US2249331A

US2249331A - Electrical fixture support

Info

Publication number: US2249331A
Application number: US336690A
Authority: US
Inventors: Sachs Morris
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1940-05-23
Filing date: 1940-05-23
Publication date: 1941-07-15
Anticipated expiration: 1958-07-15

Description

July 15, 1941. SACHS 2,249,331

ELECTRICAL FIXTURE SUPRORT Filed May 25, 1940 INVENTOR harm's Jae/2w Patented July 15, 1941 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE ELECTRICAL FIXTURE SUPPORT Morris Sachs, New York, N. Y.

Application May 23, 1940, Serial No. 336,690

4 Claims.

This invention relates to electric lighting fixtures and more particularly to means for attaching the same to a ceiling, wall or other support.

At the present time, certain types of electric lighting fixtures, and particularly those attached to ceilings, are provided with a cup-shaped base usually of pressed metal, which is secured by screws to a bar or hanger attached to an outlet box. The bar or hanger is provided with threaded holes into which the screws are received, and in securing the base in position over the outlet box, it is necessary that the screws which pass through the lighting fixture base be properly lined up with said holes to enable the screws to properly enter them and engage the threads therein. Efforts to place a base in position when the screws are misaligned with the holes, very often results in stripping of either the threads of the hanger bar holes or the threads on the screws. The necessity for lining up the screws with the holes thus makes the job of installing the fixtures, a precise and time-consuming one.

The primary object therefore, of the present invention, is to provide a structure in which the use of threaded holes in the hanger bar is eliminated; in which careful lining up of the fastening screws with threaded openings is rendered unnecessary, and in which speedy, accurate assembly of the parts is possible without the likelihood of stripping threads or otherwise damaging the elements of the device.

In the accompanying drawing, forming a part hereof, Fig. 1 is a sectional view of the improved electrical fixture support; Fig, 2 is a sectional view on the line 22 of Fig. 1, looking in the direction of the arrows; and Fig. 3 is an end view of the hanger bar, showing how one of the bolts is moved into engagement with one of the slots in the bar.

In the drawing, I indicates a portion of a suitable support for the lighting fixture such as a ceiling, wall, or other part of a building, the same being recessed to accommodate an outlet box 2 of conventional form. The outlet box is secured in position by the usual fastening screws 3 and it is provided with a central, externallythreaded stud 4 on which the hanger bar 5 is received and supported. A central opening is provided in the hanger bar which fits over the stud 4 and it is held thereon by means of the two nuts 6 and 'l. The elements thus far described are parts of a conventional outlet box and form no part of the present invention. Thesame is true of the wire connectors 8 and 9 shown in the outlet box.

The hanger'bar, to which the invention relates, is an elongated strip of metal which is bent at the points [0 and has projecting ends extending beyond the outlet box as clearly shown in Fig. 1. At I l is shown the base of the lighting fixture, said base being a cup-shaped member provided with spaced holes l2 through which bolts l3 extend to attach the base to the hanger bar. Each bolt carries a nut l5. At each end of the hanger bar is provided a pair of slots 16 and I1, the slots of each pair opening at and extending inwardly from the opposite longitudinal edges of the bar, as clearly seen in Fig. 2. A portion of the bar at one side of each slot is bent laterally as shown at l8 to provide a lug adapted to engage against one of the nuts l5 and hold said nut against rotative movement while the bolt on which the nut is mounted is rotated to tighten the nut against the back of the hanger bar.

In securing the lighting fixture in place, it is placed over the hanger bar and rotated around a vertical axis as indicated by the arrows IS in Fig. 2, to cause the two bolts l3 to enter into the slots I! at each end of the hanger bar. This is done while the nuts [5 are in loosened position as shown in dotted lines in Fig. 3, so that the same will pass over the lugs I 8 adjacent the open end of the slot IT. The bolts are then allowed to drop down slightly so that each of the nuts thereon is engaged by a lug l8 and held from rotating while the bolts are manually rotated with a screw driver to tighten up the nuts against the back of the hanger bar and thus securely attach the lighting fixture in place. The lugs 18 engaging against one of the fiat sides of the nuts l5 prevent rotative movement of the nuts and also serve to hold the bolts from moving out of the slots ll.

It will be noted that since two bolts are employed for attaching the lighting fixture to the hanger bar, only two slots are engaged by the bolts, namely the slots [1 one of which is located at each end of the hanger bar. Occasions arise, however, when it is desired to reverse the position of the hanger bar on the outlet box and in such cases the two slots IE will be engaged by the bolts rather than the slots l1.

Since the lighting fixture base is placed in position and the bolts brought into engagement with the slots in the hanger bar by simple rotative movement of the base, it will be obvious that the base can be very speedily and accurately secured in position without requiring the lining up of the bolts with internally threaded openings. Since the slots may be made large enough to accommodate various sizes of bolts, readily-available sizes of bolts may be used. Since also, the use of threaded holes in the hanger bar are unnecessary, the hanger bar can be produced more cheap- 1y than the threaded type. These and other ad vantages will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art and it will be clear that various changes may be made in this structure without departing from the spirit of the invention.

What I claim is:

1. A device of the character described comprising, a hanger bar for the reception of the base of a lighting fixture, means for attaching said hanger bar to an outlet box, the hanger bar having open-ended slots adjacent to its opposite ends, a lighting fixture base provided with holes, bolts extending through said holes and entering the slots, nuts on the bolts and means on the hanger bar adjacent to the slots therein for engaging against the nuts and holding the same against rotative movement when the bolts are rotated to tighten the nuts thereon against the hanger bar.

2. An electric fixture support comprising, a hanger bar and means for supporting the same, a fixture having a base portion for attachment to said hanger bar, said base portion having spaced holes, bolts passing through the holes, nuts on said bolts, the hanger bar having a slot near each of its opposite ends, said slots extending inwardly in opposite directions from the side edges of the hanger bar whereby the bolts may each enter a slot by manual rotative movement of the base portion and the nuts then tightened against the hanger bar by manual rotation of the bolts, and means for holding the nuts against rotative movement with the bolts, said means consisting of laterally extended lug portions provided on the hanger bar adjacent to the slots.

3. An electric fixture support comprising, a hanger bar and means for supporting the same, a fixture having a base portion for attachment to said hanger bar, said base portion having spaced holes, bolts extending through the holes, nuts on said bolts, the hanger bar having slots extending inwardly and in opposite directions from its side edges and transversely of the hanger bar and having one of said slots located near each of its ends whereby the bolts may enter into said slots by rotative movement of the base portion, and lugs on the hanger bar located adjacent to the slots for engaging the nuts when the bolts are located in the slots to hold the nuts against rotative movement when the bolts are manually turned.

4. In a device of the character described, a hanger bar for electric fixtures provided with means for attaching it to a support, said bar comprising an elongated metal strip having at least two transversely extending slots at each of its opposite ends, each slot opening at and extending from a side edge of the strip, a part of the strip adjacent to the open end of each slot having a laterally projected lug portion for engagement with a nut on a bolt extended through the slot to hold a lighting fixture in position over the hanger bar.

MORRIS SACHS.