Closure fasteners – Bolts – Spring arm
Reexamination Certificate
1999-09-13
2001-06-12
Luu, Teri Pham (Department: 3627)
Closure fasteners
Bolts
Spring arm
C292S080000, C292S081000, C220S326000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06244635
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to pedestal closure assemblies for storing power and telecommunications equipment, and more particularly to the latching mechanism which allows the mounting plate to be securely affixed in and manually removed from the interior space of the housing of the pedestal closure assembly.
2. Description of the Related Art
Telecommunications, cable television, power distribution equipment and the like, including primary cable loops, terminal blocks, and connections between a primary cable loop and a terminal block are commonly located out-of-plant and subject to ambient weather conditions. Since the necessary equipment is located outside, a protective covering is required to safeguard the equipment from human interference as well as from the environment. Therefore, such protective covering must provide structural as well as environmental protection.
Typically, the protective covering is produced in the form of a pedestal. The pedestal structure includes a housing with a sufficient volume occupying a small area and placeable in a convenient working orientation for housing the aforementioned equipment. Inside the housing, cable pairs may be interconnected to each other. Such interconnections are made at a connector block which is mounted to a universal mounting plate inside the pedestal closure assembly. The connector block includes a number of terminals and the pairs of wires in the cable are stripped of their insulation and connected to the terminals.
A lower housing section of the housing is recessed and secured in the ground, and has a passageway to permit underground cables to extend therethrough. The cables extend through the lower housing section and are covered by the upper housing section which locks to the lower housing section. The pedestal, when assembled and installed, should have sufficient structural strength to resist minor impacts as well as other environmental conditions such as wind, snow accumulation or precipitation impact.
Presently, commercially available pedestal closure assembly housings and mounting plates are constructed of metal. Many prior art mounting plates are locked permanently into place and have hinges that allow the mounting plate to only be moved back and forth or left to right while attached to the housing. Mounting plates are also presently attached using bayonet slots and lance forms. Also, presently available commercial mounting plates are flat and do not allow for a large number of attachments thereto because of a lack of internal area in the housing. In addition, assemblies are built with a service door located on the front of the assembly to allow servicing of the internal equipment attached to the mounting plate located inside of the assembly. However, the service door of the prior art does not eliminate the need to excavate the lower housing section of the ground in order to allow addition and deletion of connections inside the housing.
The present method of locking the mounting plate into place poses several problems, not the least of which is that the prior art mounting plates are not removable. In addition, the mounting plates attached with a bayonet slip or lance form are not securely attached, and can be easily compromised. Also, the service door can be cumbersome and is not easy to work with. Oftentimes, once the pedestal is implanted into the ground, the service door is located at least partially below ground level, and the pedestal needs to be partially unearthed in order for work to be completed inside the pedestal enclosure. Sometimes, the door can be opened by unauthorized personnel, and the internals of the pedestal closure assembly can be left vulnerable to vandals or the weather.
Additionally, costs of fabricating metal pedestal closure assembly housings and mounting plates is higher than for non-metallic ones. Furthermore, since metal pedestal closure assemblies are relatively heavy, it takes costly and time-consuming labor to install them correctly and securely.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
A general object of the present invention is to provide pedestal closure assemblies for storing telecommunications, cable television, power distribution equipment and the like that are lighter and require less labor for installation.
A more specific object of the present invention is to provide a non-metallic mounting plate for pedestal closure assemblies that is easily snapped into place and, at the same time, allows for simple manual disengagement.
An additional object of the present invention is to provide a mounting plate shaped in such a way to allow for an increased amount of equipment to be attached to it.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a service wire channel in the housing of the pedestal closure assembly to allow the easy addition and deletion of connections and equipment to and from the mounting plate located inside the housing without having to disassemble the housing itself, and without having to interrupt service while working on the equipment located inside the pedestal closure assembly.
In accordance with the present invention, as embodied and broadly described herein, these objects are achieved by providing a latching mechanism for a pedestal closure assembly having a pair of substantially channel-shaped slots, each slot including two arms, a flanged base and first and second ends. Each flanged base has a cam-like edge and is connected to the second end of each respective slot. The cam-like edge interconnects the upper and lower surfaces of the second end. A pair of legs adapted to be received by each slot are also included in the claimed latching mechanism. Each leg has a limiting edge and includes an end portion adapted to limit the motion of the legs when they are received in the respective slots. At least one flexible latch arm adapted to engage the flanged base of at least one of the slots is connected to one of the legs. Each latch arm includes a finger element that extends beyond the end portion of the limiting edge of the leg. The finger element includes an engagement portion which abuts the lower surface of the flanged base of the leg when the leg is received in its respective slot. The slot is configured and dimensioned to slidingly receive each leg. The finger element has a cam-follower surface which, when sliding the leg into the slots, bears against the cam-like edge of the slot which flexes the latch arm allowing the engagement portion to move beyond the cam-like edge of the flanged base of the slot so that the latch arm engages the flanged base.
One of the advantages of the present invention is that the mounting plate is removeable, and is shaped such that internal cable loops can be stored and secured behind the U-shaped mounting plate.
An additional advantage of the present invention is that the mounting plate is shaped such that splice bars can be secured to the side walls of the mounting plate in several different locations, and that these same engaging points can also be used for cable ties to secure splice bundles.
Another advantage of the invention is that the universal hole pattern of the mounting plate is configured to allow for limitless front mounting block locations as well as limitless rear cable tie securing points.
Additional novel features and advantages of the invention will be set forth in part in the description that follows, and in part will be obvious from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention. The objects and advantages of the invention will be realized and attained by means of the elements and combinations particularly pointed out in the appended claims.
It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory only and are not restrictive of the invention as claimed.
REFERENCES:
patent: 4344646 (1982-08-01), Michel
patent: 4892978 (1990-01-01), Axworthy
patent: 5308923 (1994-05-01), Puigcerver et al.
patent: 5419435 (1995-05-01), Perzan et al.
patent: 5533642 (1996-07-0
Dolan Lawrence Santo
Leschinger Matthew
Potosnak Thomas
Jones Day Reavis & Pogue
Luu Teri Pham
Marconi Communications Inc.
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