AU758682B1 - Improved service outlet mounting system - Google Patents

Description

AUSTRALIA

Patents Act 1990 ESCO INDUSTRIES PTY LTD

ORIGINAL

COMPLETE SPECIFICATION STANDARD PATENT Invention Title: Improved service outlet mounting system The following statement is a full description of this invention including the best method of performing it known to us:- Field of the Invention This invention relates to an improved service outlet mounting system.

In particular, the invention concerns a means and system for flush mounting in a stud type plasterboard wall, a variety of outlets for various services, particularly, but not exclusively, services associated with hospital wards.

Background of the Invention Plasterboard is typically mounted to an array of spaced vertically oriented wall studs by nailing, gluing or otherwise fixing the plasterboard to that array of wall studs. Typically the wall studs will be spaced 600mm apart. Until recently, studs were made of timber although wall studs made of pressed sheet steel are now also quite common. If the outlets for the various services are to be flush mounted to the plasterboard, it is first necessary to determine what services will be required and where they should be provided.

Then individual boxes of a known size to suit the requirements of the area are mounted in position and fixed to (site made) horizontal noggins between the wall studs prior to the plasterboard being fixed to the studs. Typical services provided at outlets in wards include electrical power, nurse call, and medical gases such as oxygen and air. In a typical configuration, electrical outlets and nurse call facilities are provided on one side of a bed and outlets for air and oxygen are provided on the other side, although other arrangements may be used. In some wards, such as intensive care wards, more service outlets may be provided. Once the plasterboard has been fixed, it is not possible to easily increase the capacity of the pre-installed wall boxes to accommodate any extra service outlets at a later date.

Further, it is difficult to change the set-up of a ward to change the number of beds provided along one wall of the ward because the position of the service outlets which, as discussed above, are typically provided either side of a bed head, and it is difficult to add new boxes for extra groups of outlets to suit the changed ward set up, with existing systems.

The applicant's earlier filed Australian patent application No 29091/99 addressed this problem by providing a mounting system based on an elongated bracket now to be known as a backing plate directly mounted to the wall studs between the plasterboard and the wall studs. The backing plate which defines a series of spaced apart apertures into which rails for mounting service outlets can be fitted. The present application is concerned with further improvements to the service outlet mounting system described in AU 29091/99.

Summary of the Invention In a first aspect, the present invention provides a service outlet mounting system including: an elongated backing plate including a central portion and having a series of spaced apart upturned edge portions which extend to one side of the backing plate and are disposed along both longitudinal edges of the central portion, spaced planar portions having no upturned edge portions being interposed between sections of the backing plate defining said upturned edge portions, the spaced planar portions being for attaching the backing plate to a series of studs; and wherein a series of spaced apertures are disposed along the backing plate in the central portion between the spaced planar portions; S 15 a pair of opposed rails located in the aperture, each rail being mounted to the backing plate by an adjustable clamping means.

Preferably the rails define a front portion and a rear portion defining a flange and a series of nuts are attached to the flange and the adjustable clamping means are mounted to those nuts.

In a preferred embodiment the adjustable clamping means comprises screws, preferably thumbscrews, mounted on the nuts which extend between the nuts and the backing plate.

In a typical hospital ward, the backing plate could extend the full length of a wall that would require service outlets to be fitted, usually being mounted about 1.2m above floor level. The backing plate is cheap, simple, and typically made from light galvanised steel. It is thus feasible and cost effective to provide this backing plate along all walls that may require service outlets at the initial time of building or at any time after that, should the need arise.

In use, a plasterboard knife may be used to remove a section of plasterboard that has been previously fixed to the face of the wall studs and the back plate to allow an outlet to be fitted. The rectangular apertures can be used as a guide for the cutting blade. In particular the horizontal edges of the aperture can be used to guide the knife to make two horizontal cuts.

Vertical cuts between the two horizontal cuts allow sufficient amount of plasterboard to be removed to define a cut-out portion sized to suit the outlet panel or panels being fitted. Once the hole has been cut in the plasterboard, 2 rails, of the required length are located in the top and bottom of the cut-out portion and retained by the clamping means.

