Granted Patent B2

US 7,944,212 · App. 12/393,205 · Granted May 17, 2011

Abstract

Claims (16)

1. A tester for testing a wiring state of a live electrical receptacle outlet, the tester comprising a body having a display located thereon and a plug extending from the body, the display configured to selectively provide a text indicator and wherein, when the plug of the tester is received in the electrical outlet, the display indicates the wiring state of the electrical outlet, the wiring state being selected from a group of wiring states including open neutral, open ground, open hot, hot/ground reversed, hot/neutral reversed, and correct.

2. The tester of claim 1 , wherein the display is a liquid crystal display.

3. The tester of claim 1 , wherein the display is located on a surface plane of the body of the tester opposite to the plug extends, such that, when the plug is inserted into an outlet for testing, the plane of the display is perpendicular with a plane on which the electrical outlet is located.

4. The tester of claim 3 , wherein the tester further comprises a sensor configured to detect the spatial orientation of the tester relative to a direction of gravity and wherein the display is configured to orient a text message displayed on the text indicator based on the spatial orientation of the tester.

5. The tester of claim 1 , further comprising a level mounted to a surface of the body of the tester.

6. The tester of claim 5 , wherein the level is a bubble level.

7. The tester of claim 1 , wherein the plug extending from the body has a plurality of prongs.

8. The tester of claim 7 , wherein the plurality of prongs includes two flat prongs and a round prong, one of the flat prongs being polarized relative to the other flat prong and the round prong being a ground.

9. The tester of claim 1 , further comprising a ground fault circuit interrupter tester.

10. The tester of claim 1 , wherein the display of the tester is powered by a battery.

11. The tester of claim 1 , wherein the body of the tester further comprises a rotational joint between the display and the plug.

12. The tester of claim 11 , wherein the rotational joint is located between the display and at least a portion of the body.

13. The tester of claim 12 , wherein an axis of rotation between the display and the body is substantially parallel with a direction of insertion of the plug.

14. The tester of claim 12 , wherein the axis of rotation between the display and the body is substantially perpendicular with a direction of insertion of the plug.

15. The tester of claim 11 , further comprising a first half of the body including the plug and a second half of the body including the display with the rotational joint being located between the first half and the second half of the body.

16. The tester of claim 1 , wherein, when the plug of the tester is received in the electrical outlet, the display indicates the wiring state of the electrical outlet by providing a text message on the text indicator.

Assignments (12)