Protective cover for electrical receptacle boxes

Claim 1

A removable protective cover for use with an electrical receptacle box of the type having vertical sidewalls and top and bottom horizontal walls forming a forwardly opening cavity and the walls each having front edges adjacent a common vertical plane collectively defining a rectangular frame edge surrounding the opening to the cavity, and said horizontal walls respectively having mounting ears at their front edges projecting oppositely away from the center of said opening, the cover being adapted to be assembled to the receptacle box in covering relation to said opening to retard entry of plaster into the cavity during plastering after the receptacle box is mounted on a building wall, said cover comprising an integral body of deformable sheet material including a vertical elongated rectangular panel portion having longitudinal lateral edges spaced from each other to fit in said opening and lie immediately inwardly of the front edges of said vertical sidewalls and transverse horizontal edges at the upper and lower ends thereof spaced so that adjacent transverse edge portions of the cover lie against the front edges of said horizontal walls, and said cover including a pair of ear-covering integral extensions projecting in opposite directions from the transverse edges of said panel portion located and shaped to cover said mounting ears, the cover including integral bendable fastening means extending from opposite end portions thereof adjacent said transverse edges for releasably fastening the cover to the mounting ears of the receptacle box, and the lateral edge portions of the panel being unsupported along the length thereof whereby the midregions of the panel adjacent each of said lateral edges can be forcibly collapsed inwardly into the cavity of the associated receptacle box by a tool, causing the bendable fastening means to be forced to releasing positions relative to said mounting ears for manual removal of the cover from the receptacle box.