US1032374A - Stage-pocket. - Google Patents

Description

H. BISSING.

STAGE POCKET.

APPLICATION FILED T11R17, 1911.

Patented July 16, 1912.

VE/VTOR WITNESSES 2/1 TTORIV E Y COLUMBIA PLANOURAPH CO.,WASHINGTON. n. c.

HARRY BISSING, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

STAGE-POCKET.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HARRY Brssme, a citizen of the United States, residing in the borough of Manhattan, cit-y, county, and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Stage- Pockets, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to electrical outlet boxes, and more particularly to that class of such devices known as theatrical floorboxes or stage-pockets.

The object of the invent-ion is to enable the socket to be attached as a unit to the interior of the casing or box proper after the latter has been placed in its opening in the stage floor. Thus, the box or casing can be positioned in the floor during the work thereon and the socket be kept out of the way of dirt and damage until the floor is completed, after which the socket can be fixed in place without danger of its contacts becoming injured by foreign matter.

Further objects are to provide means whereby the socket may be readily attached and detached by operations performed through the open top of the casing, to incase the insulating blocks of the socket in such a manner that they cannot fall apart or become loosened, and in general to provide an improved and simplified construction of box and socket.

With these ends in View, the invention consists in the parts, improvements and combinations hereinafter described and more particularly pointed out in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings, illustrating the invention by means of the preferred embodiment thereof: Figure 1 is a vertical longitudinal section through the pocket positioned in an opening in the stage floor and with the attachable. socket secured therein; Fig. 2is a similar view showing the pocket before the attachment of the socket; Fig. 3 is a perspective view of the unitary socket; and Fig. 4 is a vertical transverse section through the complete pocket positioned in the stage floor.

The numeral 10 designates the casing or box proper, which is adapted to be inserted in an opening in the stage floor. The form of the box may be somewhat varied, but in the preferred construction it has a de pending rectangular neck part 11, which fits in the opening 12 in the floor and has an external flange 13 overlying the floor and Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed February 17, 1911.

Serial No. 609,259.

secured thereto as by means of screws l t; the box also has the body part 15 from the front portion of which the neck part 11 extends upward. This body part is shown as having vertical side walls 16 and a vertical rear wall 17. The rear wall 18 of the neck part 11 is extended vertically downward for a certain distance, and a horizontal top wall 19 extends rearward from the foot of the vertical wall 18 to the top of the wall 17. The bottom and front of the body part of the box are shown open, but these may be closed or a movable cover, may be provided therefor. The top of the neck part 11 is provided with a movable cover, preferably a pivoted cover .Z-it hinged to the rear side of the neck part, and being desirably provided at its forward edge with a slotted opening 25 for the passage of the cable of the attaching plug, shown in dotted lines.

The box or casing 10 is preferably cast in one piece, but this may be varied. The neck part 11 is sufficiently long and the body part 15 is properly proportioned and shaped so that the box can readily be positioned in the floor opening by inserting thebody part 15 vertically therein and then turning the box to bring the body part under the floor and the neck part in the opening. This is done before the unitary socket 20, now to be described, is finally fixed in place inside the box. Also, before the socket is inserted, the end of a horizontal pipe or conduit 21 is secured in an opening 22 in the rear wall 17 as by means of nuts 23 or the like, and the wires 41 carried by this pipe are pulled through into the box. The pipe may be firmly attached to the floor structure in any suitable manner. The box casing now prac' tically constitutes part of the floor structure, is coupled up with the wire conduit, and awaits the attachment of the unitary socket.

' In accordance with the invention, the socket 20 constitutes a unitary structure in itself, so that it remains in assembled condi- Patented July ie, 1912.

tion when separated from the box casing,

and the means for attaching this socket to th casing are accessible and operable through the open top of the casing. Preferably, the

said means attaches the socket to the vertical wall 18. Also in accordance with the invention the socket preferably comprises a casing, most desirably a one-piece, rectangular, metal casing 26, open at its ends, and separate insulating blocks 27 lining the casing and removably secured thereto as by screws 50, the two contacts 28 and 29 being secured to the inner faces of opposite blocks. This socket is preferably disposed in an inclined position beneath the horizontal wall 19. The specific form of the attaching means may be widely varied, but in the preferred form of the invention it comprises a vertical flange 10 extended upward from the upper wall of the socket casing 26, the flange being inclined with relation to the mouth of the socket andconveniently integral therewith, and a screw 30 passing in an inclined position through alined openings in the flange and in the wall 18, the opening in the latter wall being threaded. Thus the attaching means is readily accessible through the top of the casing for manipulation by means of a screwdriver. Additional supporting means, in the nature of a rest for the bottom of the socket, is preferably provided. The specific construction of this device may be considerably varied, but it preferably consists of a metal strap 31 disposed transversely of the lower part of the box casing and laterally tilted, so as to afford firm support to the inclined socket. The strap 31 may be secured to the box casing by means of flanges 32 at its ends, attached to the side walls 16 by any suitable means. The rest preferably carries means for centering the socket and supporting the same against lateral thrusts and stresses. Simple embodiments of such means are found in angled pieces 33 having one flange of each secured flat against the strap 31 and the other flanges standing vertically and spaced apart by the width of the socket casing. It will be obvious that the rest 31 and side supports 33 preferably form part of the boxcasing when the latter is inserted in the stage floor, before the attachment of the socket 20. In attaching the socket, the latter is merely slipped downward and rearward over the rest 31 and between the sidesupports 33 until the flange 40 comes against the vertical wall 18,

