US3154358A

US3154358A - Housing for electrical apparatus or the like

Info

Publication number: US3154358A
Application number: US165386A
Authority: US
Inventors: Friedrich A Blasch
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1962-01-10
Filing date: 1962-01-10
Publication date: 1964-10-27
Anticipated expiration: 1981-10-27

Description

F. A. BLASCH 3,154,358 HOUSING FOR ELECTRICAL APPARATUS OR THE LIKE Oct. 27, 1964 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR. FQ/'DE/C'A/ A BCASC'A/ Filed Jan. 10, 1962 F. A. BLASCH 3,154,358 HOUSING FOR ELECTRICAL APPARATUS OR THE LIKE Oct. 27, 1964 H Rx m 2 W N we h 2 V 1 N s n: 4 H w 6 2 3 0 0 6 Q F 0 M W my 7/. XN Mme a Y x M 2 v w H v, w. w J d .m R H z m United States Patent 3,154,358 HOUSING FOR ELECTRICAL APPARATUS (Flt TEE LIKE Friedrich A. Blasch, Bloomington, Mlinn, assignor, by ill/[(35116 assignments, to Robert L. Gannon, Minneapolis,

inn.

Filed Jan. 10, 1962, Ser. No. 165,386 13 Claims. (Cl. 3ll22il9) This invention relates to the field of housing or cabinet structure and more particularly to a housing for electrical apparatus, and specifically medical apparatus.

Recently, numerous electrical medical aids have been developed to assist the doctors and nurses in the care of patients while under emergency treatment or upon post-operative treatment. Such instruments and apparatus must be readily adaptable to be operated under different conditions and be inherently versatile to perform for more than one application. In other words, not only does the equipment have to perform a particular function, but must be adaptable to be used in one application in a certain manner, and in another application the mode of operation may be somewhat different. For instance, for a particular application. it may be desirable to display the body functions of a patient and record these functions upon a recorder such as a strip or chart type recorder. The instrument may be mounted permanently upon the wall of the room in which the patient is located such as in a post-operative room or in a particular hospital ward room. Under slightly different circumstances, it may be desirable to only display the body functions rather than record and display the functions and hence a slightly different application is required. In other instances, it may be desirable to have the entire instrument portable and movable from one location to another. Other situations may find the recorder at some remote location from that of the patient and display apparatus. There is also a requirement that the apparatus be made as compact as possible so that it may be stored when not in use.

Because of the different applications for which the instrument may be made, it is highly desirable to have a cabinet structure which can be readily adaptable to any of the applications just mentioned. In other Words, because of the different applications, the structure for housing the different apparatus must be quite versatile in order to satisfy all of the application requirements or a number of instruments must be produced in different types of cabinets in order to satisfy all the application requirements. Obviously, a cabinet structure which may take on different configurations is highly desirable from a manufacturing standpoint and also from the standpoint of desirability by the ultimate user.

By the use of a common member, known as a plexus member, it will be seen that the different cabinet construction configurations may be devised which are very versatile in nature. It will also be seen that by the use of this one common member, different cabinet configurations may be constructed with a minimum of modification and alterations.

It is therefore a general object of the present invention to provide improved structure for housing electrical apparatus.

It is another object of the present invention to provide new and novel housings for electrical apparatus readily adaptable to be separated into a pair of cabinets.

It is still another object of the present invention to provide new and novel apparatus including a common member which forms the primary member of all housing assemblies.

It is yet another object of this invention to provide a common member for supporting the housing as well as all the electrical connections.

It is yet another object of this invention to provide a housing adaptable to be rotatably supported by a common frame member.

It is still another and more specific object of the present invention to: provide a housing for housing medical electronic apparatus including display and recording apparatus using a common member for supporting the housing.

