US3231225A

US3231225A - System for recess mounting panel instruments

Info

Publication number: US3231225A
Application number: US393567A
Authority: US
Inventors: Hans A Bakke
Original assignee: General Electric Co
Current assignee: General Electric Co
Priority date: 1964-09-01
Filing date: 1964-09-01
Publication date: 1966-01-25
Anticipated expiration: 1983-01-25

Description

1965 H. A. BAKKE 3, 31,225

SYSTEM FOR RECESS MOUNTING PANEL INSTRUMENTS Filed Sept. 1, 1964 INVENTOR: HANS A. BAWKE ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,231,225 SYSTEM FOR RECESS MQUNTING PANEL INSTRUMENTS Hans A. Baklre, Swampscott, Mass, assignor to General Electric Company, a corporation of New York Filed Sept. 1, 1964, Ser. No. 393,567 Claims. (Cl. 248-27) This invention relates to an instrument mounting system, and more particularly, to a mounting system especially .adapted for recess mounting of panel instruments.

Panel mounting of instruments, and the various techniques for mounting instrument upon panels, have lately assumed new importance because of the significant trend towards automation in industry which makes extensive use of panel mounted instrumentation. This has generated .an increased interest in panel construction and has demonstrated a need for improved techniques which will be more economical and facilitate the rapid installation of instruments upon panels.

This invention is more particularly concerned with recess mounting panel instruments so that only the instrument scale is viewable through the panel cutout. It is highly desirable to provide mounting systems of this type which Will readily permit a standard panel instrument to be installed by one person. It is also important to simplify the mounting system to render it more adaptable to assembly-line type techniques. Furthermore, it is also equally desirable from an aesthetic standpoint to develop a mounting system in which the width of the bezel is dictated primarily by aesthetic considerations rather than by structural considerations dictated by the requirements of the mounting system. This is especially the case when dealing with very small panel instruments since a large bezel is completely unacceptable from an aesthetic standpoint in such a situation. Another area of interest relates to methods for increasing the density of instrumentation that can be conveniently mounted upon a panel. The desire to increase instrumentation density arises out of .a need for conserving space by minimizing the size of panel necessary for any given number of instruments. One way of accomplishing this with instruments of a given size is to minimize the space which is necessary between adjacent instruments for receiving the mounting system.

It is therefore an object of my invention to provide a new and improved system for recess mounting panel instruments which is inexpensive and yet facilitates rapid instrument installation by one person.

It is another object of my invention to provide a new and improved system for recess mounting panel instruments which facilitates the use of production line techniques.

It is yet another object of this invention to provide a new and improved system for recess mounting panel instruments which permits the width of the bezel to be dictated primarily by aesthetic or design consideration rather than by requirements of the mounting system.

It is another object of my invention to provide a new and improved system for recess mounting panel instruments which permits higher density of instrumentation upon a panel by minimizing the space occupied by the mounting system.

These and other objects and advantages of this invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon reference to the accompanying specification, claims, and drawing in which:

FIGURE 1 is an exploded perspective view of the instrument and components of the mounting system of the invention;

FIGURE 2 is an exploded top view of the system of the invention showing some of the components in cooperating relationship with the panel;

FIGURE 3 is a sectional view taken along line 33 of FIGURE 2; and

FIGURE 4 is a sectional view of the bezel taken along lines 4-4 of FIGURE 2.

Referring now to FIGURE 1, 10 designates a bezel assem-bly which, in cooperation with securing means 14, serves to recess mount panel instrument 11 upon a panel so that only the scale of the instrument is viewable from the front of the panel. Bezel assembly 10 is comprised of a scale bezel 12 and two t-shaped elements 13 which may be inserted into slots 21 in the two opposed and rearwardly extending sides of the bezel. Securing means 14 comprises headless screws 14a which cooperate with elements 13 to secure bezel 12 within the cutout portion of panel 30 in a manner hereinafter explained. Securing means 14 further comprises nuts 14b and washers which cooperate with the headless screws to secure instrument 11 to the rear of panel 30 through their cooperation with the metallic stampings 11a attache-d to the rear surface of the panel meter. The stampings which may be attached to the rear surface of the instrument in any convenient manner provide means for mounting the instrument.

