US 8,671,702 B1Granted

Recessed thermostat and cutting tool

AssigneeHubbell Incorporated

InventorsMarcus J. Shotey, Jeffrey P. Baldwin, Kenneth C. Booth

Life of this patent

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Abstract

In an aspect, a recessed thermostat assembly includes a thermostat housing having a face plate and one or more side walls at least partially enclosing one or more thermostat components. The face plate is wider than the side walls. A moveable brace is responsive to and operatively associated with a brace actuator such that movement of the brace actuator in a first direction responsively causes the moveable brace to move toward the face plate, and movement of the brace actuator in a second direction responsively causes the moveable brace to move away from the face plate. The brace actuator accessible through the face plate. The movable brace is configured to impinge a building wall structure between the movable brace and a rear surface of the face plate when the moveable brace is moved toward the face plate.

Claims17

Dependent claims

A recessed thermostat assembly, comprising:

a thermostat housing comprising a face plate and a circular side wall extending from a rear surface of the face plate, the thermostat housing at least partially enclosing one or more thermostat components;
a moveable brace responsive to a brace actuator, the brace actuator accessible through the face plate and operatively associated with the moveable brace such that movement of the brace actuator in a first direction responsively causes the moveable brace to move linearly toward the face plate and impinge a building wall structure between the moveable brace and the rear surface of the face plate when the circular side wall is mounted within a circular mounting hole opening on the building wall structure, and movement of the brace actuator in a second direction responsively causes the moveable brace to move away from the face plate;
and
a cutting tool for cutting the circular mounting hole opening in the building wall structure, the opening being sized to receive the circular side wall but not the face plate of the thermostat housing, the cutting tool including
a manual gripping handle coupled across a diameter of a cylindrically arranged plurality of cutting blades;
and
a shaft extending along a center axis of the cylindrically arranged plurality of cutting blades, the shaft being partially hollow to receive wires when cutting the circular mounting hole opening.

4 more elements

A method of installing a recessed thermostat assembly in a wall structure comprising:

cutting a circular mounting hole through the wall structure with a cutting tool by manually rotating the cutting tool and manually applying pressure against the cutting tool;
placing a thermostat assembly comprising at least one face plate and at least one side wall extending behind the face plate at an installed position with respect to the circular mounting hole in the wall structure, the installed position being where the face plate is against a first side of the wall structure and the at least one side wall extends into the wall structure;
actuating a brace actuator to linearly move a moveable brace into an engaged position with respect to the wall structure;
impinging at least a portion of the wall structure between the movable brace and a rear surface of the face plate;
coupling the thermostat assembly to the wall structure by locking the moveable brace in place against the wall structure after the wall structure is impinged;
threading thermostat wires extending from a wire hole in the wall structure into the cutting tool;
and
placing a cutting tool guide in the wire hole around the thermostat wires.

5 more elements

A method of installing a recessed thermostat assembly in a wall structure comprising:

cutting a circular mounting hole through the wall structure with a cutting tool by manually rotating the cutting tool and manually applying pressure against the cutting tool;
placing a thermostat assembly comprising at least one face plate and at least one side wall extending behind the face plate at an installed position with respect to the circular mounting hole in the wall structure, the installed position being where the face plate is against a first side of the wall structure and the at least one side wall extends into the wall structure;
actuating a brace actuator to move a moveable brace into an engaged position with respect to the wall structure;
impinging at least a portion of the wall structure between the movable brace and a rear surface of the face plate;
coupling the thermostat assembly to the wall structure by locking the moveable brace in place against the wall structure after the wall structure is impinged;
threading thermostat wires extending from a wire hole in the wall structure into the cutting tool;
placing a cutting tool guide in the wire hole around the thermostat wires;
engaging a front surface of the wall structure with the cutting tool, the cutting tool comprising a plurality of cutting blades arranged in a circle around the cutting tool guide with the cutting tool guide at the center of the circle;
and
cutting the mounting hole through the wall structure with the cutting tool by continuing manual rotation and pressure.

7 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Facts

Application: 12/561,203Filed 16 Sep 2009 · us provisional application
Priority: 16 Sep 2008
Granted: 18 Mar 2014
Term ends: Not estimatedThe source records don’t support an estimate.

Classification7 codes

B28D 1/041
With circular or cylindrical saw-blades or saw-discs: with cylinder saws, e.g. trepanning; saw cylinders, e.g. having their cutting rim equipped…
B23D 45/003
Sawing machines or sawing devices with circular saw blades or with friction saw discs: for particular purposes
Y10T 29/49
Metal working: method of mechanical manufacture
Y10T 29/49947
Assembling or joining: by applying separate fastener