EP2053303A1

EP2053303A1 - Improved wall mounted lamp and wall mounting mechanism thereof

Info

Publication number: EP2053303A1
Application number: EP08251867A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Eric Bernard Christian Marie Lorin
Original assignee: Electric Light Systems Ltd
Current assignee: Electric Light Systems Ltd
Priority date: 2007-10-23
Filing date: 2008-05-29
Publication date: 2009-04-29
Also published as: HK1105526A2

Abstract

A wall mounting mechanism for wall mounted lamps comprises a lower mounting portion (10) having a central bore (11) on which an upper mounting portion (16) is engaged in a snap-fit manner. It is relatively simple in configuration, low cost and fast to install as the amount of components to be used is reduced. Further, it will be convenient in installation as only one hole needs to be drilled in a wall or other surface to which the lamp is to be fastened.

Description

The present invention relates to a wall mounted lamp, and more particularly to an improved wall mounting mechanism for a wall mounted lamp.
It is well known that a wall mounted lamp includes a wall mounting device, such as a decorative box-like metal/plastic casing or plate, which is adapted to be affixed firmly to a wall or other surface by means of screws/bolts. Figure 1 illustrates a wall mounted lamp of the foregoing type which comprises a wall mounting assembly 10, 16, an intermediate decorative plate 20 and a lamp mounting assembly 30. The wall mounting assembly is of circular shape and comprises a casing 16 having a window on its top surface and a pair of bayonet connectors on its lateral side; and a metallic mounting bracket 10 having a pair of mounting holes 11 spaced along its length direction and a pair of mounting apertures 12 located near its ends. The mounting bracket will be fastened to a wall through the pair of mounting holes by two mounting screws/bolts and further connected with the casing through bayonet connectors and mounting screws/bolts fastened in the mounting apertures or by means of other connection means (not shown) well known in the art. The intermediate decorative plate is optional and aesthetically desirable and is also provided with a window at a position corresponding to that of the casing 16 and it is relatively large for concealing the casing from view. The lamp mounting assembly 30 comprises a tabular lamp arm 31 defining a wire receiving passage therein and with which a lamp assembly 32 is connected. The tabular lamp arm 31 has a screw-threaded end which is interconnected with the casing through the window thereof and another screw-threaded end interconnected with the lamp assembly by nuts or other connection means well known in the art. Preferably, at least one screw-threaded end has a pivot means such that the lamp mounting assembly is rotatably mounted thereon to permit selective rotation of the light emitted from the wall mounted lamp for achieving safety, ambient, effect, task or mood lighting.
Though the wall mounted lamp as shown in Figure 1 has been widely adapted for use, there are drawbacks and disadvantages existed therein. One drawback is that the installation of the lamp requires two holes to be drilled in a wall or associated surface and it is time consuming to fasten four mounting screws/bolts per installation. It is so much worse when such lamps are installed in numbers along a wall or within a building for effect or task lighting. Therefore, they are relatively time consuming and in turn expensive to install owing to high labour cost incurred therefrom such that the extent to which they are employed is somewhat limited.
The present invention aims to overcome at least partly the above defects in the prior art by providing a wall mounted lamp, particularly a wall mounted lamp having an improved wall mounting mechanism which is relatively simple in configuration, low in cost and fast to install.
Accordingly, the present invention provides a wall mounting mechanism for wall mounted lights, comprising: a lower mounting portion and an upper mounting portion engaged with the lower mounting portion in a snap-fit manner; wherein the lower mounting portion includes at least one pair of convex fixing members which are provided at opposite outward sides with one hook respectively, and a central bore through which the lower mounting portion is fixed to a wall or the like; and wherein the upper mounting portion includes a central recessed portion and at least one pair of recesses which are provided at opposite outward sides, each of which has an end opening receiving a respective convex fixing member and matching with the hook of said convex fixing member.
According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the lower mounting portion further comprises a plurality of, preferably three, reinforcing ribs extending radially from the central bore at equal angular intervals. The lower mounting portion and the upper mounting portion are desirably made of plastics, preferably rigid plastics. Preferably, the upper mounting portion further comprises a wire clamping means having a clamping plate and two screw holes for fastening a wire extended from a second wire through aperture to a first wire through aperture in position by screws.
According to the preferred embodiments of the present invention, a wall mounted lamp and more particularly a wall mounted lamp having an improved wall mounting mechanism according to present invention is relatively simple in configuration, low in cost and fast to install owing to the fact that it reduces the amount of components to be used and such reduction of parts and the employment of plastics parts instead of metal ones will reduce substantially the production cost. Further, it will expedite the installation process of the lamp as only one hole needs to be drilled in a wall or other surface to which the lamp is to be fastened.
The invention will now be described in detail by way of example, with reference to the drawings, in which:-

Figure 1 is an exploded perspective view of a wall mounted lamp of the prior art;
Figure 2 is an exploded perspective view of one embodiment of a wall mounted lamp according to the present invention;
Figure 3 illustrates various sectional views of a lower mounting portion of the wall mounting mechanism according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention;
Figure 4 illustrates various sectional views of an upper mounting portion of the wall mounting mechanism according to the preferred embodiment of the present invention; and
Figure 5 is an exploded perspective view of another embodiment of a wall mounting mechanism according to the present invention.

