Electricity: conductors and insulators – Boxes and housings – With electrical device
Reexamination Certificate
1999-04-12
2001-10-09
Reichard, Dean A. (Department: 2831)
Electricity: conductors and insulators
Boxes and housings
With electrical device
Reexamination Certificate
active
06300567
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates generally to junction boxes for terminating electrical circuits on the surfaces of walls, floors, or ceilings, and more particularly to open ended junction boxes for terminating data, video, communications and other low voltage circuits and having a cable retainer in an open end.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
During the course of conventional building construction, electrical circuits including power circuits, hereinafter referred to as high voltage circuits, and communication, data, and video circuits, all examples of low voltage circuits, are usually installed in walls, floors or ceilings before the wallboard, ceiling tiles, or floor boards are installed. For example, in a conventional wood frame residential construction, walls are constructed of frames made of lumber such as 2×4's nailed together to form the frame and positioned in place. Wallboard, such as plaster board, drywall or similar material is attached to the frames and a finish surface, such as paint, wallpaper, paneling or the like is applied to the wallboard.
Ordinarily, high voltage and low voltage electrical circuits are installed in the wood framing before the wall board, floor boards, ceiling tiles or the like are fixed to the framing. High voltage wiring, such as AC wiring and the like is conventionally terminated in a junction box, typically made from plastic or metal, that is nailed to a stud in the wood frame while under construction. Typically the junction box is nailed to the stud and the wiring is run from a central distribution point such as a circuit breaker box, throughout the building, terminating in junction boxes wherever electrical outlets, switches, or the like are to be located.
Junction boxes of the type presently used to terminate high voltage electrical circuits are designed to work effectively with the particular types of cable employed in the circuits. For example, flat plastic insulated multi-conductor cable of the type sometimes sold under the trademark ROMEX® is widely used. Junction boxes for use with ROMEX® cable typically include clamps, one type of which includes opposed angled plastic flaps that are flexibly attached to the box and arranged so that the free ends abut each other in an angled relationship. The high voltage electrical wire can be inserted between the flaps into the junction box, but resists being withdrawn from the flaps. In this way, the electrical wiring can be installed, the ends of the wires positioned in the junction boxes, and the wall, floor, or ceiling finish construction completed without the wiring falling out of the box back into the wall where it is difficult to retrieve after the wallboard, for example, is applied.
Low voltage wiring such as video, data and communications wiring has different physical characteristics and different installation requirements from high voltage wiring. Typically, low voltage wiring is smaller, and in most instances is designed to operate at a much higher frequency than high voltage wiring, and therefore is more susceptible to damage by kinking, low radius turns or the like. While it is physically possible to terminate low voltage wiring in the same types of junction boxes used for high voltage wiring, this type of installation commonly results in damage to the wire and degradation of the circuits carried by the wire.
In an attempt to overcome some of these problems, it has been common for installers to mount a separate junction box to a wall stud for terminating low voltage circuits. In order to prevent damage to the wires carrying the low voltage circuits, one technique commonly employed has been to physically cut the back end of the box off leaving essentially an open rectangular frame affixed to the stud, but still carrying the necessary mounting flanges or the like to mount a plate in which a terminating connector or the like can be fastened. This open frame technique eliminates the damage caused by attempting to use clamps or the like that are designed for holding high voltage wires, and also addresses the problem of eliminating crimping and low radius turns, but introduces a new problem.
When low voltage wiring is installed in the manner just described, it is common for the wiring, unless somehow restrained, to slip out of the junction box back into the wall at the time the wall board, or equivalent ceiling or floor finishes are attached to the framing. When the time comes to install the connectors for the low voltage cable, it is necessary to fish the cable out of the wall, and this is time consuming and annoying to the installer.
It is an object of this invention to provide an improved junction box, especially designed for terminating low voltage electrical wiring.
It is another object of this invention to provide a box of the type described that prevents low voltage wiring from accidentally slipping back into a wall between the time it is installed and the time the wall board and subsequently the connectors are attached.
It is another object of this invention to provide a junction box for low voltage wiring that is versatile, inexpensive, and easy to employ.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Briefly stated, and in a presently preferred embodiment of the invention, a junction box for low voltage electrical wiring comprises a generally rectangular box, made of plastic or metal, and having one or more nail holders for attaching a box to a stud of a wooden wall frame. The box includes an open front having one or more points of attachment for securing a plate holding a connector for the low voltage electrical circuit. The box has an at least substantially open rear portion, and a cable retainer for holding a low voltage wire adjacent the rear opening of the box, so that the wire can be retrieved after the wallboard or the like is fastened to the wall over the box.
REFERENCES:
patent: 3197548 (1965-07-01), Weitzman et al.
patent: 3926330 (1975-12-01), Deming et al.
patent: 5354953 (1994-10-01), Nattel et al.
patent: 5471013 (1995-11-01), Marchetti
patent: 5646371 (1997-07-01), Fabian
patent: 5717164 (1998-02-01), Shetterly
patent: 5929378 (2000-07-01), Guisti
Dowd David
Hayduke Nicholas
Nguyen Hung T
Pass & Seymour, Inc.
Reichard Dean A.
Wall Marjama & Bilinski
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