The invention also provides for 2 vertical trim pieces to be fitted between the rails one at either end of the rails to form a frame. Various components of the outlet panel may then be fixed within the frame. Blank panels may also be fixed within the frame between or at the end of outlet panels to provide continuity of appearance or to provide for additional outlet at a later date.

In an alternative method, the backing plate of the present invention is disposed on a series of studs and extends substantially the full length of a Swall.

Thus in a second aspect, the invention provides a method of providing a service outlet system in a wall comprising:mounting an elongated backing plate including a central portion and having a series of spaced apart upturned edge portions which extend to one side of the backing plate and are disposed along both longitudinal edges of the central portion to a series of spaced apart studs, the backing plate defining spaced planar portions having no upturned edge portions interposed between sections of the backing plate defining said upturned edge portions by means of which the backing plate is mounted to the series of studs and wherein a series of spaced apertures are disposed along the backing plate in the central portion between the spaced planar portions; sheeting the wall with plasterboard such that it has a substantially continuous horizontal gap to define an elongated opening extending across the wall, the gap coinciding with the upper and lower edges of the apertures in the backing plate; fitting horizontally oriented rail elements along the upper and lower edges of the elongated opening with the rear portion of the rail element cut and broken out in sections where necessary to clear the wall studs; fixing the horizontally orientated rail elements in position by using adjustable clamping means extending between the backing plate and a rear portion of the rail; mounting boxes for outlets between the rails where required; and closing off the aperture in the wall with a continuous horizontal series of facia panels, some blank and some with service outlets fitted between adjacent walls or door apertures.

In a related aspect, the invention provides a method of forming a service outlet system in a wall comprising; mounting an elongated backing plate, including a central portion and having a series of spaced apart upturned edge portions which extend to one side of the backing plate and are disposed along both longitudinal edges of the central portion to a series of spaced apart studs, the backing plate defining spaced planar portions having no upturned edge portions interposed between sections of the backing plate defining said upturned edge portions by means of which the backing plate is mounted to the series of studs and wherein a series of spaced apertures are disposed along the backing plate in the central portion between the spaced planar portions; sheeting the wall with plasterboard; removing plasterboard from an area covering one or more of the apertures to define one or more elongate openings; fitting horizontally oriented rails within the elongated openings with the rear portion of the rail cut and broken out in sections where necessary to clear the wall studs using an adjustable clamping means extending between the backing plate and a rear portion of the rail to secure in position; mounting boxes for outlets between the rails; and closing off the aperture between the rails with facia panels fitted with service outlets or left blank for future fitting of outlets.

The invention also provides a wall defining a service outlet mounting system, the wall including a series of studs and a sheet of plasterboard or the like, the outlet mounting system including: an elongated backing plate including a central portion and having frame engagement means on one side of the backing plate which are disposed along both longitudinal edges of the central portion, spaced planar portions having no frame engagement means, at either end of the section having upturned edge portions and a rectangular spaced aperture disposed along the backing plate between the spaced planar portions, and wherein the two spaced apart planar portions of the backing plate are mounted to two studs between the studs and the sheet of plasterboard, the sheet of plasterboard defining a rectangular aperture generally co-incident with the rectangular apertures in the backing plate; and rails having a front portion and side walls located in the aperture and retained in position by means of adjustable clamping means extending between the backing plate and a rear portion of the rail.

Preferably the adjustable clamping means comprise a screw, thumbscrew or the like.

