Patent Publication Number: US-5024603-A

Title: Protection device for use on electricity socket

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention relates to a protection device to be inserted into an electricity socket to protect one from getting an electrical shock by incident. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     Electricity has brought great facilitation to human life. However, just as fire and water, it can be a disaster by being applied inappropriately. 
     People usually install sockets at several spots inside and outside of their houses in order to get electricity conveniently. But coming along with such convenience, there are latent dangers which might be caused by these sockets such as: an electrical shock to an innocent young child who is trying to imitate adult&#39;s plug-in action with a conductive object; an electricity leak caused by inadvertent wetting while cleaning the house; and also, a socket rarely being used can possibly become an ideal nest for cockroaches, spiders or other bugs and causes insanitary troubles. It is therefore considerably necessary to make an improvement on a conventional socket to prevent the foregoing problems. 
     The object of the present invention is to provide a protection device which can be plugged into a socket and tightly close the holes of the socket so as to prevent them from getting wot and causing an electrical shock, and also to stop any bugs from entering into the holes. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     FIG. 1 is an elevational view of the present invention. 
     FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along line 2--2 in FIG. 1. 
     FIG. 3 is another sectional view similar to FIG. 2 showing the first step of the unplug operation of the present invention. 
     FIG. 4 is another elevational view similar to FIG. 1 showing the operation of pulling out the invention from the socket 
     FIG. 5 is a sectional view taken along line 5--5 in FIG. 4. 
     FIG. 6 is a side view of FIG. 1. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention as illustrated in the drawings is provided with a case 10 of non conductive material, and inside of the case 10 is a locking element 20 which is preferably made of elastic plastic materials. As shown in FIG. 2, there is formed at one end of the looking element 20 a pair of symmetric claws 21a and 21b clipping respectively a pair of lugs 11 on the internal wall of the case 10 while the opposite end of the locking element 20 projects out from a third hole 12 of the case to serve as a pressing end 22. Between this pressing end 22 and the pair of claws 21a and 21b, there are provided orderly a neck 23 next to the pressing end, a first shoulder 24, a waist 25 and a second shoulder 26. The widths of the neck 23 and the waist 25 are necessarily lesser than the widths of the first and second shoulders 24 and 26. These parts are formed so as to control the plugging or unplugging operation of the present invention. 
     Stretching vertically to the locking element 20, there is a plugging element 30 of elastic non-conductive materials which includes a pair of pressing ends 31a and 31b projecting respectively out from the two opposite side holes 13a and 13b of the case 10. These holes 13a and 13b are in a cross direction to the third hole 12. The two pressing ends 31a and 31b are not jointed directly to one another on the same level; they are separated by the middle space of the plugging element, as shown in FIG. 1, to form a preparing area 32. Two bases are formed at respective pressing ends near the preparing area 32 and are stretching vertically downwardly through a pair of holes 14 at the bottom of the case 10 so as to become a part of the set legs 33 of the plugging element 30. The set legs 33 are provided with zigzag edge 331 on their outward sides. The preparing area 32 is designed to receive the foregoing first shoulder 24 and second shoulder 26 of the locking element 20 so as to secure the pressing ends 31a and 31b of the plugging element from being moved easily. 
     The bases 34 of the set legs 33 extend downwardly from the end of the pressing ends 31a and 31b of the plugging element 31 and enlarge gradually to form a protrudent part 332. As a consequence, the zigzag edge 331 of the set legs formed between the base 34 and the protrudent part 332 is extending in a step-like configuration. The set legs 33 keep extending below the protrudent part 332 but are gradually contracting until two opposite set legs are jointed to form a connected part 35 whereby a pair of functional set legs 33 of the plugging element 30 are accomplished. Meanwhile the preparing area 32 is consequently enlarged along with the set legs to a long cavity. The width of the set leg at the protrudent part is generally kept greater than the length of the socket holes. As the two pressing ends 31a and 31b are pressed, the bases 34 will be forced to approach to the preparing area and therefore shorten the width of each set leg 33 at the protrudent parts 332 to be lesser than the length of the socket holes, as illustrated in FIG. 4, so as to enable the plugging element 31 to be pulled out from the socket. 
     Assembling the case 10, locking element 20 and the plugging element 30, a protection device of the present invention in a plug-like configuration can be achieved. To apply such device, one will just have to insert the above-mentioned pair of set legs 33 into the socket holes 41, the zigzag edges 331 on respective set leg will then be firmly stuck against the inside wall of the socket cover 40 and close the holes 41 tightly to stop any incident plug-in action by young children. To unplug the present invention from the socket, one will have to press the pressing end 22 firstly as indicated by the arrow in FIG. 3 to remove the first and second shoulders 24 and 26 of the locking element 20 from the preparing area 32, and then press the other two pressing ends 31a and 31b of the plugging element as shown in FIG. 5 with other fingers so as to force the bases 34 of the set legs to approach to the preparing area and reduce the width of the set legs until it is narrower than the length of the socket holes 41, consequently the zigzag edges 331 of the set legs 33 will be removed from the inside wall of the socket cover 40 and enable the plugging element 31 to be pulled out from the socket holes easily as shown in FIG. 4. 
     The foregoing procedure of the unplug operation must be practiced in order, otherwise this protection device can not be taken away from the socket. Such skillful operation will be a very difficult action for a child to achieve, so that they are well protected from incident contact to the electricity socket. 
     In order to perfect the present invention, it is considered by the inventor to further provide the above-mentioned structure with a waterproof rubber frame 50. As adopted in the embodiment in this application, the rubber frame is designed with flared end. FIGS. 1, 4 and 6 have illustrated that a rubber frame 50 is attached at the bottom of the case 10 with its flared end facing toward the set legs of the case 10. Because that the rubber frame 50 is located between the case 10 and the socket and is made of soft elastic materials, it can be tightly attached against the socket cover 40 and effectively prevent the holes of the socket from water or insects.