Patent Publication Number: US-7914307-B1

Title: Socket with movable lids for shielding plug holes

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     This invention relates generally to a socket and more specifically to one featuring movable lids for shielding plug holes, which is used for the occasions that a user is inserting a stick-like object into any of the plug holes of the socket incidentally or intentionally, where the movable lids are available to barricade the insertion of the stick-like object, to keep the user from the hazard of an electrical shock. 
     2. Description of the Prior Art 
     Electric power has been broadly using in the daily lives since its utilization, including all kinds of electric appliances, for instance: refrigerators, electric fans, washers, lightings, computers and the like, which are all activated by the electric power to enrich life. To make use of the electric power is subject to the insertion of the two (or three) pins of the plug of the power cord of an electric appliance in the plug holes of the socket (could be a wall type or an extension cord) for the electric connection purpose, and the electric appliance is then available for use and which signifies the importance of the sockets. In terms of structural combination, prior sockets comprise: a shell, having a hollow internally for the accommodation of two conducting clips, which are connected to the bare ends of the power cord for the electric conduction; a panel, having at least two plug holes that penetrate the panel and correspond to the conducting slips respectively, where the plug holes each is plugged in by the corresponding pin of at least two pins of an electric plug, which enables contact and clamping of the two pins by the conducting clips, for the conduction of the electric power from the power cord to those two pins. 
     The aforementioned structural combination and usage of the prior sockets are fairly familiar to the majority of the public and belong to frequent experiences of their daily lives. However, the prior sockets have a severe defect, that is, the path from each plug hole on the panel to the corresponding conducting clip is uncovered; therefore, those children with exceeding curiosity are quite easy to insert a stick-like object into any of the plug holes of the socket, to touch the corresponding conducting clip. Once the object is electrically conductive, an electric shock or a short circuit is brought about easily, which substantially endangers those children. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     In light of the aforesaid drawbacks, this inventor conceived deeply the idea for the research of the invention, and eventually the longtime endeavors gave birth to this invention. 
     The objective of this invention is to provide a socket featuring movable lids for shielding plug holes, which is used for the occasions that a user is inserting a stick-like object into any of the plug holes of the socket incidentally or intentionally, where the movable lids are available to barricade the insertion of the stick-like object to touch a corresponding conducting clip, to keep the user from the hazard of an electrical shock. 
     To accomplish the aforementioned objective, a socket featuring movable lids for shielding plug holes of this invention comprises a shell, a panel, a conducting clip and a set of movable lids, wherein: 
     The shell has an empty top and is covered by a partition, to form a hollow internally, where the partition is provided with at least a first notch and a second notch that penetrate the partition, and an adjacent clamping trough is set up at the side facing to the first notch. 
     The panel is placed on top of the partition, and forms a firm joint with the shell, where the panel is provided with at least a first plug hole and a second plug hole that penetrate the panel, which correspond to the first notch and the second notch respectively, and the panel is set up with an inward cavity at its bottom and further with a clamping groove on top of the cavity and at somewhere corresponding to the clamping trough; 
     The number of conducting clips is equal to the quantity of plug holes, where the conducting clips are fixed in the hollow of the shell and each forms a clipping space, and both clipping spaces correspond to the first notch and the second notch of the partition respectively; 
     The set of movable lids is made up of a first lid, a second lid and an elastic member, where the first lid is in the shape of a chunk on which one lateral is formed into a tapered surface and its opposite lateral is provided with a rib, and each side of the rib is protruded to form an extension that further forms a bulge at its end portion, which is targeted to set up an indent in between the rib and the bulge, and a protrusion is shaped at the bottom of the first lid; the second lid is in the shape of a chunk too, where its lateral opposite to the first lid is set up with an indentation in which a pressing pole is shaped, and the lateral connecting to the first lid is set up with a tapered surface, where an extension is projected at each of its two sides and a bulge is further formed at the end portion, and a bump is shaped at the bottom of each extension, where a recess is formed at the outside of the bump while an indent at its inside, and a protrusion is shaped at the bottom of the second lid; during the assembly, the bumps of the second lid are lodged in the corresponding indents of the first lid, to enable the recess to touch slightly the rib; meanwhile, the bulges of the first lid are exactly fit in the indents of the second lid respectively, followed by the wearing of one end of the elastic member on the pressing pole for a firm fixing; 
     In assembling, the whole set of the movable lids are placed in the cavity of the panel that the front rim of the tapered surface of the first lid and the other end of the elastic member are propping against two opposite inner walls respectively for a steady fixing; the conducting clips are placed in the hollow of the shell for immobilization, followed by placing the partition on the shell, to align the clipping space of each conducting clip with the first notch or the second notch of the partition; and eventually the panel with the set of movable lids settled internally is placed on top of the partition so that its first plug hole and second plug hole are aligned with the first notch and the second notch of the partition respectively. 
