FR2583586A1 - Box for centralising connections of electrical ducting, assortment of parts to be assembled for its production, and method for erecting and equipping it - Google Patents

Abstract

The wall of the box is constituted by end-to-end assembly of at least one element 2a, 2b exhibiting, at each of its opposite ends which are not parallel to the mounting plate 1, complementary assembly means 5 and, between these ends, at least one transversal folding area 26, the wall 2 forming a continuous loop, held erect transversely to the mounting plate 1 according to a predetermined configuration by complementary holding means 6, 7 carried respectively by the mounting plate and the wall.

Description

 centralization bottle of electrical pipe connections, assortment of parts to assemble for its realization, and process for its erection and its equi can.

 The present invention relates to the small electrical equipment industry, and more particularly the material for the prefabrication of electrical pipe networks put in place during the construction of buildings.

 In this type of manufacturing, it is customary to centralize in a single box the various conductors leading to sockets, switches, lighting fixtures and others, of one or more rooms, as well as the pipeline at the connection point to the food sector.

 For this, boxes generally molded in one piece and a cover are used, the side wall of which has locations to be perforated, prior to the introduction of the pipe.

 These conventional installations have some practical drawbacks arising in particular from the need to use tools for the entry of the pipes into the box and also the space requirement for storage of the empty boxes.

 In addition, in the case of industrial constructions, it is frequent to meet arrangements of symmetrical apartments, for example on either side of a landing.

 This requires different equipment from the centralization boxes for the pipes.

 The invention aims to overcome the aforementioned drawbacks of conventional connection boxes and to allow the production of boxes easily storable flat with the minimum of space, requiring no tools for their assembly and equipment, and allowing the creation of symmetrical pipe networks from the same assembly.

 The subject of the invention is a centralization box for electrical pipe connections, comprising a base, a side wall having a plurality of locations for introducing electrical pipes into the box, and a cover, characterized in that the wall is constituted by butt-joining of at least one element having, at each of its opposite ends not parallel to the base, complementary joining means and, between these ends, at least one transverse folding zone, the wall forming a loop continuous, maintained erected transversely to the base in a predetermined configuration by complementary holding means carried respectively by the base and the wall.

 The wall may be polyhedral and made up by end-to-end assembly of at least two identical elements of generally originally rectangular shape, each having at least one fold line parallel to their ends respectively presenting complementary assembly means.

 The wall advantageously has a plane of symmetry parallel to the base, which allows it to be maintained on the base by one or the other of its ends, indifferently.

 The base may have means for holding wall elements assembled in at least two different configurations.

 In a particularly advantageous embodiment, the means for assembling the end of the wall element are of the tenon and mortise type, the female part being constituted by a tub split longitudinally, and the male part comprising a cylindrical rod of cross section complementary to that of the interior of the tube, joined to the extremG of the element by a veil of the thickness of the slot of the tube.

 The web connecting the rod to the end of the wall element can be flexible and form an articulation of the assembly.

 The means for holding the wall on the base can be of the snap-type of a canted end of a rod carried by the base, or the wall, in a recess hollowed in the paroli, or the base, respectively.

 The notched rod can be extended by a lug, accessible from the outside of the assembled box and movable at will to release the notch from the associated recess in order to separate the wall from the bottom, or from the cover.

 Such a box can comprise at least one pair of notched rods facing each other symmetrically and spaced from one another by a distance allowing their joint grip with one hand for their simultaneous release from their associated recesses.

 The wall may have a plurality of sections of conduits transverse to its general plane for the guided introduction of electrical signals.

 In one embodiment, the conduits Qnt a quadranrular cross section and contain, each ent at least one flap articulated on one side of the wall of the associated conduit, which folds elastically, inwardly towards the inside of the box during the introduction of a pipe and opposes its subsequent removal, except prior manual release of the pipe by overstepped folding of the flap.

 It is practical for the box to have a cover having holding means on the wall identical to those of the base.

 The base may have means for equipping it with electrical connection apparatus, tamper-evident indicators, and / or fixing on a support.

 The cover and the base can be identical.

The invention also relates to an assortment of parts to be assembled for making a box according to the invention, characterized in that it comprises at least one base, a wall element and a cover.
The invention also relates to a method for the erection of a centralization box for pipes in accordance with the invention and its equipment in electric pipes, characterized in that a base is fixed on a workbench, in that the desired number of wall elements assembled end to end are fixed on this base to form the desired closed configuration, in that the ends of the electrical conduits to be connected are introduced into the appropriate insertion locations of the wall thus formed, in that it fixes on the free edge of the wall a cover-base possibly previously equipped with electrical connection apparatus, in that one detaches the cover-base / wall assembly from the fixed base, in that return this assembly to make the desired electrical connections, in that a cover is attached to close the box, and in that there is at the location of use the box centralizing the connections of the electrical conduits ics connected to it.