These and other objects and advantages of my invention will more fully appear from the following description, made in connection with the accompanying drawings, wherein like reference characters refer to the same or similar parts throughout the several views, and in which:

FIG. 1 is a drawing of the cabinet structure showing the cabinet mounting for rotation and for portable movement;

FIG. 2a and 2b show the housing structure separated into a display unit and a recording unit respectively, both cabinets using a common member;

FIG. 3 is a front view of the combined display and recording apparatus in a common housing;

FIG. 4 is a partial section view taken along lines 44 of FIG. 3 showing the general shape and use of the plexus member;

FIG. 5 is a detailed view of the clamp used with the housing structure and supporting A frame member;

FIG. 6 is a detailed view of the A frame structure and its connection to a supporting shelf;

FIG. 7 is a partial sectional view taken along lines 77 of FIG. 1 showing the intended portion of the plexus member and the supporting A frame structure; and

FIG. 8 is a partial section view taken along lines 8-8 of FIG. 2b showing the detail of the structure for locking the recorder front panel in place when rotated outwardly.

Referring specifically to FIG. 3, a housing 11 is shown comprising an upper cabinet 12 and a lower cabinet 13 which is interconnected by a plexus member 14. Situated in upper cabinet 12, are four

modules

15, 16, 17, and 18. Module 15 contains appropriate display apparatus for displaying temperature of the human body and the specific display apparatus is not critical to the invention, it being generally understood that there are numerous types of digital displays working on certain projection principles or on the principle of motor driven counters to display a digital presentation of the temperature. The important feature here is that module 15 is a separate module which may be plugged into upper cabinet 12 to form one of a plurality of plug-in modules. Module 16 has appropriate apparatus for displaying the pulse rate of a human being and is similar in construction to the modules for displaying temperature. In like manner, module 17 is used to display the blood pressure of the individual and module 18 displays the respiration rate of the individual. Each of modules 15 through 18 is an individual plug-in unit that may be readily changeable in a very short period of time to provide the most reliable type piece of equipment. Module 15 is locked in place by a cam lock 20 and modules 16 through 18 are locked in place by cam locks 21 through 23 respectively. Cam locks 20 through 23 are designed so that upon rotation of their respective knobs, a lug such as a lug 249a is rotated downwardly to look into a slot which is cut in the bottom of a channel member such as channel member 24 used with cam lock 2@. Numerous types of locking devices may be used for holding the modules in place and these are generally well known to those skilled in the art and do not form a specific feature of the present invention. However, modules 15 through 18 are designed to slide into cabinet 12 from the front side and have their electrical connections made through a connector 25 which is electrically connected to a mating plug 26. Mating plug 26 is connected to channel member 24 and connector 25 is connected to module 15 so that when each of the modules is pushed to the rear of upper cabinet 12, they make electrical contact with the stationary plug to complete their internal electrical circuits. Channel member 24 is also connected to plexus member 14 by screws 31 although any other suitable form of releasable fastening means may be used.

In a similar manner, lower cabinet 13 contains electronic modules which provide the necessary electronics circuits for driving the display apparatus contained in modules 15 through 18. These circuits contain the necessary power supplies, amplifiers, scaling circuits, etc. A channel member 31 is connected to plexus member 1 1 by a plurality of releasable fasteners such as a plurality of screws 31. Attached to guide member 311 is a connector 33 which is fixedly fastened to guide member so that upon the electronic modules being pushed rearwardly, the electrical connections are made by the engaging plugs and as shown in FIG. 4. A plurality of conductors 34 are connected between connectors such as 26 and 33 so that the signals representative of the information received may be supplied to the various modules of the system as required.

A front cover 32 is fitted over the lower cabinet 13 and may have attached thereto, a recorder of the strip or chart type for recording the body functions set out above. for some uses, it may be desirable to attach only the driving mechanism to cover 32 and house any other apparatus in lower cabinet 13.

