Abstract:
An electric distribution board serves for the distribution of two phases, or of two phases and an earth and has a back member which receives, according to choice, two mounts which are each appropriate to the respective method of current distribution, these mounts comprising selector means which only permit couplings with compatible current connector plugs.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     The invention relates to an insulating electrical distribution board for the distribution of current having a back member or support shaped in the form of a &#34;U&#34; and having a free edge adapted to engage with a cover, and for forming a raceway and adapted to accommodate longitudinally disposed conductors and conductor positioning and retaining means, hereinafter called distribution mounts, said raceway receiving removable current feed plugs placed externally of the cover and coupled to the mounts by coupling means passing through openings of the cover, the said mounts being of a first type for the distribution of current taken between two phases and including an earthling line, or of a second type solely for distributionn of current taken between two phases, so as to cooperate with plugs comprising, or not, an earthing line. 
     These electrical boards, intended principally for domestic installations for the distribution of current, are generally manufactured starting from a shaped member of extruded plastic material and comprising only longitudinal parallel surfaces to the exclusion of any perforations or transverse stop surfaces. For the mounting of the mounts refered to above it is thus necessary to provide on these shaped members, at intervals corresponding to the selected spacing, some series of centering elements adapted to position the said mounts with precision, and to dispose properly with respect to them the apertures through which the coupling elements will pass; such a precuation is difficult to observe if the cover and the support are separate one from the other. 
     Furthermore, it is necessary to take steps to make it impossible to insert a plug intended for a mount of the first type on a mount of the second type, and inversely, with the aid of selector means which do not require a particular attention from the installer and the user. 
     The invention accordingly proposes to deal with these requirements with the aid of simple arrangements and a small number of items. 
     According to the invention, this result is obtained by the combination of the following features, certain of which are already known: 
     the cover is fixed on the support by means of a permanent hinge, 
     during a simultaneous punching of the support, adapted to be placed on a wall, and of the cover, there are formed on the support a first series of apertures and on the cover a second series of perforations comprising useful perforations and forbidden perforations; 
     the portions of material punched in the cover are put back into position in the second series of perforations after the punching operation, and 
     mounts of a first type and of a second type, have centering means adapted to cooperate with apertures of the first series, and first selector means which will face useful perforations of the second series, in order to push out therefrom the corresponding cut out portions, and second selector means which will be placed in the vicinity of forbidden perforations of the second series in order to support the corresponding cut out portions and avoid that the latter may be pushed out of the said forbidden perforations when the cover is closed. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     Other features of the invention, will be apparent from the following description with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein: 
     FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a portion of board and the two types of mounts which can be associated therewith; 
     FIG. 2 and 3 are elevations respectively of a mount of each type; 
     FIGS. 4 and 5 are views in perspective respectively of a first current supply plug capable of being associated with a first type of mount; 
     FIG. 6 is a view in section of a mount illustrated in FIG. 2, taken on the stepped plane UU&#39;; 
     FIGS. 7 and 8 are two views in perspective of a second current supply plug capable of being associated with a second type of mount, and 
     FIGS. 9 and 10 show in elevation two external views of the board, the cover of which is closed again after placing in position of a mount of the first type or of the second type, respectively. 
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
     An insulating electrical distribution board has a body 1 in FIG. 1 which comprises a back member 2 required to be placed and secured by any appropriate means against a wall 14, and which comprises for this purpose a back surface 13 provided with two longitudinal parallel flanges or wings 3,3&#39; which give the back member the general cross-section of a &#34;U&#34;. 
     At the connecting end portion of the flange 3 is provided a permanent longitudinal hinge 12 which attaches a pivoting cover 4. 
     This cover comprises at its free end, remote from the hinge, a hooking means 19 which cooperates, when the cover is closed, with a locking means 20 carried by the free edge of the flange 3&#39;. A space 5 is thus comprised between the bottom wall and the flanges of the base, and is closed by the cover when the cover is lowered and fastened. 
     The body of the distribution board, which with more reduced dimensions can also take the form of a moulding, is obtained by extrusion of an appropriate plastics material, and the hinge 12 can be formed during this extrusion, either by the fact that its thickness is locally more reduced than that of the remainder of the body, or again by moulding on in the course of extrusion (or subsequently glueing on) an elastomeric strip (not shown) having suitable properties of flexibility. 
     When the process of extrusion is terminated, the body of the board is subjected to an operation of punching which can be carried out for example when the cover 4 is disposed, as is shown in FIG. 1, in a plane parallel to the plane of the bottom wall 13 of the base 2. 
     This operation of simultaneous punching has for its object to form locally on the body some series of perforations and apertures which are repeated regularly along the whole length of the moulding at predetermined intervals. 
     A first series of apertures 11, comprising those referenced as 11&#39;, 11&#34;, is formed in the bottom wall 13 of the base 2, and a second series of perforations 10 comprising those referenced as 36, 38, 40, 45, 46, 47 is formed in the cover 4. These two series of perforations and apertures will be made simultaneously, and preferably with the same tool, in such a manner that their respective relative positionings are retained, irrespective of the region of the moulding in which they are formed. 
     The portions of material cut out in the second series of perforations 10 will be replaced therein, in such a manner as to close them up again; it is likewise possible to carry out only a partial punching through of the thickness of the material of the cover, and then force out those portions not yet separated. 
