Electric meter for mounting with a standard watthour meter

• US 4,121,147 A
• Filed: 09/13/1976
• Issued: 10/17/1978
• Est. Priority Date: 01/02/1975
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Sangamo Electric Co.
• Original Assignee: Sangamo Electric Co.
• Inventors: Becker, Dale F., Samuel, Trevor N.
• Primary Examiner(s): Rolinec, Rudolph V.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Karlsen, Ernest F.
• Application Number:
  US05/722,594
• Time in Patent Office: 764 Days
• Field of Search: 324/104, 324/156, 324/157, 324/103 R, 317/104, 317/106, 361/369, 361/370, 361/371
• US Class Current: 324/104
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 1/04 Housings; Supporting members; Arrangements of terminals
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 11/04 Housings; Supporting racks; Arrangements of terminals

Abstract

An electrical meter for use with a standard watthour meter and a standard meter socket having a housing which includes a display area, a meter receiving section having a base plate which supports a plurality of jaw members positioned to receive the blades of a standard watthour meter, meter socket engaging blades extending rearwardly of the housing and positioned to engage the jaws of a standard meter socket, an electrical meter assembly supported within a longitudinally disposed part of the housing and in tandem relation with the watthour meter and the meter socket including an indicator located adjacent the display area, a plurality of conductors connecting the blades to the jaw members, the electrical meter assembly being coupled to at least one of said conductor means to provide a power measurement on the indicator, the housing and the electrical meter assembly in said housing being located within a circumference defined by the rearward projection of the circumference of the base of the standard watthour meter.

Claims

1. In an electrical meter for use with a standard watthour meter and a standard meter socket, a housing including a display area, a meter receiving section comprising a base plate, a plurality of jaw members supported by said base plate and positioned on said base plate to receive the blades of a standard watthour meter, meter socket engaging means comprising a plurality of blades extending rearwardly of said housing and positioned to engage the jaws of a standard meter socket, an electrical meter assembly supported within a longitudinally disposed part of said housing and in tandem relation with said watthour meter and said meter socket, said electrical meter assembly including an indicator located adjacent said display area, a plurality of conductor means connecting said blade members to said jaw members, and means for coupling said electrical meter assembly to at least one of said conductor means to provide a power measurement on said indicator, said housing including the elctrical meter assembly being located within a circumference defined by the rearward projection of the circumference of the base of said standard watthour meter.

3. An electrical meter as set forth in claim 1 in which said meter has a circumferential rim for mounting purposes, and said meter engaging section on said housing includes a peripheral ring the forward end of which has a circumference which is similar to the circumference of the rim on said meter, and which includes a standard meter sealing ring having downwardly depending sides for engaging the side surfaces of the meter rim and said peripheral rim on said housing when the meter is assembled with said housing.

4. An electrical meter as set forth in claim 1 in which said meter socket engaging section of said housing includes an outer peripheral rim on one end thereof which is dimensioned to permit sealing of said housing to said meter socket with a standard meter sealing ring when said housing is assembled with a meter socket.

5. An electrical meter as set forth in claim 1 in which said meter display area is located on a side of said longitudinally disposed housing when said housing is assembled with a standard meter socket, and in which the portion of the housing forward of said display area is indented to permit viewing of said meter display area which lies within the circumference defined by the rearward projection of the watthour meter base.

6. An electrical meter as set forth in claim 1 in which said electrical meter assembly includes at least one current transformer located within said longitudinally disposed part of said housing and in which a first pair of said conductor means are connected to a first pair of said jaw members in said meter engaging section and pass through said housing for connection to a first set of line blades in the meter socket engaging means, and a second pair of said conductor means are connected to a second pair of said blades in said meter socket engaging means and pass through said housing and said current transformer to the second pair of jaws in said meter engaging section, said conductor means being displaced from a rearwardly projecting longitudinal path to provide approximately a 90°

deflection of said indicator across said display area.

7. An electrical meter as set forth in claim 1 in which said electrical meter assembly includes at least one current transformer located in the longitudinally disposed part of said housing, and in which at least one of said conductor means is connected to one of said jaw members and one of said blade members, and passes through the core of said current transformer.

