Electric Plug (Patent No: 906077)

Inventor: Bergwall, Carey

Location: Calgary

Comments: N/A

Description: The embodiments of the invention in which an exclusive property or privilege is claimed are defined as follows:

1. A lockable electrig plug comprising:
an insulating body member; elongated electrical contact pins projecting therefrom said pins each having a free distal end; a latch member consisting essentially of a thin flat strip rigid enough to resist bending in the direction of latch movement, the latch face being in the form of a deep notch within the plane of the thin flat strip; means constraining the latch member from movement other than in the plane of the thin flat strip, said restraining means comprising a deep narrow generally V -shaped slot extending within and along one of the electrical contact pins, the length and depth of the slot being sufficient to accommodate the entire latch member; and means for positively retracting said latch face within said V -shaped slot of said one of the electrical contact pins, the notch forming said latch face being adapted, by the depth and configuration thereof, to engage a portion of a rearward surface of a socket for the plug and thereby prevent withdrawal of the plug from a socket.

2. An electric plug as claimed in claim 1 in which the means for retracting the latch face comprises an extension of the thin flat strip of rigid materia1 so that the extension projects into the plug body member.

3. An electric plug as claimed in claim 1 and further comprising a separate spring bias means adapted to bias the latch face normally out of the U -shaped slot, and wherein the means for retracting said latch face within the V-shaped slot of the contact pin comprises an extension of the thin flat strip of the latch member rigid material into the body cooperating with said spring bias means.

4. An electric plug as claimed in claim 1 in which the contact pin having a V -shaped slot has a pivot means at the free distal end, and in which the latch member has a recess for cooperating with said pivot means adapted to restrict the movement of the latch member in the plane of the strip to rotary movement about the pivot.

5. An electric plug as claimed in claim 4 and further comprising a separate spring bias means for biasing the latch normally out of the U- shaped slot, and in which the latch member profile between the pivot and said latch face formed by the notch is a straight line, thereby depressing the latch member against the action of the spring bias means as the plug is pushed into a socket by the action of an edge of a socket pin receiving opening on the latch member profile.

6. An electric plug as claimed in claim 5 in which the means for retracting the latch face comprises an extension of the thin flat strip so that the extension projects into the plug body, and in which said extension is bent away from the contact pin axis, and in which the spring bias means is a helical compression spring and acts upon said extension of the latch member within said plug body.

7. An electric plug as claimed in claim 1 in which said one of said contact pins comprises, in that part forming the slot, a sheet metal rectangle folded through 1800 about a line which is both parallel to the major sides and bisects the minor sides of the rectangle.

8. An electric plug as claimed in claim 5 in which said one of said contact pins comprises, in that part forming the slot, a sheet metal rectangle folded through 1800 about a line which is both parallel to the major sides and bisects the minor sides of the rectangle.

9. An electric plug as claimed in claim 3 in which said extension is bent away from the contact pin axis and in which the spring bias means is a helical compression spring and acts upon said extension of the latch member within said plug body.