Patent Publication Number: US-6984139-B1

Title: Receptacle with protective cap

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
   1. Field of the Invention 
   The present invention relates to receptacle with protective cap, in particulars, to a receptacle which is equipped with a rotatable cap to shade the power outlet hole so as to avoid exposure of live parts and electrical leakage as well. 
   2. Description of the Prior Art 
   Generally, the electrical receptacles are classified a fixed type and a movable type. The fixed receptacle is installed fixedly in the wall of a building for supplying power to the electrical appliances. The movable receptacles, which is usually attached with an extension cord, can be conveniently moved to any desired places, either indoor or outdoor, with multiple outlets. However, both types of the above receptacles are uncovered when at rest so that the live poles are easily contaminated leading to hazardous electrical leakage. Besides, regularly exposed live poles from the outlet holes of the uncovered receptacle may cause a fatal electrical accident should there be innocent children who curiously insert their fingers into the outlet holes to touch the live poles. 
   For this defect noticeable on the conventional receptacles, an improvement is seriously required. 
   It is what the reason the inventor has put forth every effort for years by continuous research and experimentation attempting to find out the remedy to palliate the inherent shortcomings of the conventional receptacles described above, and finally has succeeded in coming out with the receptacle with a protective cap of the present invention. 
   SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
   The main object of the present invention is to provide a receptacle which is equipped with a protective cap so as to shut out ingress of foreign material and moisture into the live parts of the receptacle during the receptacle is at rest thereby avoiding electrical leakage. 
   Another object of the present invention is that hoping this protective cap can avoid children to insert their fingers accidentally or curiously into the receptacle&#39;s outlet holes to touch the live parts thereby causing hazardous electric shock. 
   To achieve the above objects, the receptacle of the present invention mainly includes a receptacle proper and a circular rotatable cap. The receptacle proper has a flesh plate and a round center cavity provided at its middle portion. Two insertion holes of a power outlet are located near the sides of the center cavity, and an axle seat is provided at its center and a C shaped guide slot is formed on the flash plate to encircle the axle seat. The rotatable cap which being rotatable fitted to an axle pin mounted on the axle seat is divided into two symmetrical segments each of them has a breach facing against each other so as to form each of the two segments into a cover plate, and the circumferential fringe of the cap is formed into a frictional serrated edge. When the cap rotated about the axle pin, a C shaped block provided at its bottom travels along the C shaped guide slot which limits the moving distance of the former until the insertion holes of the power supply outlet are emerged out of the breaches ready for accepting the insertion of the play of an electrical appliance. When the receptacle is not in use, the user may rotate the protective cap until the holes of the power outlet are shaded by the cover plated so as to avoid emerging of the hazardous live parts. 
   These features and advantages of the present invention will be fully understood and appreciated from the following detailed description of the accompanying Drawings. 

   
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       FIG. 1  is an exploded view of the receptacle of the present invention, 
       FIG. 2  is a three dimensional view of the receptacle of the present invention, 
       FIGS. 3A and 3B  are illustrative views of the operation of the receptacle of the present invention. 
   

   DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
   Referring to  FIGS. 1 and 2 , the receptacle of the present invention is mainly composed of a receptacle proper  1  and a circular rotatable cap  2 . 
   The receptacle proper  1  has a flush plate  11  and a round center cavity provided at its middle portion. Two insertion holes of a power supply outlet  13  are located near the two sides of the center cavity  12 , and an axle seat  15  is provided at its center and a C shaped guide slot  14  is formed on the flush plate  11  encircling the axle seat  15 . The guide slot  14  has a first terminal  141  and a second terminal  142 , and an indention  16  is formed at each of four end portions on the flush plate  11  of the receptacle proper  1  in the center cavity  12 . 
   The circular rotatable cap  2 , whose area is smaller than that of the center cavity  12  of the receptacle proper  1 , is divided into two symmetrical segments each of them has a breach  21  facing against each other so as to form each of the two segments into a cover plate  22 , and the circumferential fringe of the cap  2  is formed into a frictional serrated edge  23 . An axle seat  15  is provide at the center position of the center cavity  12  for an axle pin  24  with a collar  241  encircled around near it&#39;s lower end to mount on. A C shaped block  25  with the length slightly shorter than that of the C shaped guide slot  14  of the receptacle proper  1 , and having a first terminal  251  and a second terminal  252 , is formed on the cover plated  22  of the cap  2  is a manner coaxially encircling the axle pin  24 . A protuberance  26  is formed on the bottom of each cover plate  22  at both ends. 
   By fitting the axle pin  24  of the cap  2  on the axle seat  15  in the receptacle proper  1  in the center cavity  12 , the collar  241  of the axle pin  24  serves to stably rest the cap  2  on the flush plate  11  or on the center cavity  12  of the receptacle proper  1  by mating with the axle seat. The C shaped block  25  slides in the C shaped guide slot  14  until its first terminal  251  mates with the first terminal  141  of the guide slot  14  but its second terminal  252  has not yet reached the second terminal  142  of the guide slot  14  by leaving a certain distance so as to emerge the both holes of the power outlet  13  out of the breaches  21  of the cap  2  thereby enabling to plug-in a load electrical appliance. Incidentally the protuberances  26  projected from the bottom of the cap  2  are captured by the corresponding indentions  16  such that the cap  2  is held fixedly at its position to expose the power supply outlet. 
   Referring to  FIGS. 3A and 3B  to understand the operation of the receptacle of the present invention. When a load plug is to be inserted to the receptacle, as shown in  FIG. 3A , the power supply outlet  13  is emerged out of the breaches  21  as that described previously and need not be described again. When the receptacle is at rest, as shown in  FIG. 3B , the cap  2  is turned with its frictional serrated edge  23  for a certain angle so as to mate the second terminal  252  of the C shape block  25  with the second terminal  142  of the C shaped guide slot  14  so as to shade both insertion holes of the power outlet  13  with both cover plates  22  of the cap  2 . At this moment, the protuberances  26  projected from the bottom of the cap  2  are again captured in the corresponding indentions  16  such that the cap  2  is fixedly held at its position hat the foreign material and moisture or human fingers can not get into the power supply outlet thereby avoiding occurrence of possible electrical leakage or hazardous electrical shock. 
   In all, the receptacle with a protective cap provided by the present invention has several noteworthy merits such as
         1. The rotatable protective cap can effectively shade the live parts of the receptacle when at rest so as to avoid ingress of foreign material and moisture therefore there is no worry about electrical leakage.   2. The protective cap shading the live parts of the receptacle when it is at rest well protect the children not to insert their fingers into the holes of the power outlet so that there is no worry about occurrence of electric shock.       

   Many changed and modifications in the above described embodiment of the invention can, of course, be carried out without departing from the scope there of. Accordingly, to promote the progress in science and the useful arts, the invention is disclosed is disclosed and is intended to be limited only by the scope of the appended claims.