WO2001056127A1

WO2001056127A1 - Moulding with inserted electric wires

Info

Publication number: WO2001056127A1
Application number: PCT/NO2001/000016
Authority: WO
Inventors: Pål A. ØSTVOLD
Original assignee: Oestvold Paal A
Priority date: 2000-01-25
Filing date: 2001-01-17
Publication date: 2001-08-02
Also published as: NO311262B1; NO20000362D0; AU2001225599A1; NO20000362L

Abstract

Mouldings (10) have been explained, preferably in the form of base/skirting boards with electrical wires 822) inserted in a concealed manner in longitudinal grooves (24) in the back portion of the moulding (10). In order to arrange, in an aesthetic manner, preferably several power outlets distributed along the length of the moulding for the practical connection of, for example, the plugs of electric appliances, the plugs of TV aerial cables etc., there is formed from the rear side of the moulding (10), at selected points, a rearwards open recess (26) that the stripped ends (22a) of said wires (22) extend slightly into, maybe from both sides, counted in the longitudinal direction of the moulding (10). The recess (26) is formed with a view to recessed reception of a transmission box (20) in the form of a connection box which is arranged to receive the wires (22) and is provided with a contact means (30, 30a), in which the extensions of the different wires/cables (22) are incorporated, said contact means (30, 30a) being formed for connection to said socket (34).

Description

MOULDING WITH INSERTED ELECTRIC WIRES

This invention relates to mouldings with inserted electrical wires, aerial cables etc. The cables can be inserted in longitudinal grooves, open or closed towards the rear, of for example base/skirting boards, or they can be embedded in the mouldings.

The invention primarily relates to base/skirting boards with inserted electrical wires, but comprises in principle also differently placed and oriented wire-containing mouldings, which, purely as an example, may extend round a doorway, along a wall immediately below a panelled ceiling, vertically in a corner of the room to the above-lying floor etc.

It is known in itself to draw insulated electrical conductors in mouldings in rooms in a house or other building. Thus, the Danish patent document No. 172365 discloses an electrical cable board formed to contain and coordinate electrical wires indoors in buildings, and arranged to carry electric current from a fixed installation point to one or more points of use in the building where sockets are connected at wire outlets from the cable board. In such a cable board or moulding the electrical wires are retained in a hidden and well organized manner, and the board/moulding is formed with a solid and closed front, the insertion/embedding of the wires being implemented from the reverse side of the cable board. The board/moulding is produced from an electrically insulating material.

In this known electrical cable board, where configuration possibilities are limited, sockets cannot readily be switched round. Once this has been done, a plug which will mar the moulding, has to be used, counter to the intension which was to hide marring features of the electrical wiring. Alternatively, replacing of sockets will be highly demanding and time-consuming. In this known technique a system of communication and control is wanting.

German patent document No. 624.836 discloses an electrical wire network formed from profile mouldings, which mouldings contain in their interior the electrical conductors in an insulated, embedded state. The mouldings which are made up of some longer sections alternating with shorter ones, consist of insulating material, for example synthetic resin.

In these known profile mouldings with electrical, insulated, embedded conductors, an installed socket cannot be removed or a socket cannot be installed into a complete moulding system with cables inserted in the moulding without the system having to be dismantled, said system not being based on the advantageous plug-in principle. These known profile mouldings with encapsulated, insulated conductors are not earthed and do not exhibit any communication cables of the coaxial cable, telephone wire, computer installation connecting cable type etc.

British patent application, publication No. 2.317.628 discloses a base board system comprising a back plate formed to be secured to the lowermost portion of an interior wall, and provided with an upper portion securingly and lockingly engaging a downward open recess of a front plate. In an area between the back and front plates is formed a recessed, laterally closed channel for the drawing of electrical wires and cables.

In this known skirting or base board system the laterally closed channel forms an unfavourable common room for the electrical cables and wires. In this known base board system with encapsulated electrical cables and wires, installation requires experts and even then the mounting is a cumbersome task. The completely installed system does not allow quick- couplings to be established either. In this known base board system it seems that the sockets have to be mounted in the wall after all, the electrician exclusively having the possibility to establish connection to the skirting board's common channel for wires, in order to get electric current therefrom.

Danish document No. 163.854, laid open to public inspection, discloses a moulding system for the drawing, insertion and encapsulation of electrical supply and/or signal conductors. The moulding system comprises prefabricated, integral, permanently closed moulding sections with incorporated electrical wires, which are positioned in longitudinal channels in the moulding sections. Each moulding section is formed with a number of so-called "access modules" incorporated, which a.ølow the mounting of sockets etc., and the establishing of electrical connection between them and incorporated electrical conductors, without disturbing the integrity of the moulding sections.

