Patent Application
20170219130
The present invention relates generally to surface mounts, and more particularly surface mounts to further mount a device such as but not restricted to a threaded shower drain or a mounted seal. A surface mount requires a substantially planar surface such as a floor or a wall to which to be mounted. Said mount is fixed to a surface by a plurality of means including screws that are passed through holes in the plate outer perimeter to fasten it to the floor. In so doing, a plurality of devices may be further fixed to the fixed mounting plate by devices such as threadmates or bayonet mounts. However, materials such as stamped steel suited to the fabrication of mounting plates may be unsuited to bearing threads for a plurality of reasons including cost of fabrication method. Accordingly, a mounting part made of a material more suited to bearing mounting devices including threads can be fixed to said mounting plate. Said mounting part can include a variety of mounting utilities, but one of the most common in plumbing and electrical work is a flanged pipe with an internal thread. If the surface to which the mounting plate is perforated, and said mounting plate is also perforated, and said mounting plate is fixed to the surface by a plurality of means including screws such that the mounting plate perforation shares a central axis with the central axis of the perforation of the surface, then the mounting plate can be used to further mount a mounting part bearing the necessary hubs and internal threads to act as a connector for, including but not restricted to, plumbing pipe or electrical conduit. The act of securing involves limiting degrees of freedom of movement of the flanged pipe relative to the mounting plate fixed to a perforated surface such as a floor.
A flanged pipe mounted to a plate in turn mounted to a surface such as a floor is a means whereby a pipe or conduit may be connected across a barrier such as presented by the floor to a pipe or conduit beneath the floor. In plumbing, said flanged pipe may be internally threaded, wherein said internal threading starts at the flange upper surface and cuts down helically inside the internal perforation of the pipe. A threaded part, such a shower drain grate support or a mounted seal, can then be threaded into the mount. This mounting will be secure only if the flanged threaded pipe cannot move in the three mutually perpendicular axes as well as not rotate around the axis of the flanged pipe, that is, movement is limited in four degrees of freedom. Hitherto said mounting has required multiple parts and fasteners in multiple materials.
In contrast, the Invention presented in this application achieves fixing of said flanged pipe to said fixed mounting plate, with no extra parts, to achieve limitation of movement in the plane parallel with the mounted surface, to achieve limitation of movement in the axis perpendicular to said mounted surface, and to achieve limitation of movement rotationally around the axis of the flanged pipe.
A flanged pipe is mounted to a perforated fixed plate by limiting movement of the pipe in three mutually perpendicular axes, and rotationally around the plate axis. The mount consists of said mounting plate and said flanged pipe. The flanged pipe exterior is decorated with ribs parallel to the pipe axis. Each rib bears a microclip positioned to allow the plate to rest between the pipe rib microclips and the underside of the pipe flange. The perimeter of the central perforation of the plate bears indexing cutaways matching the size and positioning of the ribs on the flanged ribbed pipe. Inserting said flanged ribbed pipe through the perforation of the fixed plate engages the ribs with the indexing cutaways to limit rotational movement. Movement in the plane perpendicular to the plate axis, and parallel to said mounted surface, is limited by the tightly fitting diameters of the plate perforation and the pipe portion of the flanged ribbed pipe. Engagement of the flange on the plate limits movement of the flanged pipe through the plate perforation. Pipe retraction is limited by microclips.
A third part may be added to this assembly to achieve seal to liquids or gases. An annular seal, either loose or attached to the underside of the flange of the flanged ribbed pipe, is positioned to the underside of the flange in a flanged ribbed pipe equipped with microclips. Upon forcibly inserting the registered pipe into the central perforation of the mounting plate as decorated with cutaways, the pipe passes over the microclips, sandwiching the seal in between the underside of the flange of the flanged ribbed pipe and the inner perimeter of the mounting plate to achieve a bound and complete seal. The microclips lock the plate to the seal.
A practical implementation of said surface mount is to mount the plate to a bathroom subfloor with screws such that a precut or preformed hole in the surface shares a collinear axis as the perforation in the plate. Upon mounting of the flanged ribbed pipe with seal to the plate, a shower drain or mounted seal may be threaded into an internal thread in the upper area of the central perforation of the flanged ribbed pipe. Finishing decoration such as tiling may then ensue.
Before describing in detail exemplary embodiments that are in accordance with the present invention, it should be observed that embodiments reside primarily in combinations of structural components and installation and use steps related to implementing apparatus and methods for a mounting assembly which defines a perforation which is adapted to be placed in registry with a floor or other drain conduit so that said mounting assembly is sufficiently limited to securely serve as a mount for an additional device to be connected to said floor or other drain conduit. A perforated mounting plate in the surface mount assembly is associated with a flanged ribbed pipe in said assembly in such a way that (i) insertion of a flanged ribbed pipe into the perforation of the mounting plate is limited by a flange on the flanged ribbed pipe; (ii) movement in the plane perpendicular to the pipe axis is limited by the tightly matched diameters of the central perforation of the mounting plate and the pipe portion of the flanged ribbed pipe; (iii) retraction of said flanged ribbed pipe from the perforation is limited by the action of microclips; (iv) rotation around the axis of the flanged ribbed by is limited by the indexing of ribs parallel to the axis of said flanged ribbed pipe with cutaways in the internal perimeter of the mounting plate to fully and securely mount the mounting assembly to the mounted surface.