Brief Description of the Drawings A specific embodiment of the present invention will now be described by way of example only and with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: Figure 1 shows a typical electrical and medical gas service outlet panel mounted in isolation on a wall; Figure 2 shows an arrangement of electrical and medical gas panels mounted between rails which extends from one wall to another wall of a hospital ward, with blank infill panels disposed between the outlet panels; Figure 3A shows a backing plate for use in mounting electrical and medical gas service outlet panels; Figure 3B shows a side view of the backing plate of the Figure 3A; Figure 3C shows an end view of the backing plate of Figure 3A; Figure 4 shows a section through a power outlet panel fitted between rails; and Figure 5 shows a vertical trim piece Detailed Description of Preferred Embodiments Referring to the drawings, Figures 3A to 3C show an elongated backing plate 2 embodying the present invention which is designed to fit to vertical studs commonly spaced at 600mm. The backing plate 2 is made of light galvanised steel. As can be seen from Figures 3C and 3B, it defines a generally planar central portion 21 with upturned edge portions 22 which extend from one side/face 21A of the backing plate generally perpendicular to the central portion 21. The opposite face 21B of the backing plate is flat. As seen in Figure 3B, the upturned edge portions 22 do not extend continuously along the entire length of the backing plate. Instead the edge portions are commonly 550mm long and there are a series of gaps 3 between the upturned edge portions. The gaps are commonly 50rnm long. The spacing between the centres of the gaps, corresponds to the spacing between the studs onto which the backing plate 2 is to be mounted. The central portion 21 of the panel defines a series of rectangular apertures 23 whose length and alignment corresponds with that of the upturned edge portions. The horizontal edges 25 of the aperture 23 are parallel to the longitudinal axis of the backing plate. An elongate strip portion 24 is defined in the backing plate between the rectangular apertures 23 and the edge portions 22. Two holes 27, 28 for use in fixing the backing plate to studs are provided in the backing plate between each pair of apertures 23. Glue or other fixing means may be used to fasten the backing plates to the studs.

The backing plate is fixed to the studs with the face 21A facing the studs and the opposite face 21B facing away from the studs. In this manner, the backing plate does not extend to any detrimental amount beyond the normal outer face of the studs, aside from the actual thickness of the backing plate. When plasterboard is then fixed to the wall studs, the rear face of the plasterboard will contact the face of the backing plate and also the face of the studs.

For a typical hospital ward, the backing plate would extend the full length of a wall that would require service outlets to be fitted and would usually be spaced about 1.2m above floor level.

Once the sheeting of the wall with plasterboard has been completed, a plasterboard knife is used to remove sections of the plasterboard where outlets are to be positioned using the horizontal edges 25 of the aperture 23 in the backing plate as a horizontal guide for the plasterboard knife for forming upper and lower horizontal cuts. In the case where an outlet of the type shown in Figure 4 is to be provided, vertical cuts extending between the two horizontal cuts allow the removal of a cut-out section of plasterboard of sufficient length to suit the outlet panel or panels to be installed.

Figure 1 shows a typical stand alone, double facia outlet panel including, on one facia, one electrical outlet 31, switches 32, indicator lights 33, and two medical gas outlets 34 on the other facia. Both facia panels are mounted on two aluminium rails 12 which have trim pieces 35 fitted at each end to completely frame the facia panels. Fig. 5 shows a trim component which has two projecting legs 36 which engage between side wall 44 and rib 43 Fig. 4.

Fig. 4 shows a section of an electrical service outlet 9 mounted within a box 70 which in turn is mounted between 2 extruded aluminium rails 12.

The aluminium rail 12 defines a front portion 42 which is generally planar on the front side and whose reverse side, which in use faces the plasterboard, defines a rib 43. A side wall portion 44 extends away from the front portion 42 in a perpendicular direction and terminates at the rear end of the rail which is returned at an angle of approximately 900 to the side wall 44 to define a flange 50 which is oriented generally parallel to the front wall 42.

The side wall portion 44 defines a short projection 46 which extends away from the side wall in the opposite direction to the front wall 42. A groove 48 is also defined in the side wall of the rail 12 approximately 13 mm from the front wall 42. The groove 48 allows portions of the rear section of the rail to be snapped or broken off from the front portion, after partial cutting through side wall 44 and flange 50, where, for example, wall studs occur.