In addition to an encapsulation arrangement for the prevention of open hole sockets, there are used, in these known moulding sections with built-in electrical conductors, so-called gliding lids/sliding side pieces, which are to hide prefabricated connection holes for sockets, when such are not connected. These measures are both marring the aesthetic character of the system and thus work against the intentions of the construction, namely to keep wires etc. organized and hidden in the electrical wiring, so that this appears surveyable and tidy.

In this known moulding system with incorporated electrical conductors all conductors must further be stripped of insulation to provide electrical contact. In the known system, in which stop installation of electrical wires is practiced, the connection of the moulding sections has been completed in the factory before their arrival at the building site. The system is limited to two electrical cables and an earth cable, and fault-finding turns out to be difficult. The known system comprises corner pieces with clamping channels with screws, and the cables are stripped in situ, where sockets, for example, are to be connected.

An object of the present invention has been to remedy or reduce to a substantial degree the drawbacks, disadvantages and limitations of use of conventional and other techniques, which have been explained in the above, also by providing improvements in the moulding system disclosed for example in the Danish document No. 163854 laid open to public inspection, Danish patent document No. 172365 and DE 624936.

According to the invention said object is realized by means of mouldings with inserted electrical wires, as specified in the characterizing part of Claim 1.

Mouldings according to the invention should preferably be "tailor-made" to the room, i.e. without joints, apart from at the corners. The invention particularly concerns itself with wire-containing skirting/base boards, but also comprises - as earlier mentioned - mouldings of the kind in question placed and oriented differently in a room.

Each moulding exhibits at least one transmission boxes, which is inserted in the moulding from the rear side thereof, and to which a socket may be connected. In the mouldings transmission boxes may be spaced 1,5 metres apart, for example .

Said transmission box is actually a connection box, whereby the electrical wires incorporated in the respective moulding carry their signals forward horizontally and vertically.

In mouldings or moulding systems the sockets of a base/ skirting board embodiment will sit on top of the respective board, which represents a well-chosen positioning from an aesthetical point of view, which gives the moulding system an overall tidy and pleasing appearance.

Sockets in the back of the moulding are formed with female connections for ready-mounted plugs.

The moulding system according to the invention is well suited to form a network throughout the house. This favours the possibilities for control by means of micro processors and sensors.

The moulding system according to the invention can be supplied in the form of a building kit, i.e. with the electrical cables packed separately, the transmission box packed separately, the sockets packed separately and so on.

Thereby provisions are made for considerable self-assembly, which is very economical and results in a considerably lower total price for a fully installed moulding system with built- in electrical conductors, connection boxes, outlet sockets etc.

The present moulding system has corner pieces with bends, so that the conductors can be plugged in directly. The particular corner solution according to the invention exhibits a configuration such that the conductors can glide in the corner block on, for example, movement/expansion of the mouldings.

The respective moulding may accommodate one or more electrical conductors. The wires can be live wires (220 V), wires for TV-sets, computers etc.

Non-limiting examples of preferred embodiments are explained in the following with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Fig. 1 shows a side view of a base or skirting board with electrical conductors built in from the rear side of the moulding, and two fixed double sockets and possibly a third double socket (in dotted line) and an intermediate blinded fourth contact point;

Fig. 2 is a perspective partial picture on a larger scale, seen from the rear of the moulding, the partial picture forming a split view, in which the transmission/connection box to be mounted in a rearwards open recess cut out in the back of the moulding, is shown in a recessed position in order thereby to illustrate the connecting ends of the electrical conductors inserted in the moulding, which ends project sideways into said recess, in order to be brought, as the connection box is pushed into the recess, into a contact- establishing connection hole therein, and establish electrical contact, so that the topmost contact means of the transmission/connection box comes alive;

Fig. 3 corresponds to the partial view according to Fig. 2, but here the transmission/connection box is mounted in the recess in the back of the moulding. However, the split view shows a double socket in a position immediately before connection to the connection box through an uppermost insertion/guide hole at the very top of the moulding, seen from the rear of the moulding;

Fig. 4 corresponds to Fig. 3 but shows the double socket in a connected state;

Fig. 5 corresponds to Fig. 4, but shows the double socket and moulding seen from the front; Fig. 6 shows a perspe tive partial view in a split view, seen from the rear of the noulding, in which a transmission/connection box is about to have a blind plug arranged thereto;

Fig. 7 corresponds to Fig. 6, but shows the blind plug in a connected state, after which it extends with a small plate piece above the upper defining rim of the moulding, whereby it does not at all disturb the favourable appearance of the wire-containing moulding;

Fig. 8 shows in a perspective view a corner portion of a room covered by two base boards with built-in electrical conductors;

Fig. 9 shows a top plan view of a corner piece with straight moulding end portions connected;

Fig. 10 shows a view of a double socket of a general embodiment suitable for use in connection with a moulding system formed in accordance with the invention.