In order to make optimum use of plexus member 14, for some applications it may be desirable to have the front cover 32 hinged about its upper edge and this may be accomplished by forming a slot 35 or a number of individual slots in the lower front edge of plexus member 14 and bending over the top edge of front cover 32 to form a lip portion 36 or a number of individual lip portions which extend through slot 35 or the individual slots. A plurality of

cam locks

37, 38, 39, and 411 are fastened to the lower edge of front panel 32 to secure the front panel to the lower edge of lower cabinet 13 in the same manner as that described for cam lock 20. Again, any suitable fastener may be used which will secure the panel to the cabinet and yet provide an easy access to the inner apparatus.

Plexus member 14 is formed of the appropriate width and depth to conform to the general outline or contour of the cabinet and for most applications may fit flush with the back edges of upper cabinet 12 and lower cabinet 13. This is shown specifically in FIG. 4 where a right angle lip portion 12a is bent inwardly from the back edge of upper cabinet 12 and is secured to the upper edge of plexus member 14 by screws 31 and in a similar manner, the upper edge of the back panel of lower cabinet 13 is bent inwardly to form a lip portion 13a which is secured to plexus member 14 by screws 31. It will be noted that plexus member 14 is U shaped in cross section, where the open portion of the U shape faces inwardly, that is, the open portions face each other in the contour fitting member 14-. Plexus member 14 extends outwardly to form a front extension 14 and outwardly at the sides to form an outward extending portion 14s. The outwardly extending front portion 141 provides greater rigidity in supporting front cover 32 and the extending portions 14s at the sides form a supporting member or hand hold for moving the entire housing 11; Furthermore, an indentation 41 (FIG. 7) is formed in the under side of plexus member portions 14s into which the upper portion of 'a pair of A frames 42 and 43 may be fitted. Indentation 41 is approximately centrally located between the front and rear edges of plexus member 14 to properly balance housing 11 and its electrical apparatus. Situated near the rearward edge of one side of plexus member 1 1s are three

external connectors

44, 45, and 46. These electrical connectors can be of any preferred type or of any preferred construction since their main purpose is to provide convenient electrical connections for input signals and power which must be supplied to housing 11. When separated, as shown in FIGS. 2a and 2b, where two plexus members 14 are used, the modules in upper cabinet 12 may be connected to the modules in lower cabinet 13 through external connections between connectors such as 44 and 45.

Since the upper cabinet 12 and lower cabinet 13 are connected to plexus member 14 by releasable fasteners such as screws 31, it will be seen that housing 11 can be assembled from the front openings of both the upper cabinet 12 and lower cabinet 13. In so doing, the guide members for the different modules along with the appropriate electrical connectors can all be fastened to plexus member 14 before assembly thereby simplifying the process of manufacturing the housing structure. Because of the versatility required in the housing, it may be desirable to divide the housing 11 and assemble the lower cabinet portion housing the electronic modules and recorder such as found in FIG. 2b. In such construction, it will be seen that plexus member 14 forms the top portion of lower cabinet 13 and guide members such as guide member 24 and its connector 26 are eliminated. The cabinet construction is then completed by covering the top of the unit with a plate 50 which is secured to the upper portion of plexus member 14 by suitable fastening means such as screws 31. It can readily be seen that by the use of the plexus member 14, the construction of the lower cabinet 13 remains the same as when used as part of housing 11. The front cover 32 is shown rotated outwardly in FIG. 2b and this is accomplished by loosening cam locks 37 through 40 and pulling the lowermost edge of front cover 32 outwardly and upwardly so that the side panels 33 and 54 (not shown) which are attached at right angles to front panel 32 and which contain a hemispherical notch 55 and engages a hemispherically shaped spring loaded plunger 56. Spring loaded plunger 56 is set in a mounting block 57 which is fixedly fastened to the bottom edge of lower cabinet 13 by suitable fastening means (not shown). It will of course be recognized that any other suitable means may be used to hold side panels 53 and 54 in place after the front cover 32 is rotated outwardly and upwardly. Where the recorder is producing information upon a strip type or chart type paper, it is sometimes desirable to write directly upon the chart and therefore if front panel 32 is capable of being rotated outwardly and upwardly it forms a more convenient writing platform. 7