     In the aforesaid socket with movable lids, the elastic member is suggested to be a spring in the shape of a long coil. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  is an assembled sectional view of the exemplary embodiment of this invention; 
         FIG. 2  is an assembled top view of the exemplary embodiment of this invention; 
         FIG. 3  is a three-dimensional exploded view of the set of the movable lids of the exemplary embodiment of this invention; 
         FIG. 4  is a three-dimensional assembled view of the exemplary embodiment of this invention; 
         FIG. 5  is a schematic diagram of the correct use of the exemplary embodiment of this invention; 
         FIG. 6  is a schematic diagram of the first kind of wrong uses of the exemplary embodiment of this invention; and 
         FIG. 7  is a schematic diagram of the second kind of wrong uses of the exemplary embodiment of this invention. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     To achieve the foregoing objects of the present invention, the techniques adopted and the achievable functions are detailed described with reference to the following preferred exemplary embodiments and the accompanying drawings for a thorough comprehension. 
     Referring to  FIGS. 1˜4 , the whole exemplary embodiment of this invention is a socket  1 , comprising a shell  10 , a panel  20 , a conducting clip  30  and a set of movable lids  40 , where the shell  10  has an empty top and is covered by a partition  11 , to form a hollow  12  internally, and the partition  11  is provided with at least a first notch  111  and a second notch  112  that penetrate the partition  11 , where the second notch  112  is provided with an adjacent clamping trough  113  at the side facing to the first notch  111 . 
     The panel  20  is placed on top of the partition  11  of the shell  10  and forms a firm joint with the shell  10 , where the panel  20  is provided with at least a first plug hole  21  and a second plug hole  22  that penetrate the panel  20 , which correspond to the first notch  111  and the second notch  112  respectively, and the panel  20  is set up with an inward cavity  24  at its bottom and further with a deeper clamping groove  23  at the position corresponding to the clamping trough  113 ; 
     The number of conducting clips  30  is equal to the quantity of plug holes, where the conducting clips  30  are fixed in the hollow  12  of the shell  10  and each forms a clipping space  31 , and the two clipping spaces  31  correspond to the first notch  111  and the second notch  112  of the partition  11  respectively, which further correspond to the first plug hole  21  and the second plug hole  22  of the panel  20  respectively. 
     Referring to  FIG. 3 , the set of movable lids  40  is made up of a first lid  41 , a second lid  42  and an elastic member  43 , where the first lid  41  is in the shape of a chunk on which one lateral is formed into a tapered surface  411  and its opposite lateral is provided with a rib  412 , and each side of it is protruded to form an extension  413  that further forms a bulge  414  at its end portion, which is targeted to set up an indent  415  in between the rib  412  and the bulge  414 , and a protrusion  416  is shaped at the bottom of the first lid  41 ; the second lid  42  is in the shape of a chunk too, where its lateral opposite to the first lid  41  is set up with an indentation in which a pressing pole  421  is shaped, and the lateral next to the first lid  41  is set up with a tapered surface  422 , where an extension  423  is projected at each of its two sides and a bulge  424  is further formed at the end portion, and a bump  425  is shaped at the bottom of each extension  423 , where a recess  426  is formed at the outside of the bump  425  while an indent  427  at its inside, and a protrusion  428  is shaped at the bottom of the second lid  42 ; the elastic member  43  is suggested to be a spring in the shape of a long coil. 
     The assembly of the set of the movable lids  40  is shown in  FIG. 4 , where the bumps  425  of the second lid  42  are lodged in the corresponding indents  415  of the first lid  41 , to enable the recesses  426  to touch slightly the rib  412 ; meanwhile, the bulges  414  of the first lid  41  are exactly fit in the indents  427  of the second lid  42  respectively, followed by the wearing of one end (inner end) of the elastic member  43  on the pressing pole  421  for a firm fixing, to accomplish the assembly of the whole set of the movable lids  40 . 
     The assembly of the socket  1  of the exemplary embodiment of this invention is shown in the  FIGS. 1 ,  2  and  4 , where the whole set of the movable lids  40  are first placed in the cavity  24  of the panel  20  so that the front edge of the tapered surface  411  and the other end (outer end) of the elastic member  43  are propping against two opposite inner walls of the cavity  24  respectively for immobilization; on the other hand, the conducting clips  30  are placed in the hollow  12  of the shell  10  for immobilization, and the conducting clips  30  are connected to the bare ends (not shown in the figures) of the power cord for the electric conduction of the conducting clips  30 , followed by placing the partition  11  on the shell  10 , to align the clipping spaces  31  of the conducting clips  30  with the first notch  111  and the second notch  112  of the partition  11  respectively; and eventually the panel  20  with the set of movable lids  40  settled internally is placed on top of the partition  11  so that its first plug hole  21  and second plug hole  22  are aligned with the first notch  111  and the second notch  112  of the partition  11  respectively, which at the moment are pushed by the elastic member  43  (shown in  FIG. 1 ), where the first lid  41  and the second lid  42  are moved forward so that the bottoms of the tapered surfaces  411 ,  422  are exactly barricading the first notch  111  and the second notch  112  of the partition  11 . 