10. An electrical meter as set forth in claim 1 in which said meter socket has a circular outer circumference, and said electrical meter assembly is located within a circumference defined by the forward projection of the circular circumference of said meter socket.

2. In an electrical meter for use with a standard watthour meter and a ringless socket box having a cover with an aperture, a housing including a base member having a cover engaging member which is larger than said aperture to prevent passage of said cover engaging member through said aperture, the portions on said housing which are forward of said cover engaging member being of a configuration which permits the passage thereof through said aperture, whereby with insertion of said housing through said aperture from the rear of the cover said cover engaging member is brought into contact with the rear surface of said cover to position said housing relative to said cover, a plurality of jaw members supported by said base member and positioned on said base member to receive the blades of a standard watthour meter, meter socket engaging means comprising a plurality of blades extending rearwardly of said base member on said housing and positioned to engage the jaws of a standard meter socket whenever said cover is moved to the closed position for said ringless socket box, an electrical meter assembly supported within said housing including a display area and an indicator located adjacent said display area, a plurality of conductor means connecting said blade members to said jaw members, and means for coupling said electrical meter assembly to at least one of said conductor means to provide a measurement of the demand on said indicator.

8. An electrical meter as set forth in claim 2 in which at least one pair of said blades is positioned to engage the line jaws of the meter socket, and in which said electrical meter assembly comprises a thermal demand meter assembly which includes a potential transformer and at least one current transformer located in the longitudinally disposed part of said housing, and means connecting said potential transformer across the power which is provided over said one pair of blades, and in which said conductor means passes through said current transformer.

11. An electrical meter as set forth in claim 2 in which said cover engaging member comprises a cylindrical member which engages the inner surface of said cover about its outer periphery to provide a weather seal with the cover of said ringless socket box.

9. A thermal demand meter for use with a standard watthour meter having watthour indicator means and a standard meter socket in the measurement of power supplied to a load, a housing longitudinally mounted between said watthour meter and said meter socket including a meter receiving section having a recessed base plate member, jaw means supported by said base plate member including a first pair of jaws positioned to receive the line blades of said watthour meter and a second pair of jaws positioned to receive the load blades of said watthour meter, a peripheral rim on the outer end of said meter receiving section of said housing having a circumference which conforms to the circumference of the rim on the meter base to permit sealing of said housing rim and said meter rim with a standard sealing ring, a base member for closing a second end on said housing, a thermal demand meter assembly supported within said housing between said base plate member and said base member including demand indicator means, a display area on said housing located adjacent said demand indicator means, the housing portion located forwardly of said display area having an indented portion to permit readout of the measurements provided by said thermal demand meter assembly, a plurality of blade members extending rearwardly of said second base member and positioned to engage the jaws of said standard meter socket, a plurality of connector means, each of which connects one of said blade members to a corresponding one of said jaw members, and means coupling said thermal demand meter assembly to said connector means, whereby watthour measurements of the energy supplied to the load are provided on said watthour indicator means and demand measurements are provided by said demand indicator means.

12. In an electrical meter for use with a ringless socket box having a cover with an aperture and a standard watthour meter having a first display area and a first base member, said electrical meter having a housing including a second base member having a cover engaging member which is larger than said aperture to prevent passage of said cover engaging member through said aperture, the portions on said housing which are forward of said cover engaging member being of a configuration which permits the passage thereof through said aperture, whereby with insertion of said housing through said aperture from the rear of the cover said cover engaging member is brought into contact with the rear surface of said cover to position said housing relative to said cover, a plurality of jaw members supported by said second base member and positioned on said second base member to receive the blades of a standard watthour meter, meter socket engaging means comprising a plurality of blades extending rearwardly of said second base member on said housing and positioned to engage the jaws of said standard meter socket whenever said cover is moved to the closed position for said ringless socket box, a second display area for said housing, an electrical meter assembly supported within said housing including an indicator located adjacent said second display area, said second display area being located within a circumference defined by the rearward projection of the circumference of the base member of said watthour meter and in a plane parallel to the plane of the watthour meter display area, a plurality of conductor means connecting said blade members to said jaw members, and means for coupling said electrical meter assembly to at least one of said conductor means to provide a further measurement by said indicator and said second display area, whereby a first and a second set of metered information is provided on separate displays located within a circumference which is defined by the base of a standard watthour meter.