 The invention will be better understood on reading the detailed description which follows and on examining the appended drawings which represent, by way of nonlimiting examples, several embodiments of the invention.

On these drawings
FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view of a boot according to the invention,
FIGS. 2, 2a, 2b are diagrams of assembly plans for wall elements of a box according to the invention,
FIGS. 3, 3a represent an end-to-end method of assembling the ends of wall elements,
FIGS. 4, 4a and 4b represent various modes of folding a wall element,
FIGS. 5, Sa, 5b, 5c and 5d illustrate various embodiments of the pipe entries in the wall of a box according to the invention,
FIG. 6 is a view similar to that of FIG. 1 of another embodiment of a boot according to the invention, and
Figure 7 is a diagram in plan of use of centralization boot of pipes according to the invention in a construction of symmetrical apartments.

 In these drawings the corresponding elements are designated by the same reference numerals.

 The boot shown in FIG. 1 essentially comprises a base 1, a side wall 2 formed by assembling two identical elements 2a and 2b abutted and folded to form a rectangular parallelepiped, and finally a cover 4.

 The base 1 is essentially constituted by a plate 20 projecting on one side only protrusions 15 in particular intended to be self-tapping and rails 14 allowing the attachment of electrical connection equipment such as dominoes, fuse holders and the like.

 The base also has projecting rods Ej whose end is notched 9 which snap into a recess 7 in the wall 2. Each of the elements 2a, 2b, of the wall 2, has a succession of sections of tube of square or rectangular section 3 for insertion of electrical pipes. These tube sections are closed by flaps 13 articulated on one of the sides and inclined towards the inside of the box.

 Each wall element 2a, 2b has a fold line 26 and ends at each of its ends by complementary assembly means 5 constituted, for one end, by a section of split tube 5a, and for the other end by a cylindrical rod 5b of cross section complementary to that of the section of the tube 5a and connected to the end of the wall 2 by a flexible veil 8 whose thickness corresponds to the width of the slot of the tube 5a (Figure 3).

 When the two parts of each element 2a, 2b are folded at 900 to form the assembly of FIG. 1, the web 8 folds back thus forming a joint (FIG. 3a).

 The fold line can be formed by a simple thinning of the wall along a curved strip 26a (FIG. 4) or by a wedge section 26b (FIG. 4a) whose sides serve as a stop to limit the folding of the wall 2.

 According to another variant (FIG. 4b), the folding zone 26c forms a notch in a corner analogous to the notch 26b in FIG. 4a but in the opposite direction, and the wall element 2 has on the opposite face protrusions in quarter of circle 27a, 27b each pierced with a hole 28, 28a which receives, once the wall folded back to 900, a rod allowing the immobilization of the folded wall and the stiffening of the assembly.

 Alternatively, one of the holes, for example 28, can be replaced by a semi-spherical boss which will snap into the corresponding hole 28a during folding.

 As shown in FIG. 4b, it may be advantageous to provide two protrusions 27b, 27c on one of the sides of the wall 2 relative to the fold line 26c, and a single protrusion in an arc of a circle 2ia on the other part, which is inserted with pinch between the two other protrusions 27b, 27c.

 The flaps 13, which ensure a dust-tightness of the tube sections 3 in the absence of electrical pipes, may have fold lines in the vicinity of the attachment to the wall, as shown in 13a in FIG. 5, or in their part median 13b, or even both in the middle part and at the point of connection to the wall 13c.

 When the end of a pipe 12, for example a corrugated tube, is introduced into such a section of tube 3 (FIGS. 5a, 5b, 5c), the flap 13 folds back towards the wall and jams the edge of the pipe 12 thus preventing its removal, unless the flap 13 is removed from the pipe 12 by forcing it with a rod or a screwdriver, for example.

 The elasticity of the flap 13 allows the introduction and holding in place of more or less large pipes, as indicated in 12 and 12b in FIG. 5b.

 To further improve the retention of the pipes by the flaps, these may have, at the end in contact with the pipe, a pawl-shaped end 13 a, 13b (FIG. 5c), possibly thinned 13b, to facilitate taking on a small diameter corrugated pipe 12a.

