Power center

• US 5,649,839 A
• Filed: 08/10/1995
• Issued: 07/22/1997
• Est. Priority Date: 08/10/1995
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: GAIA International LLC
• Original Assignee: GAIA International LLC
• Inventors: Yu, Jeff
• Primary Examiner(s): Abrams, Neil
• Assistant Examiner(s): BIGGI, BRIAN JOSEPH
• Application Number:
  US08/513,615
• Time in Patent Office: 712 Days
• Field of Search: 439/650-654, 439/501, 439/535, 307/40, 307/41, 307/112, 361/114, 361/166, 361/625, 361/643, 200/51 R, D13/142
• US Class Current: 439/650
• CPC Class Codes: H01R 13/70 with built-in switch
• CPC Class Codes: H01R 25/003 the coupling part being secured only to wires or cables

Abstract

A power center for using ON-OFF switches to control power availability for individual receptacle outlets is disclosed. The molded-in receptacle apertures and podded contact strips provide significant space, cost and efficiency improvements over existing power centers which use stand-alone, off-the shelve receptacle parts.

Claims

1. A power center supplying electrical power from a common power source to a plurality of electronic devices, the power center comprising:

a housing having a front side and a back side;

a plurality of ON-OFF switches disposed on a portion of the front side of the housing, these ON-OFF switches being electrically coupled to the common power source;

a plurality of receptacles disposed on a portion of the back side of the housing for supplying electrical power to connected electrical devices, each receptacle being electrically coupled to the common power source via one of the plurality of ON-OFF switches in a manner so that when the ON-OFF switch is ON, one of the plurality of electronic devices connected to its associated receptacle could then draw electrical power from the common power source and when the ON-OFF switch is OFF, the one electronic device connected to the associated receptacle could not then draw any electrical power from the common power source;

the plurality of receptacles comprising a plurality of prong apertures integral to the back side of the housing and an encasement unitarily constructed with and integral to the housing located inside the power center, the encasement being generally aligned with the plurality of prong apertures and the encasement having a first, a second and a third lengthwise grooves, the first and the second grooves being configured to receive a contact strip each and to be closer to the bottom portion of the power center housing than the third groove and the third groove being configured to receive a plurality of contact strips wherein each strip being electrically isolated from the others and each strip being implemented to receive one prong of a plug of an electronic device, the third groove includes a wall that having openings including slits for end portions of the contact strips to extend through for electrical coupling access; and

the common power source providing electrical power via "neutral", "ground" and "hot" leads, and the contact strip in the first groove being electrically coupled to the "neutral" lead, the contact strip in the second groove being electrically coupled to the "ground" lead and each of the contact strip in the third groove being electrically coupled to the "hot" lead via an ON-OFF switch.

2. A power center in accordance with claim 1 wherein the third groove includes a wall that has openings for end portions of the contact strips to extend through for electrical coupling access and the third groove is disposed closer to the top portion of the power center housing than the first and the second grooves and the openings are slits of sufficient widths for the contact strips to extend therethrough.