     The normal use of the socket  1  of the exemplary embodiment of this invention is shown in  FIG. 5 , when the two pins  51  of the plug  50  of the power cord for an electric appliance are plugged into the first plug hole  21  and the second plug hole  22  of the panel  20  simultaneously, the bottoms of the two pins  51  will touch the tapered surfaces  411 ,  422  at the same time, the pressing will push the first lid  41  and the second lid  42  to move aside in the direction of squeezing the elastic member  43 , which enables the first notch  111  and the second notch  112  of the partition  11  to be free of shielding, where the two pins  51  are then available to penetrate the first notch  111  and the second notch  112 , and to insert in the clipping spaces  31  of the conducting clips  30  respectively for a clamping, where the electric appliance is conducted through the physical connection of the pins  51 . 
     Once a user (exceedingly curious children are the most possible target) is inserting a stick-like object  60  into either the first plug hole  21  or the second plug hole  22  on the panel  20  incidentally or intentionally, a description of the outcome will be given as follows based on two different situations: insertion of the first plug hole  21  only and insertion of the second plug hole  22  only. Referring to  FIG. 6 , once the stick-like object  60  (including the insertion of one pin  51  only) is inserted into the first plug hole  21 , its bottom will touch the tapered surface  411  of the first lid  41 , and the pressing tends to push the first lid  41  to move toward the second lid  42 ; however, the second lid  42  couldn&#39;t retreat at the moment since it is subject to the inelasticity of the elastic member  43 , and consequently the first lid  41  as a seesaw will move around its protrusion  416  which acts just as the fulcrum (the moving direction is shown in the figure); that is, the indent  415  of the first lid  41  will push the extremity of the second lid  42  with bump  425  and bulge  424  up, which enables the clamping groove  23  of the panel  20  to accommodate the bulge  424  for a stay; during the situation shown in  FIG. 6 , since the bottom of the tapered surface  411  of the first lid  41  completely barricades the first notch  111  of the partition  11  to keep the stick-like object  60  from entering the first notch  111  of the partition  11 , not to mention the possibility of touching the conducting clip  30 , which substantially keeps the user from the hazard of an electrical shock. 
     Referring to  FIG. 7 , as the stick-like object  60  (including the insertion of one pin  51  only) is inserted into the second plug hole  22  only, its bottom will touch the tapered surface  422  of the second lid  42 , and the plugging force tends to push the second lid  42  to move toward the elastic member  43 ; however, the first lid  41  doesn&#39;t move since it isn&#39;t subject to any external forces, and the second lid  42  as a seesaw moves around its protrusion  428  which acts just as the fulcrum (the moving direction is shown in the figure); therefore, the bump  425  of the second lid  42  will push the indent  415  of the first lid  41  down, which enables the clamping trough  113  of the partition  11  to accommodate the extension  413  for a stay; during the situation shown in  FIG. 7 , since the bottom of the tapered surface  422  of the second lid  42  completely barricades the second notch  112  of the partition  11  to keep the stick-like object  60  from entering the second notch  112  of the partition  11 , not to mention the possibility of touching the conducting clip  30 , which substantially keeps the user from the hazard of an electrical shock. 
     Accordingly, the purpose of this invention is to barricade the first notch  111  and the second notch  112  by the tapered surfaces  411 ,  422  of the first lid  41  and the second lid  42  respectively, subject to the accommodation of the set of movable lids  40  by the cavity  24  of the panel  20 , which is used for the occasions that a user is inserting a stick-like object  60  into a single plug hole, either the first plug hole  21  or the second plug hole  22 , of the panel  20  incidentally or intentionally, where the first lid  41  and the second lid  42  are available to hold up each other, to barricade the corresponding notch to avoid the insertion of the stick-like object  60  to touch the corresponding conducting clip  30 , to keep the user from the hazard of an electrical shock. 
     In conclusion, the structural combination of this invention has not opened to the public, and it indeed accomplishes expected objective and function, which has fully complied with the requirements of patentability; however, the aforesaid exemplified embodiments of the present invention are used only for the illustration of combination and function, not for the constraint of the scope; any equivalent embodiments or modifications without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention are therefore intended to be embraced.