 The realization of places for the introduction of electrical conduits in the box, in the form of sections of tube, has the advantage of allowing the ends of the conduits to be kept parallel to the base of the boot, and not their tilting as it was the case with conventional boxes, which was very inconvenient for equipping boxes with several pipes.

 The quadrangular section of the tube transmissions allows better wedging of the generally round pipes, and easily ensures a dust tightness by the flaps 13.

 The wall has a plane of symmetry P (Figure 1) which allows the use of the same assembly of wall elements 2a, 2b, either on one side or the other.

 Thus, it is possible to equip a box according to a determined distribution of pipes and to obtain its symmetry simply by reversing the boot produced.

 The box also includes a cover 4 which can advantageously be identical to the base 1.

The notched assembly rods 6, 6a, 6b may advantageously have on the side an extension lla in the form of a lug protruding from the wall of the assembled box.

 Thus, by exerting manual lateral pressure, it is possible to disengage a lug 9a from the corresponding recess 7a, in order to remove the cover (or the base).

 Handling is facilitated when two rods 6a, 6b are oriented back to back and spaced from each other by a distance allowing the simultaneous gripping of the two pins pila, llb, with one hand with joint release of the two rods notched 6a, 6b.

 For reasons of simplification of manufacture, it is advantageous for the cover and the base to be identical.

 They can also have holes such as 16 allowing the passage of a sealable screw or a simple leaded guarantee wire connecting the base to the cover. Other holes such as 17 can allow the boot to be screwed to a support.

 To allow several box configurations with the minimum number of parts, a cover base may have fixing means according to several configurations as shown in FIGS. 2, 2a and 2b.

 The square configuration of FIG. 2 is formed by assembling two elements 2c, 2d, having a center fold line 26.

 The assembly can also be formed with identical elements 2c, 2d associated with a third identical element 2e but not folded, to form a rectangular configuration (FIG. 2a).

 The same elements 2c, 2d, 2e can be folded up to form another polygonal configuration, for example a hexagon (FIG. 2d).

In the variant shown in FIG. 6, the base 1a and the identical cover 4a have holes 17a for fixing on a support 16a for the passage of guarantee wires, but also holes 19 cooperating with threaded bosses 18 carried by the wall elements 2f, 2g which allow the fixing of the base and the cover by means of screws
This allows an extremely effective blocking of the box which can be advantageous in particularly difficult applications.

 For the sake of simplification, this variant of FIG. 6 has not shown the locations for introducing electrical pipes. These can be produced as in the examples of the preceding figures by tube sections or even in a conventional manner by bores.

 Figure 7 shows the plan of two symmetrical apartment buildings. The electric current of the sector arrives at a connection point 30 from which leave pipes leading to centralization boxes of pipes 31, 31a, 32, 32a which can themselves be connected to other centralization boxes 33, 33a, 34 , 34a.

 With a box according to the invention, identical connections will be made on identical boxes but one will use half of them, 31a, 32a, 33a, 34a, using the cover as a base after turning the assembly over with respect to the boxes 31, 32, 33, 34.

 This allows faster and therefore more cost-effective mass production.

 The boxes according to the invention are particularly suitable for molding in plastic material, because the wall elements can be molded flat before being folded and butted.

 The planes of symmetry of the wall elements allow their use either on one side or the other. One can thus use simpler and less expensive molds.

 For mass production according to the method of the invention, use a base fixed permanently on a workbench, which frees the hands of the user for the establishment of pipes.

 The wall elements are assembled, butted and erected on this temporary fixed base. The ends of the pipes are introduced at the desired locations, the cover is applied and the cover-wall assembly fitted with the pipes is released from the temporary fixed base to fix it on a new final base. The flaps prevent the pipes from leaving the box and prevent accidental electrical contact. They easily lie inward under the pressure of a smooth or corrugated conduit, or an adapted electrical cable.

 As a variant, (FIG. 5d), the flaps 13 can be replaced by tongues arranged in a star 13d which can fulfill the same function in a section of circular tube 3a.

 The boltes according to the invention can be made of conventional plastic. However, depending on the particular embodiments used, in particular for the fold lines 26, preference may be given to polyvinyl chloride when making fold lines by thinning along strips (FIG. 4), and to polypropylene when we choose wedge-shaped fold lines 26b (Figure 4a).

 The boltes according to the invention have significant advantages compared to conventional duct laying systems, in particular the time savings due to the absence of drilling, the good resistance without connection of the bolt and the pipes with which it is equipped, the absence of discrimination between conduit or cable and the abandonment of conventional installation accessories, such as a drill, conical cutter or die-cutter. In the event of an error, it is easy to remove the undesirable conduit or cable because it suffices to force on the door using a rod to release the conduit or cable.

