Watertight housing for electrical devices

Abstract

The invention is a watertight plastic housing for an electrical device, having a base 2, a lid 12 of a size and shape to be friction-induced welded 13 to base 2. The housing has a fixed male-threaded nipple 1, which is hollow (opening 5), permitting wires 10 to pass through a housing wall. When the housing base is friction-induced welded to the lid, a prior art washer is externally seated on the nipple, the nipple is inserted into a hole 15 of a prior art junction box 16, and the nipple is secured to the junction box with a prior art nut, the housing and housing-to-junction box substantially provides a watertight seal.

Description

BACKGROUND OF INVENTION[0001] This invention relates to boxes and housings with electric device or mounting means therefor; coupling or mounting means, with stud or nipple and box supporting means. The invention also relates to sealed with box supporting means; or conduit or cable opening, coupling means or hole closures, and / or covers or face plates with closure for face plate opening.[0002] There are instances when electrical equipment must be protected from moisture and dust. NEMA4 and NEMA4X are standards by NEMA* for electrical enclosures that do not allow the ingress of moisture and / or dust. Enclosures that satisfy both NEMA4 and NEMA4X are referred to as satisfying NEMA4 / 4X. Prior art NEMA4 and NEMA4X housings are available with a lid, base, and gasket, attached by means of several screws. An example of such prior art, with an electrical device inside, can be seen in U.S. Pat. No. 5,239,129, entitled HOUSING FOR SWITCHED ELECTRICAL RECEPTACLE OR THE LIKE, by Alfred L. Ehrenfe...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0016] This water-seal enclosure invention provides relief from the high cost of manufacturing a gasket; and multiple conduit, washer, and pipe parts. The invention provides relief from intensive labor / cost: punching out the knockout of the housing, screwing together the housing / conduit / washer, / pipe parts, seating the gasket, and 4-screwing the lid down.[0017] The elimination of the sharp metal close-nipple eliminates the scraping of insulation off of fed-through wires. The elimination of the gasket reduces the possibility of errors in its seating. The absence of possible scraping and water-seal (washer-seating) errors at installation greatly reduces the possibility of system errors and failures.[0018] Replacing the loosely held close-nipple with a fixed nipple and placing the washer on the nipple under controlled manufacturing conditions assures that the washer won't float and likely won't catch / deform / compromise the seal at the junction box.[0019] Because a wide surface of the housing butts directly up against the junction box, the box's washer won't float and likely won't catch / deform / compromise the seal at the box. Because the lid-attachment screws have been eliminated, the enclosure has more internal space.[0020] The lid's lip centers precicely to the base lip, unlike lids with gaskets. A housing base lip for a friction-induced weld can have radially thinner housing lips than housings made to use gaskets [A peripheral friction-induced weld base needs only an inner ledge, whereas a gasket needs a trench to retain the gasket.][0021] FIG. 1 is a prior art housing-to-box attachment, cross-sectional view[0022] FIG. 2 shows an installed housing-to-junction box attachment, cross-sectional view.[0023] FIG. 3 shows the embodiment of FIG. 2 with an electrical device[0024] FIG. 4 is an embodiment of a housing base, top perspective view[0025] FIG. 5 is an embodiment of a housing base, with feed-through holes, top perspective view[0026] FIG. 6 is an embodiment of a housing lid, to mate with base in FIG. 4, bottom perspective view[0027] FIG. 7 is an embodiment of a housing lid, to mate with base in FIG. 5, bottom perspective view[0028] FIG. 8 shows an installed housing-conduit attachment, cross-sectional view.

Problems solved by technology

When inside the rectangular box, the four screw holes take up limited housing space.]

The narrow gasket (narrow in order to not enlarge the housing wall thickness) is difficult and expensive to produce.

Setting this specialized gasket is labor-intensive: It is hard to place the rubbery gasket (82) into the narrow rectangular channel (80) of the base, especially at it's sharp inverted corners near the screw holes.

So housing-to-junction-box attachment requires an extensive number of hand-screwing operations.

Often there is barely room for the electronics, strain-relief, fold-over, and the nut; making nut retainment very difficult.

Though the housing may meet NEMA4 standards when it leaves the manufacturer, its water-seal is easily compromised at installation: An installer must slide rubber washer 87 over the close-nipple, all the way to outer surface of housing base 82, extend the close-nipple through the opened junction-box knock-out, hold the housing tight against wall of junction box 86, and apply / tighten nut 91.

The problem is the close-nipple can be loose, with the nut loose, against the inner surface of the housing when the installer gets it (close-nipple 81 only secured by internal nut 88).

If the close-nipple is not pulled out tight from the housing, and isn't held exactly perpendicular to the housing while pushing on the washer, the washer won't be seated properly.

This will trap and deform the washer, further compromising the water-seal.

If a nut restraint were molded into a prior-art housing at a knock-out, that would prevent prior-art seating problems, but such a restraint would take up valuable housing space (which is why no such housing is known to exist)

[This can cause the electrical grounding of the affected wires, and / or cause a malfunction of the overall system.]

Because of this, the difficulty of securing the housing properly may often lead to a compromised watertight seal.

This can be labor intensive and leave globs of material on the outside of the housing.

[Such a screw was positioned inside of the housing cavity area, thereby making the NEMA4 rating impossible.]

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