For other applications it may be desirable to divide the housing 11 and assemble the upper cabinet portion housing the indicators such as found in FIG. 2a. In such construction it will be seen that plexus member 14 forms the bottom portion of upper cabinet 12 and guide members such as guide member 30 and its connector 33 are eliminated and plate 50 is secured to the bottom portion of plexus member 14 to complete the cabinet. Thus it is a relatively simple process to produce the cabinet shown in FIG. 2a as the same technique is employed as that for making the cabinet shown in FIG. 2b.

As explained earlier, in some applications it may be desirable to have the entire housing 11 completely portable and yet be constructed in such a manner that the apparatus for making the housing portable is readily detachable and collapsible for storage. As explained earlier, the upper portion of A frame 42 rests in an indentation 41 in plexus member 14 to rotatably support plexus member 14 and hence housing 11. In order to lock housing 11 in a predetermined position, a clamp assembly 60 engages a cross bar 61 of .A frame 42. This is best seen in FIG. 5 where a nut 59 is fixedly fastened to the inside of lower cabinet 13 behind a hole which admits a thumb screw 52. Formed around cross bar 61 of A frame 42 is a bracket member 63 which has its ends extend beyond the edge of cross bar 61 and has work engaging surfaces that slidably engage cross memher 61. Situated between the side of lower cabinet 13 and the extending ends of bracket member 63, is a spacer 64. Spacer 64 and the extending ends of bracket member 63 have holes formed therethrough so that thumb screw 62 passes through the holes to engage nut 59 and thereby be tightened to clamp cross member 61 in tight engagement with bracket member 63. For the embodiment shown, cross member 61 is curved to conform to the correct radius from the upper end of a A frame 42 for alinement with bracket member 63. Supporting A frame member 43 is constructed in a manner similar tothat of A frame 42 and also contains another clamp assembly such as clamp assembly 66 to engage the cross member of the A frame and lock the housing 11 in a predetermined rotational position. Thus it will be seen that the A frames not only support the housing but provide a tilting arrangement so that the instruments contained within housing 11 may be viewed from a better vantage point than when displayed vertically with respect to their supporting surfaces.

In order to strengthen the lowermost portions of A

frame members

42 and 43, a shelf 65 may be added and this is accomplished by placing a washer 66 around each of the lower portions of A

frame members

42 and 43 in a position just above the upper surface of the predetermined location for shelf 65. The corners of shelf 65 are notched so that the two outer corners are cut away and the edges on the inner side of the legs forming A frames 42 and 43 are formed so that they may engage the edges of the shelf corners. This is best shown in FIG. 6 where it is also shown that a bent pin 67 is welded or suitably fastened to each of the leg members of A frames 42 and 43 and engages a hole 68 formed in a turned-under portion 69 of shelf 65. This provides a rigid and bracing support for the legs of A frames 42 and 43 as well as providing a convenient supporting surface for carrying other instruments to be used with the instruments contained in housing 11. In order to remove the housing 11 from the A frame structures, it is only necessary to remove thumb screw 62 and lift housing 11 upwardly by plexus member 14 so that housing 11 is moved away from A

frames

42 and 43. Once the housing 11 has been removed, A frames 42 and 43 may be rotated towards each other above shelf 65 and as shown in detail in FIG. 6, because of the bent up portion of pin 67 moving out of hole 68, the entire shelf and A frame assemblies may be collapsed for easy storage. In order to provide a readily movable assembly, casters '70 are rotatably attached to the leg members of A frames 42 and 43 to provide a means for moving the entire assembly from one location to another.

