Ventilated splash resistant electrical component housing

Claim 1

A ventilated, splash-resistant electrical component housing assembly adapted to allow free flow of air throughout the housing in order to provide cooling of electrical components within the housing comprising: (a) a rectangular main body having means for retaining electrical components therein, the main body having a bottom panel, a rear panel, a front panel, and a plurality of openings which are located in the bottom panel near at least one of the front panel or the rear panel to allow airflow through the bottom panel of the main body; (b) a unitary rectangular bottom cover including a bottom panel having external and internal bottom panel faces, rear and front bottom cover panels, both of which have internal edges, means for securing the bottom cover to the main body, and means for venting the bottom panel of the bottom cover; (c) a unitary rectangular top cover including a top cover panel having external and internal edges, top cover external and internal faces, a plurality of exterior notches located along the external edge of the rear of the top cover panel and terminating short of the internal edge of the rear top cover panel, and means for securing the top cover to the main body; and (d) an interior wall located parallel and proximate to the rear of the top cover panel, the interior wall having a plurality of interior notches which are staggered with respect to the exterior notches and wherein said interior notches terminate short of the internal face of the top cover, the interior wall being joined to the rear of the top cover panel by a plurality of partitions positioned to separate the interior notches from each other and also to separate the exterior notches from each other thereby forming splash-resistant passages that in conjunction with the vent means located in the bottom cover allow for the free convection of air throughout the housing assembly.