DESC:FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present disclosure relates to wiring devices and particularly to a protection cover assembly for a wiring device.

BACKGROUND

As is generally known, wiring devices are mounted on a supporting surface, such as a wall, for operating associated electrical appliances, for example, tube-lights, bulbs, and fans. Considering the electrical connections therein, it is relevant to ensure that the wiring devices are protected from contamination by any foreign material and primarily, from water ingress. There are existing protection covers that are used for being mounted around a wiring device to ensure protection from water. However, such existing covers are to be custom made for each model of a wiring device. Therefore, a protection cover of a wiring device A may not be used for a wiring device B. This turns out to be manufacturing and logistical challenge for manufacturers. This would also lead to high manufacturing costs and consequently to high cost of protection devices. From the consumer perspective, the consumer will have to look for a very specific protection cover that would fit on their wiring device, in case of the need for a replacement. Therefore, this could pose significant inconvenience to the consumer as well.

SUMMARY

This summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts, in a simplified format, that are further described in the detailed description of the invention. This summary is neither intended to identify key or essential inventive concepts of the invention and nor is it intended for determining the scope of the invention.

In an embodiment of the present disclosure, a protection cover assembly for a wiring device is disclosed. The protection cover assembly includes a housing having a front surface facing the exterior, a mounting surface formed opposite to the front surface and adapted to be in contact with a wall when the housing is mounted on the wall, a first central slot adapted to receive the wiring device, and a water guiding structure formed on the mounting surface and adapted to guide incoming water out of the protection cover assembly.

In another embodiment of the present disclosure, an apparatus having a wiring device and a protection cover assembly for the wiring device is disclosed. The protection cover assembly includes a housing having a front surface facing the exterior, a mounting surface formed opposite to the front surface and adapted to be in contact with a wall when the housing is mounted on the wall, a first central slot adapted to receive the wiring device, and a water guiding structure formed on the mounting surface and adapted to guide incoming water out of the protection cover assembly.

To further clarify the advantages and features of the present invention, a more particular description of the invention will be rendered by reference to specific embodiments thereof, which is illustrated in the appended drawings. It is appreciated that these drawings depict only typical embodiments of the invention and are therefore not to be considered limiting of its scope. The invention will be described and explained with additional specificity and detail with the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

These and other features, aspects, and advantages of the present invention will become better understood when the following detailed description is read with reference to the accompanying drawings in which like characters represent like parts throughout the drawings, wherein:

Figure 1 illustrates a perspective view of an apparatus having a wiring device and a protection cover assembly for the wiring device, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;
Figure 2 illustrates a perspective front view of a housing of the protection cover assembly depicting a front surface, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;
Figure 3 illustrates a perspective back view of the housing of the protection cover assembly depicting a mounting surface, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;
Figure 4 illustrates a back view of the housing of the protection cover assembly depicting a water guiding structure, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure; and
Figure 5 illustrates a back view of the housing depicting an elastic plate, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Further, skilled artisans will appreciate that elements in the drawings are illustrated for simplicity and may not have been necessarily been drawn to scale. For example, the flow charts illustrate the method in terms of the most prominent steps involved to help to improve understanding of aspects of the present invention. Furthermore, in terms of the construction of the device, one or more components of the device may have been represented in the drawings by conventional symbols, and the drawings may show only those specific details that are pertinent to understanding the embodiments of the present invention so as not to obscure the drawings with details that will be readily apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art having benefit of the description herein.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF FIGURES

For the purpose of promoting an understanding of the principles of the invention, reference will now be made to the embodiment illustrated in the drawings and specific language will be used to describe the same. It will nevertheless be understood that no limitation of the scope of the invention is thereby intended, such alterations and further modifications in the illustrated system, and such further applications of the principles of the invention as illustrated therein being contemplated as would normally occur to one skilled in the art to which the invention relates. Unless otherwise defined, all technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skilled in the art to which this invention belongs. The system, methods, and examples provided herein are illustrative only and not intended to be limiting.

