GB2390483A

GB2390483A - Antenna mounting bracket and assembly

Info

Publication number: GB2390483A
Application number: GB0315698A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Alistair Macleod
Original assignee: H P C Ltd
Current assignee: H P C Ltd
Priority date: 2002-07-05
Filing date: 2003-07-04
Publication date: 2004-01-07
Also published as: GB0315698D0; GB0215565D0

Abstract

Mounting apparatus adapted for mounting to a fixed structure 1 comprises a bracket 13 which is adapted to be secured to the structure by a fixing mechanism, the bracket has at least one slot (17,18, Figure 5) which has a greater longitudinal than transverse length. The fixed structure may be a pylon and the bracket 13, which has perpendicular plates 21 can be attached to the leg of the pylon with L-shaped threaded rod 5 and attachment hooks 11, located over the arms 7.An L-shaped side bracket 33 may be attached via the slots 17,18 to the bracket 13. A round tube 41(Figs 2,3) can be secured to the side bracket, and a vertical tube 51(Figs 2,3) containing a mobile phone transmitting and receiving aerial can be attached to this. There may be four upper brackets attached to each corner and four lower brackets about 1 metre below them, which form a frame 3U, 3L (Figs 2,3).

Description

1 MOUNTING APPARATUS

3 The present apparatus relates to mounting apparatus 4 particularly but not exclusively for use with 5 mounting radio frequency transmitters/receivers on 6 structures such as electricity pylons.

8 Conventionally, radio frequency transmitter/receiver 9 aerials are used to transmit radio frequency signals 10 between base stations and mobile telephones. The 11 aerials are conventionally mounted on masts which 12 require to be individually erected and placed 13 throughout the country. However, the dispersal of 14 such masts has caused concern to local communities 15 since some consider them to be eyesores.

17 For this reason, and also due to economic and 18 efficiency reasons, it may be preferred to mount 19 mobile telephone aerials on structures such as 20 electricity pylons, also known as steel lattice 21 electricity towers or pylons, since these have 22 already been erected and are dispersed throughout 23 the country. Furthermore, the electrical fields

1 generated by the electricity conductors do not 2 interfere with the mobile telephone signals.

4 Conventionally, in order to mount such mobile 5 telephone aerials on electricity pylons, a 6 relatively higher manpower input is required since 7 the pylon must be surveyed and a bespoke frame for 8 mounting the mobile telephone aerial must be 9 manufactured.

11 According to a first aspect of the present invention 12 there is provided apparatus for mounting to a fixed 13 structure, the apparatus comprising a bracket member 14 which is secured to the structure by a fixing 15 mechanism, the bracket member comprising at least 16 one slot which has a longitudinal axis of greater 17 length than a transverse length of the slot.

19 Typically, the fixed structure is an electricity 20 tower or pylon or the like.

22 Typically, the longitudinal axis of the bracket 23 member extends in a perpendicular direction to the 24 longitudinal axis of the portion of the fixed 25 structure to which the bracket member is secured.

27 Preferably, the slot is adapted to permit a fixing 28 means to pass through itself, and is further adapted 29 to permit the fixing means to travel along the slot 30 until the fixing means is actuated to lock itself 31 within the slot. Typically, the fixing means is 32 further adapted to secure a load bearing member such

1 as a plate member to the bracket member. Typically, 2 the bracket is provided with more than one 3 longitudinally extending slot, and preferably is 4 provided with at least a pair of longitudinally 5 extending slots transversely spaced apart from one 6 another. This provides embodiments of the invention 7 with the advantage that they are reversible; i.e. 8 they can be used as either right hand or left hand 9 bracket members.

11 Preferably, a cylindrical member is secured to the 12 load bearing member, and more preferably, an aerial 13 such as a mobile telephone receiving/transmitting 14 aerial is secured to the load bearing member by a 15 further fixing means.

17 Typically, the fixing mechanism is secured to a leg 18 of the tower or pylon, and comprises at least one 19 and preferably two attachment means which are 20 adapted to surround at least a portion of the leg 21 thereby gripping the leg. Typically, the attachment 22 means comprise attachment hooks and brackets.

