Safety electrical outlet and switch system

• US 8,678,856 B2
• Filed: 03/01/2013
• Issued: 03/25/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 01/05/2000
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Alexandra Block, ANDREW KALANI NIHEU & JAY DEEP CHITNIS, Andrew M. Jenkins, Anne M. Mahoney, Baker Ken, Baum Family Trust, Binkley Family Trust, Bonnie Austin, Brandon Dinoto, Brandon Moore Utma, BRIAN DRISCOLL AND/OR DRISCOLL INVESTMENTS INC., Bruce Johnson, BRUCE & LORENE BOWERS, BRUCE & SANDY BRANDENBURG, CARL A LARSON, TRUSTEE LARSON 1995 REVOCABLE TRUST DTD 11/17/1995, CARL KOBAYASHI & MISHELLE NISHIDA, Chea Chung, CHRISTOPHER MOORE INDIVIDUALLY & AS TRUSTEE MOORE FAMILY TRUST DTD 10/3/2006, Christy L. Hendrickson Trust, CLAUDE KORDUS TRUSTEE KORDUS FAMILY TRUST, CLIFF & MAKOTO MCQUEEN, Court Wilson, Craig Hillegas, Daniel Allen, Daniel C. Serpe, DANIEL & KIMBERLY DOTSON, Daniel White, Dan Way, DAVID & BONNIC AUSTIN INDIVIDUALLY AND AS TRUSTEES AUSTIN FAMILY TRUST DTD 10/1/1999, David Caldwell, David L. Lyon, Dominique Pandolfi, DONALD D. LEARNED, TRUSTEE DONALD LEARNED TRUST C/O SCOTT LEARNED, DONALD & MARY SPENCER, Don Farris Inc Retirement Trust, Doug Cox, Elizabeth Willis, Eric Rawa, Estate Of Gary W. Dixon, GARY & BARBARA A. GENTZKOW AND/OR BARBARA GENTZKOW'S IRA, GARY & LINDSEY BLOCK, George Block, Glenn Frieder, Gloria Marie Gammill, GREG A. JIRAK & LORI HUBBART, GREG BLOCK, TRUSTEE, BLOCK FAMILY TRUST DTD 6/22/1990, Greg MacDonald, Gregory A. Block, Gregory Bernett, HARDEY, JULIE E. AKA JULIE HELLUM FBO BREE DIXON, Hardie David, Howard Brian Malloy, Ian Nausner, IVAN & LORI MENDELSON, James Clifford, James Gammill, JAMES GEVARGES & DOMINIQUE BEITKANOUN, JAMES & KIM WEINBERGER, JAMES & ROBYN CARBAUGH, JANELL SKOMER AKA JANELL SOHMER-BLOCK C/O GREGORY BLOCK, Jeffrey Lubin, Jeffrey Teza, Jeff Schott, Jerry E. Jageman, John Chu, John F. Zolezzi, JOHN & LAUARIE DEWITT AND/OR THIEIR IRAS, JOHN & LYNN BOWEN, TRUSTEES BOWN FAMILY TRUST DTD 11/21/1985, Jon Hillegas, JULIUS & MARRIETTA ZOLEZZI, KASHAN PIRACHA (KPN, LLC), Katherine Williams, KENNETH & JANET SHANER, Ken Rubin, Kevin Thomas Dinoto, Kristopher Dinoto, Laura Lewis, Laurence Balter, LINDA MOORE INDIVIDUALLY & AS TRUSTEE LINDA B. MOORE PERSONAL TRUST, Lisa Odenweller, Lori Shook, MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS LIMITED C/O SMC MULTI-MEDIA, Man-Ling Lai, Marc Cahal, Marc Odenweller, MARION J. BAUER ROSIDUARY TRUST C/O BLOCK, GAUNCE & ASSOCIATES, MARK & DIANA KENNEY, TRUSTEES KENNEY FAMILY TRUST DTD 11/29/1996, Mark McDonald, Marview Holdings, Inc., Maui Preparatory Academy, Megan Molloy, Melody Kitchens, MICHAEL & ANASTASIA FARRELL AND/OR STERLING TRUST CO. FBO MICHAEL FARRELL, Michael Bosworth, Michael Dewitt, MICHAEL MCLOUGHLIN, TRUSTEE MCLOUGHLIN FAMILY TRUST DTD 3/22/1994, Milton F. Damerow, NGUYEN, PETER (KPN, LLC), Nicholas Block, Nicole Cox, Norman M. Estin Trust, Parvis Nabavi, Paul Block, Persis Hataria, PHILIP BURKHARDT, TRUSTEE BURKHARDT 2005 FAMILY TRUST AND/OR THEIR IRAS, Phillip Moore, PHYLLIS ORNDORFF, TRUSTEE PHYLLIS ORNDORFF TRUST DTD 12-30-2010, RANDY & LONA KENT, R/Com Retail Services, LLC, Richard Babcock, RICHARD & DEBRA MYTKO, RICHARD & JACQUELINE SMITH, Robert C. Albrow, Robert M. Skomer, Robert W. Dudley Trust, Ronald S. Chapman, RYAN & SUSAN BOWERS, Ryota Komaru, Samantha Carroll, Scot Hall, Sean Mundy, Shaochong Yan, SMC Multi-Media Products Company Limited (SMC Multi-Media Limited), S Steven Podstreleny, Steve Benshoof, Steve Marlette, Steven Purves, Steven Sreb, STUART & KAREN SHAFER, Sydney Block, TERRENCE E. LEE, TRUSTEE TERRENCE E. LEE TRUST, Terrill Stewart, Terry Davis, THOMAS DINOTO, TRUSTEE DINOTO FAMILY TRUST DTD 1/11/1993, Thomas Goergen, Thomas H. Zolezzi, Timothy Karis Sirak LLC, TIM WALKER, TRUSTEE WALKER FAMILY TRUST DTD 7/21//2009, Valeo Partners LLC, Vincent Guzzetta Vascular Associates Co., WALTER & REBECCA HICKEL C/O CALWEST PROPERTIES, WARREN & ROBIN COHEN, Wendy Frieder, William Orndorff
• Original Assignee: Protectconnect Incorporated
• Inventors: Gorman, Michael P.
• Primary Examiner(s): Gilman, Alexander
• Application Number:
  US13/782,635
• Publication Number:
  US 20130244478A1
• Time in Patent Office: 389 Days
• Field of Search: 439/535, 174/60, 174/53, 220/3.8
• US Class Current: 439/535
• CPC Class Codes: H01R 13/652 with earth pin, blade or socket
• CPC Class Codes: H01R 13/70 with built-in switch
• CPC Class Codes: H01R 2103/00 Two poles
• CPC Class Codes: H01R 24/78 with additional earth or shield contacts
• CPC Class Codes: H01R 25/006 the coupling part being secured to apparatus or structure, e.g. duplex wall receptacle
• CPC Class Codes: H01R 4/64 Connections between or with conductive parts having primarily a non-electric function, e.g. frame, casing, rail
• CPC Class Codes: H01R 43/00 Apparatus or processes specially adapted for manufacturing, assembling, maintaining, or repairing of line connectors or current collectors or for joining electric conductors of trolley lines B60M1/28
• CPC Class Codes: H02G 3/126 with supporting means for mounting on a single wall stud
• CPC Class Codes: H02G 3/14 Fastening of cover or lid to box
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 29/49126 Assembling bases
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 29/49128 Assembling formed circuit to base
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 29/49169 Assembling electrical component directly to terminal or elongated conductor
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 29/49174 Assembling terminal to elongated conductor
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 29/49194 Assembling elongated conductors, e.g., splicing, etc.
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 29/49204 Contact or terminal manufacturing
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 29/49208 by assembling plural parts
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 29/49222 forming array of contacts or terminals

