System of adjustably mounting an electrical device

• US 8,347,491 B1
• Filed: 10/12/2009
• Issued: 01/08/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 06/01/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hubbell, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Hubbell, Inc.
• Inventors: Baldwin, Jeffrey P., Cleghorn, Richard L., Falendysz, Nathaniel A., Shotey, Marcus J.
• Primary Examiner(s): PHAN, THIEM D
• Application Number:
  US12/577,648
• Time in Patent Office: 1,184 Days
• Field of Search: 297/58, 297/45, 297/56, 297/61, 297/64, 174/50, 174/53, 174/57, 174/58, 174/66, 174/520, 174/565
• US Class Current: 29/758
• CPC Class Codes: H02G 3/123 in thin walls
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 29/532 Conductor
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 29/53248 Switch or fuse
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 29/53257 Means comprising hand-manipulatable implement
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 29/53283 Means comprising hand-manipulatable implement

Abstract

An adjustably mounting electrical device with one or more fixed yokes located perpendicularly to a face of the electrical device, one or more moveable yokes located perpendicularly to the face of the electrical device, and one or more adjustment screws inserted through the one or more fixed yokes and threaded into the one or more moveable yokes, the one or more adjustment screws capable of moving the one or more moveable yokes perpendicularly to the face of the electrical device. The system may comprise mounting flanges that may have threaded hubs or the system may further comprise an electric device having front and back shells moveable on a track in response to depression of a button allowing for movement of the back shell so that the electric device may be mounted having its front face coplanar with a front wall surface.

Claims

1. An adjustably mounting electrical device comprising:

an electrical device configured for mounting in an electrical box, the electrical device comprising an electrical device face;

one or more fixed yoke portions fixedly coupled to the electrical device and located perpendicularly to the electrical device face;

one or more moveable yoke portions slidably coupled to the electrical device and located perpendicularly to the electrical device face;

one or more adjustment screws inserted through the one or more moveable yoke portions and threaded into the one or more fixed yoke portions, the one or more adjustment screws configured to slidably move the one or more moveable yoke portions perpendicularly to the electrical device face; and

one or more box mounting screws located along a center axis of the one or more moveable yoke portions, the one or more adjustment screws threadedly coupled to the one or more fixed yoke portions at a point that is laterally displaced from the location of the one or more box mounting screws.

2. The electrical device of claim 1, wherein the one or more moveable yoke portions is configured to be adjusted so that the electrical device face is coplanar with a front face of a wall when the electrical device is mounted in the electrical box.

3. The electrical device of claim 1, wherein the electrical device having only one adjustment screw wherein the fixed and moveable yoke portions are attached to each other on a side of the device not having the adjustment screw.

4. The electrical device of claim 1, wherein the one or more fixed yoke portions have one or more tracks and the one or more moveable yoke portions have one or more rails, the one or more tracks interconnectable with the one or more rails.

5. The electrical device of claim 1, wherein the electrical device is an electrical receptacle.

6. The electrical device of claim 1, wherein the electrical device is an electrical switch or a dimmer.

7. The electrical device of claim 1, further comprising one or more threaded plate screw holes fixed in positional relation to the electrical device face, wherein the one or more adjustment screws is configured to slidably move the one or more moveable yokes perpendicularly to the electrical device face without moving the threaded plate screw holes in relation to the electrical device face.

8. The electrical device of claim 1, wherein the one or more fixed yoke portions have one or more tracks and the one or more moveable yoke portions have one or more rails, the one or more tracks interconnectable with the one or more rails.