Bridging clip cover

Claim 1

An integral one-piece cover for an electrically conductive bridging clip comprising: (a) a body having an electrically insulative portion comprised of substantially electrically non-conductive semi-rigid plastic material for enclosing the exposed surfaces of a bridging clip when installed on a terminal block and for preventing unintended electrical contact between adjacent bridging clips on a terminal block; the body having surfaces facilitating manual application of the integral one-piece cover to a bridging clip prior to or after installation thereof on a terminal block; the body including a pair of spaced apart generally facing rectangular sidewalls, each sidewall having an upper edge, a lower edge and two end edges; a bridge disposed between and extending along respective sidewall upper edges, wherein said bridge and sidewalls define a surface having a generally U-shaped cross-section; a pair of opposed partial end walls between adjacent sidewall end edges extending from the bridge downwardly to a point above the sidewall lower edges; (b) retention means on the body for maintaining firm but selectively releaseable engagement of the one-piece cover with a bridging clip, the retention means including said body sidewalls shaped to closely conform to a bridging clip, the lower sidewall edges being spaced apart a distance less than the upper sidewall edges and less than the width of a bridging clip whereby interfering engagement of closely spaced lower portions of the sidewalls with a bridging clip when positioned within the one-piece cover will function to inhibit outward movement of the bridging clip from the one-piece cover, said pair of opposed partial end walls functioning to maintain the sidewalls, including their lower edges, at said spaced distance.