FR2549168A1 - System for assembling identical or similar constituent elements of equipment boxes, and constituent elements provided with such a system - Google Patents

Abstract

System for assembling identical or similar constituent elements of equipment boxes, and constituent elements provided with such a system. The system according to the invention is intended to assemble equipment boxes, side by side, by interaction of identical or similar constituent elements, of the flush-mounting box or patress type, provided with a peripheral projection 6 of planar overall shape. The outer peripheral projecting edge 6 includes an alignment of hooks 8, 9 located alternately on either side of a median plane which is not featured but which is parallel to the plane which determines the projection 6 and towards which the openings of which these hooks are oriented, on at least one of the rectilinear sides forming this outer edge, so as to form a translational positioning hinge with complementary hooks located on a peripheral projecting side of an identical or similar consitutuent element of another box. The invention relates to the boxes for small equipment, particularly electrical equipment, and for wall mounting.

Description

System for assembling identical or similar components of apparatus casings and components having such a system
The present invention relates to a system for assembling identical or similar constituent elements of equipment boxes for their side-by-side installation on a wall, as well as the constituent elements of switchgear boxes equipped with such a system.

 The assembly system according to the invention is mainly intended for housings of the type provided for small electrical equipment that is fixed on or in walls and walls, such as electrical outlets, switches, switches, lights, regulators etc.

 In many cases, this small apparatus is housed in housings each consisting of a box fixed on or embedded in a wall or a partition and a hook which carries the apparatus and which comes to form the opening of introduction of equipment on the front of the box.

 In installation, it is often convenient to group several small wall units and this grouping is carried out most generally in a flat linear arrangement.

 It is of course possible to make such groups by juxtaposition individual boots with their respective hooks, but this solution is not practical for installers and can be unattractive, if the installation is done without care.

 There are thus assembling systems for making alignments of various devices, this implies that the dimensions of boxes and hooks and their fasteners are standardized so as to easily obtain a proper alignment by providing a better ease of installation especially at the level of electrical connections and fixings.

 A disadvantage of the known systems is that the elements of the boxes conventionally allow only one mounting in alignment either vertical or horizontal, because the passage from one alignment to another results in incorrect positioning of the asymmetric devices on the front panel, which is annoying.

 The object of the invention is therefore to propose an assembly system for constituent elements, of the same type, identical or similar, with a view to their side-by-side installation on a wall, as well as constituent elements, in particular of the hook and loop type. recessed box type, with such an assembly system.

 The assembly is performed at the periphery of the housings and the constituent elements conventionally comprise a peripheral projection, possibly incomplete, of generally at least approximately flat and preferably rectangular or square, which is intended to be parallel to the assembly plane in the case of a planar assembly.

 According to one characteristic of the invention, the assembly system is characterized in that the outer edge of the peripheral projection of each constituent element comprises, on at least one of the rectilinear sides forming it, an alignment of alternately located hooks. on either side of a median plane which separates them, which is parallel to the plane of the peripheral projection and towards which the openings of these hooks are oriented, so as to form a hinge with the complementary hooks arranged on a rectilinear side corresponding element of a similar or similar constituent element of another apparatus casing and to precisely position in translation these two constituent elements with respect to each other, the four corners of each component being disengaged from the width of the hooks.

 According to another characteristic of the invention, the rows of hooks are arranged on the four straight sides constituting the outer edge of a rectangular peripheral projection of constituent element, the immediately adjacent hooks of the two adjacent sides of the same edge being located same side of the median plane to which their openings are oriented and the hooks of the same rank on two parallel sides being located on either side of said median plane to which their openings are also oriented, so as to allow the assembly of constituent elements , of the same type, identical or similar in rows and / or columns without modifying their possible normal orientations.

 According to a characteristic of the constituent elements according to the invention, each element constituting a type of peg or embedding box which conventionally comprises a peripheral projection of generally at least approximately flat and rectangular shape which is intended to be parallel to the assembly plane in the case of a planar assembly, also comprises, on at least one side of the edge of its peripheral projection, an alignment of hooks alternately located on either side of a median plane, which is parallel to the plane defined by the projection and separating them so as to form a hinge with the complementary hooks arranged on one side of the outer edge of another constituent element of the same type, identical or similar had to position in translation these two constituent elements with respect to the 'other.