Thus it will be seen that a versatile cabinet construction has been described and shown which is easily assembled around a common member designated herein as a plexus member. All of the electrical connections and apparatus are connected to the plexus member as well as the upper and lower cabinets which may house a plurality of modules therein. The housing is easily assembled by assembling the cabinets through .the front openings of the housing since all of the electrical connections and guide members for guiding the modules into the two cabinets may be connected to the plexus member before assembling within the cabinets. It will be seen that this provides a versatile means of forming the cabinets and that the plexus member not only aids in forming the cabinet but also aids in supporting the housing when the cabinet has been fastened thereto. Because of the use of a common member, and centering all of the important functions around this particular member, a versatile supporting and cabinet structure has been shown and described.

It will, of course be understood that various changes may be made in the form, details, arrangement and proportions of the parts without departing from the scope of my invention which consists of the matter shown and described herein and set forth in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A housing for containing a plurality of electrical sub-assemblies comprising:

(a) an upper cabinet having open front and bottom sides into which at least one module may be fitted;

(b) a lower cabinet having open top and front sides into which at least one module may be fitted, said lower cabinet being of the same width and depth as said upper cabinet;

(c) a continuous plexus member of U shaped cross section being of width and depth sufiicient to extend beyond the width and depth of said upper and lower cabinets, but follow the contours thereof, said member having the open portion of said U shaped cross section facing inwardly at right angles to said upper and lower cabinet sides;

(at) a plurality of electrical connectors attached to said plexus member for engaging said modules of said upper and lower cabinets including conductors providing external connections thereto;

(e) and releasable fasteners for fastening said plexus member between said upper and lower cabinets to form an integral housing for said plurality of modules.

2. The invention as set forth in claim 1 wherein said plexus member extends beyond the front edge of said upper and lower cabinets but is flush with the rear edge of said cabinets and extends beyond the side edges of said upper and lower cabinets.

3. The invention as set forth in claim 1 including longitudinal guide members releasably fastened above and below said plexus member for supporting said plurality of electrical connectors and for guiding said modules into said upper and lower cabinets.

4. The invention as set forth in claim 2 wherein a slot is formed in the lower front edge of said plexus member extending parallel to said front side and a front cover for said lower cabinet has its upper edge extended through said slot and bent over to facilitate swinging said front cover upward and outward for releasably securing said front cover to said lower cabinet.

5. The invention as set forth in claim 2 wherein that portion of said plexus member that extends beyond the sides of said cabinets has its underside indented to form a better supporting and handling surface.

6. A housing separable into separate compartments for containing a plurality of electrical sub-assemblies comprising:

(a) an upper cabinet having a horizontal opening in the bottom and a vertical opening in the front into which a plurality of modules may be fitted therewithin through said front opening;

(b) a lower cabinet having a horizontal opening in the top and a vertical opening in the front into which at least one module may be fitted therewithin through said front opening, said lower cabinet being of the same width and depth as said upper cabinet;

(c) a continuous plexus member of U shaped cross section being of width and depth sumcient to extend beyond the width and depth of said upper and lower cabinets but follow the contours thereof, said member having the open portion of said U shaped cross section facing inwardly at right angles to said upper and lower cabinet sides;

(d) a plurality of electrical connectors attached to said plexus member for engaging at least One of said modules of said upper and lower cabinets including conductors providing external connections thereto;

(e) a cover member of width and depth equal to that of said upper and lower cabinets adaptable to lie in a first position above said plexus member and to lie in a second position below said plexus member, said cover being in only one position at any one time;

(f) releasable fasteners for fastening said plexus member over at least one of said horizontal openings;

(g) and releasable fasteners for fastening said plexus member between said cover member and at least one horizontal opening of said cabinets to form a housing.

