US3525069A - Theftproof electrical appliance - Google Patents

Description

Aug; 18, 1970 P. VAN DEUSEN THEFTPROOF ELECTRICAL APPLIANCE Filed Aug. 5, 1968 3,525,069 THEFTPROOF ELECTRICAL APPLIANCE Paul Van Deusen, 325 Blythe Road, Pasadena, Calif. 91103 Filed Aug. 5, 1968, Ser. No. 750,234 Int. Cl. H01r 13/54 US. Cl. 339-82 8 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE An electrical appliance such as a night light and a plug in a unitary structure that can be locked to a wall outlet. A pair of L-shaped tabs on the plug fit behind the faceplate of the outlet to lock the appliance in place. Preferably, the tabs are attached to the faceplate screw and one of the socket frame screws. The unitary structure includes an auxiliary socket and an on-oif switch for the appliance.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to electrical appliances and, more particularly, to a device for rendering theftproof an electrical appliance such as a night light.

Theft in places of public accommodation is a common occurrence against which preventive measures must ordinarily be taken. One common preventive measure that is often taken with respect to small items that can easily be pilfered is to forego the provision of such items in a public accommodation. This practice is evidenced by the failure of most motels and hotels to provide night lights in their rooms that would facilitate the use of the bathroom facilities by guests during the night. Those hotels and motels that have furnished such night lights experienced large-scale theft, causing them to forego replacement.

By failing to provide night lights for their guests, hotels and motels incur unneeded expense in the form of excessive electric bills. Many guests in hotels and motels leave the lights in the bathroom on all night as a substitute for a night light. The bathroom lights consume hundreds of watts of power, whereas a night light consumes only several watts. When this difference in electrical power consumption is multiplied times the hundreds, of units that are available at many of the modern hotels and motels, it can be seen that a substantial reduction in the electric bill can be achieved by providing night lights.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The invention contemplates an electrical appliance such as a night light having a plug that can be locked to an electrical wall outlet. The locking device comprises one or more L-shaped tabs that extend from the plug through the socket openings in the faceplate when the plug is connected to the outlet, to fit behind the faceplate. Consequently, to disconnect the plug from the outlet the faceplate must first be removed. Most advantageously, two oppositely disposed tabs are employed; and the tabs are adapted to be attached respectively to the screw that secures the faceplate to the socket frame and one of the screws that secures the socket frame to the wall. Thus, the plug is more firmly locked to the outlet.

The appliance and the plug are arranged in a unitary structure so no connecting cord is required between the plug and the appliance. This arrangement obviates one potential way of stealing the appliance, namely cutting the cord. A night light is particularly well suited to being combined in a unitary structure with a plug because it is compact and can be effective when it is located near the floor of a room, where many wall outlets are found. Most ted States Patent advantageously, the unitary structure is in the shape of an elbow, with the plug extending from one end of the structure and the night light extending from the other end of the structure. At any rate, the plug is smaller than the socket opening in the face plate to permit the face plate to be slid over a portion of the structure and the appliance is larger than the opening in the face plate to prevent the face plate from sliding over the appliance. An auxiliary socket in the body of the structure and an on-otf switch for the night light are optional conveniences.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING The features of specific embodiments of the best mode contemplated for carrying out the invention are illustrated in the drawing, in which:

FIG. 1 is a side elevation view of a night light that is connected to an electrical wall outlet;

FIG. 2 is a front elevation view of the night light and outlet of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a sectional view of a portion of the night light of FIG. 1 with the faceplate of the outlet removed; and

FIG. 4 is a side elevation view of a night light constructed differently from that of FIG. 1.

DESCRIPTION OF SPECIFIC EMBODIMENTS In FIGS. 1, 2 and 3, an electrical outlet 1 is set into a wall box 2. Outlet 1 comprises a socket frame 3 and a faceplate 4. Socket frame 3 has a pair of sockets 5 only one of which is shown in the drawing. Screws 6, only one of which is shown in the drawing, secure socket frame 3 to wall box 2. A screw connection 7 secures face plate 4 to socket frame 3. An appliance 10, which has a body 11 in the shape of an elbow, is connected to socket 5. Plug prongs 12 and 13 extend from one end of body 11 intothe openings of socket 5 to provide electrical power to appliance 10. A light socket 14 adapted to receive a night light bulb 15 is disposed at the other end of body 11. A rotatable light-dispersing shade 16 surrounds the portion of light bulb 15 facing away from wall box 2. For convenience, body 11 is provided with an auxiliary socket 17 and an on-otf switch 18 to control the lighting of bulb 15. The internal electrical connections inside body 11 are not illustrated in the drawing because their nature is well known in the art and is not essential to an understanding of the invention.

