Plug with spring-loaded flap - which automatically emerges and pivots through right-angle to cover contact pins

摘要

The plug has a spring-loaded flap (4) that covers its contact pins when the plug is removed from a socket and thereby prevents the user touching the pins. The pins are shrouded by a circular wall. The flap covers the open end of this wall. The flap is acted on by a helical spring (3a) that tends to force it out of a channel along the side of the plug's casing (10). A leaf spring (5) at the hinged edge (6) of the flap causes the flap to pivot through 90 degrees once it has left the channel: the flap thereby automatically covers the pins. The flap is withdrawn by a slide (7) on the outside of the casing. The user moves the slide with his finger or thumb. Another configuration is available in which the contact pins are moved against the action of two crossed leaf springs.