Abstract: An electrically insulated body carries one of more jaw members which are mountable over threaded terminals in a meter socket to provide a bypass connection between line and load socket terminals to enable a watthour meter to be removed and reinstalled relative to the socket. In another aspect, the jaw members are coupled to an electrically conductive member. A handle extends from the conductive member.

Abstract: An external wire coupler is attachable to a housing of an electrical service apparatus mountable in a watthour meter socket by a slide-in or snap-in connection. An access control member is carried within the coupler for controlling access through the coupler to the interior of the socket adapter. A cover may be releasibly attached to an open end of the coupler to close access to the interior of the coupler.

Abstract: A safety replacement window for an overall watthour meter enclosure includes a window covering a window aperture of a cover of the enclosure. Mounting clips integrally carried on the cover snap into and fix the window in the cover aperture. In another aspect, the cover is formed of a one-piece molded member having at least a transparent portion overlaying a watthour meter mounted on a plate to which the cover is mounted.

Abstract: A modular meter socket is releasably mountable in a housing. Support clips are disposed in the housing by fixing a mounting plate carrying the clips in the enclosure. A mounting panel fixedly carries the meter socket and is attached to the clips without the use of tools operative fasteners or additional fasteners. Alternately, a meter socket and a bypass device are unitarily mounted on a mounting panel for attachment to the clips in the housing. The meter socket and the bypass device may be mounted on separate panels, each attached to the clips in the housing without additional fasteners.

Abstract: A watthour meter has, in one aspect, a flexible seal with a locking head carried on the meter base and a strap extending from the head and disposable in a loop around and through apertures in juxtaposed mounting flanges of the meter base and the meter dome to lockably join the dome and base. A tamper detector is carried on a blade moveably extending through the base. Movement of the blade during separation of the meter from the meter socket jaw contacts triggers the tamper detector. A connecting pin extends through aligned openings in the base and the dome to non-separably join the base and the dome. The pin engages a tamper signaling switch to provide an indication of a change of in pin state during a tamper event.

Abstract: A housing carries an electrical disconnect switch having movable contacts. A cover is mounted on the housing and has an opening allowing access to a control lever of the disconnect switch. Electrical conductors are connected to the disconnect switch within the housing and have a blade terminal portion extending exteriorly of the housing for connection to jaws carried on an electrical component mountable in an electrical watthour meter socket. Degassing ports are formed between the cover and the sidewall of the housing to allow any arcing gasses generated within the interior of the housing to escape from the housing. A handle is mounted centrally on the cover. An ejector handle is movably mounted on the cover and carries an ejector arm to separate the housing from an attached electrical component. A method of removing and remounting a watthour meter in a meter socket is provided, including sequence steps printed on the face of the housing.

Abstract: A handle adapted to be mounted on a watthour meter cover facilitates movement of the watthour meter relative to a meter socket. The handle is removably attachable to a handle receiver carried on the cover, with the handle defining a finger grip surface. The receiver is in the form of one or more recesses or projections which are engagable with complimentary portions on the handle.

Abstract: A jaw contact tester and conditioning apparatus for measuring push-in and pull-out forces between a blade terminal and a jaw contact mounted in an electrical power service apparatus. The jaw contact tester is provided in multiple aspects providing, in one aspect, a simple go/no-go pull-out force indication, in a second aspect providing a push-in and pull-out force indication on separate scales carried on the tester and, in a third aspect, allows a force measurement gauge to be attached to the blade terminal holder for measuring blade push-in and blade pull-out forces relative to a jaw contact.

Abstract: A watthour socket adapter base carries jaw blades for receiving blade terminals on a meter device and connectable to meter socket jaw contacts. Latch member carrier by drive members on an annular ring engage a socket cover to fixedly mount the latch base to the socket cover. Barriers surround each drive member to electrically insulate the drive members from the jaw contacts. Apertures in the base are surrounded by strain relief and lock fingers to accommodate the passage of conductors throgh the base. Conformable discontinuities are formed in the annual ring of the base to conform to different diameter shells attachable to the base. In another aspect, the latch members are pivotally mounted on an outer surface of the base and movable between latching and unlatching positions by rotation of a fastener extendible through the shell and the base and engaged with the latch members.

Abstract: A cap mountable over an optical port support and a securing member fixedly engagable through the cap to the optical port support. The seal also includes an indicator for indicating separation of the cap from the support. In one aspect, the cap has a base mountable over the support and a plate with a hook pivotally attached to the base. In another aspect, an extension projects from one portion of the cap and includes an aperture aligned with a threaded bore in the cap. An aperture in the shaft of the fastener is alignable with the aperture in the extension to receive a seal indicator. The fastener is provided with a hardened tip for secure engagement with the optical port support. In one aspect, the legs of the fastener are thin so as to be deformable upon the application of a predetermined amount of threading torque to the fastener.

