Safety cord plug adaptor for electric outlet boxes

[57] ABSTRACT

A safety protective cover for electrical wall outlet includes hollow housing, and means for releasably affixing same over at least one plug-in receptacle of outlet with plug-in electric cord extending from housing. Stop means on cord and housing, after plugging cord in receptacle and subsequent attachment of housing to wall outlet, effective independently of the plug to prevent unplugging of the same due to a child tugging on the cord.

Claims, 5 Drawing Figures

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PATENTEDN0V27I973

3,775,729

<img file="US3775729A_D0002.tif" />

3,775,729

1'

SAFETY CORD PLUG ADAPTOR FOR ELECTRIC OUTLET BOXES

BACKGROUND OF INVENTION

Heretofore, protective covers for electrical outlets 5 have been suggested in the prior art, ostensibly for the purpose of preventing small children from removing extension cord plugs from the outlets by pulling on the cords. Such devices of known types, however, have failed as safety means because, by relatively slight pull- 10 ing effort applied to a cord, the lug thereon could be pulled from the electrical receptacle, and/or entirely separated from the plug with resultant possible danger of electrical sparking and/or electrical shock. Some such devices provided in connected segments were ca- 15 pable of accidental separation in use, and/or were difficult and expensive to manufacture.

SUMMARY OF DISCLOSURE

According to the present invention, the improved 20 protective cover includes a one-piece housing which may be provided with spaced generally cup-shaped parts, each extending from a flat base member provided with attachment means for affixing the same to an electrical wall outlet with said cup-shaped housing 25 parts in cupped relationship over plug-in receptacles of known types on the outlets. Each said housing part may be provided with aperture means in a peripheral wall portion thereof near the base member thereof, and extending into said base member, if necessary, for inser- ³⁰tion of a cord plug inwardly through such aperture means while the housing is free of wall outlet. Slot means also may be provided in said peripheral wall portions of the respective housing parts to communicate with said aperture means thereof, and extend to outer ³⁵end walls of the respective housing parts for permitting radially inward passage of the cords to extend through the respective end wall portions, whereby said housing can be attached to the wall outlet as a unit to have the cords extended from the respective end wall portions ⁴⁰subsequent to attachment of the cord plugs to the respective fixed receptacles. Adjustable stop means is provided within each said housing part for restraining outwardly by applied tension on the cord which otherwise would be likely to effect unwanted removal of the ⁴⁵plug from the wall outlet. In other words, the main purpose of the present invention is to prevent the cords from being unplugged from the wall outlets without first removing the adaptor from the same.

A general object of the present invention is to pro- ⁵⁰vide a unitary protective cover of the character described which can only be removed from a wall outlet by a relatively mature person, and in which means is provided to prevent small children from unplugging extension cords from the wall outlet by tugging or pulling ⁵⁵on the cord.

Another object of the invention is to provide a protective cover of the character described which lends itself to economical production, such as by use of a two-piece sectional cavity mold.

Other objects of the invention will be manifest from the following brief description and the accompanying drawings.

Of the accompanying drawings: ₆₅

FIG. 1 is a front elevation of a molded protective cover, partly broken away and in section, embodying the features of the invention and illustrating the cover in position for screw attachment thereof to a wall to overlie an electrical wall outlet, with pronged plugs of extension cords inserted into plug-in outlet receptacles in known manner.

FIG. 2 is a horizontal cross-section, on the same scale, taken substantially on the line 2—2 of FIG. 1, and illustrating the manner of insertion and removal of a cord plug by means of chain-dotted and full lines.

FIG. 3 is an end elevation of the protective cover as viewed from the right of FIG. 2, and on the same scale.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a stop member for selective attachment to an extension cord, and interlocking reception within hollow portions of the protective cover.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view corresponding to FIG. 4, illustrating a modified form of stop member in selective fixed attachment to an extension cord.

Referring to the drawings generally, and to FIGS. 1 to 3 in particular, the numeral 10 designates a onepiece protective cover, of hard molded plastic for example, adapted for fixed attachment to an electrical outlet E in a wall W, the outlet being of known type usually provided with two spaced plug-in receptacles R. The cover 10 includes a rectangular base plate 11, adapted to overlie the outlet E, and spaced cup-shaped housings 12,12 integral with the plate 11 for presenting hollow chambers 13, 13 of the housings in overlying communication with the spaced receptacles R. The cover 10 may be secured to the outlet E by means of a screw 14 adapted to be inserted through an aperture 15 in the base plate 11, at a point centrally thereof between the housings 12, and threaded into the electrical outlet 3 in known manner as best shown in FIG. 2.

