AU782035B2

AU782035B2 - An industrial box with demountable hinges

Info

Publication number: AU782035B2
Application number: AU54247/01A
Authority: AU
Inventors: Sebastien Garnaudie; Yves Nicolas
Original assignee: Legrand SNC
Current assignee: Legrand SNC; Legrand France SA
Priority date: 2000-07-07
Filing date: 2001-07-06
Publication date: 2005-06-30
Anticipated expiration: 2021-07-06
Also published as: FR2811305B1; HU0102827D0; ES2319385T3; HUP0102827A3; DE60137103D1; HUP0102827A2; PL211343B1; PL348490A1; HU226721B1; EP1170842A1; EP1170842B1; AU5424701A; FR2811305A1

Description

PI00/011 28/5/91 Regulation 32(2)

AUSTRALIA

Patents Act 1990

ORIGINAL

COMPLETE SPECIFICATION STANDARD PATENT Application Number: Lodged: Invention Title: AN INDUSTRIAL BOX WITH DEMOUNTABLE HINGES The following statement is a full description of this invention, including the best method of performing it known to us AN INDUSTRIAL BOX WITH DEMOUNTABLE HINGES FIELD OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates generally to industrial plastics material boxes intended in particular to enclose electrical or electronic devices and/or connections between electrical conductors or cables.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This kind of box includes a lid closing a tray, the lid including at least one opening intended to face at least one housing provided in the tray for fitting a locking member for locking the lid to the tray in the closed position, or a demountable hinge for pivoting the lid to the tray, said hinge including two hinge plates articulated to each other about a pivot, one of the hinge plates being mounted on the lid and the other on the tray.

The industrial box can therefore be used with the lid pivotably mounted on the tray or not.

To this end, the demountable hinges are supplied with the industrial box as S. accessories, in the form of a kit, and can be mounted thereon by the user, if S. required.

In one prior art industrial box of the kind defined above each hinge includes a hinge plate fastened to the tray by means of a quarter-turn screw mounted in one of said housings provided in the tray for this purpose and another hinge plate fastened to the lid by a screw inserted from the outside into the opening of the lid facing said housing of the tray and screwed into a part of the .hinge plate placed in said opening from inside the lid.

S. Apart from the fact that fitting this kind of hinge 30 is relatively complex, as 25 it involves two screws, a quarter-turn screw on the tray and a screw on the lid, the heads of the screws fixing the hinge plate to the lid can still be seen through the openings in the lid, which is relatively unattractive.

To make this kind of box more attractive, covers are attached to the heads of the screws that can be seen through the openings in the lid to conceal and protect them.

To remedy the drawbacks previously cited, the 5 present invention proposes a new industrial box in which mounting the hinges for articulating the lid to the tray is particularly easy and attractive.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION To be more precise, the invention proposes in one aspect an industrial box including a lid closing a tray, the lid including at least one opening adapted to be positioned facing at least one housing in the tray for fitting a locking member for locking the lid to the tray in the closed position or a demountable hinge for pivotably mounting the lid on the tray, said hinge including two hinge plates articulated to each other about a pivot, one of the hinge plates being mounted on the lid and the other being mounted on the tray, wherein one of the hinge plates includes a mounting system for mounting said one of the hinge plates on the lid or on the tray, such mounting system being integral with said one of the hinge plates.

According to one particularly advantageous feature of the industrial box according to the invention said mounting system is a quarter-turn mounting system.

According to another advantageous feature of the industrial box according to the invention said hinge plate with said integral mounting system is adapted to be mounted from outside the lid in an opening therein and the other hinge plate is Sg mounted on the tray.

According to other advantageous and non-limiting features of the industrial loo 20 box according to the invention: S. said hinge plate with the integral mounting system includes two S. substantially L-shaped segments, one of which is a horizontal segment adapted to cover said opening in the lid and carrying said mounting system on a bottom face of a free end part and the other of which is a vertical segment carrying the 25 pivot of said hinge on a horizontal edge of its free end part, and the other hinge S. plate includes a yoke for receiving said pivot. The hinge plate mounted on the lid also conceals said opening in said cover in which it is mounted; said hinge plate including the yoke is screwed to a locating boss on the tray alongside a housing so that said yoke projects from the peripheral edge of the tray; said hinge plate including the yoke is clipped 10 onto a locating boss on the tray alongside a housing so that said yoke projects from the external peripheral edge of the tray; said hinge plate including the yoke includes a quarter-turn mounting system integral with the hinge p!ate and adapted to be mounted in a housing of the tray; the lid has in its peripheral vertical wall at least one weakened portion adapted to be cut to enable assembly of the hinge plates of said hinge to the exterior of said box; each hinge is molded from a plastics material; and said lid includes four openings in its four corners facing four housings in the tray and two of the openings in the lid are adapted for fitting two demountable hinges.