7. A housing for containing electrical apparatus compr1sing:

(a) a cabinet having a vertical opening in a front side into which at least one module may be fitted, said cabinet also having at least one horizontal opening there- (b) a continuous plexus member of U shaped cross section being of width and depth sufiicient to extend beyond the width and depth of said cabinets, but follow the contours thereof, said member having the open portion of said U shaped cross section facing inwardly at right angles to said cabinet sides;

() a plurality of electrical connectors attached to said plexus member for engaging electrical apparatus contained in at least one module within said cabinet including conductors providing external connections thereto;

(d) covering structure of width and depth equal to that of said cabinet and adapted to cooperate with said plexus member for covering said horizontal opening;

' (e) and releasable fasteners for fastening said plexus member between said cabinet and said covering structure to form an integral housing.

8. A housing for containing a plurality of electrical subassemblies comprising:

(a) an upper cabinet having open front and bottom sides in which a plurality of modules may be fitted and arranged;

(b) a lower cabinet having open top and front sides into which at least one module may be fitted and arranged, said lower cabinet being of the same width and depth as said upper cabinet;

(c) a continuous plexus member of U shaped cross section being of width and depth sufiicient to extend beyond the width and depth of said upper and lower cabinets, but follow the contours thereof, said member having the open portion of said U shaped cross section facing inwardly and having that portion which extends beyond the sides of said cabinets indented on its under side to form a better supporting surface;

(d) a plurality of electrical connectors attached to said plexus member for engaging said modules of said upper and lower cabinets including conductors providing external connections thereto;

(e) releasable fasteners for fastening said plexus member between said upper and lower cabinets to form an integral housing for said plurality of modules;

(f) a pair of A shaped frame members located adjacent the sides of said lower cabinet having the upper portions thereof extending into said indented portions of said plexus member for supporting the housing;

(g) and a pair of releasable clamping devices attached to said lower cabinet sides each engaging repective cross bar of said adjacent A shaped frame members so that the housing is rotatable about the upper portions of said A shaped frame member to a predetermined position where said releasable clamping devices are locked to prevent movement of the housing with respect to said A shaped frame members.

9. The invention as set forth in claim 8 including: a shelf member, horizontally disposed between said pair of A shaped frame members including brackets for releasably fastening said members together to provide rigidity to said A shaped frame members when in use and to provide minimum space requirements for storage of said members during non use.

10. A housing for containing electrical apparatus comprising:

(a) a cabinet having a vertical opening in a front side into which at least one module may be fitted, said cabinet also having a horizontal opening in the top thereof r1 (b) covering structure of width and depth equal to that of said cabinet for covering said horizontal opening;

(c) a continuous plexus member of U-shaped cross section being of width and depth sufficient to extend beyond the width and depth of said cabinet, but follow the contours thereof, said member having the open portion of said U shaped cross section facing inwardly;

(d) a plurality of electrical connectors attached to said plexus member for engaging said apparatus within said cabinet including conductors providing external connections thereto;

(e) releasable fasteners for fastening said plexus member between said cabinet and said covering structure to a housing;

(1) a pair of A shaped frame members located adjacent the sides of said cabinet having the upper portions thereof extending into said indented portions of said plexus member for supporting the housing;

(g) and a pair of releasable clamping devices attached to said cabinet sides each engaging the respective cross bar of said adjacent A shaped frame member so that the housing is rotatable about the upper portions of said A shaped frame member to a predetermined position where said releasable clamping devices are located to prevent movement of the housing with respect to said A shaped frame members.

11. A housing for containing a plurality of electrical sub-assemblies for indicating and recording medical functions of the human body comprising:

(a) an upper cabinet having open front and bottom sides into which at least four modules may be fitted, said modules containing apparatus for displaying at least numerical values of temperature, pulse rate, blood pressure, and respiration rate;

(12) a lower cabinet having open top and front sides into which one module may be fitted, said module containing apparatus for recording the functions displayed by said modules fitted into said upper cabinet, said lower cabinet being of substantially the same width and depth as said upper cabinet;

(c) a continuous plexus member of U shaped cross sec tion being of width and depth sufficient to extend beyond the width and depth of said upper and lower cabinets, but follow the contours thereof, said member having the open portion of said U shaped cross section facing inwardly at right angles to said upper and lower cabinet sides;

(d) a plurality of electrical connectors attached to said plexus member, at least one of which engages each of said modules of said upper and lower cabinets including conductors proving external connections thereto;

(e) and releasable fasteners for fastening said plexus member between said upper and lower cabinets to form a housing for said plurality of modules.