For example, the term “some” as used herein may be understood as “none” or “one” or “more than one” or “all.” Therefore, the terms “none,” “one,” “more than one,” “more than one, but not all” or “all” would fall under the definition of “some.” It should be appreciated by a person skilled in the art that the terminology and structure employed herein is for describing, teaching, and illuminating some embodiments and their specific features and elements and therefore, should not be construed to limit, restrict, or reduce the spirit and scope of the present disclosure in any way.

For example, any terms used herein such as, “includes,” “comprises,” “has,” “consists,” and similar grammatical variants do not specify an exact limitation or restriction, and certainly do not exclude the possible addition of one or more features or elements, unless otherwise stated. Further, such terms must not be taken to exclude the possible removal of one or more of the listed features and elements, unless otherwise stated, for example, by using the limiting language including, but not limited to, “must comprise” or “needs to include.”

Whether or not a certain feature or element was limited to being used only once, it may still be referred to as “one or more features” or “one or more elements” or “at least one feature” or “at least one element.” Furthermore, the use of the terms “one or more” or “at least one” feature or element do not preclude there being none of that feature or element, unless otherwise specified by limiting language including, but not limited to, “there needs to be one or more...” or “one or more element is required.”
Unless otherwise defined, all terms and especially any technical and/or scientific terms, used herein may be taken to have the same meaning as commonly understood by a person ordinarily skilled in the art.

Reference is made herein to some “embodiments.” It should be understood that an embodiment is an example of a possible implementation of any features and/or elements of the present disclosure. Some embodiments have been described for the purpose of explaining one or more of the potential ways in which the specific features and/or elements of the proposed disclosure fulfil the requirements of uniqueness, utility, and non-obviousness.

Use of the phrases and/or terms including, but not limited to, “a first embodiment,” “a further embodiment,” “an alternate embodiment,” “one embodiment,” “an embodiment,” “multiple embodiments,” “some embodiments,” “other embodiments,” “further embodiment”, “furthermore embodiment”, “additional embodiment” or other variants thereof do not necessarily refer to the same embodiments. Unless otherwise specified, one or more particular features and/or elements described in connection with one or more embodiments may be found in one embodiment, or may be found in more than one embodiment, or may be found in all embodiments, or may be found in no embodiments. Although one or more features and/or elements may be described herein in the context of only a single embodiment, or in the context of more than one embodiment, or in the context of all embodiments, the features and/or elements may instead be provided separately or in any appropriate combination or not at all. Conversely, any features and/or elements described in the context of separate embodiments may alternatively be realized as existing together in the context of a single embodiment.

Any particular and all details set forth herein are used in the context of some embodiments and therefore should not necessarily be taken as limiting factors to the proposed disclosure.

For the sake of clarity, the first digit of a reference numeral of each component of the present disclosure is indicative of the Figure number, in which the corresponding component is shown. For example, reference numerals starting with digit “1” are shown at least in Figure 1. Similarly, reference numerals starting with digit “2” are shown at least in Figure 2.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Figure 1 illustrates a perspective view of an apparatus 100 having a wiring device 102 and a protection cover assembly 104 for the wiring device 102, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. Therefore, the apparatus 100 may include, but is not limited, to the wiring device 102 and the protection cover assembly 104. For the sake of readability, the protection cover assembly 104 may hereinafter be referred to as the cover assembly 104.

The cover assembly 104 may include, but is not limited to, a housing 106 and a cover plate 108 adapted to be disposed on the housing 106. The housing 106 is adapted to be mounted on a supporting surface, such as a wall and the cover plate 108 is adapted to be disposed on the housing 106 such that switches 112 of the wiring device 102 can be easily accessed by a user. The housing 106 may include a front surface facing the exterior. Figure 2 illustrates a perspective front view of the housing 106 depicting the front surface 202, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. Referring to Figure 1 and Figure 2, the cover plate 108 may be adapted to be disposed on the front surface 202 of the housing 106.

The housing 106 may include a first central slot 204 adapted to receive the wiring device 102. Similarly, the cover plate 108 may also include a second central slot 110 adapted to provide access to at least one switch 112 of the wiring device 102. When the cover plate 108 is disposed on the housing 106, the first central slot 204 and the second central slot 110 may align with each other such that a user get gets access to the switch 112. Therefore, the user can conveniently operate the switch 112 for operating the associated electrical appliance.

