Patents by Inventor Michael B. Pinkerton

Michael B. Pinkerton has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Patent number: 4723823
    Abstract: Devices for protecting the bulb of a night light against damage and for denying access to the sockets of an electrical outlet into which the night light is plugged and for also denying access to those parts of the night light which might produce an electrical shock if touched. One component of the protective arrangement is a cover with externally threaded bosses which are apertured so that the night light can be plugged into a socket which a boss overlies by installing the night light through the aperture. The night light includes a bulb surrounding protective shield which is clamped against the boss by a safety cap of the push-and-twist type, thereby protecting the bulb and isolating the socket and electrically charged parts of the night light. Safety caps are also used to deny access to any othe sockets of the outlet servicing the night light, and these safety caps may be designed so that they will perform this function when the protected socket is in use as well as when it is out of service.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 25, 1986
    Date of Patent: February 9, 1988
    Inventors: Michael B. Pinkerton, David Moskowitz
  • Patent number: 4718856
    Abstract: A protective cover for restricting access to the female sockets or connectors of an electrical outlet, thereby protecting infants and small children and others of limited understanding against electrical shock. The cover includes a base plate bearing an externally threaded boss which replaces the conventional outlet cover; a safety cap of the push-and-twist type threaded on the boss; protective members which are clamped by the safety cap against the boss overlying the socket being protected to deny access to the socket, both when the socket is in use and when it is not in service; and a platelike shield which normally overlies, and denies access to, a second female socket of the typical double socket wall outlet. This shield can be swung aside after backing off the safety cap to furnish unprotected, but controlled, and typically temporary, access to that second female socket.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 18, 1986
    Date of Patent: January 12, 1988
    Inventors: Michael B. Pinkerton, David Moskowitz
  • Patent number: 4691974
    Abstract: A cover for restricting access to the female sockets of an electrical outlet, thereby protecting infants and small children and others of limited understanding against electrical shock. The cover includes a plate bearing externally threaded bosses which replaces the conventional outlet cover, safety caps of the push-and-twist type, and protective members which are clamped against the boss overlying the socket being protected by the safety cap to deny access to the socket, both when the socket is in use and when it is not in service.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 17, 1986
    Date of Patent: September 8, 1987
    Inventors: Michael B. Pinkerton, David Moskowitz