Television support member security mounting assembly

A security mounting assembly for an electrical appliance, such as a color television set includes a television cabinet having an engagement member formed therewith and a separate support member having a retaining flange which receives the engagement member. The engagement member may include a lug or foot integrally formed in the television cabinet and extending therefrom. The retaining flange extends from the support member to form a lip extending along a frontal edge thereof which defines a recess into which the engagement lug or foot projects. The cabinet is held in place on the support member by a series of fasteners and is held in such a manner that the cabinet engagement members may not be readily removed from the support member retaining flange.

BACKGROUND AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
The present invention relates generally to mounting systems for electrical 
appliances, such as television receiving, and more particularly, to a 
mounting assembly wherein mounting means are integrally formed within a 
television cabinet and securely and substantially non-removably engage a 
support member such as a flat tray. 
Color and stereo television receivers and monitors are a necessary 
appliance for hotel rooms, hospital rooms and public meeting rooms. Such 
appliances are tempting targets for burglars and thieves. The theft of 
television sets is a serious problem to hotel chains and the like. Thus, 
the need exists for apparatus to securely mount televisions within areas 
such as hotel rooms. Numerous such assemblies exist in the art. Some 
security systems, such as that described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,268,099 issued 
May 19, 1991 utilize cables attached to the television or appliance which 
are supported on a rack or the like. These cables are not a sufficient 
theft deterrent in that they can easily be cut with appropriate means such 
as a pair of cable cutters. Other security systems, such as that described 
in U.S. Pat. No 4,738,428 involve the use of locking bars or straps. Such 
systems are unusually bulky and may be circumvented by the use of a 
crowbar. 
The present invention provides an alternative to such security systems and 
permits the secure, substantially non-removable mounting of expensive 
electrical appliances such as television receivers and monitors on 
pedestals, racks or ceiling or wall mounts. The present invention also 
provides a mounting system for appliances in which the means by which the 
appliance is held in place on the support member is substantially 
non-accessible from the outside of the appliance. In accordance with the 
present invention, one or more engagement means are formed directly in the 
exterior cabinet of the appliance. The engagement means ma take the form 
of one or more lug members molded into the television housing or cabinet 
which extend outwardly therefrom. These lugs engage a locking or retaining 
flange formed within a support member upon which the appliance is mounted. 
The television cabinet is secured to the support member by means of a first 
set of fasteners which pass through the support member and into apertures 
disposed on the bottom of the television cabinet. A second set of 
fasteners hold the television cabinet in engagement with the support 
member and substantially restrict the movement of the television cabinet 
engagement means from the locking flange. This second set of fasteners 
pass through one or more skirt flanges which project along the sides of 
the support member and which cooperate with the first fasteners to 
substantially prevent lateral movement of the television cabinet upon the 
support member. 
In this regard, it is an object of the present invention to provide a 
secure mounting assembly for substantially non-removably mounting an 
electrical appliance, such as a television receiver, wherein engagement 
means are integrally formed in a housing of the appliance and wherein the 
engagement means engages a support member in a manner such that the 
engagement means are not accessible from the exterior of the support 
member. 
It is another object of the present invention to provide a security 
mounting assembly for a television receiver in which the television 
receiver includes an exterior cabinet portion, the cabinet portion having 
at least one retaining hook member which projects outwardly thereof and 
engages a support member, the retaining means hook member being held by a 
flange extending along an edge of the support member, the hook member 
being held in engagement with said retaining means by one or more 
fasteners extending through said support member and engaging said cabinet. 
It is still a further object of the present invention to provide an easily 
installed security mounting system in which a substantially planar support 
tray includes means for engaging a television set and retaining the 
television set in place upon the support tray, the engagement means 
including a first flange which defines a recess between the first flange 
and the support tray, a integrally formed portion of the television 
cabinet projecting outwardly and engaging recesses defined by the flange, 
the support tray having a pair of skirt flanges extending generally 
perpendicularly to the support tray first flange, the skirt flanges 
substantially preventing lateral movement of the television cabinet upon 
the support tray, the mounting assembly further including fastener means 
extending through said skirt flanges and engaging said cabinet, said 
fastener means substantially preventing disengagement of the engagement 
means. 
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide an engagement 
feature integrally formed within a television exterior cabinet, the 
engagement feature being disposed along an edge of the television cabinet, 
the engagement feature engaging a mounting surface in a manner which does 
not permit the insertion of a prying member between the television cabinet 
and the mounting member. 
It is still another object of the present invention to provide a security 
mounting system for a television receiver which includes a combination of 
a television receiver extension cabinet and a mounting tray in which the 
system has first engagement means extending forwardly from the television 
cabinet and second engagement means extending through the support tray 
into the cabinet disposed at an angle from the first engagement means to 
hold the same in place upon the support tray. 
These and other objects, features, advantages of the present invention will 
become readily apparent through a consideration of the following detailed 
description.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
A security mounting assembly 100 constructed in accordance with the 
principles of the present invention is illustrated in FIGS. 1-3. As shown, 
the assembly 100 includes an appliance, such as a television receiver 102 
and a support member, such as a support tray 104. The television receiver 
102 is generally typical in that the receiver 102 is housed within a 
housing or cabinet 106 which substantially surrounds the picture tube 107 
and its associated electronic components. Importantly, the cabinet 106 is 
provided with integral means for engaging the support tray 104 in the form 
of one or more engagement hooks 108 which are integrally formed with the 
cabinet 106, such as by injection molding. 
