Technical Field

The present invention relates to an electrical instal¬ lation system which includes an optional number of electrical outlets disposed within the room or rooms in which different electrical apparatus ^■ are to be connected to the mains network. The electric outlets are detachably connectable to one of the miniterminals at predetermined intervals along the electrical con¬ ductors drawn or laid in respective rooms. Each mini¬ terminal and associated conductors are protected by a strip arrangement.

Background Art

Installations systems of this kind are known from US-A 2,647,242, for instance. These known systems often include relatively complicated strip arrange¬ ments and profiled sections, which make assembly and installation work and the subsequent fitting of elec¬ tric outlets (sockets) in desired miniterminals diffi- cult and laborious. The known installation systems are often unattractive from an aesthetic point of view, and the miniterminals included in the system often lack protective means which function to reset the miniterminals automatically to a safe stat>- should an outlet or socket not be connected electrically to a respective miniterminal.

Disclosure of the Invention

The aforesaid drawbacks associated with known instal¬ lation systems are avoided by means of the present invention, which is characterized in that that part of a respective miniterminal provided with electrical connector means for accommodating an electric outlet

is provided with a cover flap which lies flush with the outer surface of the strip when a miniterminal is not used.

The device will conveniently include a protective strip which is secured firmly to the floor, to a wall or to the ceiling of a respective room in which the system is installed, and also a covering strip which extends via and/or between mutually adjacent mini- terminals. The cover flap of the miniterminal is therewith intended to coact with the outer surface of the covering strip.

The invention also relates to a miniterminal intended for use in the aforesaid installation system. In this regard, the miniterminal comprises a generally rectan¬ gular, flat body and a spring-biassed covering flap which is mounted in one long side of the body and which when inserting an electrical outlet or plug is opened against the action of a spring force, so as to enable the plug to be inserted freely into correspond¬ ing electrical contact elements of the miniterminal present beneath the cover flap.

The present invention also relates to an electrical outlet for connection to a miniterminal included in the inventive installation system. The electrical outlet is characterized by a box which is provided with one or more standard outlet contacts and a requi- site number of connector pins and at least one latch¬ ing element for coaction with corresponding means on the miniterminal.

The inventive installation system, miniterminal and electric outlet can be modified in various ways, as will be evident from the following description and the following Claims.

Description of Preferred Embodiments

The inventive installation system will now be des¬ cribed in more detail with reference to a preferred embodiment thereof and also with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which

Figure 1 is an exploded view of the preferred em¬ bodiment of the inventive system and illus- trates the components of said system;

Figures 2a and 2b each illustrate an example of an electric outlet that can be connected to the miniterminals of the system; and

Figure 3 illustrates part of an inventive installa- tion system, partially in section, and shows an electric outlet connected to a miniterminal.

Figure 1 illustrates the various components of a preferred embodiment of the inventive installation system. Thus, the system includes a plurality of miniterminals 2 connected to electrical conductors 1. The electrical conductors 1 and the miniterminals 2 are housed in a strip arrangement which includes a protective strip 5 which is intended to be fitted on the wall, ceiling or floor surface 11 along which the electrical conductors 1 extend. The gap 7 formed between the protective strip 5 and said surface 11 when the strip arrangement is fitted in position is closed by a covering strip 3. The covering strip 3 is preferably divided into several sections, each extend¬ ing between two mutually adjacent miniterminals 2. However, the covering strip 3 may consist in a single section or unit which is provided with an aperture for each miniterminal 2.

The purpose of the covering strip 3 is I) to avoid the risk of articles falling behind the protective strip 5, II) to eliminate the risk of the system being

damaged by sharp objects, and III) to impart an aes¬ thetic design to the system.

As will be seen from Figure 1, the thickness of the miniterminal 2 is generally equal to the cross-section dimensions of the electric conductor 1. The conductor 1 is connected to the miniterminal 2 at both end-walls 12 of the terminal, and the miniterminal 2 includes the same number of female connectors 13 as the number of wires contained by the conductor or cable 1. In normal use, the female connectors 13 are protected by a covering flap 8, which is appropriately spring- biased towards its closed position.

In the case of the preferred embodiment, the miniter¬ minal 2 includes a slot or recess 14 in which tele¬ phone cable(s) and/or antenna cable(s) 9 are accommo¬ dated. If desired, the miniterminal 2 may also be provided with female contacts, or sockets, for these cables 9, so as to enable separate connection of a telephone, facsimile machine, radio, television or like apparatus to be made through the miniterminal 2.