In the illustrated embodiment, the wiring device 102 is shown to include two switches 112, individually referred to as 112-1 and 112-2. As would be appreciated by a person skilled in the art, the number of switches 112 in the wiring device 102 may vary depending on operational and constructional requirements. Therefore, in other embodiments, the wiring device 102 may include more or a smaller number of switches 112, without departing from the scope of the present disclosure.

Further, the housing 106 may include a mounting surface formed opposite to the front surface 202. Figure 3 illustrates a perspective back view of the housing 106 depicting the mounting surface 302, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. The mounting surface 302 may be adapted to be in contact with a wall, for example, when the housing 106 is mounted on the wall. The housing 106 may include a water guiding structure 304 formed on the mounting surface 302. As the name suggests, the water guiding structure 304 may be adapted to guide incoming water out of the cover assembly 104, thereby ensuring that the wiring device 102 is protected from the water or any other such foreign substance.

Further, as illustrated, the housing 106 may include a first recess 306 formed along the edges of the mounting surface 302, and a second recess 308 formed adjacent to the first recess 306. The first recess 306 and the second recess 308 may form parts of the water guiding structure 304. The second recess 308 is formed such that the second recess 308 is between the first central slot 204 and the first recess 306. The water guiding structure 304 is formed in the housing 106 because of the construction of the first recess 306 and the second recess 308, which is explained in detail in the subsequent description. The first recess 306 may be adapted to collect the incoming water and the second recess 308 may be adapted to drain the collected water out of the cover assembly 104.

Figure 4 illustrates a back view of the housing 106 depicting the water guiding structure 304, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. In an embodiment, the water guiding structure 304 may include a water holding structure 402 and a water through structure 404. The water holding structure 402 may be adapted to receive the incoming water. The housing 106 may include a plurality of first ribs 406 formed in the first recess 306. In an embodiment, the first ribs 406 are equidistant from each other. The formation of the first ribs 406 in the first recess 306 in turn forms a plurality of first cells 410.

For the ease of marking in Figure 4, only the first ribs 406 formed on one of the horizontal edges of the first recess 306 are labeled. However, all the ribs formed in the first recess 306, i.e., on both the vertical edges and both the horizontal edges of the first recess 306 are to be understood as the first ribs 406.

The water holding structure 402 may be formed by this construction of the first recess 306 having the first ribs 406. Such construction allows for effective collection of the water, for example, due to surface tension of the first cells 410. Therefore, owing to the surface tension, the water will be collected in the first recess 306 and would not move to subsequent layers.

Further, the water through structure 404 is adapted to drain the incoming water. The housing 106 may include a plurality of second ribs 408 formed in the second recess 308. In an embodiment, the second ribs 408 are equidistant from each other. The formation of the second ribs 408 in the second recess 308 in turn forms a plurality of second cells 412. The water through structure 404 may be formed by this construction of the second recess 308 having the second ribs 408. The water through structure 404 may be understood as a water pass formed between the housing 106 and the wall.

For the ease of marking in Figure 4, only the second ribs 408 formed on one of the vertical edges of the second recess 308 are labeled. However, all the ribs formed in the second recess 308, i.e., on both the vertical edges and both the horizontal edges of the second recess 308 are to be understood as the second ribs 408.

In an embodiment, the first ribs 406 may be positioned in the first recess 306 at an offset with respect to the second ribs 408 positioned in the second recess 308. In an embodiment, the height of the first ribs 406 may be more than the height of the second ribs 408. Due to this structure of the ribs 406, 408, the water drops can be trapped in the plurality of first cells 410 and a drain passage is formed over the second ribs 408 through the plurality of second cells 412. As would be appreciated by a person skilled in the art, the construction of the first ribs 406 and the second ribs 408 is not limited to abovementioned embodiments. In other embodiments, the construction may vary depending on the operational requirements, without departing from the scope of the present disclosure.

In an embodiment, the cover assembly 104 may include an elastic plate adapted to be disposed between the mounting surface 302 and the wall. Figure 5 illustrates a back view of the housing 106 depicting the elastic plate 502, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. In an embodiment, the elastic plate 502 may be pasted on the mounting surface 302. As illustrated, the elastic plate 502 is disposed on the mounting surface 302 such that the first recess 306 is partially covered. Therefore, the elastic plate 502 further improves the proofing of the wiring device 102 from the unwanted foreign material. In an embodiment, the elastic plate 502 may be formed of silicon rubber.