A further aspect of the present invention proposes a demountable hinge for articulating a lid to a tray, including two hinge plates articulated to each other about a pivot, one hinge plate being mounted on the lid and the other hinge plate being mounted on the tray, wherein one hinge plate includes a mounting system for mounting said one of the hinge plates on the lid or tray, such mounting system being integral with said one of the hinge plates.

In a preferred embodiment of said hinge said mounting system is a o quarter-turn mounting system.

In said preferred embodiment said hinge plate with said integral mounting 20 means has two substantially L-shaped segments, one of which is a horizontal segment carrying said mounting means on a bottom face of a free end part and the other of which is a vertical segment carrying the pivot of said hinge on a ~horizontal edge of its free end part, and the other hinge plate includes a yoke adapted to receive said pivot.

25 Also, the hinge plate including said yoke has a hole through it opposite said yoke through which can be passed a fixing screw for screwing it to the tray or oooo to the lid.

Alternatively, the hinge plate including said yoke includes a clipping system opposite said yoke adapted to cooperate with a complementary system on the tray or on the lid.

In another embodiment the hinge plate including said yoke includes an integral quarter-turn mounting system offset laterally relative to said yoke.

The hinge is advantageously molded from a plastics material.

The following description with reference to the accompanying drawings, which are p roided by way of non-limiting example, explains in what the invention consists and how it can be put into effect.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS In the accompanying drawings: figure 1 is an exploded perspective view of an industrial box in accordance with the invention; figure 2 is a perspective view of the industrial box shown in figure 1 when open, with its lid pivotably mounted on the tray; figure 3 is a perspective view of the industrial box shown in figure 2 when closed; and figure 4 is an exploded perspective view of two hinges in accordance with the invention.

DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Figures 1 to 3 show an industrial box 100 generally 35 made from a plastics material and used in particular to 6

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6@ S 6r 66*6 house electrical or electronic devices and/or connections between electrical conductors or cables.

This kind of box is then usually watertight, and this is the case here.

The industrial box 100 includes a lid 110 closing a tray 120.

The tray 120 is generally rectangular and the lid 110, which closes the opening at the top of the tray, is therefore also rectangular.

The upper part of the tray 120 includes a peripheral vertical wall 124 that extends an interior wall delimiting its internal volume and which is set back relative to its external peripheral edge 123, so that a 1 peripheral ledge 125 is defined between the peripheral Se 15 vertical wall 124 and the external peripheral edge 123.

The interior face of the lid 110 facing toward the interior of the tray 120 includes a peripheral groove housing a seal 114 adapted to be compressed against the free upper edge 124a of the peripheral vertical wall 124 of the tray, when said lid is in the closed position on the tray, to provide a seal vis-a-vis the exterior.

As shown in figure 3 in particular, in the closed position, the peripheral edge 112a of the lid 110 is pressed against the external peripheral edge 123 of the tray 120 to provide continuous vertical walls between the vertical external wall of the tray 120 and the peripheral vertical wall 112 of the lid 110.

The lid 110 further includes four openings 111 at its four corners adapted to face four housings 121 in the tray 120 for fitting a locking member 130, in this instance a quarter-turn screw, for locking the lid 110 to the tray 120 in the closed position, or a demountable hinge 140 for pivotably mounting the lid 110 on the tray 120.

As shown in figures 1 and 2 in particular, the housings 121 are wells for the quarter-turn screws and are located on the ledge 125; to this end, said peripheral vertical wall 124, which is set back relative to the external peripheral edge 123 of the tray 120, has indents at the four corners of the tray, leaving sufficient room for the wells or housings 121.