 Of course, the invention is in no way limited to the embodiments described and shown, it is capable of numerous variants accessible to those skilled in the art, depending on the applications envisaged and without departing from the scope of 1 'invention.

Claims (17)

 1. Centralization box for electrical pipe connections, comprising a base (l), a side wall (2) having a plurality of locations (3) for introducing electrical pipes into the box, and a cover (4), characterized in that the wall is formed by end-to-end assembly of at least one element (2a, 2b) having, at each of its opposite ends not parallel to the base (1), complementary assembly means (5) and , between these ends, at least one transverse folding zone (26), the wall (2) forming a continuous loop, maintained erected transversely to the base (1) in a predetermined configuration by complementary holding means (6, 7) carried respectively by the base and the wall.  2. Box according to claim 1, characterized in that the wall is polyhedral and formed by end-to-end assembly of at least two identical elements (2a, 2b) of generally originally rectangular shape, each having at least one fold line (26) parallel to their ends respectively presenting complementary assembly means (5).  3. Box according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the wall has a plane of symmetry P parallel to the base (1), which allows it to be held on the base by one or other of its ends, indifferently.  4. Box according to one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that the base (1) has means for holding wall elements (2) assembled in at least two different configurations.  5. Box according to one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that the means (5) for assembling the end of the wall element (2) are of the tenon and mortise type, the female part (5a) being constituted by a tube split longitudinally, and the male part (5b) comprising a cylindrical rod (5a) of cross section complementary to that of the interior of the tube, joined at the end of the element by a veil (8) the thickness of the tube slot.  6. Box according to claim 5, characterized in that the web (8) connecting the rod (5b) at the end of the wall element (2) is flexible and forms an articulation of the assembly.  7. Box according to one of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that the means for holding the wall (2) on the base (1) are of the snap type with a notched end (9) of a rod (6) carried by the base (1), or the wall (2), in a recess hollowed in the wall (2), or the base (1), respectively.  8. Boot according to claim 7, characterized in that the notched rod (6a) is extended by a lug (lia), accessible from the outside of the assembled box and displaceable at will to release the notch (9a) from the 'associated recess (7a), in order to separate the wall (2) from the bottom (1), or from the cover (4).  9. Box according to claim 8, characterized in that it comprises at least one pair of notched rods (9a, 9b) facing each other symmetrically and spaced from each other by a distance allowing their joint seizure of a single hand for their simultaneous release of their associated recesses (7a, 7b).  10. Box according to one of claims 1 to 9, characterized in that the wall (2) has a plurality of sections of conduits (3) transverse to its general plane for one guided introduction of electrical pipes (12).  11. Boot, along line 10, characterized in that the conduits (3) have a quadrangular cross section and each contain at least one flap (13) articulated on one side of the wall of the associated conduit (3), which folds elastically towards the inside of the box during the introduction of a pipe (12) and opposes its subsequent removal, unless prior manual release of the pipe (12) by overstepped folding of the flap (13).  12. Box according to claim 11, characterized in that the flaps (13), in the absence of electrical pipe, obstruct the conduits (3) in a dustproof manner.  13. Box according to one of claims 1 to 12, characterized in that it comprises a cover (4) having retaining means (6) on the wall (2) identical to those of the base (1).  14. Boot according to one of claims 1 to 13, characterized in that the base (1) has means for equipping electrical connection apparatus (14, 15), tamper-evident indicators (16), and / or fixing on a support (17).  15. Box according to one of claims 13 and 14, characterized in that the cover (4) and the base (1) are identical.  16. Assortment of parts to be assembled for making a box according to one of claims 1 to 15, characterized in that it comprises, at least, a base (1), a wall element (2) and a cover (4).  17. Method for the erection of a centralization boot for connections according to one of claims 1 to 15, and its equipment in electrical pipes, characterized in that a base is fixed on a workbench, in that secures on this base the desired number of wall elements assembled end to end to form the desired closed configuration, in that the ends of the electrical conduits to be connected are introduced into the appropriate insertion locations of the wall thus formed, in what is fixed on the free edge of the wall a base cover possibly previously equipped with electrical connection apparatus, in that one detaches the cover-base / wall assembly from the fixed base, in that it turns over this set to make the desired electrical connections, in that it covers a cover to close the box, and in that we have at the location of use the box centralizing the connections of the electrical pipes which its t hooked up.