As would be gathered, the present disclosure offers the protection cover assembly 104 that is ergonomically designed to ensure an effective protection of the wiring devices. The proposed construction of the cover assembly 104 ensures simple mounting on the wall and improved proofing of the wiring device 102. The water guiding structure 304 and the elastic plate 502 ensure that the wiring device 102 is completely protected from any foreign material. Moreover, the cover assembly 104 can be universally used for any wiring device of any model, as far as the size remains the same. This would provide significant ease of manufacturing to the manufacturer whereas the consumer would get the product at a cheaper cost. Therefore, the cover assembly 104 of the present disclosure is operation-effective, cost-effective, and offer significant convenience to the consumer at least in terms of installation, usage, and maintenance.

While specific language has been used to describe the present subject matter, any limitations arising on account thereto, are not intended. As would be apparent to a person in the art, various working modifications may be made to the method in order to implement the inventive concept as taught herein. The drawings and the foregoing description give examples of embodiments. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that one or more of the described elements may well be combined into a single functional element. Alternatively, certain elements may be split into multiple functional elements. Elements from one embodiment may be added to another embodiment. ,CLAIMS:We Claim:

1. A protection cover assembly (104) for a wiring device (102), the protection cover assembly (104) comprising:
a housing (106) comprising:
a front surface (202) facing the exterior;
a mounting surface (302) formed opposite to the front surface (202) and adapted to be in contact with a wall, when the housing (106) is mounted on the wall;
a first central slot (204) adapted to receive the wiring device (102); and
a water guiding structure (304) formed on the mounting surface (302) and adapted to guide incoming water out of the protection cover assembly (104).

2. The protection cover assembly (104) as claimed in claim 1, comprising a cover plate (108) adapted to be disposed on the front surface (202) of the housing, wherein the cover plate (108) comprising a second central slot (110) adapted to provide access to at least one switch (112) of the wiring device (102).

3. The protection cover assembly (104) as claimed in claim 1, wherein the water guiding structure (304) comprising:
a first recess (306) formed along the edges of the mounting surface (302); and
a second recess (308) formed adjacent to the first recess (306) such that the second recess (308) is between the first central slot (204) and the first recess (306).

4. The protection cover assembly (104) as claimed in claim 3, wherein the water guiding structure (304) comprising:
a water holding structure (402) formed by a plurality of first ribs (406) formed in the first recess (306), wherein the water holding structure (402) is adapted to receive the incoming water; and
a water through structure (404) formed by a plurality of second ribs (408) formed in the second recess (308), wherein the water holding structure (402) is adapted to drain the water.

5. The protection cover assembly (104) as claimed in claim 4, wherein the plurality of first ribs (406) is equidistant from each other and the plurality of second ribs (408) is equidistant from each other.

6. The protection cover assembly (104) as claimed in claim 4, wherein the height of the plurality of first ribs (406) is more than the height of the plurality of second ribs (408).

7. The protection cover assembly (104) as claimed in claim 4, wherein the plurality of first ribs (406) is positioned in the first recess (306) at an offset with respect to the plurality of second ribs (408) positioned in the second recess (308).

8. The protection cover assembly (104) as claimed in claim 1, comprising an elastic plate (502) adapted to be disposed between the mounting surface (302) and the wall.

9. The protection cover assembly (104) as claimed in claim 8, wherein the elastic plate (502) is pasted on the mounting surface (302).

10. The protection cover assembly (104) as claimed in claim 8, wherein the elastic plate (502) is formed of silicon rubber.

11. An apparatus (100) comprising:
a wiring device (102); and
a protection cover assembly (104) for the wiring device (102), the protection cover assembly (104) comprising:
a housing (106) comprising:
a front surface (202) facing the exterior;
a mounting surface (302) formed opposite to the front surface (202) and adapted to be in contact with a wall, when the housing (106)is mounted on the wall;
a first central slot (204) adapted to receive the wiring device (102); and
a water guiding structure (304) formed on the mounting surface (302) and adapted to guide incoming water out of the protection cover assembly (104).