23 Typically, the fixing mechanism further comprises a 24 connecting member which is adapted to be secured to 25 the attachment means, and is further adapted to 26 apply tension to the attachment means. Preferably, 27 the connecting member is further adapted to be 28 secured to the bracket, such that a portion of the 29 bracket is typically compressed against a portion of 30 the leg, thereby preferably surrounding at least a 31 portion of the leg.

1 Preferably, the apparatus forms a frame to which a 2 mobile telephone receiving/transmitting aerial is 3 mounted.

5 The present invention also provides a method of 6 installing the apparatus of the first aspect of the 7 present invention to a fixed structure, the method 8 comprising the steps of: 9 positioning the apparatus at a suitable 10 location adjacent to the fixed structure; 11 securing the apparatus to the fixed structure 12 with the fixing mechanism and the bracket member.

14 Preferably, the method further includes the step of 15 securing a load bearing member to the bracket member 16 with an attachment means. More preferably the 17 method comprises the step of securing, a cylindrical 18 member and more preferably an aerial such as a 19 mobile telephone receiving/transmitting aerial to 20 the load bearing member by a further fixing means.

22 Preferably, the method further includes the steps 23 of; 24 loosening the attachment means between the load 25 bearing member and the bracket member; 26 altering the attitude of the cylindrical member 27 attached to the load bearing member by moving the 28 load bearing member substantially along the 29 longitudinal axis of the bracket member until the 30 attitude of the cylindrical member is at a desired 31 level with respect to the ground to which the fixed 32 structure is fixed;

1 tightening the attachment means between the 2 load bearing member and the bracket member.

4 Preferably, the method further includes the step of 5 securing the fixing mechanism to the fixed structure 6 by surrounding at least a portion of the fixed 7 structure. 9 Preferably, the method further includes the step of 10 applying tension to the fixing mechanism using a 11 connecting member, such that a portion of the fixing 12 mechanism is typically compressed against a portion 13 of the fixed structure.

15 Preferably, the method further includes the step of 16 applying tension to the bracket, such that a portion 17 of the bracket is typically compressed against a 18 portion of the fixed structure.

20 Embodiments of the present invention will now be 21 described, by way of example only, with reference to 22 the accompanying drawings, in which: 24 Fig. 1 is a view of a transverse face of a 25 suspension tower upon which an apparatus in 26 accordance with the present invention can be 27 mounted; 28 Fig. 2 is a front view of a portion of an 29 apparatus in accordance with the present 30 invention mounted upon the suspension tower of 31 Fig. 1;

1 Fig. 3 is a side view of the apparatus of Fig. 2 2; 3 Fig. 4 is a plan view of the apparatus of Fig. 4 2; 5 Fig. 5a is a side bracket which forms a part of 6 the apparatus of Fig. 2; 7 Fig. 5(b) is a side view of the side bracket of 8 Fig. 5a; 9 Fig. 5c is an end view of the side bracket of 10 Fig. 5a; 11 Fig. 6a is a plan view of a first bracket which 12 forms a part of the apparatus of Fig. 2; 13 Fig. 6b is a side view of the first bracket of 14 Fig. 6a; 15 Fig. 7a is a plan view of a second bracket 16 which forms a part of the apparatus of Fig. 2; 17 Fig. 7b is a side view of the second bracket of 18 Fig. 7a; and 19 Fig. 8 is a plan view of a square bracket which 20 forms a part of the apparatus of Fig. 2.

22 Fig. 1 shows a suspension tower 1, also known as an 23 electricity transmission pylon 1 or a steel lattice 24 pylon 1, to which a plurality of apparatus in 25 accordance with the present invention, each 26 apparatus consisting of a frame 3U, 3L being mounted 27 to a leg of the tower 1.