Referring to Figure 2, a wall mounted lamp of the present invention comprises an improved wall mounting mechanism 10, 16, an intermediate decorative plate 20 and a lamp mounting assembly 30. Though the intermediate decorative plate 20 and the lamp mounting assembly 30 are respectively identical to the same in Figure 1 for the ease of comparison, it should be understood that they can be of any other configuration known in the art.
As can be seen, the wall mounting mechanism of the present embodiment comprises a lower mounting portion 10 and a complementary upper mounting portion 16. In the embodiment, the lower mounting portion comprises two convex fixing members 12 provided at opposite outward sides with a hook respectively and a central bore 11 through which the lower mounting portion is fixed on a wall, wherein each hook comprises a hook portion at its tip end. It should be understood that the lower mounting portion could be devised to include only one or more than one convex fixing member when necessary by making adaptive and well known adjustments to the design of the lower and upper mounting portions. Similarly, it could be devised to include more than one bore, for example two mounting bores could be employed for installation on a conventional electrical mounting box which is of standardized dimension and being used as a back box behind wall sockets and switches and in which two bolt receiving apertures are provided.
In this embodiment of the present invention, the upper mounting portion comprises a central recessed portion 17 on its top surface in which a first wire through aperture can be provided, and a second wire through aperture (not shown) and two recesses provided at opposite outward sides, each of which has one end opening receiving the convex fixing members 12 and matching with the hooks. It should be understood that the number, dimension and profile of recesses would be matched to be the same as the hooks of the lower mounting portion for achieving a buckling or snap-fit mechanism by which the lower mounting portion and the upper mounting portion are engaged firmly in operation.
Now referring to Figure 3, which illustrates various sectional views of a lower mounting portion of the wall mounting mechanism according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention. It can be seen that the lower mounting portion further comprises a plurality of (three in this embodiment) reinforced ribs extending radially from the central bore. Preferably, they are extended radially from the central bore at equal angular intervals though other configurations are also possible. For example, they might be arranged to form a letter Y on the lower mounting portion. According to the embodiment, the tip ends of the hooks of the convex fixing member are of triangular configuration but they can be also of semicircular, semispherical and other configurations well known in the art. Further, the lower mounting portion in the embodiment is made of plastics and preferably of rigid plastics. Though the lower mounting portion can also be adaptively made of various materials, such as metal, wood or the like, the use of light weighted, insulated and cheaper plastics or any other equivalent composite materials will reduce the weight and cost of the lamp while safety thereof can be enhanced.
Now referring to Figure 4, which illustrates various sectional views of an upper mounting portion of the wall mounting mechanism according to the preferred embodiment of the present invention, the upper mounting portion further comprises a wire clamping means having a clamping plate (not shown) and two screw holes 41 for fastening a wire (not shown) extended from a second wire through aperture 43 to a first wire through aperture 42 in position by screws. Preferably, the upper mounting portion is made of the same material as the lower mounting portion though other choices are still possible to meet any specific requirement whereby enlarging the extent of application to which the wall mounted lamp of the present invention is employed.
Now referring to Figure 5, which is an exploded perspective view of a wall mounting mechanism according to another preferred embodiment of the present invention, a clamping plate of the foregoing wire clamping means is fastened to the upper mounting portion by two screws 52. Further, an exemplary and illustrative pivot means 55 at a screw-threaded end of the tabular lamp arm 54 is also shown in the figure.
While the invention has been described with reference to the above preferred embodiments, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes, additions or deletions may be made and equivalents may be substituted for elements thereof without departing from the scope of the invention. The above embodiments are merely exemplary but not limitative examples. For example, it should be appreciated that the present invention may be employed to mount other kinds of devices, such as sconces, speakers, LCD displays and the like to a wall and other surfaces with or without any adaptive alterations in its design, dimension and materials in use, and all such alterations and/or modifications shall fall within the scope of the present invention.

Claims

A wall mounting mechanism for wall mounted lights, comprising: a lower mounting portion (10) and an upper mounting portion (16) engaged with the lower mounting portion (10) in a snap-fit manner; wherein the lower mounting portion (10) includes at least one pair of convex fixing members (12) which are provided at opposite outward sides with one hook respectively, and a central bore (11) through which the lower mounting portion (10) is fixed to a wall or the like; and wherein the upper mounting portion (16) includes a central recessed portion (17) and at least one pair of recesses which are provided at opposite outward sides, each of which has an end opening receiving a respective convex fixing member and matching with the hook of said convex fixing member.
A wall mounting mechanism according to claim 1, wherein the lower mounting portion (10) further comprises a plurality of reinforcing ribs extending radially from the central bore (11).
A wall mounting mechanism according to claim 2, wherein the plurality of reinforced ribs extend radially from the central bore (11) at equal angular intervals.
A wall mounting mechanism according to claim 2 or claim 3, wherein the number of reinforced ribs is three.
A wall mounting mechanism according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the lower mounting portion (10) and the upper mounting portion (16) are made of plastic, metal or wood.
A wall mounting mechanism according to claim 5, wherein the lower mounting portion (10) and the upper mounting portion (16) are made of a rigid plastics material.
A wall mounting mechanism according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the upper mounting portion (16) further comprises a wire clamping means having a clamping plate and two screw holes (41) for fastening a wire in position by screws.
A wall mounted lamp of the type comprising a wall mounting device, an intermediate plate and a lamp mounting in series connection, characterized in that the wall mounting device is a wall mounting mechanism according to any one of the preceding claims.
A wall mounted lamp of the type comprising a wall mounting device interconnected with a lamp mounting, characterized in that the wall mounting device is a wall mounting mechanism according to any one of the preceding claims.