Adaptor for feeding current to electrical contact rails

Claim 1

An adaptor for insertion into a power distribution rail to feed current into the rail wherein the rail is of the type comprising an openbottomed channel-shaped metallic section having a top positioned opposite said open bottom and having a pair of spaced sides extending downwardly from said top, each of said rail sides including a plurality of webs which are longitudinally spaced from one another to define elongated ducts along the opposing interior sides of the rail having elongated conductors supported therein in electrically insulated relation to the rail for electrical contact with said adaptor and to further define elongated channels along the opposing sides of the rail spaced from the ducts and adapted to receive supporting clips comprising a portion of said adaptor, each web on one side of the rail extending toward a corresponding web on the other side of the rail with the facing edges of each pair of corresponding webs being laterally spaced from one another to define an open region extending along the vertical center line of the rail into which said adaptor may be inserted from the open bottom of said rail, the top of said rail having an aperture therein, said adaptor including a plurality of outwardly extending electrical contacts respectively connected to electrical conductors extending upwardly from said contacts for passage through said aperture in the top of said rail when said adaptor is inserted into the open bottom of said rail, said adaptor comprising a support portion having said supporting clips adjacent thereto, the exterior of said support portion being dimensioned to permit said adaptor to be inserted into the open region of the rail from the bottom of the rail below said aperture in the top of said rail in a predetermined orientation relative to the rail and being shaped to permit said inserted adaptor thereafter to be rotated through a limited angle between the laterally spaced facing edges of the pairs of corresponding webs to turn said supporting clips into the rail channels and to effect electrical contact between said adaptor contacts and the rail conductors, said support portion exterior comprising a pair of diametrically opposed cylindrical segments spaced from one another by a diametrical distance less than the distance between the laterally spaced facing edges of the webs in the rail, the opposing ends of each cylindrical segment merging into a pair of flat planar sections, the flat planar section extending from each end of one of said segments intersecting a flat planar section extending from one end of the other of said segments whereby said intersecting planar sections define a pair of spaced, substantially parallel edges located respectively between the opposing ends of said pair of cylindrical segments, the distance between said pair of edges being greater than the distance between the laterally spaced facing edges of the webs in the rail, and means adjacent the lowermost end of said adaptor for rotating said adaptor through said limited angle after said adaptor has been inserted into the bottom of said rail with its electrical conductors passing from said inserted adaptor to the exterior of the rail via said aperture in the top of said rail.