29 Four upper frames 3U would normally be mounted upon 30 the four corners of suspension tower at the same 31 vertical height, and four lower frames 3L are 32 mounted upon the four corners of the suspension

1 tower 1 at the same vertical height. The upper 2 frame 3U would normally be mounted upon the 3 suspension tower 1 about a metre or so above the 4 lower frame 3L. It should also be noted that, 5 whilst it would be normal to have the same number of 6 frames making up the upper frame 3U, as there are 7 making up the lower frame 3L, less than four upper 8 and lower frames 3U, 3L may be used. For instance, 9 only one upper frame 3U and one lower frame 3L may 10 be provided on the same corner of the suspension 11 tower 1.

13 The upper 3U and lower 3L frames are shown in more 14 detail in Fig. 2, where like components between the 15 upper and lower frames 3U, and 3L will be denoted by 16 like reference numbers.

18 Each upper frame 3U comprises an L-shaped threaded 19 rod 5 which consists of a pair of cylindrical 20 threaded arms which extend from an Lshaped 90 21 elbow 9, the elbow 9 and pair of arms 7 being of 22 unitary construction. Each upper frame 3U also 23 comprises a pair of L-shaped attachment hooks 11 24 which have an aperture formed through their long 25 side through which the respective arm 7 can pass.

27 Each upper frame 3U also comprises a bracket 13 28 which is shown in greater detail in Figs. 6a and 6b.

29 Each bracket 13 comprises a rectangular main plate 30 15 which has an upper row 17 and a lower row 18 of 31 three longitudinally arranged slots with the, in 32 use, outer most slot 17L and the middle slot 17M

- l - 1 having the same longitudinal length (240 mm) and 2 the, in use, inner most slot 17R having a much 3 shorter longitudinal length (30 mm) than the outer 4 most and middle slots 17L, 17M. The lower row of 5 slots 18L, IBM, 18R are parallel to the respective 6 slots 17L, 17M, 17R of the upper row and have the 7 same longitudinal extents or lengths. The upper row 8 of slots are spaced apart from the lower row of 9 slots 18L, 18M, 18R. A smaller pair of rectangular 10 plates 21A, 21B are welded to the inner most end of 11 the main plate 15, with one of the rectangular 12 plates 21A being co-planer with the main plate 15, 13 and the other rectangular plates 21B being 14 perpendicular to the main plane of the main plate 15 15, such that the rectangular plates 21A, 21B 16 provide an L-shaped 90 end to the main plate 15.

17 Preferably, the pair of rectangular plates 21A, 21B 18 are welded to the main plate 15; alternatively, the 19 bracket 15 could be formed from one piece.

21 Each of the lower frames 3L also comprise an L 22 shaped 90 threaded rod 5 and a pair of L-shaped 23 attachment hooks.

25 The components of each of the lower frames 3L are 26 identical to the components of the upper frame 3U.

27 However, instead of the bracket 13, each of the 28 lower frames 3L comprises a bracket 23 as shown in 29 Figs. 7a and 7b. The bracket 23 is shorter in 30 length than the bracket 13, and again has a pair of 31 rectangular plates 31A, 31B provided at the end of a 32 main plate 25 and which are arranged in a similar

1 manner to those of the bracket 13. However, the 2 main plate 25 only comprises two longitudinally 3 arranged slots 27L, 27R in its upper row and two 4 longitudinally arranged slots 28L, 28R in its lower 5 row. The, in use, outer most slots 27L, 28L have a 6 much greater longitudinal length than the, in use, 7 inner most slots 27R, 28R.

9 In use, the upper 3U and lower 3L frames are carried 10 up the tower or pylon 1 by the installation operator 11 in component form. The installation of an upper 12 frame 3U will now be described, and those skilled in 13 the art will realize that the installation for the 14 lower frame 3L is virtually identical.