In accordance with my invention, panel instrument 11 may be recess mounted upon a panel by one person by first placing bezel 12 in the cutout of panel 30. Elements 13 may then be placed within slots 21 where they are retained by their heads in a position in which the threaded portion provided with a threaded opening 13a extends beyond the rear surface of panel 30 to thereby retain the bezel in the position illustrated in FIGURE 2. Thus, bezel 12 will no longer have to be held in the panel cutout by the installer, and consequently he may leave it unattended until the next step takes place. Normally, these operations would be performed from the front side of the panel.

The headless screws will next be threaded into the threaded openings 13a in the extended portion of elements 13 from the rear of the panel until the screw comes into contact with the rear surface of panel 30. The drawing of flange 20 of the bezel against the front surface of panel 30 serves to secure the bezel in the panel cutout. The assembly may also be left unattended at this stage of the procedure until instrument 11 is to be secured to panel 30. This is accomplished by placing the holes 11b in the stampings over the free ends of the headless screws and then advancing the instrument into mating relationship with the rear surfaces of the bezel. When in this mating relationship, surfaces 17 of the rearwardly extending sides of bezel 12 mate with inclined sides 16 of the transparent portion 15 of the instrument.

It is to be noted that the parallel surfaces of the opposed sides of bezel 12 lie in the same plane as the sides of the instrument at its widest portion, thereby permitting the width of the bezel as viewed from the front to be kept at a minimum. Thus, in accordance with my invention, the rearwardly opposed sides of the bezel do not overlap the widest portion of the instrument, yet a. close mating relationship is still established. This is accomplished without interference from the heads of elements 13 since surfaces 17 contain recesses 17a around slots 21 which receive these heads.

Referring now to FIGURE 4, the vertical alignment between bezel 12 and instrument 11 is accurately established by bringing surface 25 in contact with surface 26 of window 15 while surface 24 simultaneously comes to rest upon surface 18. The forward motion of instrument 11 when it is being secured to panel 30 will be limited by

surfaces

16 and 17 coming into contact with each other at the same time that front surface 23 of transparent portion 15 comes into contact wit-h rearwardly facing surfaces 22 in both sides of bezel 12. Once this mating relationship is established between bezel 12 and window 15 of the instrument, all stray light that might enter from the rear of the panel will be excluded except for that which may be admitted through the top surface 26 of window 15. Thus, this recess mounting system also provides convenient access for lighting the scale from the rear of the panel by permitting light to enter through surface 26 which remains exposed by bezel 12 after the instrument is mounted upon the panel.

The mounting system of my invention is characterized by utilizing a minimum number of strong and relatively inexpensive-to-manufacture parts and is extremely simple to utilize during the installation operation since it can very easily be performed by one person. Furthermore, it is noted that the steps in the mounting process can be stopped at various intermediate points and left completely unattended without having the parts already mounted fall out of place. The flexibility considerably simplifies the assembling operation and permits the use of assemblyline types of techniques in these applications wherein a plurality of similar installations are to take place upon the same panel board since it permits like operations to be carried out on all instruments being mounted before the installer moves on to the next step in the installation operation. Thus, all bezels can be inserted first, followed by the securing of all the bezels to the panel board, etc. This results in a considerable saving in labor content of panel instrumentation. Furthermore, as was previously indicated, the system permits aesthetically pleasing bezels for small instruments.

