Electrical box for concrete walls

• US 7,563,978 B2
• Filed: 09/19/2008
• Issued: 07/21/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 08/31/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Thomas & Betts International LLC (ABB Limited)
• Original Assignee: Thomas & Betts International Incorporated (ABB Limited)
• Inventors: Lalancette, Daniel, Lupsa, Ioan Liviu
• Primary Examiner(s): Patel; Dhiru R
• Application Number:
  US12/234,039
• Publication Number:
  US 20090008121A1
• Time in Patent Office: 305 Days
• Field of Search: 174/50, 174/58, 174/57, 220/4.02, 439/535, 248/906, 361/826, 411/487
• US Class Current: 174/58
• CPC Class Codes: H02G 3/121 in plain walls
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 248/906 Electrical outlet box support

Abstract

An electrical outlet box for accommodating an electrical fixture which includes a generally rectangular box having a back wall, a perimetrical side wall surrounding said back wall defining an open front face and a box interior, said side wall includes a first and second set of generally parallel spaced apart wall portions; and a slidable extension nested within said generally rectangular box, that can be moved from within the generally rectangular box to an extended position beyond the open front face.

Claims

1. An electrical outlet box for accommodating an electrical fixture comprising:

a generally rectangular box having a back wall and a slidable extension, a perimetrical side wall surrounding said back wall defining an open front face and a box interior;

said slidable extension nested adjacent said generally rectangular box, that can be moved along said generally rectangular box to an extended position beyond said open front face, wherein said slideable extension can be secured in said extended position beyond said open front face;

a movable ground screw mounting tab;

at least one extending collar on at least one pair of spaced apart side walls;

a plurality of fastening structures, each of said fastening structures comprising a nail, one of said fastening structures slidably held by said collar to rigidly mount said electrical outlet box to a structural member,

wherein each of said fastening structures have at least one notch to create a stress raiser to facilitate removal of a portion of each of said fastening structures, said notch is aligned adjacent the open front face when the nail is fully extended into the form.

2. An electrical outlet box of claim 1, further including frangible knockout elements on said side wall of said perimetrical side wall and said back wall for creating an opening into said box interior.

3. An electrical outlet box of claim 2, wherein said frangible knockout elements are generally circular.

4. An electrical outlet box of claim 3, wherein said frangible knockout elements include an oval shaped frangible port located approximately at the center of one of said frangible knockout elements.

5. An electrical outlet box of claim 1, wherein said extended position beyond said open front face is a predetermined distance that corresponds to the depth of a wall finish material.

6. An electrical outlet box of claim 1, wherein said notch is located at a predetermined point along each of said fastening structures that corresponds to the distance said fastening structures protrude from a finished wall.