Each of the engagement hooks 108 preferably depends downwardly from the 
bottom 109 of the television cabinet 106 and projects outwardly therefrom 
such that an engagement face 110 of each hook 108 is aligned generally 
parallel with the front face 112 of the television cabinet 106. As shown 
best in FIGS. 1 and 3, the hooks 108 define a spacing or slot 113 between 
an engagement surface 114 thereof and the television cabinet bottom 109, 
which slot 113 is dimensioned to closely receive a support tray engagement 
flange 140 therein, as will be explained in greater detail below. 
The cabinet 106 also includes first and second means for receiving 
fasteners, illustrated as fastening holes 120, 122, respectively. These 
fastening holes 120, 122 may be formed within corresponding bosses 121, 
123 as shown, or they may be formed within a solid portion of the cabinet 
106. The first set of fastening holes 120 is disposed in the bottom of the 
cabinet 106 and spaced a preselected distance from the hook members 108. 
The second set 122 of the fastening holes are preferably disposed in the 
sides of the cabinet 106, and are oriented generally perpendicularly to 
the direction of the hooks 108. 
Turning now to the details of the support tray 104, (FIGS. 1 & 2) it can be 
seen that the support tray 104 is substantially planar and includes a 
mounting surface 142 defined within its four edges. As mentioned above, 
the support tray 104 includes an engagement flange 140 disposed along 
substantially the entire length of a first, or front, edge 143 thereof. 
The engagement flange 140 is spaced apart from the mounting surface 142 
and thus defines a recess 144 therebetween. The recess 144 abuttingly 
receives the projecting portion(s) of each of the hook members 108 (FIG. 
3). Preferably, the faces 110 of the hook members 108 abut the interior 
face 145 of the engagement flange 140. The top portion 146 of the 
engagement flange 140 is received by the slot 113 defined by the hook 
member 108. 
In order to assist in properly positioning the television cabinet 106 on 
the mounting surface 142 of the support tray 104, the support tray 104 
includes one or more first and second apertures 150, 160, respectively. 
These apertures 150 and 160 are generally correspondingly aligned with the 
first and second fastening holes 120, 122. Conventional security 
fasteners, such as security screws 152, may be inserted into the bosses 
121 which define the television cabinet fastening holes 120 and the 
cabinet hook members 108 are then inserted into the engagement flange 
recess 144. As the television cabinet is slid forward, the fasteners 152 
will become aligned with the support tray first apertures 150 and 
initially depend therethrough. Final alignment of the television cabinet 
106 may then be effected by moving the cabinet 106 forwardly such that the 
fastener shafts 154 slide forward into a slot 155 opening into the 
aperture 150. The fasteners 152 and the first apertures 150 cooperate to 
retain the television cabinet 106 in place upon the support tray mounting 
surface 142. 
Lateral alignment and security of the television cabinet 106 in place upon 
the support tray 104 is accomplished by means of one or more skirt 
flanges, or raised wall portions, 148 which extend laterally and 
rearwardly along two side edges 147, 149 of the support tray 104 and 
generally perpendicularly with respect to the engagement flange 140. The 
skirt flanges 148 preferably further extend along the support tray 104 
second and third edges 147, 149 for substantially the entire length of the 
television cabinet 106 thereof as illustrated or they may extend a 
preselected length in the are proximate to the second set of cabinet 
fastening holes 122. The skirt flanges 148 preferably have a sufficient 
height to substantially cover the spacing, if any, between the television 
cabinet 106 and the mounting tray 104 to prevent access thereto such that 
it is substantially impossible to insert a prying member, such as a 
crowbar, between the same. The height of the skirt flanges 148 also 
permits the flanges 148 to abuttingly engage the cabinet 106. 
The television cabinet 106 preferably also includes a second set of 
fastening holes 122 located in boss or lug portions 123 of the cabinet 
106. These second fastening holes 122 are angularly disposed with respect 
to the cabinet hook members 108 and the first fastening holes 120 and are 
aligned with the support tray second apertures 160 when the hook members 
108 are properly engaged in the support tray recess 144 and when the first 
fasteners 152 are engaged in the aperture slots 155. When so aligned, the 
cabinet 106 is secured to the support tray 104 by a second set of 
fasteners 162. The second fasteners 162 preferably take the form of 
special security screws 164 which are of a type not operable by anything 
but a special tool. In this regard, the screws 164 are equipped with screw 
heads 165 having a specially configured slot 166 which cannot be engaged 
by conventional tools such as blade, Phillips-head or Allen-head 
screwdrivers. The second fasteners 162 and skirt flanges 148 cooperate to 
maintain the cabinet hook members 108 in place within the support tray 
recess 144 and thereby substantially prevents the unauthorized removal of 
the cabinet 106 from the support tray 104. 
When the second fasteners 162 engage the television cabinet 106, they 
prevent the television cabinet from being moved in a fashion to free the 
hook members 108 from the support tray recess 144. Because the support 
tray engagement flange 140 substantially seals off the space between the 
hook members 108 and the television cabinet base 106, a prying tool, such 
as a crowbar, cannot be inserted underneath the cabinet 106 between it and 
the support tray 104 to effect breakage of the hook members 108. 
It will be appreciated that the embodiments of the present invention that 
have been discussed herein are merely illustrative of a few applications 
of the principles of the present invention. Numerous modifications may be 
made by those skilled in the art without departing from the true spirit 
and scope of the invention.