30 to thereby secure power terminals 52 in position 
therein. Conductor-terminating sections 54 are positioned to receive 
insulated electrical conductors 64 and include conductor slots 60 having 
beveled lead-in surfaces to terminate electrical conductors 62 of 
insulated electrical conductors 64 therein as illustrated in FIG. 7. 
Transition areas 66 between slots 60 and the lead-in surfaces thereto are 
chamfered for cutting through the insulation of insulated electrical 
conductors 64 when they are pushed into conductor slots 60 and they 
initiate a firm bite into the electrical conductors 62 to ensure large 
areas of contact as well as cleaning away any stray pieces of insulation. 
Wrap-around receptacle sections 68 are almost a box shape with free ends 70 
being centrally disposed relative to members 72 and spaced therefrom 
thereby forming a connection area. Dimples 74 are located in members 72 
and the bottoms of members 72 are flared outwardly while the bottoms of 
free ends 70 opposite the flared-out sections of members 72 are beveled as 
illustrated in FIG. 7 thereby facilitating the insertion of blades 76 of a 
conventional electrical plug (not shown) thereinto. This provides 
excellent mechanical and electrical connection between blades 76 and 
receptacle sections 68. Wrap-around receptacle sections 68 encompass 
L-shaped members 28 thereby positioning free ends 70 and dimples 74 
centrally of rectangular openings 34 so that blades 76 can be electrically 
and mechanically connected with receptacle sections 68. Holes (not shown) 
in blades 76 cooperate with dimples 74. Members 72 are extensions of 
conductor-terminating sections 54 and provide a large connection area for 
blades 76 when blades 76 are inserted into the connection area and 
maintained thereagainst by the spring forces of free ends 70. Projections 
32 in cavities 24 and the inside walls of cavities 24 along which members 
72 extend limit the movement of free ends 70 and members 72 to assure 
excellent mechanical and electrical connection with blades 76. 
The connection areas of receptacle sections 68 of power terminals 52 are in 
a plane parallel to the plane extending through slots 60. This offset 
arrangement enables blades 76 to move along the connection area between 
members 72 and free ends 70 without any obstruction by the electrical 
conductors 64 when terminated in conductor-terminating sections 54. This 
is also true with respect to ground terminal 78 as spring contact 84 is 
offset with respect to conductor-terminating section 80 thereby enabling 
pin 92 to contact spring contact 84 free of any engagement with electrical 
conductor 64 terminated in conductor-terminating section 80. 
Ground terminal 78 is stamped and formed and includes a 
conductor-terminating section 80, a ground contact 82, and a spring 
contact 84. Sheared areas 86 are provided in extensions 88 to secure 
ground terminal 78 in a slot 25 in cavity 26 of terminal-receiving member 
20 and to limit movement thereinto as illustrated in FIG. 6. 
Conductor-terminating section 80 is identical to conductor-terminating 
sections 54 of power terminals 52, and spring contact 84 has its free end 
curved inwardly and includes an arcuate section 90 to increase its spring 
characteristics for engagement with a grounding pin 92 of a conventional 
plug as illustrated in FIG. 8. Ground contact 82 is parallel to section 
80. 
Cover member 22 is molded from the same material as terminal-receiving 
member 20 and includes latching leg members extending outwardly therefrom 
for disposition in recesses 48. Each latching leg member 94 includes a 
wedge-shaped projection 96 engageable with straps 50 when latching leg 
members 94 are disposed in recesses 48 thereby latchably securing cover 
member 22 in position on terminal-receiving member 20. Recesses 98 are 
located in opposing sides of cover member 22 and in communication with 
curved channel 100 disposed in the inside surface of cover member 22 to 
accommodate in electrical conductor therein. Projections 102 operate as 
pushing members to plush electrical conductors into the 
conductor-terminating sections 54 of power terminals 52 and cover member 
27 operates to force an electrical conductor into conductor-terminating 
section 80 of ground terminal 78 when cover member 22 is latchably secured 
onto terminal-receiving member 20. The sides of cover member 20 maintain 
the electrical conductors within recesses 38, 40 and 41. Projection 104 
extends between conductor-terminating section 80 and ground contact 82. 
Conductor-terminating section 80 is disposed in a slot 106 in cover member 
22 and ground contact 82 extends through slot 108 in cover member 22 when 
cover member 22 is latchably secured onto terminal-receiving member 20 as 
shown in FIG. 6. 
In assembly, channel outlets 10 are positioned in spaced openings 12 of 
channel-shaped cover 14 and secured therein by means of shoulders 43 
engaging cover 14 and wedge-shaped latching members 44 engaging 
double-curved outer ends 46. With cover members 22 removed from channel 
housings 18, insulated electrical conductors 64 are positioned in 
engagement with the beveled lead-in surfaces to slots 60 and 80A of 
conductor-terminating sections 54 and 80 whereafter cover members 22A are 
pushed into latching positions on terminal-receiving members 20 thereby 
forcing insulated electrical conductors 64 into slots 60 and 80A, causing 
transition areas 66 to cut through the insulation of the insulated 
electrical conductors 64 and make electrical connection with electrical 
conductors 62. Channel-shaped base 16 is then snapped into position on 
channel-shaped cover 14 by inwardly-curved ends 110 engaging outer ends 
46. Ground contacts 82 make electrical connection with base 16 thereby 
grounding each of the channel outlets. Thus, a channel housing 18 with 
spaced channel outlets 10 positioned in openings 12 therealong and 
electrically connected together via terminated connections to insulated 
electrical conductors 64 with ground terminals of the outlets grounded to 
housing 18 is effected.