     One of the two insulating mounts shown in FIG. 1 respectively at 7a and 7b and carrying, on a back face 48 facing towards the back surface portion of the back member, centering elements 16&#39;, 16&#34;, will be disposed within the raceway in such a manner that these elements will enter the perforations 11&#39;, 11&#34; in order to ensure a predetermined longitudinal position for the mount. The mount is then held by the longitudinal tenons 43, 44, disposed on the internal faces of the respective flanges 3,3&#39;, which bear against the edge portions 50, 49 of the mount remote from the face 48. 
     This mount furthermore comprises, on a front face 51 remote from the back member, first selector means, such as 17, (see FIGS. 1, 2 and 3), second selector means such as 18, (see FIGS. 1, 2, and 3), holding clips 26, 27 for the local retention of conductors such as 28, 29, 30 forming a part of a distribution network 6 which may have or not an earth conductor 30, and an opening 24 bored in a post and provided for example with a threading. 
     In FIGS. 1 and 2 there will be seen at 6 the group of conductors comprising the conductors 28, 29, 30 which are placed parallel along the axes XX&#39;, YY&#39;, ZZ&#39;, in turn substantially parallel to the back surface and to the flanges of the back member 28 and 29 are, for example, the phase conductors R and S of the distribution network, while conductor 30 is the conductor M coupled to earth. 
     The conductor 28, see FIG. 2, cooperates with various items comprising (starting from the left-hand side of the figure): a first holding clip 26r having two arms 26a, 26b,  a first selector means 17r having two projections 17a, 17b, a second clip 27r having two arms 27a, 27b, and a second selector means 18r. The shape of these items is best seen in FIG. 6. 
     The clips 26 and 27 serve to support the conductor 28 in such a manner that the coupling pins such as 9r, 9s, 9m, visible in FIGS. 4, 6 and 7 and appertaining to current feed plugs such as 8a and 8b, can pass through its sheath 31 and enter into contact with its core 32, without causing a too pronounced flexing of the conductor. Furthermore, each of the selector means 17 has the shape of a fork 52 in order to receive the conductor which is associated therewith and comprises two arms 17&#39;, 17&#34;, having respective projections 17a, 17b, which are placed at one side and the other of the conductor at a distance from the latter such that they will permit the passage of two needles 9&#39;, 9&#34;, constituting the coupling pin concerned, for example 9r, and will also ensure their guiding, see FIGS. 2 and 6. 
     On FIG. 6, it will be seen that the ends 33, 34 of the arms of the fork 52 appertaining to 17s and bearing the projections 17a, 17b have, by reason of their height h, have passed through one of the perforations 46 of the second series of perforations 10 of the cover 4 when the latter, as shown in this figure, is in closed position, and moreover by pushing out the portion of material 45&#39; which was occupying this perforation 45 before the closing down of the cover. 
     As apparent from FIG. 6, wherein it will be seen that the conductor 28 passes under a second selector means 18r, the upper support surface 57 of which is disposed at a height l such that when the cover 4 is closed the portion of material 47&#39; which has been cut out in the cover, then put back into position, cannot be pushed out towards the interior of the space 5 of the board as a result of the proximity of surface 57 to the surface 58 of the cover. Portion 47&#39;, the upper surface of the selector means 18r and the conductor 28 are placed, in this zone, on a same straight transverse line VV&#39;, the selector means 18r is advantageously carried by a boss 39, 39&#39; of the mount which is provided with an opening 42 which will receive, for example, a fastener serving to secure the board 1 on the wall 14. 
     The cover comprises another re-closed opening 40, see FIG. 1, which comes opposite to an annular rim 35 surrounding the opening 24 of the mount in order to permit this rim, when the cover 4 is closed, to push out the material occupying the aperture 40 and permit the end 41 of a fastener 25 of the current feed plug 8a or 8b to pass through it to make it fast to the mount, in order that electrical connections may be established between certain of the conductors 6 and certain needles forming the connector pins of the selected plug, see FIG. 4. 
     When the current-consuming apparatus requires connection to earth, a mount of the type 7a is placed in position in board 1 (see FIG. 2), and only a current feed plug of the type illustrated in FIGS. 4 and 5 may be associated therewith, by reason of the fact that the selector means 17r, 17m and 17s will have uncovered the useful apertures 55 placed opposite thereto, as can be seen at 36&#34;, 45&#34; and 46&#34; in FIG. 9. 
     The portions of material 47&#39; and 38&#39; which occupy the forbidden perforations 56, 47, 38 will not be able to be pushed out, by reason of the presence underneath them of the selector means 18r and 18s, and a current feed plug such as 8b will consequently not be able to be associated with the mount 7a. 
     Conversely, when the current-consuming apparatus does not need earthing, the use of a mount such as 7b, seen in FIGS. 1 and 3, will cause the uncovering of two apertures 47&#34;, 38&#34; and the supporting of these portions of material 36&#39;, 46&#39;, 45&#39; (visible in FIG. 10) making it impossible for a current feed plug 8a to be fixed on the board. The useful perforations are now referenced as 56. 
     In known manner, the plug 8a comprises two current feed sockets 21a and a projecting earthing pin 22, and the plug 8b comprises only two current feed sockets 21b. 
     In FIG. 6 it will be seen that the aperture 42 is extended from the back face 48 of the mount by an annular portion 54 entering into an aperture 53 provided in the back surface 13 of the board. This annular portion form centering means having the same function as the members illustrated at 11&#39;, 11&#34; and 16&#39;, 16&#34; of FIG. 1. The threaded apertures 24 may have different diameters according to whether they are placed on mounts of a first or of a second type in order to prevent any attempt to insert an inappropriate plug.