12. The invention as set forth in claim 11 including:

(f) a pair of A shaped frame members each including a cross bar located adjacent the sides of said lower cabinet and being pivotally connected about the upper portions thereof, to said plexus member, for supporting the housing;

(g) and releasable engaging elements attached to said lower cabinet sides for engaging the respective cross bars of said adjacent A shaped frame members so that the housing is rotatable to a predetermined position where said releasable engaging elements are secured to said cross bars to prevent movement of the housing with respect to said A shaped frame members.

13. A housing for containing a plurality of electrical sub-assemblies comprising:

(a) a first cabinet having open first and second sides into which at least one module may be fitted;

(b) a second cabinet having open first and second sides into which at least one module may be fitted, said second cabinet being of the same Width and depth as said first cabinet;

(c) a continuous plexus member of U shaped cross section being of Width and depth sufiicient to extend beyond the width and depth of said first and second cabinets, but follow the contours thereof, said members having the open portion of said U shaped cross section facing inwardly at right angles to said first and second cabinet sides;

(0') a plurality of electrical connectors attached to said plexus member for engaging said modules of said first and second cabinets including conductors providing external connections thereto;

(e) and releasable fasteners for fastening said plexus members between said second sides of said first and second cabinets to form an integral housing for said plurality of modules, Where said first sides open to the front.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Johnson Jan. 21, Smith June 15, Brown Oct. 27, Mandel Dec. 24, Unger Dec. 2, Barrett Apr. 21, Mitchell Apr. 13, Redding Mar. 27, Koller Nov. 3, Rice Oct. 29, Barker Oct. 7, Bauman Aug. 4, Mustee Oct. 27, Barnett July 12, lung Oct. 1,

FOREIGN PATENTS Great Britain June 23, Canada Jan. 3,

Germany Dec. 8,

Claims

1. A HOUSING FOR CONTAINING A PLURALITY OF ELECTRICAL SUB-ASSEMBLIES COMPRISING: (A) AN UPPER CABINET HAVING OPEN FRONT AND BOTTOM SIDES INTO WHICH AT LEAST ONE MODULE MAY BE FITTED; (B) A LOWER CABINET HAVING OPEN TOP AND FRONT SIDES INTO WHICH AT LEAST ONE MODULE MAY BE FITTED, SAID LOWER CABINET BEING OF THE SAME WIDTH AND DEPTH AS SAID UPPER CABINET; (C) A CONTINUOUS PLEXUS MEMBER OF U SHAPED CROSS SECTION BEING OF WIDTH AND DEPTH SUFFICIENT TO EXTEND BEYOND THE WIDTH AND DEPTH OF SAID UPPER AND LOWER CABINETS, BUT FOLLOW THE CONTOURS THEREOF, SAID MEMBER HAVING THE OPEN PORTION OF SAID U SHAPED CROSS SECTION FACING INWARDLY AT RIGHT ANGLES TO SAID UPPER AND LOWER CABINET SIDES; (D) A PLURALITY OF ELECTRICAL CONNECTORS ATTACHED TO SAID PLEXUS MEMBER FOR ENGAGING SAID MODULES OF SAID UPPER AND LOWER CABINETS INCLUDING CONDUCTORS PROVIDING EXTERNAL CONNECTIONS THERETO; (E) AND RELEASABLE FASTENERS FOR FASTENING SAID PLEXUS MEMBER BETWEEN SAID UPPER AND LOWER CABINETS TO FORM AN INTEGRAL HOUSING FOR SAID PLURALITY OF MODULES.