 According to a characteristic of a component of the type of hook or recess, hooks are arranged on the four sides constituting the outer edge of the peripheral projection of this element, the immediately adjacent hooks on two adjacent sides being located same side of the median plane towards which their openings are oriented, and the hooks of the same rank on two parallel sides being located on either side of the median plane towards which their openings are also oriented so as to allow the assembly of elements identical or similar constituents of the same type in rows or columns without modifying their possible normal orientation.

 According to a characteristic of a constituent element type of embedding box in which the peripheral projection surrounds a so-called upper opening for the introduction of an apparatus, said boot comprises at least one duct which opens laterally into its wall below said protrusion and extends beyond the edge of this projection parallel to the plane it determines and at least one corresponding opening, optionally closed before use, which is located opposite said conduit in the wall of this box and whose internal dimensions correspond to the outer dimension or dimensions of the duct so as to allow the assembly of at least two identical or similar mounting boxes by their respective hooks and by introducing the duct of one into the opening of the another for the passage of connecting elements between the devices housed in these boxes.

 The invention, its characteristics and its advantages are specified in the description which follows in relation to the figures listed below.

 Figure 1 shows a component of the hook type according to the invention.

 Figure 2 shows a partial detailed view of the assembly system according to the invention.

 Figure 3 shows a top view of assembled components.

 FIG. 4 shows an embedding box provided with an assembly system according to the invention.

 Figures 5 and 6 show the assembly of pegs and flush boxes according to the invention.

 The assembly system according to the invention is intended primarily for equipment boxes intended to be fixed on or in a wall or a wall. Each housing which can contain any kind of apparatus, in particular electrical, electronic or opto-electronic, conventionally comprises a box in which the apparatus is housed and a hook on which the apparatus is generally fixed and by which the box is closed when the equipment is in place.

 FIGS. 1 and 4 respectively show a peg 1 carrying an apparatus symbolized by 2 and a flush-mounting box 3, flush-mounting box 3 and peg 2 are conventionally assembled under the generic term of housing components in the present description in FIG. the extent to which of different types they can be considered equivalent to the point of view of the implementation of the assembly system according to the invention.

 The hook 1 conventionally comprises various circular fixing holes such as holes 4 or elongated and curved such as beans 5, these holes are formed in a peripheral projection 6 which surrounds here the apparatus 2. This peripheral projection 6 is possibly incomplete and does not exist for example on two of the four sides of the apparatus 2 assumed at least approximately rectangular or cubic shape.

 The recess box 3 shown in FIG. 4 conventionally comprises a housing closed by a wall 7 which forms its bottom and its edges, this housing can be of cylindrical, rectangular or cubic shape and it is open on one of its faces, called the face. before, to allow the introduction of the apparatus.

 The opening on the front face is limited by a peripheral projection 6, which has practically the same characteristics and the same variants as a protrusion 6 of hook 1.

 Conventionally any peripheral projection 6 is at least approximately flat and its section along this plane is usually rectangular or square.

 The projection plane 6 is generally intended for beech parallel to the wall or the partition on which is fixed the constituent element which comprises it, this wall and this partition defining what is subsequently called an assembly plane.

 According to the invention and as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the outer edge of the peripheral projection 6 comprises an alignment of hooks 8, 9 on at least one of the long rectilinear sides 10 which compose it and preferably an alignment on each of its four sides 10A to 10D, as shown in figure for the hook.

 The hooks 8 and the hooks 9 of the same hook or the same box 3 are situated respectively on either side of a non-figured median plane which is parallel to the plane defined by the peripheral projection 6 of this hook or of this box and they have their respective openings oriented towards this median plane.

 The openings of these hooks 8 and 9 which are clearly visible in FIG. 3 are here produced in the form of rectilinear grooves 11, 12 in the form of U, parallel to the sides which carry them and which are oriented towards the median plane which separate them, such as the grooves 11 hooks 9 and 12 of the hooks 8.

 Preferably the grooves 11 and 12 of the hooks 9, 8 which are located on the same side 10 are aligned parallel to the direction defined by this side.

 In the embodiment presented, each hook 8 or 9 is constituted in an extension of the peripheral projection edge 6 which extends on one side or the other of the median plane on either side of which the hooks 8 and 9 are respectively arranged and is limited projecting parallel to the direction defined by the side that carries it. Each hook 8 or 9 is formed on practically half a thickness of peripheral protruding edge so as to avoid any extra thickness at this hook both when the constituent element 1 or 3 which comprises it is insulated than when it is assembled with other identical or similar constituent elements of the same type.

 The hooks 8 and 9 are distributed over the constituent elements so as to cooperate with hooks 9 and 8 arranged complementarily on other identical or similar elements.

