Protector for electric circuits

Claim 1

A combination which comprises: an enclosed fuseholder which has a male body portion, a female body portion, and means to releasably interconnect said body portions, said male body portion being hollow but having the outer end thereof closed, said female body portion being hollow but having the outer end thereof closed, said male body portion and said female body portion and said means coacting to releasably enclose and confine a cartridge type electric fuse, a metallic connector carried by and projecting outwardly from one end of one of said body portions, a metallic terminal carried by and communicating with the exterior of the other of said body portions, a water-tight seal between said one body portion and said metallic connector, a second water-tight seal between said other body portion and said metallic terminal, said means releasably holding the inner ends of said body portions in intimate engagement with each other to provide a water-resistant seal between said body portions, whereby said cartridge type electric fuse is normally held within a water-resistant but readily openable enclosed fuseholder, a metallic separable connector which is located exteriorly of said enclosed fuseholder and which normally has one end thereof in telescoped engagement with a portion of the first said metallic connector and which has the other end thereof connectable to a conductor, and a body of insulating material which is mounted on and directly engages a portion of said metallic separable connector and which moves with said metallic separable connector whenever said metallic separable connector is separated from the first said metallic connector, the first said metallic connector and said metallic separable connector being dimensioned to provide a frictional securement therebetween which is strong enough to normally maintain a low resistance electrical connection between said fuse-holder and said metallic separable connector, the first said metallic connector and said metallic separable connector being dimensioned so said frictional securement will automatically yield to permit the first said metallic connector and said metallic separable connector to separate from each other in response to a separating force which is smaller than the elastic limit of said fuseholder, said metallic separable connector and said portion of said first metallic connector, which is in telescoped engagement with said metallic separable connector, being located wholly externally of said one body portion of said enclosed fuseholder, whereby said metallic separable connector can be pulled away from said first metallic connector while said means holds said male body portion and said female body portion in assembled relation and while the stress applied to said enclosed fuseholder is well below the elastic limit of said enclosed fuse-holder, whereby said enclosed fuseholder is protected against damage from tensile forces which are applied to it by conductors of the circuit that is protected by the cartridge type electric fuse within said enclosed fuseholder.