US2980381A - Support apparatus - Google Patents

Description

April 18, 1961 T. x. DEc'rRow l-:T AL 2,930,381

SUPPORT APPARATUS Filed Sept. 26, 1957 ek, n

Unite 1 SUPPORT APPARATUS Tefus X. Decir-ow, Philadelphia, and Harold C. Sundby,

Roslyn, Pa., assignors to Minneapolis-Honeywell RegulatorCompany, Minneapolis, Minn., a corporation of Delaware Filed Sept. 26, 1957, Ser. No. 686,418

-1 Claim. (Cl. 248-223) bracket which may be mounted-in any one of four positions on any type of a support member and still provide the same type of keyV hole slot-supporting bolt connection for an object that is to be mounted thereon.

Prior to the present invention it has been necessary to provide instrument casings with lugs having a plurality of irregularly spaced apart key shaped slotsV so VVthat such lugs could be placed over and then locked to bolts that projected from a support member on which the casing was vertically mounted. Experience has shown that when inexperienced assembly men are employed to mount these casings, particularly the casing of a nonindicating instrument, that they sometimes incorrectly mount such instruments in an upside down position rather than in their correct upright position. Components are often placed in these casings which can perform their function satisfactorily in either of the two aforementioned positions. However when such casings are mounted in an upside down position the key shaped slots will then not be in a position to be placed over the bolts projecting from the support member so that they may be lowered into the narrowest portion of their associated key slot. Instead, these bolts will only be brought into supporting contact with the surface that forms the'widest diametral portion of the slot.

As each of the bolts projecting from the stationary support under the aforementioned mounting conditions is only-in engagement with the large portion of the key slot and the outside diameter of each bolt is considerably smaller than its associated large portion an undesirable amount of movement can therefore take place between the instrument and each of these mounting bolts. It is thus evident that this casing cannot therefore be securely'mounted to a support member if it is inadvertently Vmounted in the aforementioned upside down position.

It is thus another object of the present invention to .prevent this incorrect mounting of such a casing from occurring by providing a single bracket that has aback surfacethan canreadily 'be xedly connected to a ver-ticalor horizontal pipe, or any othe'r'support member, and that also has a front surface that contains four equally spaced quadruple key shaped slots into which bolts that project from the back of the casing may be securely mounted.

It is thus another specific object of the present invention to'provide a support bracket having four quadruple key slots in each of its four corners into four narrow groove portions of which four associated support bolts of a casing may be engaged to enable these supporting bolts to always be placed in their correct supporting position in each of these bracket slots regardless of whether States tat-tent' the position of the bracket is in one or another of two vertically or two horizontal positions.

A better understanding of the present invention may be had from the following detailed description when read in connection with the accompanying drawing in which:

Fig. 1 shows a rear elevation of a bracket disclosed in this application connected to a stationary vertically positioned support member,

Fig. 2 shows a sectional view of the bracket taken on `the lines 2-'72 of Fig. l.

Pig. 3 shows a rear elevation of the bracket connected to a Vstationary horizontally positioned support member.

Fig. 4 shows the position that the slots in the bracket shown in Fig. l will be in when thev bracket is turned either 180 degrees clockwise or counterclockwise from its Fig. 1 position.,

Fig. 5 shows the positionV that the slots in the bracket shown in Fig.' 1 will be in when the bracket is turned either two-hundred and seventy degrees clockwise or ninety degrees counterclockwise from its Fig. l position.

The bracket shown in Fig. 1 o f the drawing maybe constructed of a unitary flat steel plate material or made of any other material such as molded plastic:v material. As shown, this bracket plate l is of an H-shaped configuration and is provided with four corner portions 2, 3, 4, and 5. A `cylindrical aperture such as theaperture V6, 7, 8 and 9 are shown in'each of the corner portions. The centers of each of the cylindrical apertures 6, 7, 8 and 9 are shown locatedfin such a manner'that they-are equally spaced from the center of the bracket 1, and are circumferentially spaced ninety degrees apart' from one another. V

Each of the four slots, 11,12, 13 and i4 shown inthe corner portion `2 of the bracket 1 is shown as having one of theirends opening into the aperture 6.

The slots 15"16, 17 and 18 which are shown in vthe corner portion 3, the slots19, 21, 22 and v23 `in the corner portionll and the slots 24, 25, Z6 and 27 in-the corner portion 5 are `all located in their respective corner portions in an identical manner to that already described for the slots 11-14 in the corner portion 2.

Figures l and 2 ofV thedrawiug shows the central portion of the aforementioned bracket las having an elongated dished out portion`28,'29, 31 of a U-'shaped contiguration. This central portion is also shown as' having elongated slot formed bythe wall portions 32, 33, '34 and 35 of the dished out portions 28, 29 and Si. The part 29 of the dished out portion is also s'hownras having two spaced apart apertures 35, 37 through whichrthe brackets may be attached to a stationary support member. Y The arrangement disclosed in Figures 1 and 2 ofthe drawing makes use of theseapertures 36, 327 to attach the wall portion 33, 34 of the bracketvll toa vertically positioned stationary pipe 38 by means of a commercially available threaded U-bolt 39 and a bolt locking means that consists of the two at washers 41, 42, two spring washers 43, 44 and two locking nuts 45, 46.

fWhile these apertures are shown in Figs. l andV 2' 'as ybeing fused toattach the bracket Ito a stationary'pipe 38 it should be understood that other types of threaded members such as bolts can be placed through these apertures 36, 37 and into threaded engagement with tap holes in a support member that has a dat surface so that the surface 29 of bracket may be ilnsh mounted on such a surface.