 For this purpose according to a preferred embodiment, the immediately adjacent hooks on two adjacent sides of a constituent element are situated on the same side of the non-figured median plane and they have their grooves oriented towards this median plane as it is clearly shown at the bottom of Figure 3 and at the top right of this figure.

 On the other hand, the hooks of the same rank on two parallel sides, such as 8'A and 9C in FIG. 1 or 9'B and 8D, are arranged on either side of the unreformed median plane towards which their grooves are also oriented. In order to allow the locking in juxtaposition and superposition of several hooks, the four angles -20a, 20b, 20c, 20d, of each hook are released from the width of the hooks, as shown in Figure 1. Similarly the four corners of a box recess are cleared.

 This allows to associate parallel side by side two identical 1 hooks or two identical boxes 3 (Figures 5 and 6) by cooperating the hooks on one side of one with the hooks complementarily arranged on the corresponding side of the other, a side such that 10A (Figure 1) being adapted to cooperate with a side such as 10C, but not with another side 10A.

 To facilitate the penetration of the actual hooks of a constituent element into the grooves of the hooks of the associated component the outer edge of the hooks is conventionally bevelled towards the median plane and the length of the hook as clearly seen. in figure 3.

 It thus becomes possible to associate identical constituent elements in rows or columns with a precise positioning in translation of an element with respect to one or more thanks to the cooperation of the hooks of these elements. A certain possibility of rotation is obtained because of the hinge effect that allow the hooks, which facilitates the fitting of the equipment. The assembly of two constituent elements is by simple snapping, the latter is made possible by the elasticity at least relative of the material constituting the constituent elements, including plastic or metal.

 To allow the snap-fastening of one component with another, the hooks 8 and 9 extend along the length of the side which carries them, not including the extensions constituting the adjacent hooks on the sides adjacent to the side considered, as well as it can be seen in brackets 8'A and 8D (figure 1) or at the bottom of figure 3.

 Of course it is possible to assemble constituent elements of the same type which are not identical from the moment when one side of one is likely to cooperate with one side of the other because of the complementarity of their respective hooks. . It is thus possible to assemble constituent elements of the same type which are not identical but which can be considered as similar insofar as they have one and generally two out of four sides which cont complementary. For example, recessed boxes of the same width but of different length can be associated, it being understood that the solution richest in possibility is that in which all the elements to be assembled have identical or multiple projection dimensions.

 It is also possible to assemble constituent elements of the same type that can also be considered as similar insofar as one side of one corresponds to a fraction on one side of the other and has corresponding complementary hooks for example at half a side of the other and comprising two hooks, one 8, the other 9, while the other comprises four hooks 9, 8.

 FIG. 3 thus clearly shows the possibilities of assembling constituent elements in line or column while maintaining identical, for example standardized, positioning of the apparatus 2, as well as symbolized by the orifices 15 of the apparatus.

 It should also be noted that the hinge effect provided by the system according to the invention makes it possible to dispose the constituent elements in an assembly which is no longer necessarily plane and which can be effected according to, for example, two planes forming a dihedron largely obtuse if one makes coincide a hinge between constituent elements with the stop of the dihedron.

 In the particular case of the recess boxes such as those shown in FIG. 5, the hook assembly system which is the subject of the invention is completed as an auxiliary assembly by an opening 13 and a conduit 14.

 Indeed, it is advantageous to be able to allow the passage of laison elements such as electrical son between two assembled boxes and the ability to snap a box in a box already fixed and then rotate slightly facilitates the operations of installers.

 In this case the embedding boxes 3 which conventionally include openings, such as 13, possibly closed before use on the wall under the peripheral projection 6.

 These openings are conventionally rectangular, circular or oval as required, they are here supplemented by ducts 14, possibly adaptable, which are designed to open laterally sidewall box at an opening and thus under peripheral projection 6 and for extend beyond this peripheral projection to which the axis of this duct is substantially parallel and over a distance corresponding to at least twice the overhang of this projection at this location, as shown in FIG.

 From the moment when the shape and dimensions of a duct 14 of a flush box corresponding to those of an opening of a flush-mounting box with which the first must be assembled, it becomes possible to engage the duct in the corresponding opening of the other boot and then snap the hooks of these boxes so as to close a substantially dust-tight assembly, as shown in Figure 5.

