Insulating means for a jaw of a stab-mounted electrical meter or the like

Claim 1

In combination, a stab receptacle element comprising a mounting base portion and upstanding jaw means electrically conductively united to said base portion and rising from said base portion, said jaw means comprising two opposed jaw members having outwardly diverging upper stab-receiving ends and including adjacent portions short of said ends and resiliently compressionally stressed when in wiping contact with an inserted meter stab, the plan aspect of said jaw means being characterized by an overall length dimension in the direction of the plane of stab insertion and by an overall width dimension transverse to said length dimension, whereby said jaw means may be said to be encompassed by a rectangular prismatic outline having said length and width dimensions and additionally having a height dimension characterized by the rise of said jaw means above said base portion, each jaw member being of stiffly compliant formed sheet metal of thickness materially less than said width dimension and formed to include (a) first wall structure near said base portion and of substantially said width dimension and (b) second wall structure of substantially said length dimension and spaced from said base portion and including said adjacent portions substantially centrally positioned within said width dimension; and a single cup-shaped protective jacket assembled to said jaw means, said jacket being of cured hardenable electrically insulating material having a cavity shaped substantially in conformance with said dimensions and with an open end characterized substantially by said length and width dimensions, the end opposite said open end integrally including opposed endwall portions extending toward each other in the width direction and terminating short of the central region of the width dimension, thereby defining a stab-receiving central slot opening substantially alignable with an inserted stab when said jacket is assembled to said jaw means, said jacket including inwardly projecting integral detent means near the open end thereof and on at least one of the side walls which extends in the width direction, said detent projection being of inwardly projecting extent and interferring with one of said jaw members in the course of insertion over said jaw means, said detent projection also being offset from said end-wall portions to an extent which at least equals the minimum distance between (i) the upper upstanding limit of said jaw means and (ii) the effective lower limit of said second wall structure, thereby allowing the detents to engage said jaw means below said second wall structure.