As shown in Figure 4, a series of U nuts 52 are fitted to the flange spaced at about 300mm centres. The U nuts 52 are about 50mm long. The open ends of the U nuts are pressed onto the flange 50 of the rail 12. The U nuts which define two co-axial threaded holes 54 56 receive a threaded thumbscrew 58. By turning the thumbscrew to adjust the length of screw between the backing plate 2 and the U nut 52, a compressive force can be applied between backing plate 2 and ribbed side of front portion 42 of the rail to secure the rail in position. Adjustments can easily be made to accommodate plasterboard having varying thicknesses, and take account of the thickness of coatings or the like on the plasterboard. This avoids the disadvantage of the apparatus described in AU 29091/99 Fig. 3C Fig. 7 where the length of the returned edge 22 of the wall backing plate (bracket) is provided specifically to suit a particular thickness of plasterboard and can only accommodate relatively small variations from that thickness.

Once the rails 12 are installed, boxes 70 to suit various types of service outlet are clipped between the rails 12 using the projections 46 defined on the rails. To provide flexibility for the type of service outlet being installed, a metal outlet mounting grid plate 72 is fixed to the box 70 at four corners using variable length tubular spacers 74 and screws 76. A facia plate 78 fits over the electrical outlet 9.

The rails 12 together with trim pieces 35 can be used to provide a frame around a stand alone group of outlet panels as shown in Figure 1 or alternatively as shown in Figure 2 provide two parallel rails extending from wall to- wall between which service outlet panels and blank facia plates are installed. In this alternative arrangement the stud backing plate extends the full length of the wall, and a continuous horizontal gap extending the full length of the wall, is left in the wall sheeting which coincides with the horizontal edges 25 Fig. 3A of the backing plate.

The extruded aluminium rails 12 described above, is then cut to length to extend the full length of the wall. At positions coinciding with the wall studs the rear part of the extrusion is removed by firstly cutting down to the notch 48 in two places corresponding to the sides of the wall stud, and then snapping out the rear portion of the extrusion between those two cuts.

After fitting and clamping the two rails in position, clip-in boxes can be fitted which effectively lock the two extrusions into place and provide the mounting means for all equipment.

In any areas along the horizontal recess that do not require equipment to be fitted either initially or at any time, clip-in blank facia plates 13 are fitted to complete the installation as is shown in Figure 2.

With either of the methods discussed above, it can be seen that cables or medical gas piping can be dropped down between studs to the outlet from the ceiling space above the ward. Alternatively in the case of multi-storey building, the cables or piping can rise up from the floor below the ward, again terminating at the rear of each outlet panel.

It will be appreciated by persons skilled in the art that numerous variations and/or modifications may be made to the invention as shown in the specific embodiments without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention as broadly described. The present embodiments are, therefore, to be considered in all respects as illustrative and not restrictive.

Claims (14)

1. A service outlet mounting system including: an elongated backing plate including a central portion and having a series of spaced apart upturned edge portions which extend to one side of the backing plate and are disposed along both longitudinal edges of the central portion, spaced planar portions having no upturned edge portions being interposed between sections of the backing plate defining said upturned edge portions, the spaced planar portions being for attaching the backing plate to a series of studs; and wherein a series of spaced apertures are disposed along the backing plate in the central portion between the spaced planar portions; a pair of opposed rails located in the aperture, each rail being secured against the backing plate by an adjustable clamping means.

2. A system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the rails define a front portion and a rear portion defining a flange and wherein a series of U nuts are attached to the flange and the adjustable clamping means are mounted to those U nuts.

3. A system as claimed in claim 1 wherein the adjustable clamping means comprise screws, preferably thumbscrews, fitted to the U nuts which extend between the U nuts and the backing plate.

4. A system as claimed in any preceding claim wherein the apertures are generally rectangular and wherein the rails define projections for mounting an outlet box thereto.

A system as claimed in any preceding claim further including an end trim element for use in forming a frame extending around one of the apertures, the rail element of the frame defining a front portion which, in use, when a sheet of plasterboard or the like defining an aperture which is co-incident with the aperture in the backing plate is fixed to the backing plate, locates on the opposite side of the sheet to the backing plate, the rail element further including a wall section which extends away from the front portion and covers the upper and lower edge portion of the aperture in the plasterboard in use.