Similarly, with regard to the lid 110, the groove for mounting the seal 114 has similar indents for the openings 111 at the four corners of the lid. The groove then follows the contour of the free upper edge 124a of said peripheral vertical wall 124 of the tray 120.

The openings 111 in the lid 110 are provided on the inside with a mounting ramp llla for a quarter-turn screw o ee 1 130 so that each quarter-turn screw 130 cooperates with 15 each opening 111 in the lid 100 and with each housing 121 of the tray 120 to fasten said lid to said tray in the closed position.

In figures 1 to 3, the lid 110 is pivotably mounted ooeo• on the tray 120 by means of two demountable hinges 140 mounted in two of the openings 111 in the lid 110.

Each demountable hinge 14U takes the form of a kit, as shown in figure 4.

Each hinge 140 includes two hinge plates 141, 142 .articulated to each other about a pivot 143; one hinge 25 plate 141 is adapted to be mounted on the lid 110 and the other hinge plate 142 is adapted to be mounted on the tray 120.

The hinge plate 141 that is mounted on the lid 110 preferably includes an integral mounting system 144.

The mounting system is advantageously a quarterturn mounting system that cooperates with the quarterturn mounting ramp llla provided in each opening 111 in the lid 110.

Thus the hinge plate 141 with its integral quarterturn mounting system 144 is adapted to be mounted from 7 outside the lid 110 in an opening 111 therein (see figures 1 and the other hinge plate 142 is mounted on the tray 120 alongside the housing 121 facing said opening 111, i.e. offset laterally relative to the axis of said housing.

The hinge plate 141 with its integral quarter-turn mounting system 144 has two substantially L-shaped segments 141a, 141b; the horizontal segment 141a is adapted to cover the opening 111 in the lid 110 in which the hinge is mounted and has its quarter-turn mounting system 144 on a bottom face of a free end part.

The other segment 141b is a vertical segment and has the pivot 143 of said hinge 140 on a horizontal 1 bottom edge of its free end part.

15 As shown in figure 3 in particular, when the hinge eeoc "plate 141 of the hinge is mounted on the lid 110, it conceals the mounting opening 111 so that, of itself, it attractively conceals said opening 111.

The other hinge plate 142 principally includes a yoke 142a receiving the pivot 143 carried by the hinge plate 141.

The two hinge plates 141, 142 clip together.

The hinge plate 142 including the yoke 142a is screwed to a locating boss 122 provided on the ledge 125 25 of the tray 120 alongside each housing 121 facing one of the openings 111 in the lid accommodating a hinge, i.e.

offset laterally relative to the housing, so that once mounted said yoke 142a projects from the outside peripheral edge 123 of the tray 120.

This offset mounting of the hinge plate 142 carrying the yoke 142a enables quarter-turn mounting of the hinge plate 141 on the lid 110.

To enable screwed mounting of the hinge plate 142 carrying it, the yoke 142a has a hole 142b through it, opposite the yoke 142a, through which is passed a fixing screw 150 which is part of the mounting kit for each hinge supplied with the industrial box 100, as shown in figure 4.

Of course, in a different embodiment, not shown, said hinge plate 142 including the yoke 142a can be clipped to a locating boss provided on the tray alongside said housing so that said yoke projects from the peripheral edge of the tray.

Each hinge 140 is advantageously molded from a plastics material.

Of course, as shown in figure 1 in particular, the lid 110 of the industrial box 100 has openings 113 in its peripheral vertical wall 112 located to enable assembly eeoo of the hinge plates 141, 142 of said hinge 140 to the 15 exterior of said box 100.

e ooooThe openings 113 can advantageously be made by cutting out a weakened portion of said peripheral vertical wall 112 of the lid 110.

~This has the advantage that a user can therefore easily mount the hinges on the industrial box in accordance with the invention, by screwing the hinge plate including the yoke onto the locating bosses provided for this purpose in the tray, mounting the other hinge plate of each hinge on the lid from the outside, by 25 means of a simple quarter-turn mounting, and then clipping each hinge plate mounted on the lid into the yoke of the hinge plate mounted on the tray.

The above kind of hinge has the advantage of comprising a small number of component parts, which facilitates mounting it on the industrial box, and includes a hinge plate also forming means for masking mounting openings provided on the lid.

The present invention is in no way limited to the embodiment described and shown, to which the skilled person will know how to make any modification conforming to the spirit of the invention.

