Abstract:
A receptacle for an elongated electrical raceway is oriented so that its ground receptacle lies either above or below the raceway&#39;s longitudinal centerline, presenting a convenient orientation for the plug, that is not commonly provided for in a raceway environment. The receptacle employs insulation displacement connectors offset so as to connect electrical wires running longitudinally through a raceway channel to the line and neutral and ground sockets at the receptacle&#39;s face.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     This invention relates generally to elongated electrical raceways and female receptacle assemblies for use therewith. 
     2. Description of the Prior Art 
     Electrical raceways having one or more female receptacles at their face are well known. In the prior art embodiments the female electrical receptacle is oriented at 90° from a traditional receptacle orientation so that the female ground stud opening lies on the raceway&#39;s longitudinal centerline. See U.S. Pat. No. 4,017,137 for an illustration of such a prior art construction. 
     Female receptacles employing insulation displacement connectors (IDCs) are known. The IDCs in the prior art are used to connect a prior art female receptacle with the electrical wires oriented along the longitudinal centerline of the raceway. The inherent result of such construction is a receptacle face rotated 90° as compared to traditionally mounted receptacles. This orientation of receptacles in raceways is so well established that it now constitutes &#39;conventional&#39; orientation for elongated raceways. 
     The purpose of this invention is to provide female electrical receptacles in an elongated raceway or elongated power outlet bar such that the ground connector does not lie along the raceway longitudinal centerline. In typical raceways of which most are installed horizontally, the receptacle orientation requires that the male plug be turned 90° to insert it into the receptacle. Typical raceway through-wiring designs have dictated this odd orientation, where the line and neutral slotted connectors run parallel with the raceway longitudinal axis and their ground connector lies along the raceway longitudinal centerline. The present invention provides for receptacle orientation where the line and neutral slotted receptacles run perpendicular to the raceway centerline and the ground receptacle is either above or below the raceway centerline. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     In accordance with the present invention an elongated raceway is provided with openings that receives female electrical receptacles. Each receptacle has a housing having a base and a cap arranged so that when assembled with electrical connectors and the elongated conductors or wires within the raceway channel, the resulting assembly presents the female receptacle to the user in a more familiar and more convenient to use manner. Electrical connectors are arranged and supported between the housing base and cap. Each connector has a free and a fixed end. The free end defines an insulation displacement connector (IDC) that connects to the conductive wire. The fixed end defines a resiliently deformable socket at the face of the housing cap. Three such sockets are accessible through openings at the face of the housing cap to receive a conventional male plug. The IDC ends are arranged in parallel planes, which are additionally parallel to the blades of the male plug that is to be received at the face of the housing cap. 
     The above arrangement provides a female receptacle for use in an elongated raceway that is oriented in a more convenient to use manner. The ground stud opening can be provided either above or below the line and neutral slots. The purpose of this invention is to provide this convenient orientation of the female receptacle while facilitating through wiring assembly of the raceway and receptacle with the through wiring in the raceway channel. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     FIG. 1 is an exploded view illustrating the receptacle housing cap, base and exposed electrical connectors. 
     FIG. 2 illustrates the receptacle&#39;s plug face. 
     FIG. 3 illustrates the rear of the receptacle. 
     FIG. 4 illustrates the sidewall nearest the ground stud opening. 
     FIG. 5 illustrates the sidewall opposite the ground stud opening. 
     FIG. 6 illustrates the side view of the receptacle. 
     FIG. 7 is an exploded perspective view showing the electrical connector orientation. 
     FIG. 8 is similar to FIG. 7 in plan view. 
     FIG. 9 is similar to FIG. 7 in top view. 
     FIG. 10 shows the frontal view of the conveniently oriented receptacle mounted within a raceway. 
     FIG. 11 is a sectional view taken on the line  11 — 11  of FIG.  10 . 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     Turning now to the drawings in greater detail, FIG. 1 shows a molded hollow housing base  20  of the type having a generally rectangular forwardly open cavity. Said base incorporates a confronting interface  21  that abuts a complementary interface  31  on a housing cap  30 . The housing base incorporates resiliently deformable posts  22  for alignment with slots or receptacles in the cap  30  for securing the base to said housing cap. The housing base incorporates molded connector aligning ribs  23  for receiving electrical connectors mounted in the housing cap and later described herein. At least one of the housing base sidewalls  24  incorporates a line groove  25 , a neutral groove  26  and a ground groove  27  for receiving conductor wires that run parallel to the longitudinal center line of a raceway channel. Said grooves are defined by the sidewall confronting interface  21  such that the conductor wires are received therein. Opposed sidewalls of the housing base incorporate said grooves, opposing grooves are similarly defined by the confronting interface of the opposing sidewall to constitute pairs of grooves such that conductor wires passing straight through one pair of grooves run parallel to the raceway longitudinal center line. The housing base  20  preferably incorporates one or more molded channels  28  along the sidewalls  24  incorporating said grooves that serve to position that portion of a conductive wire outside the housing base parallel to said sidewall  24  and in alignment with the aforementioned grooves. These molded channels  28  are incorporated to complement the grooves defined by the housing base interface. 