6. A system as claimed in claim 5 wherein the frame is formed by two aluminium extruded rails cut to length and closed at the ends by two end trim elements.

7. A system as claimed in claim 5 or claim 6 wherein the rail element of the frame includes a continuous groove in the wall section of the rail to allow a short section of the rear portion of the rail element to be detached from the front portion of the rail element to clear any intersecting wall stud.

8. A method of forming a service outlet system in a wall using the system claimed in any one of claims 1 to 7 comprising:- mounting an elongated backing plate including a central portion having a series of spaced apart upturned edges that are disposed along both longitudinal edges of the central portion of the backing plate and extending to a series of spaced apart wall studs, the backing plate having spaced planar portions having no upturned edge portions interposed between sections of the backing plate defining said upturned edge portions by means of which the backing plate is mounted to the series of studs and wherein a series of spaced apertures are disposed along the backing plate in the central portion between the spaced planar portions; sheeting the wall with plasterboard such that it has a substantially continuous horizontal gap to define an elongated opening extending across the wall, the gap coinciding with the horizontal edges of the apertures in the backing plate; fitting horizontally oriented rail elements along the upper and lower edges of the elongated opening with the rear portion of the rail element cut and broken out in sections where necessary to clear the wall studs; fitting vertically oriented trim elements either end of the horizontally oriented rail elements to define a rectangular frame using an adjustable clamping means extending between the backing plate and a rear portion of the rail element; mounting boxes for outlets in frame where required; and covering any areas where outlets are not required with blank cover panels.

9. A method of forming a service outlet system in a wall using the system according to any one of claims 1 to 7 comprising; mounting an elongated backing plate including a central portion and having a series of spaced apart upturned edge portions which extend to one side of the backing plate and are disposed along both longitudinal edges of the central portion of the backing plate and extending to a series of spaced apart studs, the backing plate defining spaced planar portions having no upturned edge portions interposed between sections of the backing plate defining said upturned edge portions by means of which the backing plate is mounted to the series of studs and wherein a series of spaced apertures are disposed along the backing plate in the central portion between the spaced planar portions; sheeting the wall with plasterboard; removing plasterboard from an area covering one or more of the apertures to define one or more elongated openings; fitting horizontally oriented rail elements along the upper and lower edges of the elongated openings with the rear portion of the rail element cut and broken out in sections where necessary to clear the wall studs using an adjustable clamping means extending between the backing plate and a rear portion of the rail element; fitting vertically oriented trim elements at either end of the horizontally oriented frame elements to define rectangular frames; mounting boxes for outlets in frames where required; and covering any areas where outlets are not required with blank cover panels.

A wall defining a service outlet mounting system, the wall including a series of studs and a sheet of plasterboard or the like, the outlet mounting system including: an elongated backing plate including a central portion and having one or a series of spaced apart rail engagement means on one side of the backing plate which are disposed along both longitudinal edges of the central portion, spaced planar portions having no rail engagement means at both ends and interposed between the sections having upturned edge portions and one or a series of rectangular spaced apertures disposed along the backing plate between the spaced planar portions, and wherein at least two spaced apart planar portions of the backing plate are mounted to at least two studs between the studs and the sheet of plasterboard, the sheet of plasterboard defining one or more generally rectangular apertures co-incident with one or more of the rectangular apertures in the backing plate; and a rail having a front portion and side walls located in the aperture and forming the top and bottom portions of a frame and retained in position by means of adjustable clamping means extending between the backing plate and the rear portion of the rail.

11. A wall as claimed in claim 10 wherein the adjustable clamping means comprise a screw, thumbscrew or the like.

12. A wall as claimed in claim 10 or 11 wherein the side walls of the rail define a groove for separating a part of the rear portion of the rail from the front portion of the rail.

13. A service outlet mounting system substantially as hereinbefore described and shown in Figure 4 of the accompanying drawings.

14. A method of forming a service outlet system substantially as hereinbefore described and shown in Figure 4 of the accompanying drawings. Dated this twenty-seventh day of March 2002 ESCO INDUSTRIES PTY LTD Patent Attorneys for the Applicant: F B RICE CO