One variant that might be envisaged is for the hinge plate including the yoke to include a quarter-turn mounting system formed integrally with said hinge plate and adapted to be mounted in a housing in the tray. The hinge plate is then advantageously L-shaped, extends horizontally and carries said yoke at one end and said quarter-turn mounting system at the other end, so that the mounting system is offset laterally relative to said yoke.

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Claims

1. An industrial box including a lid closing a tray, the lid including at least one opening adapted to be positioned facing at least one housing in the tray for fitting a locking member for locking the lid to the tray in the closed position or a demountable hinge for pivotably mounting the lid on the tray, said hinge including two hinge plates articulated to each other about a pivot, one of the hinge plates being mounted on the lid and the other being mounted on the tray, in which box one of the hinge plates includes a mounting system for mounting said one of the hinge plates on the lid or on the tray such mounting system being integral with said one of the hinge plates.

2. A box according to claim 1, wherein said mounting system is a quarter-turn mounting system.

3. A box according to claim 1 or claim 2, wherein said hinge plate with said integral mounting system is adapted to be mounted from outside the lid in an S: 15 opening therein and the other hinge plate is mounted on the tray. U,.

4. A box according to claim 3, wherein said hinge plate with the integral Mou,,ti,,,g syste includes twu subsianiiaiiy L-shaped segments, one of which is a horizontal segment adapted to cover said opening in the lid and carrying said mounting system on a bottom face of a free end part and the other of which is a 20 vertical segment carrying the pivot of said hinge on a horizontal edge of its free end part, and in that the other hinge plate includes a yoke for receiving said pivot.

5. A box according to claim 4, wherein said hinge plate including the yoke is screwed to a locating boss on the tray alongside a housing so that said yoke projects from the external peripheral edge of the tray.

6. A box according to claim 4, wherein said hinge plate including the yoke is clipped onto a locating boss on the tray alongside a housing so that said yoke projects from the external peripheral edge of the tray. 11

7. A box according to claim 4, wherein said hinge plate including the yoke includes a quarter-turn mounting system integral with the hinge plate and adapted to be mounted in a housing of the tray.

8. A box according to any of claims 1 to 7, wherein the lid has in its peripheral vertical wall at least one weakened portion adapted to be cut to enable assembly of the hinge plates of said hinge to the exterior of said box.

9. A box according to any preceding claim, wherein each hinge is moulded from a plastics material.

A box according to any preceding claim, wherein said lid includes four openings in its four corners facing four housings in the tray and two of the openings in the lid are adapted for fitting two demountable hinges.

11. A demountable hinge for articulating a lid to a tray, including two hinge plates articulated to each other about a pivot, one hinge plate being mounted on :i the lid and the other hinge plate being mounted on the tray, in which hinge one 15 hinge plate includes a mounting system for mounting said one of the hinge plates o on the lid or tray, such mounting system being integral with said one of the hinge

12. A hinge according to claim 11, wherein said mounting system is a quarter- o turn mounting system. 20

13. A hinge according to claim 11 or claim 12, wherein said hinge plate with said integral mounting means has two substantially L-shaped segments, one of which is a horizontal segment carrying said mounting means on a bottom face of a free end part and the other of which is a vertical segment carrying the pivot of said hinge on a horizontal edge of its free end part, and in that the other hinge plate includes a yoke adapted to receive said pivot. 12

14. A hinge according to claim 13, wherein the hinge plate including said yoke has a hole through it opposite said yoke through which can be passed a fixing screw for fixing it to the tray or to the lid.

A hinge according to claim 13, wherein the hinge plate including said yoke includes a clipping system opposite said yoke adapted to cooperate with a complementary system on the tray or on the lid.

16. A hinge according to claim 13, wherein the hinge plate including said yoke includes an integral quarter-turn mounting system offset laterally relative to said yoke.

17. A hinge according to any of claims 11 to 16, moulded from a plastics material.

18. An industrial box substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

19. A demountable hinge substantially as hereinbefore described with 15 reference to the accompanying drawings. DATED this 9th day of May 2005 LEGRAND AND LEGRAND SNC WATERMARK PATENT TRADE MARK ATTORNEYS S GPO BOX 2512 PERTH WA 6001 AUSTRALIA P19918AU00