Fire assembly for recessed electrical fixtures
AssigneeHubbell Incorporated
InventorsRonald Newbold, Thomas T. White
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A fire assembly that can be used for installing recessed electrical fixtures into various structures such as wall assemblies is provided. The fire assembly includes an electrical fixture contained within a generally fire-resistant housing. The housing can enclose the electrical fixture in such a manner that the resulting fire assembly has an integral structure. In some instances, a support structure can be utilized to attach the housing to the electrical fixture. Furthermore, the housing can be a cube-shaped box have a variety of generally fire-resistant walls. These walls can be made from materials such as sheet rock.
Claims11
The fire-resistance-rated, floor-ceiling assembly having:
- a pre-assembled, fire-resistance-rated, recessed lighting assembly installed above a room and projecting light through an opening in said fire-resistance-rated floor-ceiling assembly into said room,
- wherein said fire-resistance-rated floor-ceiling assembly had an original fire resistance rating before said opening was made therein and exhibits (i) an upper surface facing an interior of said fire-resistance-rated floor-ceiling assembly, and (ii) a lower surface facing a room below said fire-resistance-rated floor-ceiling assembly,
- wherein fire resistance is determined by (i) exposing to fire for one hour in accordance with ASTM E119 (1999) in which a 48 inch by 48 inch small scale floor-ceiling assembly constructed with a joist cavity containing a recessed light assembly and an adjacent joist cavity without a recessed light assembly is so exposed and (ii) measuring air temperatures in the joist cavities, whereby a one hour fire resistance rating is achieved when temperature measurements in the joist cavity with an incandescent light fixture is no more than 5% hotter than temperatures measured in the adjacent joist cavity without said light fixture,
- said pre-assembled, fire-resistance-rated, recessed lighting assembly with a combination comprising:
- (a) a lamp socket configured to receive a lamp element and electrically communicating with an electrical junction box by wires extending from said lamp socket,
- (b) a light can that effectively surrounds said lamp socket and directs light from said lamp element downwardly through said opening in said fire-resistance-rated floor-ceiling assembly,
- (c) a fire resistant housing that effectively surrounds said light can, and
- (d) a gasket between said housing and said upper surface of said fire-resistance-rated floor-ceiling assembly and effectively surrounding the opening made in said fire-resistance-rated floor-ceiling assembly for said pre-assembled, fire-resistance-rated, recessed lighting assembly,
- wherein said pre-assembled, fire-resistance-rated, recessed lighting assembly maintains said original fire resistance rating of said fire-resistance-rated, floor-ceiling assembly before said opening was made therein for installing said pre-assembled, fire-resistance-rated, recessed lighting assembly therein.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.