     A molded hollow housing cap  30  is provided of the type having a generally rectangular rearwardly open cavity. Said cap incorporates a confronting interface  31  that abuts the complementary interface on the housing base  21 . The housing cap incorporates post receptacles  32  for receiving and securing to complementary deformable posts  22  within the housing base  20 . The housing cap  30  incorporates molded connector supporting ribs  33 , shown in FIG. 7, for receiving and supporting electrical connectors later described herein. The housing cap sidewalls  34  incorporate channels or grooves, such as a line groove  35 , neutral groove  36 , ground groove  37 , for receiving conductor wires that run parallel to the longitudinal center line of a raceway channel. Said grooves are defined by the sidewall confronting interface  31  such that a conductive wire may be received laterally. The opposing grooves are similarly defined by the confronting interface of the opposing sidewall to constitute pairs of grooves such that a conductive wire passing straight through one pair of grooves runs parallel to the raceway longitudinal center line. 
     The housing cap  30  incorporates molded resilient wings  38  along each sidewall. Preferably two said wings are provided on one of the sidewalls. Two such wings are shown along the bottom sidewall adjacent the ground stud opening and one such wing along the opposing top sidewall. A flange  39  extends peripherally around the housing cap  30  and cooperates with the wings to anchor the housing in a raceway opening  82  of a raceway having a cover  81  and a raceway base  83  (See FIG.  11 ). The resilient wings  38  allow the female receptacle to be inserted into the raceway opening  82 . The wings  38  and flange  39  act in concert to prevent extraction of the device from the raceway. 
     The housing face  40  (FIG. 2) or forward end of the housing cap incorporates a female electrical receptacle having a line slot  41  and a parallel neutral slot  42  for receiving the blades of a conventional male plug, and a ground stud opening  43  for receiving the ground stud of a conventional male plug. The line slot  41  is preferably configured as a 15 ampere slot as shown in FIGS. 2 and 10, but may optionally be a 20 ampere ‘T-shaped’ slot not specifically illustrated herein, but considered an equivalent. Said receptacle is dimensioned to receive a male plug complying with U.S. standards or alternatively complying with the standards of any other country. 
     The housing cap  30  is provided with integrally molded connector supporting ribs  33  that cooperate with the ribs  23  in the base  20  to receive the electrical connectors for the line  50 , neutral  60 , and ground  70  conductors. Each connector has a fixed end in the housing cap  30  and a free end in the housing base  20 . Said fixed ends each define a resiliently deformable socket for receiving a blade or ground stud from a conventional male plug through openings in the housing face  40 . Said free ends each define an insulation displacement connector (IDC) with opposing cutting knife edges capable of penetrating the wire insulation of the conductors to electrically contact the underlying conductive wire without severing said underlying wire. 
     Each connector&#39;s free end is interposed and aligned with the pairs of grooves in the confronting interfaces of opposing sidewalls previously described, such that when the housing cap  30  and base  20  are assembled a conductive wire passing straight through aligned grooves ( 35 ,  36 , or  37 ) in the base and ( 25 ,  26  and  27 ) in the cap will also be in electrical contact with the aligned IDC at the free end of an electrical connector. Thus, these electrical connectors secure the conductive wires running longitudinally through a raceway and electrically connect them to the sockets behind the plug face. 
     The line or power conductive wire passes through the groove  35  in the housing sidewall  34 , through the IDC free end  52  of the line connector  50 , and through the opposing groove  35  in the opposing housing sidewall  34 . The opposing fixed end  51  of the line connector defines a resiliently deformable socket behind the line slot  41  at the housing face  40 . 
     The neutral conductive wire passes through the neutral groove  36  in the housing sidewall  34 , through the IDC end  62  of the line connector  60 , and through the opposing neutral groove  36  in the opposing housing sidewall  34 . The opposing fixed end  61  of the neutral connector defines a resiliently deformable socket behind the neutral slot  42  at the housing face  40 . In the preferred embodiment the neutral conductive wire is preferably positioned between the line and ground conductive wires. 
     The ground conductive wire passes through the ground groove  37  in the housing sidewall  34 , through the IDC end  72  of the ground connector  70 , and through the opposing ground groove  37  in the opposing housing sidewall  34 . The opposing fixed end  71  of the ground connector defines a resiliently deformable socket behind the ground stud opening  43  at the housing face  40 . 
     The configuration and orientation of the electrical connectors ( 50 ,  60 , and  70 ) within the housing is of significance. As the preferred embodiment illustrates, each connector&#39;s IDC free end ( 52 ,  62 , and  72 ) is oriented in a separate parallel plane, said planes also being parallel to the line  41  and neutral slots  42  at the housing face  40 . Each electrical connector has its fixed end ( 51 ,  61 , and  71 ) defining a resiliently deformable socket behind the housing face  40 , as shown in detail at FIGS. 7,  8 , and  9 . Each male plug prong is received by one such resiliently deformable socket so defined by said fixed end of each electrical connector so that the male plug blades are oriented parallel to and spaced laterally from the plane defined by each IDC free end of said electrical connectors. 
     Modifications and variations of the above described embodiment will be apparent to those skilled in the art consistent with the teaching of this disclosure. The scope of the following claims encompasses such modifications and variations in accordance with the Doctrine of Equivalents.