In order to lighten the weight of the bracket Without atecting its supporting strength the lower central portion 31 of the bracket adjacent the corner portions 4 and 5 contains a slot 47 as can best be seen in Fig. 2 of the drawing. A slot 4S that is identical to the slot 47 is also cut in the lower central portion 28 of the bracket 1.

In Figs. 1 and 2 of the drawing there is shown proy the iustrumentcasing. t

Y y ectng through the slots26 and in closed tolerance -therevwith the shank of a tap bolt 49. The threaded end of this bolt is shown engagedwith threads in the tap hole 1 thatis inthe back wall -52 which wall ,represents a casing or any other object t'li'atfis to'be supportedby lbracket 1 on the stationarysupport 38. Q-Otherta'p bolts 53, 54 and 55 are'shown in Figl being used to'support the casing 52 on the slotted out portions`ofj1v3, 1'7`and 22 of the bracket 1 in Vthe same manner as that described supra forY the bolt 49.` e

YIt should bev noted Ythat the .present bracket is not 'limited to casings having mounting members "in theformV of tap bolts as described supra -butis also-useful in 'mounting casings having many other'fforms of cylindrical Y `mounting members projecting therefrornfsuchlas tstud lbolts,etc. Y Y Y'Fig. 3 shows-the bracket V1-turned circumferehtially ninety Ydegrees in a clockwise direction from thejposition j noted in Fig. 1 and the bracket mountedon a horizontally positioned stationary support pipe V56. ligure Valso shows that the cross shaped slots in the bracket 1 can accommodate the mounting of'supp'ortbolts projecting from the .back of the Casing 52 on a stationary Vmember 56 inthe same way Ait accommodated these same bolts when the position of the bracket 1 was -in the positionshowninFig; 1. l Y. i I.

Fig. 4 shows the position thatrthe corner portions when the bracket has been rturned circumferentially another ninety degrees in a clockwise direction from the position shown Fig.'3. Y -Y Fig. 4 also shows a solid YlinecroSS sectional View ofY the position that the shank ofY bolts 49,153, S4-and -55 v will be in Whenthe casing intofwhichthrese bolts 'are threadedfis initiallyY placed ragainst the bracket 1. Ihis Fig. 4 showingalso-discloses a dottedjline position in the slots 19, 24,' 11 and 15 into whichthe shankof the bolts 49, 53, 54 and 55 Yarejslidably mounted before these bolts are each tighteuelinto a vsecure-position such t Y.as the secure position shown for the bolt-4 9in Fig. l2. Fig. 5 shows another so1i d l inecross sectional view of the position that t h e shank ofthe bolt 49, 53,y 54

From the above descripfign of "the details ef the bracket 1 it should readilybe apparent that this bracket can be mounted on a verticallysupported pipe 38 when Vthe position of the parts of this bracket are in either the position shown in Fig. 1 or in the position shown 'schematically for these 'partsning-Fig. 4.

It should also beunderstoodfroxnthe above description of the bracket 1 that this bracket can be readily mounted on a horizontal support pipejl56rwheu-therposi l0 tion of the parts of the bracket are in either'the position shownin Fig. 3 or in the position shown schematically for these parts in Fig. 5. Y i

Y Furthermore .by using other Ysuitable bolt `members such as stud'or cap bolt connections in place of the y U-shaped bolt 39fthe Vbracket 11 can .thenalso be attached to a at support surface yin anyone ofthe positions shown in Figs. l, 3, 4 or 5.

VIt can thus be concluded thatbecauseof the unique constructionVV of the Ycross-shaped slots inthe bracket 1 the bracket-can readily support a casing or other object to be mounted thereon; in its upright position irregardless Yof whether the bracket 1 is located in ,the posiz-s win be in to reet-,ivethegbeim 49,453, 54 and 55 jV What is claimed is:

rA supporting bracket operative t o support instrumentcase in any one of four angularly displaced positions ofthe bracket,r"comprising Va plate of an H-shaped configuration having 'fourV apertures substantiallyequally .spaced from' a central position on said Yplate','adjacent ones of saidvaperturesbein'g substantially equally Yspaced -from`each other to accommodate correspondingly positioued Ymounting bolts-oma-at side of said instrument case, each of saidjapertures having a central opening through which the head of an individually associated kbolt '35 on saidinstrumentv casemay extend, the opening in each ;l:`said apertures communicating with four radial slots 'similarly displaced approximately at right vangles from 'I .each other and each of suchsize as to snugly receive @the shank ofthe lassociated bolt-for rigidly mounting 40 'said 'instrument'case onsaid bracket in aselected one andSS'will'be in when the casing into which Ythesebolts are threaded is initially placed against Vthe bracket in the lcross shaped islot is supported 'in any one of its our Y v-positions on a support member the casing of thein'strument may then'beV securely ush mounted on this-bracket 1 byplacing the shank .of one of the support bolts Ythrough the lower grooved out portion of the slot and the other Ythrough its right or left grooved out portion and thence ,samemannerg as that shown in Figs. 1- 3 and 4. Figure Salso shows a'dotted line position in theslots 18, 23, Y14 and 27 into which the'shank of the bolts 53, Y 54, 49

and are slidably mounted before these bolts areeach brought into threaded engagement .with'taperedhole's in Yof`said positions, said H -shapedplatehaving anelongated, Ydished out' portion 'of'fU-shaped configuration ,which whenY in position' to support said instrument case extends awayfrom Ythe said at side, and.; openings in said Ll-shaped portion Vto accommodate mounting Vmeans References'r'ited in tliejiileof patentVv

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