Abstract

An electrical box is mounted on a wall stud, and a wiring panel is installed within the electrical box so as to partition the interior of the electrical box into a user inaccessible wiring compartment and a user accessible module compartment. A protective cover is attached to the wiring panel so as to protect the wiring panel during a makeup phase of wall panel installation and painting. After the makeup phase, the protective cover is removed from the wiring panel and a module having a user operable electrical function is mounted to the wiring panel within the user accessible module compartment.

Claims

1. A wiring assembly comprising:

an electrical box comprising nonconductive material that is configured to attach to a construction framing stud;

a wiring panel located within the electrical box, the wiring panel comprising;

a nonconductive housing sized to fit within the electrical box;

at least a hot bus, neutral bus and ground bus therein;

a first side comprising a first nonconductive surface and one or more openings that expose a plurality of electrical panel contacts associated therewith;

a conductive panel key structure associated with one or more of the plurality of electrical contacts;

a nonconductive panel key structure comprising at least a portion of the nonconductive housing, wherein a portion of the nonconductive panel key structure partially shields the one or more electrical panel contacts of the conductive panel key structure from user contact; and

a second side comprising a plurality of power wire connection points that interface the hot bus, neutral bus and ground bus with the power cable; and

a protective cover configured to protect at least a portion of the wiring panel.

2. The wiring assembly of claim 1, further comprising a removable module having an electrical function.

3. The wiring assembly of claim 1, wherein the removable module and the wiring panel latch together.

4. The wiring assembly of claim 3, wherein the nonconductive key structure comprises at least one latch.

5. The wiring assembly of claim 1, wherein the electrical box comprises at least one of the group consisting of:

a single wide configuration, a double wide configuration, a triple wide configuration, and quadruple wide configuration.

6. The wiring assembly of claim 1, wherein the nonconductive module key structure is configured to engage the nonconductive panel key structure without the use of tools.

7. The wiring assembly of claim 1, wherein the module electrical contacts are configured to couple with the panel electrical contacts without requiring a user to access exposed portions of wires.

8. A method of constructing a wiring assembly comprising:

locating a wiring panel within an electrical box, the electrical box comprising nonconductive material that is configured to attach to a construction framing stud, wherein the wiring panel comprises;

a nonconductive housing sized to fit within the electrical box;

at least a hot bus, neutral bus and ground bus therein;

a first side comprising a first nonconductive surface and one or more openings that expose a plurality of electrical panel contacts associated therewith;

a conductive panel key structure associated with one or more of the plurality of electrical contacts;

a nonconductive panel key structure comprising at least a portion of the nonconductive housing, wherein a portion of the nonconductive panel key structure partially shields the one or more electrical panel contacts of the conductive panel key structure from user contact; and

a second side comprising a plurality of power wire connection points that interface the hot bus, neutral bus and ground bus with the power cable; and

protecting at least a portion of the wiring panel located in the electrical box with a protective cover.

9. The method assembly of claim 8, further comprising a removable module having an electrical function.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the removable module and the wiring panel latch together.

11. The method of claim 8, wherein the nonconductive key structure comprises at least one latch.

12. The method of claim 8, wherein the electrical box comprises at least one of the group consisting of:

a single wide configuration, a double wide configuration, a triple wide configuration, and quadruple wide configuration.

13. The method of claim 8, wherein the nonconductive module key structure is configured to engage the nonconductive panel key structure without the use of tools.

14. The method of claim 8, wherein the module electrical contacts are configured to couple with the panel electrical contacts without requiring a user to access exposed portions of wires.