Reference is made to the drawings, in which Fig. 1 shows a schematic overview picture of a straight moulding 10, which can conceivably extend across the length/width of a room, the moulding 10 conceivably being mounted as a base/skirting board with inserted electrical conductors, which are connected to transmission/connection boxes, generally identified by the reference numerals 12 and 14 for double type sockets already connected, and in which a possible further, third, double socket is drawn in dotted line at 16, whereas a fourth connecting point, where a blind plug has been plugged in, is identified by 18. A moulding 10 with inserted electrical wires in an arbitrary desired number and with four equally spaced apart transmission/connection boxes 20 connected, Figs. 2 and 3, may thus exhibit one, two, three or four sockets 12, 14, 16, 18.

According to Figs. 2 and 3 it appears that a number of electrical live wires and possibly other wires, electrical and non-electrical cables/conductors, generally identified by the reference numeral 22, are inserted and retained in a longitudinal groove 24 formed in the moulding 10 from the rear side thereof. Such wire-accommodating grooves in mouldings of the kind in question are known in themselves and are not an object of the present invention.

At those points along the wire-containing moulding 10, where outlets for electrical power are desired, for example corresponding to the instance of application illustrated in Fig. 1, i.e. four equally spaced apart power outlets, each represented by one of the reference numerals 12, 14, 16 and 18, there is formed in the base board embodiment of the moulding 10 according to the invention, from the back of the moulding 10, a parallelepipedic recess 26 open towards the rear, in which the wires 22 end by stripped ends, generally identified by 22a.

The recesses 26 are each meant to receive the above-mentioned transmission box 20 which has transversal holes 20a for the accommodation of the wire ends 22a, one in each hole, and the establishment of electrical (or other) contact in the interior of this transmission box 20 in the form of a connection box, which has a contact means 30 at its top. When the wires 22 are in place in the longitudinal groove 24 of the moulding for the reception of the wires 22 individually, and said transmission/connection boxes 22 have reached their recessed positions in their respective recesses 26, wires and connection boxes 20 will, in a suitable embodiment of the moulding 10, be essentially flush with the back surface thereof.

It appears, in particular from Fig. 2, that from the upper edge surface of the moulding 10, symmetrically relative to o the width of the recess 26 there is formed a vertically through insertion and guide opening 32. When being pushed into the recess 26, the contact means 30 of the connection box 20 are positioned immediately below, or in slight engagement with, this insertion/guide opening 32 well within s the internal vertical wall surfaces of the moulding 10 defining the opening 32, whose dimensions in the directions of the length and thickness of the moulding 10 exceed the corresponding dimensions of the contact means 30.

The insertion and guide opening 32 is formed in the uppermost o portion of the moulding 10 for the insertion and guiding of the plug means 36 of a socket 34. On either side of the plug 36, equidistantly therefrom, the socket 34 has a guide pin 38 and 40. The guide pins 38 and 40 each have an insertion and retaining hole 42 and 44 arranged thereto. The socket 34 may 5 possibly be secured to the moulding 10 by means of a snap device or in another manner known in itself.

When the socket 34 is being lowered by the guide pins 38, 40 into the holes 42, 44 and the plug 36 into the opening 32, the plug 36 will surroundingly engage the upper portion 30a o of the upright contact means 30 of the connection box 20 and establish electrical and other contact with the different contact points/wire ends included in the contact means portion 30a.

Fig. 4 shows the socket 34 in a connected state on top of the uppermost longitudinal edge surface of the moulding, seen from the rear of the moulding 10.

Fig. 5 shows the partial view of Fig. 4, seen from the front of the moulding 10.

In Figs. 5 and 10 some connection points for wires other than electrical live wires (220 V) appear, the wires last mentioned having two sockets 46 and 48 arranged thereto. The connection point for a telephone set is identified by 50, that for a computer by 52, that for a TV-set by 54 and that for a 12 V tap by 56.