16 Once the linesman has reached the desired height, he 17 places the bracket 13 against the tower or pylon leg 18 1, such that L-shaped rectangular plates 21A, 21B 19 are pressed against the outer faces of the 20 suspension tower 1 leg. The linesman then passes 21 one end of the Lshaped threaded rod 5 through one 22 of the inner most slots 27R or 28R. An attachment 23 hook can then be slipped over each end of the L 24 shaped threaded rod 5 and pulled along the 25 respective cylindrical threaded arm 7 as far as 26 possible so that the attachment hook 11 buts against 27 the inner face of the tower leg 1. A nut can then 28 be threaded along the cylindrical threaded arm 7 to 29 lock the attachment hook 11 in place. It should be 30 noted that it is preferred that a pair of threaded 31 L-shaped rods 5 are used, one passing through the 32 slot 27R and another passing through slot 28R and

1 the use of a pair of L shaped threaded rods 5 2 increases the rigidity of the frame 3U or 3L.

4 A side bracket 33 is shown in Figs. 5a, 5b and 5c 5 and is an L shaped member having a larger face 35 6 and a smaller face 37 conjoined to one another. The 7 larger face 35 has a pair of apertures 36 formed 8 therein, with each aperture being provided at a 9 respective end of the larger face 35. The smaller 10 face 37 also has a pair of apertures 38 formed 11 therein, the apertures 38 being located between the 12 apertures 36. It should be noted that the apertures 13 36 lie on the same longitudinal axis as one another 14 and the apertures 38 also lie on the same 15 longitudinal axis as each other.

17 Once the linesman has erected the required upper or 18 lower frame 3U, 3L, the linesman places the side 19 bracket 33 against the main plate 15 or 25 such that 20 the apertures 38 are aligned with the respective 21 upper slots 17L, 17M or 27L and the linesman can 22 secure the side bracket 33 to the respective main 23 plate 15 or 25 by passing bolts (not shown) through 24 the apertures 38, through the upper slots, 17L, 17M 25 or 27L and fixing the bolt in place with suitable 26 nuts (not shown).

28 The longitudinal extent of the slots 17L, 17M or 27L 29 provides the great advantage that the side bracket 30 33 can be moved substantially along the length of 31 the bracket 13, 23 by simply loosening of the bolts 32 and in this manner, accurate positioning of the side

1 bracket 33 is easily obtained. In addition, two 2 side brackets 33 can be utilised on the side faces 3 of the main plate 15 or 25 to provide double fixing 4 points for a round tube 41 as will now be described.

6 The linesman then places a round tube 41 against the 7 upper face of the larger face 35 and secures the 8 round tube 41 to the side bracket 33 by means of U 9 shaped bolts (not shown) which pass through the 10 apertures 36 and around the round tube 41.

12 The linesman then secures a square plate 43 as shown 13 in Fig. 8 to the round tube 41 by means of U shaped 14 bolts (not shown). For example, the linesman may 15 pass the two free ends of a U shaped bolt about the 16 round tube 41 and through the apertures 45 as shown 17 in Fig. 8, and the linesman may also pass the free 18 ends of another U shaped bolt around the round tube 19 41 and through the apertures 47. Suitable sized 20 nuts would be screwed on to the free ends on the 21 other side of the square plate in order to tighten 22 the U shaped bolts in place. The linesman may then 23 place a vertical tube 51 against the other side of 24 the square plate 43, and the operator may pass the 25 free ends of a U shaped bolt (not shown) about the 26 vertical tube 51 and through the apertures 46 with 27 suitable nuts (not shown) being used to secure the U 28 shaped bolts and hence the vertical tube 51 to the 29 square plate 43.

31 In this manner, and due to the ease of moving the 32 side brackets 33, a linesman can readily ensure that

1 the vertical tube 51 is vertical by simply using a 2 spirit level or the like, and all the bolts of the 3 frame 3U and 3L can be tightened to maintain the 4 tube 51 in a vertical orientation.

6 A lower frame is then erected a suitable distance 7 below, for example about a metre below, the upper 8 frame 3U on the same leg of the tower 1, and the 9 lower end of the vertical tube 51 is held secure by 10 the lower frame 3L. A number of vertical tubes 51 11 could be secured between the round tubes 41 of the 12 upper 3U and lower 3L frames. Also, an upper 3U and 13 lower 3L frame may be provided on each corner of the 14 tower, thus giving 360 coverage for mobile phones.

