Back to results
US 5,289,934 AGranted
Adjustable mounting assembly for electrical outlet box
AssigneeNone recorded
InventorsBenjamin H. Smith, Scott P. Pimley
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Loading patent…
Loading patent…
AssigneeNone recorded
InventorsBenjamin H. Smith, Scott P. Pimley
Estimating the term…
An adjustable mounting assembly for an electrical outlet box wherein a bracket is secured to a wall stud. One face of the bracket has a tongue having an axially extending threaded bore. A side wall of the outlet box has a longitudinally extending groove which receives the bracket tongue so that the box is slidably mounted on the bracket for movement forwardly and rearwardly relative to the wall stud. An adjustment bolt extends longitudinally of the groove and into a threaded bore in the tongue whereby an unlimited adjustment of the electrical box is obtainable so that the front of the box will be flush with the subsequently applied plaster or dry wall and paneling. The bolt not only functions during the adjustment of the box but also, once the desired adjusted position is obtained, it functions as a stop member to hold the box at the adjusted position.
An adjustable mounting assembly for an electrical outlet comprising, a bracket, said bracket having one portion fastened to a wall stud, said bracket having a second portion, a tongue secured to said second portion, a threaded bore provided in said tongue, a rectangular electrical outlet box having side walls, a bottom wall and a top wall, a groove provided in one of the side walls of said box, said bracket tongue being slidably mounted in said groove, and said bracket tongue being completely enclosed within said groove, wherein the electrical box slides relative to said wall stud, and a bolt carried on said one side wall of said box, said bolt extending into said threaded bore in said tongue, whereby the position of the electrical outlet box is adjusted relative to the wall stud to thereby position a front of the box flush with a surface of a wall in which the box is mounted.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.
Drawings are temporarily unavailable. Open the PDF at USPTO
No related US applications are recorded in the indexed filing history.
In thin walls: with supporting means for mounting on a single wall stud
Supports: electrical outlet box support
Installation of electric cables or lines, or of combined optical and electric
Technical subjects covered by former uspc cross-reference art collections [xracs] and digests
Term ended 2 Sep 2013 (estimated)
USPTO file history isn’t available for this patent, so only indexed dates are shown.
Adjustable mounting assemblies for electrical outlet boxes have been proposed wherein the outlet box is slidably mounted on a bracket secured to a wall stud, whereby the outlet box is adjustable so that the front of the box will be flush with respect to the subsequently applied dry wall or paneling.
Such an assembly is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,747,506 dated May 31, 1988, which has been satisfactory for its intended purpose; however, the adjustability of the box is limited by stop members provided between the outlet box and bracket which limit the forward and rearward movement of the box relative to the wall stud and associated mounting bracket.
After considerable research and experimentation, the adjustable mounting assembly of the present invention has been devised as an improvement over known adjustable mounting assemblies in that the adjustable mounting assembly is constructed and arranged without stop members to thereby provide an unlimited adjustment of the outlet box.
FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view of the electrical outlet box and mounting bracket of the present invention;
FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the electrical outlet box connected to the mounting bracket;
FIG. 3 is an end elevational view, partly in section, showing the electrical outlet box and associated mounting bracket; and
Referring to the drawings and more particularly to FIGS. 1 and 2, the adjustable mounting assembly of the present invention comprises a bracket 1 upon which an electrical outlet box 2 is adapted to be slidably mounted. The bracket 1 comprises a sheet of metal bent to provide a pair of spaced, parallel, longitudinally extending side walls 3 and 4 interconnected at one end by a transversely extending end wall 5. The upper edge of side wall 3 is provided with a downwardly extending flange portion 6 and the lower edge of the side wall is similarly provided with an upwardly extending flange portion 7. The bracket side wall 3 is also provided with a longitudinally extending tongue 8 extending outwardly from the face of side wall 3, and having a longitudinally extending threaded bore 9 formed therein.
To complete the structure of the bracket 1, a pair of nail holes 10 are provided in the bracket end wall for securing the bracket 1 to a wall stud, to be described more fully hereinafter.
The electrical outlet box 2 comprises a molded plastic housing having side walls 11 and 12, a bottom wall 13 and a top wall 14. The side wall 11 is provided with a longitudinally extending groove 15 having a cross-sectional configuration corresponding to the bracket tongue 8, as will be seen in FIG. 4. The upper and lower exterior corners of the housing adjacent wall 11 are provided with longitudinally extending grooves 16 and 17 for receiving bracket flange portions 6 and 7, respectively.