Electric wall receptacle with ground fault protection

Claim 1

An electric receptacle for mounting in a wall outlet for connecting electrical appliances to the conductors of a power source, comprising an insulating housing adapted to fit in a wall outlet box, receptacle components and electronic components within the housing; the receptacle components comprising socket means for receiving the plug of an electrical appliance first and second pairs of contacts operable between open and closed positions for interruptably connecting the socket means to a power source, the stationary contacts of each pair of contacts being operatively mounted on the housing, a contact mounting arm carrying the movable contacts of each pair of contacts at spaced locations on the arm and aligned with the corresponding stationary contacts, a latch member releasably holding the contact arm in closed contact positions of said contacts, bias means for biasing the arm to a contact open position when the latch member is released and located between the movable contacts to effect pivotal movement of the arm upon the first pair of contacts during the initial pivotal movement when the latch member is released to effect opening of the second pair of contacts, a pivot point for the arm between the first pair of contacts and the bias means for final pivotal movement of the arm to effect opening of the first pair of contacts subsequent to opening of the second pair of contacts, operating means for moving the contacts to their open position in response to a fault signal; the electronic components comprising ground fault responsive means for monitoring the flow of current in the conductors and delivering a fault signal to the operating means in response to a current imbalance in the conductors, and said responsive means comprising a toroidal coil through which the conductors extend.