Electrical Fixture Mounting Bracket for Fast Box Alignment
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing electrical fixture mounting assemblies face challenges such as insecure attachment of the bracket to the brace, difficulty in aligning and securing the electrical box, and obstruction of knockout access, leading to a time-consuming and difficult installation process.
Innovation Solution
A removably attached bracket with retention fingers and a brace system that includes U-shaped portions and flanges with threaded holes, allowing for secure attachment and alignment of the electrical box while maintaining access to knockouts through cut-out recessed portions.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the bracket is attached to the brace using existing mounting assemblies, then the electrical box can be mounted to the support structure, but the bracket can move or separate from the brace during installation
Solution Approach 1:
The mounting assembly is divided into separate functional components: a brace for structural support, a bracket for electrical box attachment, and retention fingers for securing the bracket to the brace. This segmentation allows each component to perform its specific function effectively while maintaining overall system reliability during installation.
Solution Approach 2:
The retention fingers are pre-configured on the bracket to engage with the brace before the electrical box is fully installed. This preliminary action secures the bracket to the brace in advance, preventing movement or separation during the subsequent installation steps.
2Ease of operation
If the mounting assembly is inserted through a small aperture in the ceiling, then the installation can proceed, but the workspace is severely limited making alignment difficult
Solution Approach 1:
While not directly applying color changes, the invention uses visual cues through geometric features (keyhole slots, alignment protrusions) that provide tactile and visual feedback to the installer, compensating for limited visual access through the small ceiling aperture.
Solution Approach 2:
The keyhole slots and alignment features are designed to guide the electrical box into proper alignment with the bracket automatically during insertion, reducing the need for precise manual alignment by the installer through the limited aperture workspace.
3Reliability
If the bracket is attached to the electrical box, then the electrical box is secured to the brace, but the bracket overlies or obstructs the knockouts in the bottom wall of the electrical box
Solution Approach 1:
The design extracts or removes the obstruction problem by positioning the bracket and retention fingers such that they do not cover the knockout locations on the electrical box. This allows wire access through the knockouts while maintaining secure mounting.
Solution Approach 2:
The retention fingers extend from the bracket in a dimension that allows them to grip the brace without interfering with the knockouts on the electrical box bottom wall, solving the spatial conflict between mounting security and wire access.
Data Source
AI summary
An electrical fixture mounting assembly is provided for quickly and easily mounting an electrical fixture to a bracket and brace assembly. The electrical fixture mounting assembly includes an electrical box, a brace assembly for attaching to a support structure and a bracket for attaching the electrical box to the brace. The brace assembly is typically and adjustable member that extends between ceiling joists located above an aperture in a ceiling. The bracket is connected to the brace by a snap fit. The bracket includes retention fingers that are resilient to snap onto the brace and prevent movement of the bracket with respect to the brace during installation of the electrical box. The bracket includes tabs with threaded apertures for receiving mounting screws. The electrical box includes circular apertures and at least one keyhole shaped slot aligned with the threaded apertures in the flanges of the bracket. At least one threaded screw is attached to the flange of the bracket which is then inserted through the keyhole shaped slot. The electrical box is then rotated slightly with respect to the bracket to temporarily secure the electrical box to the bracket and align all of the apertures in the electrical box with the threaded apertures and the bracket. The screws are then inserted through the bottom of the electrical box and tightened to secure the electrical box to the bracket. The flanges on the bracket are oriented and include cut-out portions to enable access to knockouts in the bottom wall of the electrical box.