16 The tube 51 can then be used to house an aerial used 17 for e.g. mobile phone transmission/receiving or 18 indeed the vertical tube could be replaced by the 19 mobile phone aerial if this is suitable or indeed 20 could be replaced by any other form of aerial 21 mounting such as a mounting for a microwave 22 transmitter/receiver and the like. In any event, if 23 the apparatus is to be used for mounting a mobile 24 phone aerial, it is important that the vertical tube 25 51 or aerial itself is in fact vertical for signal 26 quality purposes.

28 Embodiments of the invention have a great advantage 29 in that it does not matter that the main plates 15, 30 25 of the bracket 13, 23 are not horizontal, since 31 the tubes 41 are cylindrical, which means that the

1 apparatus is much less complicated than bespoke or 2 one off frames.

4 Furthermore, the brackets 13, 23 have a great 5 advantage in that because upper 17 and lower 18 rows 6 of slots are provided, the brackets can be used for 7 both left hand and right hand use since the brackets 8 13, 23 can simply be turned upside down for e.g. 9 left hand use.

11 It should also be noted that the square plates 43 12 could be replaced by, for example, scaffold clamps 13 (not shown) that couple the round tube 41 and 14 vertical tube 51 to one another directly. However, 15 the use of the square plate 43 is preferred since 16 this gives the advantage of providing a much greater 17 bearing surface than direct round tube 41 to 18 vertical tube 51 contact provides. Therefore, the 19 vibration levels that may be experienced by the 20 frame 3U, 3L and hence the mobile phone aerial are 21 much reduced and this is important to improve the 22 quality of digital mobile phone signals.

24 As those skilled in the art will realise, it is 25 important for dipole antennas for mobile phone 26 networks to be arranged vertically and hence the 27 aerial can be attached to the vertical tubes 51 or 28 indeed can replace them. Furthermore, the 29 embodiments of the present invention provide the 30 advantage that a linesman can easily lift the frame 31 3U, 3L up to the desired location within the tower 32 or pylon 1 since the components are all relatively

1 small and can be lifted on the linesman's back up to 2 the desired location and bolted together at that 3 point. This advantage is even greater since the 4 embodiments of the present invention could be 5 erected whilst the tower or pylon is live, thus 6 causing no interruption to the electricity supply.

8 Modifications and improvements may be made to the 9 foregoing embodiments without departing from the 10 scope of the invention.

Claims

1 Claims

3 1) Mounting apparatus adapted for mounting to a 4 fixed structure, the apparatus comprising a bracket 5 member which is adapted to allow it to be secured to 6 the structure by a fixing mechanism, the bracket 7 member comprising at least one slot which has a 8 longitudinal axis of greater length than a 9 transverse length of the slot.

11 2) Mounting apparatus according to claim 1, 12 wherein the fixed structure is an electricity tower 13 or pylon or the like.

15 3) Mounting apparatus as claimed in either 16 preceding claim, wherein the longitudinal axis of 17 the bracket member extends in a perpendicular 18 direction to the longitudinal axis of the portion of 19 the fixed structure to which the bracket member is 20 secured.

22 4) Mounting apparatus according to any preceding 23 claim, wherein the slot is adapted to permit a 24 fixing means to pass through itself.

26 5) Mounting apparatus according to claim 4, 27 wherein the slot is adapted to permit the fixing 28 means to travel along the slot until the fixing 29 means is actuated to lock itself within the slot.

31 6) Mounting apparatus according to either of 32 claims 4 or 5, wherein the fixing means is adapted

1 to secure a load bearing plate member to the bracket 2 member.

4 7) Mounting apparatus according to claim 6, 5 wherein a cylindrical member is secured to the load 6 bearing member.

8 8) Mounting apparatus according to any preceding 9 claim, wherein the bracket is provided with more 10 than one longitudinally extending slot.

