US 6,208,229 B1Granted

Moulded case power switch housing with removably secured secondary cover

AssigneeEaton Corporation

InventorsMark Owen Zindler, Joseph Bell Humbert

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Abstract

The secondary cover of a molded case power switch housing is removably secured in place to enclose cavities in the insulative resin of a primary cover by an attachment assembly which includes metal attachment members or inserts seated in recesses in the primary cover. These inserts have tapped apertures aligned with mounting holes in the secondary cover through which screw fasteners are inserted and threaded into the tapped apertures. Such metal to metal connections can be repeatedly coupled and decoupled without significant wear as the secondary cover is removed and reinstalled to gain access to auxiliary devices mounted in the cavities in the primary cover. The inserts have second mounting apertures through which self tapping screws extend into the primary cover or through mounting holes in the primary cover and into the resin of the base to mount the inserts on the primary cover and to secure the primary cover to the base.

Claims12

Dependent claims

A molded case power switch housing comprising:

a molded base having an open top;
a primary cover extending over said open top and secured to said molded base to form an enclosure, said primary cover having at least one cavity formed in atop face thereof;
a removable secondary cover which seats on said top face of said primary cover over said at least one cavity in said primary cover and has at least one mounting hole;
an attachment assembly comprising:
at least one attachment member secured to said top face of said primary cover and having a first mounting aperture which registers with said at least one mounting hole in said secondary cover;
at least one first fastener extending through said at least one mounting hole in said secondary cover and engaging said first mounting aperture in said attachment member to removably secure said secondary cover to said primary cover;
wherein said first mounting aperture in said at least one attachment member is a tapped aperture and said at least one first fastener has a threaded shaft which threads into said tapped aperture;
and
wherein said primary cover has at least one primary cover mounting hole, said at least one attachment member has a second mounting aperture aligned with said at least one primary cover mounting hole, and said attachment assembly includes a second fastener extending through said second mounting aperture in said attachment member and engaging said at least one primary cover mounting hole.

6 more elements

A molded case power switch housing comprising:

a molded base having an open top;
a primary cover extending over said open top and secured to said molded base to form an enclosure, said primary cover having at least one cavity formed in a top face thereof;
a removable secondary cover which seats on said top face of said primary cover over said at least one cavity in said primary cover ad has at least one mounting hole;
an attachment assembly comprising:
at least one attachment member secured to said top face of said primary cover and having a first mounting aperture which registers with said at least one mounting hole in said secondary cover;
at least one first fastener extending through said at least one mounting hole in said secondary cover and engaging said first mounting aperture in said attachment member to removably secure said secondary cover to said primary cover;
wherein said first mounting aperture in said at least one attachment member is a tapped aperture and said at least one first fastener has a threaded shaft which threads into said tapped aperture;
and
wherein said primary cover has at least one primary cover mounting hold, said at least one primary cover mounting hole, said at least one attachment member has a second mounting aperture aligned with said at least one primary cover mounting hole and said base has at least one base mounting hole aligned with both said at least one primary cover mounting hole and said second mounting aperture of said at least one attachment member, and said attachment assembly includes at least one second fastener which extends through said second mounting aperture of said at least one attachment member, said at least one primary cover mounting hole, ad is secured in said at least one base mounting hole to secure said at least one attachment member to said primary cover and secure said primary cover to said base.

6 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.