Abstract: A handle adapted to be mounted on a watthour meter cover facilitates movement of the watthour meter relative to a meter socket. The handle is removably attachable to a handle receiver carried on the cover, with the handle defining a finger grip surface. The receiver is in the form of one or more recesses or projections which are engagable with complimentary portions on the handle.

Abstract: A cover adapted to be mounted on a watthour meter base includes a handle carried on the cover to facilitate movement of the watthour meter relative to a meter socket. The handle is generally provided as one or a pair of handles mounted on or unitarily formed with the body of the cover, the handle defining a finger grip surface. In one aspect, the handle is a pair of arms extending from the cover, with a cross piece mounted to and extending between the arms. In another aspect, an ejector handle is moveably mounted with respect to a primary handle carried on the end wall of the cover. Ejector arms coupled to the ejector handle and moveably disposed through the cover and meter base have distal ends engagable with meter mounts in the meter socket to facilitate separation of the meter from the socket upon movement of the ejector handle.

Abstract: A housing carries an electrical disconnect switch having movable contacts. A cover is mounted on the housing and has an opening allowing access to a control lever of the disconnect switch. Electrical conductors are connected to the disconnect switch within the housing and have a blade terminal portion extending exteriorly of the housing for connection to jaws carried on an electrical component mountable in an electrical watthour meter socket. Degassing ports are formed between the cover and the sidewall of the housing to allow any arcing gasses generated within the interior of the housing to escape from the housing. A handle is mounted centrally on the cover. An ejector handle is movably mounted on the cover and carries an ejector arm to separate the housing from an attached electrical component. A method of removing and remounting a watthour meter in a meter socket is provided, including sequence steps printed on the face of the housing.

Abstract: A coupler for use in a watthour meter socket adapter mechanically connects a jaw contact and a blade terminal. External conductors are separately attachable to the jaw contact and the blade terminal in one aspect. In another aspect, the coupler is an electrical fuse fixed between the jaw contact and the blade terminal. In another aspect, the coupler isolates the jaw contact from the blade terminal.

Abstract: A light transmissive guide transmits light bidirectionally between a first end disposed interiorly of an electrical power service apparatus housing and a second end visible externally of the housing. The transmitted light by the light guide can be a status light of a device mounted within the housing or light forming part of an optical data communication signal transmitted bidirectionally between light operative and/or responsive devices mounted internally within the housing and similar devices disposed in light communication with the external end of the light guide.

Abstract: A safety replacement window for an overall watthour meter enclosure includes a window covering a window aperture of a cover of the enclosure. Mounting clips integrally carried on the cover snap into and fix the window in the cover aperture. In another aspect, the cover is formed of a one-piece molded member having at least a transparent portion overlaying a watthour meter mounted on a plate to which the cover is mounted.

Abstract: A support supports an auxiliary component, like a circuit board, in a non-interferingly manner with electrical contacts in a watthour meter socket adapter housing. In one aspect, access is provided through the socket adapter to an electrical component mounted on the circuit board for external control of the component through the aperture in the socket adapter. The supports also releasably receive flanges on electrical components for direct mounting of the components.

Abstract: A support supports an auxiliary component, like a circuit board, in a non-interferingly manner with electrical contacts in a watthour meter socket adapter housing. In one aspect, slots are formed in posts and receive opposed ends of the circuit board. An end support post having an outwardly projecting, downwardly inclined top surface provides a snap connection of the circuit board to the housing.

Abstract: Apparatus and methods for wire-tying one or more objects. A wire accumulating and feeding mechanism feeds the wire axially through the hollow axle of an accumulator drum and then out to a drive wheel. The wire is wrapped around the periphery of the drum to accumulate the wire during tensioning. A wire gripping mechanism is a simple, economical device including a gripper block having a wire receptacle formed therein, an opposing wall positioned proximate the wire receptacle, and in one embodiment a tapered gap formed in the gripper block proximate the wire receptacle and opposite from the opposing wall, and a gripper disc mounts in a gripper release lever constrained to move within the tapered gap and frictionally engageable with the length of wire disposed within the wire receptacle, the gripper disc being driven into the tapered gap by frictional engagement with the length of wire and pinching the length of wire against the opposing wall when the drive motor is operated in the tension direction.

Abstract: An electrical service apparatus housing carries a plurality of line and load blade terminals and jaw contacts. Surge suppression elements are carried on a circuit board mountable within the housing and are connected to certain blade terminals and jaw contacts for conducting electrical surges to ground. Insulating barriers surround the jaw contacts and, also, fixedly position the circuit board in the housing. A switch element is energized when one of the surge suppression elements changes state and provides an externally transmittable signal indicative of the change in state of one of the surge suppression elements. An insulating safety shield surrounds the jaw contacts. A light transmissive guide carried on the shield has a first end disposed adjacent to a light source on the circuit board and an opposed second end visible exteriorly through the housing to provide an exteriorly visible indication of the state of the light source.