While there has been described what is at present considered to be the preferred embodiment of the invention, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications may be made therein without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. A system for recess mounting an instrument upon a panel so that only the scale of the instrument is viewable through the panel cutout comprising an instrument having a scale and a front cover, said cover having a transparent portion overlying said scale.

a scale bezel having a bezel opening and first and second opposed and rearwardly extending sides, each of said sides having a slot therein,

first and second elements inserted into the slots of the corresponding side from within the bezel opening when the bezel is positioned in said cutout, said elements assuming positions in which portions thereof extend beyond the sides to overlap the edge of said cutout,

first and second means threadably received in said extended portions of the corresponding element for securing said bezel within said cutout upon being advanced into contact with the rear surface of said panel,

means secured to the instrument case and having first and second holes therein for mounting said instrument, said holes being positioned so that the free ends of said first and second securing means is received in the corresponding hole when the instrument is brought into the mating relationship with the rear of said bezel, and

means threadably received on the free ends of said first and second securing means to come into contact with said mounting means for securing said instrument in said mating relationship.

2. The combination of claim 1 in which the distance between the surfaces of said bezel sides which confront the edges of the cutout is substantially equal to the widest dimensions of the instrument case between said edges whereby the width of the bezel in the direction of said dimension may be kept to a minimum.

3. The combination of claim 2 in which said first and second elements each has an enlarged head portion for preventing the element from passing completely through the corresponding slot, said sides each containing a recess adjacent said slots so that the head portions of the elements do' not interfere with the establishment of said mating relationship.

4. The combination of claim '3 in which said first and second bezel securing means each comprises a headless screw and said instrument securing means, and

said instrument securing means comprises first and second nuts, one threaded upon each of said headless screws in contact with said mounting means to establish said mating relationship.

5. The combination of claim 4 in which said mounting means comprises first and second metallic stampings containing said first and second holes, respectively, said stampings being secured to the instrument case in a position such that the free ends of said headless screws is received in said holes when said mating relationship is established.

Reterences Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,264,485 12/ 1941 Smith 24827 2,440,324 4/ 1948 Blakeslee 24827 2,562,260 7/ 1951 Cal-dwell 248-27 CLAUDE A. LE ROY, Primary Examiner.

J. PETO, Assistant Examiner.

Claims

1. A SYSTEM FOR RECESS MOUNTING AN INSTRUMENT UPON A PANEL SO THAT ONLY THE SCALE OF THE INSTEUMENT IS VIEWABLE THROUGH THE PANEL CUTOUT COMPRISING AN INSTRUMENT HAVING A SCALE AND A FRONT COVER, SAID COVER HAVING A TRANSPARENT PORTION OVERLYING SIDE SCALE. A SCALE BEZEL HAVING A BEZEL OPENING AND FIRST AND SECOND OPPOSED AND REARWARDLY EXTENDING SIDES, EACH OF SAID SIDES HAVING A SLOT THEREIN, FIRST AND SECOND ELEMENTS INSERTED INTO THE SLOTS OF THE CORRESPONDING SIDE FROM WITHIN THE BEZEL OPENING WHEN THE BEZEL IS POSITIONED IN SAID CUTOUT, SAID ELEMENTS ASSUMING POSITIONS IN WHICH PORTIONS THEREOF EXTEND BEYOND THE SIDES TO OVERLAP THE EDGE OF SAID CUTOUT, FIRST AND SECOND MEANS THREADABLY RECEIVED IN SAID EXTENDED PORTIONS OF THE CORRESPONDING ELEMENT FOR SECURING SAID BEZEL WITH IN SAID CUTOUT UPON BEING ADVANCED INTO CONTACT WITH THE REAR SURFACE OF SAID PANEL, MEANS SECURED TO THE INSTRUMENT CASE AND HAVING FIRST AND SECOND HOLES THEREIN FOR MOUNTING SAID INSTRUMENT, SAID HOLES BEING POSITIONED SO THAT THE FREE ENDS OF SAID FIRST AND SECOND SECURING MEANS IS RECEIVED IN THE CORRESPONDING HOLE WHEN THE INSTURMENT IS BROUGHT INTO THE MATING RELATIONSHIP WITH THE REAR OF SAID BEZEL, AND MEANS THREADABLY RECEIVED ON THE FREE ENDS OF SAID FIRST AND SECOND SECURING MEANS TO COME INTO CONTACT WITH SAID MOUNTING MEANS FOR SECURING SAID INSTRUMENT IN SAID MATING RELATIONSHIP.