The miniterminal 2 of the embodiment illustrated in Figure 1 includes two holes 15 (of which only the left hole is visible in the Figure), by means of which the miniterminal 2 can be secured to the wall 11 by means of screws 16. The miniterminal 2 also includes a further hole 17, by means of which the protective strip 5 can be secured with the aid of screw 18. As will be understood, the hole 17 may be a through- penetrating hole, so that the screw 18 will also function to secure the miniterminal 2 to the wall 11 in addition to the protective strip 5. In this case, the screw 18 may replace at least one of the screws 16.

The upper long side of the miniterminal 2, said side carrying the cover flap 8, includes two latching

recesses 10 which are intended to coact with a respec¬ tive latching element 6 provided on the electrical outlet S1-S4 to be connected electrically to the miniterminal 2.

All electrical outlets S1-S4 that are connectable to the miniterminal 2 present a number of connector pins 19 which correspond to the number of female outlets or connections 13, said connector pins being connected to one or more standard female sockets 20. Compare the different embodiments SI, S2, S3 and S4 of the elec¬ trical outlet illustrated in Figures 1, 2a, 2b and 3 respectively. The electrical outlets S1-S4 are also provided with latching elements 6 in the form of a latch hook which enables the outlets to be detachably secured in respective latching recesses 10 of a mini¬ terminal 2, see Figure 3. The latch hooks are released from the latching recess by means of a button device belonging to the latching element. When the installa- tion system includes telephone and/or antenna cables 9, the box 4 that accommodates the electric outlets S1-S4 may also accommodate connector pins and standard connections corresponding to said telephone and/or antenna cables so as to enable power/signals to be taken therefrom.

When installing an inventive system, the number of miniterminals 2 required along the conductor 1 fitted in the room are connected-up. The miniterminals 2 are then screwed to the wall, floor or ceiling surface 11 on which the system shall be placed, by means of the screws 16. When appropriate, telephone and antenna cables 9 are inserted and connected to the minitermi¬ nal 2. Protective strips 5 of appropriate lengths are fitted so as to cover the conductors 1, 9 and the miniterminals 2, and are secured to the miniterminals with the aid of screws 18. The gap 7 formed between the miniterminals 2 is covered with covering strips 3, which are press-fitted onto the ends of the

miniterminals and which, when fitted, have an upper surface 21 which lies flush with the outer surface of the cover flap 8 of respective miniterminals 2 when closed.

An electric outlet S1-S4 is connected to a minitermi¬ nal, by pressing the connector pins 19 of the outlet against the cover flap 8, such as to move the flap away against the action of a spring force and there- with enable insertion of the outlet. The tongues of the latching elements 6 are brought into latching engagement with the latching recesses 10 of the mini¬ terminal 2 at the same time.

An outlet S1-S4 is released from its engagement with a miniterminal 2, by pressing a release button provided on the box 4 and coacting with the latching elements 6, therewith causing the tongues of the latching elements to move out of engagement with the latching means 10 and enable outlet S1-S4 to be removed from the miniterminals 2.

Figure 3 illustrates a modified construction of the cover flap 8 of the miniterminal 2, the cover flap 8 of this embodiment being openable in the longitudinal direction of the system. In this case, the cover flap 8 includes a peg 22 with which the cover flap 8 is moved manually sideways from the upper surface plane of the covering strip 3 against a spring force, before inserting an electric outlet S1-S4 into the minitermi¬ nal 2. The cover flap 8 will also be restored by said spring force to its covering position, when the outlet S1-S4 is removed from the miniterminal 2.

The embodiment of the miniterminal 2 illustrated in Figure 3 is also provided with a childsafe device in the form of a spring-loaded cover plate 23 mounted over and on top of the female connectors 13, as a safeguard against the fingers of inquisitive children.

When inserting the connector pins 19 of the electric outlet S4, the cover plate 23 is moved away against the action of said spring force, so as to allow the connector pins 19 to be inserted into the female connectors 13. However, it is impossible to move the cover plate 23 unless all (in the illustrated embodi¬ ment all three) connectors pins 19 act on the cover plate 23 simultaneously. The cover plate 23 will return to its original position as the electrical outlet S4 is removed, as a result of the action of the spring force which biases the plate towards its closed position.

It will be understood that different embodiments and modifications of the exemplified embodiments are possible within the scope of the invention as defined in the following Claims. For instance, the two parts 3 and 5 of the strip arrangement may have the form of a single unit, suitably of inverted L-shaped cross- section. In this case, miniterminal-accommodating openings are provided at regular intervals in the ceiling (3) of the unit. The invention is thus not limited to the scope of the illustrated and described embodiments thereof and shall therefore be considered to be embraced by those definitions set forth in the following Claims.