Each cup-shaped housing part 12 may be of molded rigid plastic, in the shape of a frustum of a pyramid for example, to have four connecting side walls 16, 16 defining the chamber 13, which is closed by a top wall 17. The wall 16 of each housing 12, at corresponding ends of the plate 11, may have therein an aperture 18, which can be extended into the plate 11 if necessary, through which aperture a pronged plug P on an electric extension cord C may be inserted, as indicated in chaindotted lines in FIG. 2, prior to securing the cover 10 to the outlet E.

Stop means may be adjustably affixed or provided on the respective cord C, after it is passed through the aperture 18 and after the plug P is plugged into an outlet R, to be engageable with upper portions of the housing 16, and thereby prevent withdrawal of the cord beyond a given extent thereof. For this purpose, a cube-shaped block 20 of suitable material, such as hard plastic, may be provided with angular slot means extending part way through the block, generally as shown in FIG. 4, and defining angularly disposed, passage wall means, for adjustable zig-zag distortion wedging reception of the cord C through the block 20, as shown in FIG. 2. When the cord is selectively and fixedly adjusted on the block, the cord plug P is adapted to be plugged into the respective receptacle R, after which the protective cover 10 may be positioned on to the outlet E and attached thereto by means of the screw 14. When so positioning the cover 10, the stop block 20 is easily adjustable into full seating thereof within a complementally shaped recess 21 in the respective housing part 12.

Other stop means may be employed in place of the cube shaped block 20, such as a three-pronged Eshaped stop 23 as shown in FIG. 5. The device 23

3,775,729 would be wedgingly adjusted on the cord C, by looping the cord as before, to prevent extension of cord C through the top wall 17 of the respective housing part 12. The stop 23, like the stop 20, may be proportioned for either loose or wedging reception in the housing re- 5 cesses 21, so long as the stop prevents removal of the cord plug P from the receptacle R and/or separation of the cord C from the plug P. The same apertured housing walls 16 may also have a narrow slot 19 therethrough, extending from the respective apertures 18 to 10 the center of the corresponding top wall 17. This arrangement is such that, with the protective cover 10 unattached with reference to the wall outlet E, the plug P can be readily inserted through the aperture 18 of a housing part 12, after which the cord C can be passed 15 through the connecting slot 19, to permit extension of the cord through the top wall 17 as shown in FIGS. 1 to 3.

In use of the protective cover 10 described above to prevent a small child from pulling the extension cords 20 C from receptacles R of the electrical outlet E, the cord plugs P are inserted endwise through the apertures 18, prior to attachment of the cover to the outlet, as shown in chain dotted lines in FIG. 2. The cube-shaped stop members 20, are then wedgingly affixed to the cords C 25 in closely spaced relationship to the plugs P, as previously described and then the plugs are forcibly inserted into the receptacles R, in known manner.

Next, with the plugs P so inserted, the cords C are fed into the slots 19 and drawn upwardly until the stop 30 members 20 are complementally received and seated within the recesses 21 when, at the same time, the plate 11 is seated over the outlets E, as shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, whereby the cords C extend freely axially outwardly of the free ends of the respective housing parts, as 35 shown in full lines in FIGS. 1 to 3. Upon accomplishing this positioning of the protective cover 10, it is readily secured firmly against the wall W, by means of the screw 14 as shown in FIG. 2.

With the protective cover 10 so affixed, a small child, 40 upon pulling or tugging on a cord C, can only meet with resistance of the anchored stop 20 (or 23), without affecting the plugged-in condition of cord plug P. Accordingly, the present invention obviates the previously experienced danger of a small child being able to un- 45 plug an extension cord by tugging on the same.

Modifications of the invention may be resorted to without departing from the spirit thereof or the scope of the appended claims. As an example, it is readily apparent that the stop means 20 and 23, shown in FIGS. 50 4 and 5, may be supplanted by means of tight knots tied in the cords C per se requisitely spaced from the plugs P to be in stop engagement with the outer walls 17 of the housing as before, and thereby to prevent removal of the plugs from the outlets E. 55