12 9) Mounting apparatus according to claim 8, 13 wherein the bracket is provided with at least a pair 14 of longitudinally extending slots transversely 15 spaced apart from one another.

17 lo) Mounting apparatus according to claim 2 or to 18 any of claims 3 to 9 when dependent upon claim 2, 19 wherein the fixing mechanism is secured to a leg of 20 the tower or pylon, and comprises at least one 21 attachment means which is adapted to surround at 22 least a portion of the leg.

24 11) Mounting apparatus according to claim 10, 25 wherein the fixing mechanism is secured to a leg of 26 the tower or pylon, and comprises two attachment 27 means which are adapted to surround at least a 28 portion of the leg.

30 12) Mounting apparatus according to either of 31 claims 10 or 11, wherein the attachment means 32 comprise attachment hooks and brackets.

1 13) Mounting apparatus according to any of claims 2 lo to 12, wherein the fixing mechanism further 3 comprises a connecting member which is adapted to be 4 secured to the attachment means.

6 14) Mounting apparatus according to claim 13, 7 wherein the connecting member is further adapted to 8 apply tension to the attachment means.

g 10 15) Mounting apparatus according to either of 11 claims 13 or 14, wherein the connecting member is 12 further adapted to be secured to the bracket, such 13 that a portion of the bracket is compressed against 14 a portion of the leg.

16 16) Mounting apparatus according to claim 6 or to 17 claims 7 to 15 when dependent upon claim 6, wherein 18 a receiving and/or transmitting aerial is secured to 19 the load bearing member by a further fixing means.

21 17) Mounting apparatus according to claim 16, 22 wherein the aerial is a mobile telephone signal 23 receiving and or transmitting aerial.

25 18) Mounting apparatus according to any preceding 26 claim wherein the apparatus forms a frame to which a 27 mobile telephone receiving and/or transmitting 28 aerial is mounted.

30 19) A method of installing the apparatus of any 31 preceding claim to a fixed structure, wherein the 32 method comprises the steps of:

1 positioning the apparatus at a suitable 2 location adjacent to the fixed structure; 3 securing the apparatus to the fixed structure 4 with the fixing mechanism and the bracket member.

6 20) A method according to claim 19 wherein, the 7 method further comprises the step of securing a load 8 bearing member to the bracket member with an 9 attachment means.

11 21) A method according to claim 20 wherein, the 12 method further comprises the step of securing a 13 cylindrical member to the load bearing member.

15 22) A method according to either of claims 20 or 21 16 wherein, the method further comprises the step of 17 securing a receiving/transmitting aerial to the load 18 bearing member by a further fixing means.

20 23) A method according to either of claims 21 or 22 21 wherein, the method further comprises the steps of; 22 loosening the attachment means between the load 23 bearing member and the bracket member; 24 altering the attitude of the cylindrical member 25 attached to the load bearing member by moving the 26 load bearing member substantially along the 27 longitudinal axis of the bracket member until the 28 attitude of the cylindrical member is at a desired 29 level with respect to the ground to which the fixed 30 structure is fixed; 31 tightening the attachment means between the 32 load bearing member and the bracket member.

2 24) A method according to any of claims 19 to 23 3 wherein, the method further comprises the step of 4 securing the fixing mechanism to the fixed structure 5 by surrounding at least a portion of the fixed 6 structure. 8 25) A method according to any of claims 19 to 24 9 wherein, the method further comprises the step of 10 applying tension to the fixing mechanism using a 11 connecting member, such that a portion of the fixing 12 mechanism is compressed against a portion of the 13 fixed structure.

15 26) A method according to claim 25 wherein, the 16 method further comprises the step of applying 17 tension to the bracket, such that a portion of the 18 bracket is compressed against a portion of the fixed 19 structure. 21 27) Mounting apparatus substantially as 22 hereinbefore described, with reference to the 23 accompanying drawings.

25 28) A method of installing mounting apparatus to a 26 fixed structure substantially as hereinbefore 27 described, with reference to the accompanying 28 drawings.