 The recess boxes may comprise, alternatively and as shown in Figure 6, a conduit 19a or 19b on each side, the ducts 19a and 19b being located on two opposite faces; these ducts have a length such that their end is at the latching point so that two ducts, 19a and 19b, two boxes juxtaposed or superimposed, nest when snapping.

Claims (9)

1 / System for assembling constituent elements, identical or semilar, of equipment boxes for side-by-side installation on a wall, in particular for electrical and wall-mounting equipment, in the case of components (1, 3) provided with an optionally incomplete peripheral protrusion (6) of generally at least approximately flat shape which is intended to be parallel to the assembly plane in the case of a planar assembly, said system being characterized in that the outer edge protruding peripheral projection (6) of constituent element (1, 3) comprises on at least one of the rectilinear sides which form it, an alignment of hooks (8, 9) alternately located on either side of a plane median, which is parallel to the plane of the peripheral projection considered and towards which the openings (11, 12) of these hooks are oriented, so as to form a hinge with the complementary hooks arranged on a n corresponding rectilinear side of an identical or similar constituent element of another apparatus casing and to precisely position in translation these two constituent elements with respect to each other, the four angles (20a, 20b, 20c, 20d) of each component being disengaged from the width of the hooks. 2 / assembly system according to claim 1, characterized in that alignments of hooks (8, 9) are provided on the four straight sides (10) constituting the outer edge of a rectangular peripheral peripheral projection (6). component, the immediately adjacent hooks on two adjacent sides being located on the same side of the median plane towards which their openings are oriented and the hooks of the same level on two parallel sides being located on either side of the median plane towards which their openings are also oriented, so as to allow the assembly of constituent elements in rows or columns without changing their normal orientation. 3 / Component of the type of peg (1) or flush-mounting box (3), for apparatus including electrical box and wall mounting, designed to be assembled side by side with other elements of the same type, identical or similar and having a peripheral projection (6) of generally at least approximately flat and rec-tangular shape which is provided to be parallel to the assembly plane in the case of a planar assembly, characterized in that it comprises on at least one side (10) of the edge of its peripheral projection (6) an alignment of hooks (8, 9) alternately located on either side of a median plane, which is parallel to the plane defined by the peripheral projection, so as to forming hinge with the complementary hooks (9, 8) arranged on a corresponding side of another constituent element of the same type, identical or similar, and to position precisely in translation these two elements constitutes relative to each other. 4 / Element of the type of hook or flush mounting box, according to claim 3 characterized in that alignments of hooks (8, 9) are provided on the four sides constituting the outer edge of the peripheral projection of this element, the hooks. immediately adjacent two adjacent sides being located on the same side of the median plane to which their openings are oriented and the hooks of the same rank on two parallel sides being located on either side of the median plane towards which their openings are also oriented, of so as to allow the assembly of elements of the same type, identical or similar, in rows or columns while maintaining their normal orientation possible. 5 / Element of the type of peg or flush-mounting box, according to claim 3 or 4, characterized in that each hook is constituted in a peripheral projection edge extension which extends on one side or the other of the median plane on either side of which the hooks are arranged, which is limited projecting parallel to the side which carries it and which has a groove (11, 12) open towards said median plane and parallel to said side carrying this hook, the grooves adjacent hooks on the same side being aligned. 6 / Element of the type of peg or flush-mounting box according to claim 5, characterized in that the hooks are formed in the thickness of the peripheral projection edge on practically half a thickness for each of them, so as to avoid any extra thickness at the hooks both at the level of a constituent element and several components assembled. 7 / Element of the type of hook or flush mounting box according to claim 5, characterized in that the hooks extend over the entire length of the side which carries them not including the extensions constituting the two adjacent hooks on each side adjacent to the side considered. 8 / constituent element-type recessed box according to claim 5, wherein the peripheral projection surrounds a so-called upper opening for the introduction of an apparatus, characterized in that it further comprises at least one conduit (i4) which opens laterally into the wall of said recess box below said peripheral projection (6) and which extends beyond the edge of this projection parallel to the plane determined by the latter and at least one corresponding opening (13) , optionally closed before use, which is located opposite said duct in the wall of said box and whose inner dimension or dimensions correspond to the outer dimension or dimensions of the duct so as to allow the assembly of at least two boxes of identical or similar embedding by their respective hooks and by introducing the conduit of one into the opening of the other in particular for the passage of éléme Links between the devices housed in these boxes. 9 / constituent element-type flush mounting box according to claim 5, characterized in that the box of rectangular shape comprises at least two ducts (14) opposite (19a, 19b) each duct having a length such that their end is at snap level.