. when the screw 30 may be readily inserted.

Before the attachment of the socket, the wires 41 are pulled through the box suflicientlyto permit the connections on their ends to be secured to the contact plates 28 and29.-

The operation of the invention has been explained during the description of the structure thereof, and further account is therefore unnecessary.

It will be obvious that-the socket can be as readily detached from the box casing, as

' attached thereto.

What I claim as new is: 1

1. In a-floor'box, the combination of a casing having a mouth, a depending neck, a body portion with top wall projecting rearwardly from said neck, an inclined hollow socket lying beneath said wall, said socket provided with a cover,

containing plug contacts within it, said socket carrying an inclined flange at its mouth and securing means carried by the flange and directed toward the mouth of the casing so as to be operatable through said mouth. 7

2. A floor box, comprising a casing adapted to be supported in a' hole in the floor and a neck, a rearwardly projecting body portion, an attachable and detachable upwardly inclined hollow sockettherein underneath said body portion, said socket containing plug contacts within it, an

inclined flange attached to said socket, hav

ing a hole'to receive a screw for securing said socket to said casing, said screw being inclined toward the mouth ofthe casing so as to be accessible and operatable there-- through.

8. A floor-box, comprising a casing adapted to be supported in an opening in the floor and having a vertical wall near its top, and

an attachable and detachable unitary. socket supported in an inclined position therein and having an upward projecting flange inclined with relation to the mouth of the socket and means for detachably securing said flange to said vertical wall.

4:. A floor-box, comprising a casing adapted to be supported in an opening in the floor and having a vertical wall near its top, a cross-piece in the lower part'of the casing,

and an attachable and detachablerunitaryj socket resting in an inclined position'on said cross-piece and having an upward project-' ing vertical flange and means for detachably securingsaid flange to said vertical wall.

5. A floor box, comprising a casing adapt ed to be supported in an openingin the floor, and having a body portion with a top wall, a rest in its-lower part, and an attachable and detachable'unitary socket supported in an inclined position on said rest with its mouth facing the mouth of the box, said socket having means at its mouth, for cletachably securing it to, the upper part of the casing, which means are accessible and operatablethrough the mouth of the floor box.

6. A floor-box, comprising a casing adapted to be supported in an opening in the floor, a cross-pieceinthe lower part thereof suitably spaced from the top wall of said casing having upstanding centering projections, and an attachable and detachable unitary socket resting'in an inclinedposition on said cross-piece between said projections and in the spacebetween the cross piece and the top wall of the casing, and meansforsecuring socket therein, said socket consisting of an inclined casing having a vertical attaching flange extending upward from the top of its back wall, removable insulating blocks lining said socket casing, and contacts carried by said blocks.

8. A floor-box, comprising a casing having an open top provided with a cover hinged at the rear, a depending vertical wall at the rear of said open top, and a horizontal wall extended rearward from the lower end of said vertical wall, and an attachable and detachable unitary socket occupying an inclined position in said casing beneath said horizontal wall and having means at its upper part for attachment to said vertical wall, sald means being accessible through the open top of the casing when the cover is raised.

9. In a floor box, the combination with a casing having a mouth, a depending neck and a body portion extending rearwardly from said neck and adapted to underlie the floor, said casing also having a rest spaced from the top wall of said body portion so as to form a pocket, a side support on said rest, of a socket located on said rest and next to said side support and adapted to be inserted into position between said rest and top wall, through the mouth of said casing and means carried by said socket accessible and operatable through the mouth of the casing for attaching said socket to said casing.

10. In a floor box the combination with a casing having a body part adapted to be dis posed below the floor and an upstanding neck part at the front of said body part, said neck part being provided with a floor flange for supporting the box, said casing also having a rest and side supports in said body part, of a socket supported on said rest and between said side supports and means carried by said socket accessible and operatable through the mouth of the neck for attaching said socket to the casing.

In testimony whereof, I have signed my name to this specification, in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

HARRY BISSING. Witnesses:

EVERETT ANNETTE, LENA SCHWARZ.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. G.

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