Patent Application
20080067313
This invention relates to residential and commercial electrical wiring, and more particularly to modular structural support ceiling fixture electrical box for mounting heavyweight or lightweight paddle fans, ceiling lighting fixtures, wall lighting sconces or smoke/carbon monoxide alarm devices.
Paddle fans or ceiling lighting fixtures are often mounted to a bracket across a box attached to a stud in the ceiling. These bracket mounts are less than stable for the ceiling lighting fixture, making loosening and/or falling of the fixture within the realm of possibility, especially for heavy paddle fans.
Existing electrical work boxes are described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,424,406 of Slater and U.S. Pat. No. 4,436,952 of Lockwood.
Lockwood '952 describes a work box with a conventional accessory screw holding bracket protruding up from the surface of one of the walls of the work box. The protruding bracket interferes with the flush placement of the work box within a hole within a wall corresponding in shape to the exterior of the work box.
Slater '406 describes a work box in general but is silent about a mounting means for the work box.
Cylindrical work boxes with bent attachment tabs are described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,857,581 of Jorgensen, but Jorgensen '581 is not useful for heavy duty paddle fan installations.
An improvement in electrical work boxes is shown in Applicant's U.S. Pat. No. 5,600,093 of Herth and Davis, which describes an electrical work box for new work and old work, wherein a novel interior attachment is described for vertically attaching the electrical work box to a building stud via an angled screw mount within the electrical work box.
However, Herth and Davis '093 does not describe a round ceiling mounted box which can be mounted to a ceiling stud to firmly suspend a ceiling lighting fixture or smoke/carbon monoxide alarm device therefrom.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an adjustable depth, new work, old work ceiling and/or paddle fan box.
It is another object of the present invention to provide side beam mounting as compared to bottom beam mounting.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide an extra deep box for paddle fan receivers that mount inside the box.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a molded plastic paddle fan box that is inexpensive to manufacture and can be used for other purposes such as mounting smoke and CO alarms or lighting fixtures on ceilings and walls.
It is also an object of this invention to provide an accessory steel L-bracket for use with the paddle fan box for supporting heavy loads.
It is also an object of this invention to provide a metal bracket accessory to enable the paddle fan box to be suspended between two beams via a heavy-duty telescoping bar to accommodate heavy loads.
It is also an object of this invention to provide a two-section telescoping bar with swivel end brackets to permit suspending an electrical or paddle fan box between two beams of widely divergent spacing.
In accordance with the foregoing objects, and others which may become apparent, the present invention includes a deep truncated cylindrical electrical box with angled molded-in internal mounting brackets on the flat side surface. These brackets are used to mount the box directly to the side of a wooden or metal beam using the proper fasteners. This internal mounting feature is especially of interest in old work to minimize the size of drywall cutout by limiting it to the outer contour of the electrical box.
Because the box itself is a molded plastic electrical box, it is inexpensive to manufacture. As such, it can be used for many functions requiring an electrical box for mounting to ceiling or wall beams for new or old work. However, since it is primarily designed for use as a paddle fan box, an accessory cold rolled steel L-bracket that fits purposeful molded recesses on the outer surfaces of the electrical box is used to support heavy loads. Two heavy-duty carriage bolts go through square holes in the top side of the L-bracket and extend through holes in the electrical box such that they emerge below the open bottom surface of the box. Any device, such as a paddle fan, attached to these bolts will be directly supported by the L-bracket, not by the molded box. The vertical side portion of the L-bracket fits the flat side portion of the electrical box with elongated holes in registration with the outer fastener holes of the angled fasteners used to attach the box, thereby also attaching the L-bracket to the beam with the same fasteners. The L-bracket also incorporates stiffening ribs which are die-formed; strategically placed molded depressions in the outer surfaces of the electrical box accommodate these ribs. Note that the internal angled fastener feature makes the use of ceiling medallions unnecessary since there would be no damaged drywall around the installation.
In some situations, interior design and architectural features dictate that a paddle fan or heavy chandelier must be suspended between two ceiling beams. A heavy-duty telescoping bar is often used for this purpose. Replacing the L-bracket with a heavy-duty cold rolled steel bar bracket, which is designed to fit the same space on the top surface of the electrical box of this invention, permits this type of attachment. The bar bracket includes an extension which serves as a flat platform for the telescoping bar, otherwise an uneven base surface would be provided by top surface of the electrical box. The bar bracket includes square holes in the same relative position as those on the L-bracket (which are in registration with holes in the electrical box) to permit the bar and bracket to bypass the molded box to directly support the load via two carriage bolts.
An alternate embodiment of the bar bracket for lighter loads would be fabricated of sheet metal and would not include the extensions carrying the square holes for the carriage bolts. In this embodiment the load would be supported by the electrical box itself.