The reference numeral 58 in Figs. 6 and 7 identifies a blind plug of the kind mounted at the possible power outlet point 18 in Fig. 1. For its securing this blind plug is provided with securing means 60, 62 and 64, whose shape, size and position corresponds very well with the middle contact- establishing plug 36 of the socket 34 and its guiding/securing pins 38, 40.

Finally, figs. 8 and 9 visualize a corner connection between two wire-containing skirting boards 10 according to the invention.

At their portions nearest to the corner of the room, each of the two base boards 10 have a two-way socket 34 connected, of the type shown in Fig.;. 5 and 10.

A prismatic corner pieco 66 of a symmetrically pentagonal circumference, seen in particular Fig. 9, is formed to be fitted into a corner of a room, the same number of electrical conductors, other wires etc. as in each of the base boards and with exactly the same positioning in the cross-section as those, having been inserted along a bend-shaped (dotted line in Fig. 9) track 68 in the corner piece 66.

This bend-shaped track 68 may be formed as a bend-shaped channel equipped with a female connection for connection to adjacent stripped wire ends at either end of the bend 68, said female connections each being formed, for this purpose, to enclosingly receive a male connection 70, 72 in a relatively glidably displaceable manner. Electrical wires etc. 22 inserted in the rear material layer of each moulding 10 through grooves 24, have at their outer connecting ends such male connections 70 and 72, respectively, arranged thereto.

When one of the wire-containing mouldings 10, Figs. 9 and 10, is subjected to an unexpected movement or expansion in its longitudinal direction caused by heat, the configuration of the corner piece 66 and the particular connection of the wire connecting pieces of the mouldings 10 in the form of the glidable displaceability of the male connections 70, 72 relative to the box connections of the corner piece bend 68 at the ends, are able to absorb such movements/expansions through said relative glidable displaceability, the electrical connection being maintained at the same time.

As it will be understood, sockets 34 may be placed in one or more of the openings/connecting points 32 along the moulding 10, according to the user's needs, whereas unemployed connection points are covered by blind plugs 58.

Claims

C L A I M S

1. A moulding, preferably a base/skirting board (10), with inserted wires and cables (22), for example electrical insulated conductors, coaxial cable, telephone wire,

5 wires for the transmission of signals and/or pulses etc., preferably fitted into longitudinal grooves (24) formed in the moulding (10) from the rear side thereof, so that all of the wires, cables (22) etc. inserted in the moulding (10) are concealed when the moulding is o viewed from its front, c h a r a c t e r i z e d i n that in a moulding (10), a moulding length or moulding section there is formed from the back thereof, a rearwards open recess (26), sideways into which wires (22) etc. inserted in the moulding (10) preferably s project slightly by connecting ends (22a), and which is formed with a view to receiving and retaining a transmission box (20), which is formed in the form of a connection box with contact-establishing means (20a) for said connecting ends (22a), which are o brought into securing, contact-establishing engagement with the contact means (20a) of the connection box (20) as the connection box is pushed into place in the recess (26) of the moulding (10), and that said transmission/connection box (20) is 5 provided with a contact piece (30) for connection to a plug part (36) of a socket (34).

2. A moulding according to claim 1, c h a r ac t e r i z e d i n that in a longitudinal edge portion, in an area which is symmetrical relative o to said recess (26), the moulding (10) is formed with an insertion and guide opening (32) extending through from said edge portion to the recess (26) for the passage of the plug part (36) of said socket (34) for contact- establishing connection to the contact piece (30) of the 5 connection box (20).

3. A moulding according to claim 2, c h ar a c t e r i z e d i n that on either side of the insertion and guide opening (32) for the plug part (36) of the socket (34) the moulding (10) has a guiding o and securing hole (42, 44) parallel to said opening

(32), for either one of the correspondingly positioned and oriented guide pins (38, 40), the opening (32) and holes (42, 44) of the moulding (10) also being able to receive and retain a blind plug (58) which has a middle s securing element (60) corresponding to the plug part of the socket (34), and securing pins (62, 64) corresponding to its guide pins (38, 40).

4. A moulding according to any one of the preceding claims, c h ar ac t er i z ed i n that at an outer end, at o which it is to be connected to a corner piece (66), which is equipped with inserted wires etc. and formed circumferentially to be fitted into a corner of a room, the moulding (10) is formed with a male/female connection for the wire ends (22a) in order to be pushed 5 by relative glidable displaceability in the longitudinal direction of the respective moulding (10) into a complementary female/male connection of an adjacent end of the corner piece (66).