Device with retractable contacts

• US 5,931,683 A
• Filed: 06/22/1998
• Issued: 08/03/1999
• Est. Priority Date: 06/26/1997
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: US Philips Corporation (Koninklijke Philips N.V.)
• Original Assignee: US Philips Corporation (Koninklijke Philips N.V.)
• Inventors: Pinel, Marcel
• Primary Examiner(s): NGUYEN, KHIEM M
• Application Number:
  US09/102,472
• Time in Patent Office: 407 Days
• Field of Search: 320/2, 439/500, 439/188, 439/923, 439/929, 439/38-40
• US Class Current: 439/39
• CPC Class Codes: H01R 13/2442 with a single cantilevered beam
• CPC Class Codes: H01R 2201/16 for telephony
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/0045 concerning the insertion or the connection of the batteries
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/3883 Arrangements for mounting batteries or battery chargers
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 439/929 Connecting base plate or shelf type holder

Abstract

An invention is disclosed which has a contact element having a part mounted on an electrically conductive leaf spring and which part is connected to an electric circuit; in a state of rest the part is positioned behind a wall, but it projects outward through an opening under the influence of a magnet carried by an apparatus to be connected, so as to make contact with a contact plate carried by this apparatus when it is coupled to the device.

Claims

1. An apparatus whose power is supplied by a battery, comprising a casing which has a contact plate for charging the battery by means of a device for charging the apparatus, wherein the casing has contact elements of which at least one has a mobile contact element capable of being retracted inside the casing or being projected outside the casing through an opening while attracted by a magnet carried by the apparatus to be charged, wherein the mobile contact element is made of a metal which is both electroconductive and ferromagnetic, and is mechanically and electrically connected to an electrically conductive spring, said spring being electrically connected to an electric circuit, and being positioned so that, in a state of rest, the mobile contact element is retracted inside the casing, said apparatus having a magnet for attracting the mobile contact element of the device, the contact plate being positioned opposite the contact element of the device when the apparatus is coupled to the device to be charged, said apparatus further having two contact plates and a single magnet for the two contact plates.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the contact element is carried by one end of a leaf spring.

3. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the contact element and the leaf spring form one whole.

4. The apparatus of claim 2, further comprising a printed circuit, wherein the other end of the leaf spring is soldered onto a metallic layer of the printed circuit.