Transparent insulating enclosure

This application is a continuation of application Ser. No. 11/673,807, filed Feb. 12, 2007, which is a continuation of Ser. No. 11/430,321, filed May 9, 2006, issued as U.S. Pat. No. 7,201,600 on Apr. 10, 2007, which is a continuation of application Ser. No. 11/238,504, filed Sep. 29, 2005, issued as U.S. Pat. No. 7,066,760 on Jun. 27, 2006, which is a continuation of application Ser. No. 10/819,840, filed Apr. 7, 2004, issued as U.S. Pat. No. 7,044,761 on May 16, 2006, which claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/461,907, filed Apr. 10, 2003.

The present invention relates to insulating enclosures and, more particularly, to a transparent insulating enclosure and associated label cover for electrical tap or splice connectors.

Prior tap or splice covers which protect and insulate the tap or splice are black or colored and, thus, opaque so the connection cannot be seen when closed. If a problem with a connection is suspected, the cover must be removed for inspection purposes. Damage to the connection is possible during the removal process. This type of inspection can be very time consuming particularly if there are a lot of connectors in a particular circuit. Also, when the covers are removed, it can be dangerous to perform these inspections with the circuit in the energized state.

It is thus an advantage to allow for post installation inspection of the tap or splice. The cover of the present invention also provides for improved labeling and identification protection for the tap or splice connection.

The present invention is directed to a transparent enclosure for an electrical connector. The enclosure includes a first compartment and an identical second compartment. Each compartment has a main body defined by a first wall, a second wall, and ends. The first wall of each compartment has an outer tab with at least one projection extending inwards and an inner tab positioned adjacent to the outer tab. The second wall of each compartment has an aperture there through. When one of the compartments is mounted to the other compartment, the projection of each first wall is disposed in the aperture in each second wall so as to secure the compartments to each other to form the enclosure. The electrical connector is positioned between the first compartment and the second compartment so that when the compartments are secured to each other, the electrical connector is secured between the compartments.