Threaded holes in either the L-bracket or the bar bracket are used to mechanically attach these to the top surface of the molded electrical box by the use of screws from inside the box. One of these screws is also used to provide electrical ground connection to the outside metal bracket via a pigtail connection with a ring lug inside the box.
An alternate embodiment of the bar bracket including a two-part telescoping section and swivel mounting brackets permits the use of a single bar bracket that accommodates a wide range of beam spacing, such as for example, from 8 inch spacing to 24 inch spacing.
The present invention can best be understood in conjunction with the following drawings, in which:
The molded paddle fan or electrical box 1 of this invention is shown in
A top view is shown in
Box 1 has a generally round housing 2 with a truncated flat side 3. Angled mounting bracket 4 accommodating three fasteners is molded integral to flat side 3. Box 1 has several conventional apertures 7 with push-in clamping covers; it is noted that they accommodate wiring from different directions.
A pair of mounting brackets 5 accommodate fixture plates having two different hole spacings. These holes 26, as seen from the exterior, are shown in
Besides paddle fan use, electrical box 1 can be used for lighting fixtures, sensors, or other applications in old and new work.
With the addition of accessory L-bracket 14 shown in
It is also noted that L-bracket angled edge 18 fits the contour 28 of depression 27.
It is further noted that when bracket 14 is placed over box 1, square holes 20 are in registration with box 1 holes 6. Carriage bolts 42 are placed through square holes 20 and beyond into box 1 holes 6 emerging beyond the bottom open face of box 1. The square holes 20 engage the square carriage bolt 42 features under the head to prevent turning so that nuts can be torqued from the bottom to retain a paddle fan or other heavy load. Screws 43 go through clearance holes 30 in the top of box 1 and retain L-bracket 14 by engaging threaded holes 21. One of screws 43 also is threaded through ring terminal 37 of grounding pigtail 38 thereby grounding bracket 14.
As shown in
For situations where a heavy load must be attached between two ceiling beams, a telescoping bar 60 as shown in
Bracket 50 is mounted to box 1 in a similar fashion to mounting L-bracket 14, namely screws 43 engage threaded holes 21 from inside box 1. Edge 56 conforms to contour 28 of depression 27 of box 1. The material thickness of bar bracket 50 is the same as that of L-bracket 14 and equivalent to the depth of depression 27. Therefore, support extension 55 presents a flat footing surface to telescoping bar section 61. Recess 54 is sized and shaped to accommodate bar section 61.
Square holes 20, located at the distal ends of bracket 50, accommodate bolts 42 to bypass box 1 from the stress of any supported load.
In an alternate embodiment for lighter loads, a lighter bar 60 can be supported in a sheet metal bracket similar in shape to bar bracket 50 but with shorter wings truncated before square holes 20. Support extension 50 is then built up to the proper level by bending two or more material thicknesses. In the alternate embodiment, box 1 would support any load directly.
In an alternate embodiment of a bar bracket for mounting between beams, the ends are mounted in swivel brackets.
Therefore, the present invention is an improvement over the prior art because structural support ceiling fixture electrical work box 1 is interchangeable, whether it functions as an structural support ceiling fixture electrical work box for new work or old work. Conventional Madison-type clips may be used for securing the work box to the sheetrock. However because of the stability of the present configuration of structural support ceiling fixture electrical work box 1, auxiliary Madison clips may not be needed.
Box 1 can support a mounting plate of a paddle fan, a lighting fixture or a smoke/fire/carbon monoxide alarm attached to electrical box 1.
Opposite fixture plate mounting brackets may be provided to mount lighting fixtures or alarms thereto.
Housing box 1 is a mirror image reversible, so that it may be mounted on either side of a ceiling stud.
Furthermore, various modifications may be made to the present invention, which will become apparent from the pending claims, without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention, as is noted in appended claims.
This application is a continuation in part and divisional of application Ser. No. 11/233,752 filed on Sep. 23, 2005 which application was a continuation-in-part of application Ser. No. 10/891,665, filed Jul. 15, 2004, entitled “CEILING FIXTURE ELECTRICAL WORK BOX”, which application is based upon provisional patent application No. 60/523,891 filed Nov. 20, 2003 and claims benefit under 35 USC § 119(e) thereof. This application incorporates by reference the details filed in application Ser. No. 10/891,665, filed Jul. 15, 2004, as published as publication number 20050109907 A1 on May 26, 2005.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 60523891 | Nov 2003 | US |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent | 11233752 | Sep 2005 | US |
| Child | 11986347 | Nov 2007 | US |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent | 10891665 | Jul 2004 | US |
| Child | 11233752 | Sep 2005 | US |