Appliance 10 is locked to outlet 1 by double L-shaped tabs 19 and 20 that are oppositely .disposed at the end of body 11 where plug prongs 12 and 13 are located. Tabs 19 and 20, which are preferably made from a tough spring steel, extend through a socket opening 21 in faceplate 4 and fit behind faceplate 4. Tab 19 is adapted to be attached by screw connection 6 to socket frame 3 and tab 20 is adapted to be attached by screw connection 7 to faceplate 4. One way of accomplishing this adaptation is depicted in FIG. 3. Tabs 19 and 20 are designed so the distance between their extremities is greater than the distance between screws 6 and 7 and they are provided with U-shaped terminations 22 that are placed under the screw heads of connections 6 and 7. Appliance 10 can only be taken from outlet 1 by first removing faceplate 4, but faceplate 4 can only be removed with a special tool. From the exterior of outlet 1 it would not be apparent to a thief how appliance 10 is secured to outlet 1 and it is therefore unlikely that a thief would remove faceplate 4. Thus, appliance 10 is effectively made theftproof by tabs 19 and 20. On the other hand, it can be taken from outlet 1 by a maintenance man who Wants to repair the outlet or the appliance.

switch 18 and auxiliary socket 17 acquire added'signif-- icance. Switch 18 represents the only convenient way to turn off bulb and auxiliary socket 17 insures that two sockets are still available at outlet 1.

In order to connect appliance 10 to outlet .1, faceplate 4 is first removed. Then, body 11 is cocked slightly counterclockwise as viewed in FIG. 1 so tab 19 first passes through opening 21 in faceplate 4 followed by plug prongs 12 and 13. Next, appliance 10 is rotated clockwise as viewed in FIG. 2 so tabs 19 and are aligned along the diagonal of opening 21, represented by a dashed line 23 in FIG. 2, and appliance 10 is raised slightly to allow tab 20 to slip behind faceplate 4. After tabs .19 and 20 are located behind faceplate 4, appliance 10 is counterrotated to a vertical position, i.e., the position depicted in FIGS. 1 and 3, and moved against socket frame 3 so tab 19 can be attached to screw connection 6. The attachment to screw connection 6 is most advantageously made by first sliding faceplate 4 back on body 11 and then slipping a ninetydegree screwdriver between faceplate 4 and socket frame 3. Finally, faceplate 4 is replaced over socket frame 3 and screw connection 7 is tightened. Tabs 19 and 20 are properly aligned before faceplate 4 is replaced, so termination 22 of tab 20 is attached to faceplate 4 by screw connection 7 as it is tightened.

Tabs 19 and 20 would lock appliance 10 to outlet 1 even if they were not attached to socket frame 3 and faceplate 4 because they would stop up against the interior surface of faceplate 4 as an attempt is made to disconnect and remove appliance 10. However the attachment of tab 19 and/or tab 20 to outlet 1 establishes a stronger and more secure unopenable lock i.e., it requires special knowledge and equipment to remove appliance .10. This makes the appliance unremovable, hence theftproof, except by authorized maintenance personnel. In particular, a 90 degree screwdriver is required to remove appliance 10, and removal can only be effected by one having special knowledge about its use. FIG. 4 shows a night light having locking tabs 30 and 31 that are not designed to be attached to the screws of the outlet to which it is to be connected. Tabs 30 and 31 are single L-shaped and body 32 of the night light is larger than socket opening 33 in faceplate 34. The distance between the extremities of tabs 30 and 31 is smaller than in the embodiment of FIG. 1. Tab 31 is located to the side of the faceplate screw, as represented in FIG. 4. Alternatively, either tab 30 or tab 31 could be attached to a screw of the outlet as in FIG. 1. Further, a single tab can sometimes be used to lock the night light effectively to a wall outlet.

What is claimed is:

1. A theftproof electrical appliance in combination with an electrical outlet, the combination comprising:

a socket frame having an electrical socket and a screw connection for mounting the frame to an electrical wall box;

a removable face plate covering the socket frame and the frame mounting screw connection, the face plate having an opening to expose the socket;

an electrical appliance and a plug in a unitary structure, the plug being smaller than the opening in the face plate to permit the face plate to be slid over a portion of the unitary structure and the appliance being larger than the opening in the face plate to prevent the face plate from sliding over the appliance;

a pair of plug prongs extending from the plug into the socket to provide electrical power to the appliance; and

a locking tab extending from the plug through the opening in the face plate, one end of the locking tab being secured to the plug and the other end of the locking tab being secured to the socket frame mounting screw connection behind the face plate.

2. The theftproof appliance of claim 1, in which the locking tab is double L-shaped.

3. The combination of claim 1, in which the structure has an auxiliary socket adapted to receive an elec trical plug.

4. The combination of claim 1, in which an on-otf switch is provided to control the appliance.

5. The combination of claim 1, in which the structure is elbow shaped with the plug being located at one end. and the appliance being located at the other end.

6. The combination of claim 5, in which the appliance is a night light.

7. The theftproof appliance of claim 1, in which there is provided an additional locking tab that extends from the plug through the opening in the faceplate, one end of the additional locking tab being secured to the plug and the other end of the additional locking tab being secured to the face plate screw connection.

8. The theftproof appliance of claim 7, in which the additional locking tab is double L-shaped.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,171,334 2/1916 Gaifney 24073 2,199,560 5/1940 Faller 339-476 2,667,571 1/1954 Versen 240-73 MARVIN A. CHAMPION, Primary Examiner J. H. McGLYNN, Assistant Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 17467

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