Accessory storage system and apparatus

A mounting accessory and storage system includes an accessory bracket which is designed to be detachably connected to an associated electronic equipment box in a closed or storage position without extending beyond the perimeter of the box during shipment of the electronic equipment. The mounting accessory is easily detachable from the box and reinstalled in a second position in the box which provides an extended bracket interface, connected to but extending beyond the perimeter of the box, to overlap with a corresponding mounting edge of an equipment mounting rack unit.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
The present invention relates generally to mechanical mounting systems for 
electronic or other equipment and more particularly to an improved 
mounting system and interfacing accessory for use in mounting electronic 
equipment in racks or similar shelving systems. 
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
As the use of personal computers has proliferated, as well as the power and 
capacity of such computers, more and larger application requirements are 
being met through the implementation of PC systems. Many such large 
applications are now being serviced through the use of a network 
application in which a large number of terminals or PCs are connected 
together, and each has access to many programs and data through a common 
server. In many such systems, especially where the computer system serves 
an entire operation or a large business, there are many servers operating 
at the same time to serve different groups within the business. 
In general, the servers are not only relatively expensive, but they are 
also critical to the operation of the business. For that reason, servers 
are usually grouped together in one area or room which can be better 
controlled environmentally and also to limit access to the equipment and 
insure system integrity. With the servers in a designated server area, 
they can be better serviced and maintained. Moreover, as the applications 
become larger and larger, the servers can access related peripheral 
equipment, such as CD ROMs and hard drives, to provide very large 
databases and other capabilities to the terminals. That peripheral 
equipment can also be mounted in the central server location thereby 
allowing more space at the terminals for the terminal user's needs. 
In general, where electronic equipment is placed in a central location, the 
units are mounted in a rack or enclosed cabinet in order to conserve 
space. Such racks may have several CPUs or disk drive storage units for 
example, mounted one above another on vertically displaced shelves. With 
electronic equipment and computers and servers, since there is a need to 
access the individual boxes containing the electronics in order to service 
the unit or install additional or new hardware or software, most of the 
time the electronic "boxes" are mounted directly to side "arms" that are 
operable to extend outwardly from the casing or rack to provide access to 
a technician. 
In many such rack systems, there is provided a vertical "lip" or edge on 
each side of the rack for alignment and, in some cases, to help in 
securing the electronic boxes to the racks. The vertical lip runs 
vertically along the entire length of the rack or cabinet and the servers 
are usually secured to the lip by means of screws or nuts and bolts. The 
lip then also serves to provide a dust-guard to limit or exclude dust from 
settling on the circuit boards and chips located within the servers. 
However, while the usefulness of the attaching lip or plate is desirable, 
it often precludes a mounting arrangement whereby the server or other 
electronic unit may be moved outwardly from the rack for service or system 
modification. Usually, all of the mounting screws need to be removed 
before the units can be pulled out of the rack for service. Other problems 
occur when the mounting screws are actually connected through holes in the 
side panels of the electronic equipment units. As the units, over time, 
are detached from the rack housings and taken out of the rack and then 
replaced, the mounting holes in the electronic equipment boxes become 
oversized and distorted thus loosening the mount and making the electronic 
equipment susceptible to breakage and dust. 
Another problem occurs when equipment manufacturers ship modified versions 
of their equipment for rack mounting. Many companies attach mounting 
devices to the electronic boxes to enable the user to be able to directly 
mount the device in a rack upon arrival at the user's facility. In many 
cases, this entails the addition of a bracket or other device either 
shipped separately or actually attached to the electronic device. When 
such brackets are attached, they are easily broken or damaged during 
shipment (since the brackets usually extend outside of the normal contour 
of the electronic device to be mounted), and when shipped separately the 
brackets are very often lost. Moreover, even when the bracketed device 
arrives without significant damage, extra care must be taken not to damage 
the unit during mounting and, extra mounting hardware must still be used 
in securing or lining up the unit with the rack housing. 
OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION 
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an 
improved mounting apparatus which can be used with currently available 
electronic gear racks and which requires no special mounting hardware. 
It is another object of the present invention to provide an improved 
mounting system for electronic equipment which enables associated mounting 
devices to be detachably stored with the electronic equipment. 
It is still another object of the present invention to provide an improved 
mounting system as set forth which further includes bracket devices which 
may be stored in a storage position as detachable elements of the 
electronic equipment during shipment or long term storage. 
It yet another object of the present invention to provide an improved 
mounting system and bracket arrangement as set forth, in which the 
detachable elements may be easily detached from the electronic equipment, 
and readily installed, without special tools or additional hardware, to a 
second operational position in an electronic gear rack in conjunction with 
the electronic equipment which is being mounted. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
These and other objects and features of the present invention, are 
accomplished in accordance with the present invention wherein an accessory 
apparatus is designed to be used with corresponding structure built into a 
related electronic or other container or box which, in turn, may be 
mounted on an equipment rack. The accessory is, in one arrangement, stored 
in an unobtrusive position with the box during shipment of the box, and 
deployed in another operational position to provide an extension of the 
box thereby enabling an aligned and full fit within the width of the 
equipment rack. The container with which the accessory is used includes 
storage and deployment brackets to accommodate the accessory in either of 
the two positions.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
Referring now to the drawings in detail, in which like numerals refer to 
like parts, FIG. 1 in detail, there is shown a corner portion of a 
container housing, CPU box,server box,or other electronic component box 
101 of typical rectangular design in which, in the present example, 
electronic components and boards are assembled as part of a larger system. 
Such a system may contain, for example, a so-called "CPU" box which would 
be part of a personal computer system, or a server box which would be part 
of a network system of PCs. The container or housing 101 is shown with the 
top and the bottom of the CPU unit removed to more clearly illustrate the 
detail of the present invention. The container 101 is shown with first and 
second corner side walls 103 and 105 which define a front corner of the 
CPU box. It is understood that the side walls 103 and 105 are secured 
relative to each other by the other three corners of the CPU box and also 
by attachment to the top or bottom covers to the CPU box or container 101. 
Side wall 103 has mounted thereon a holding bracket 107 which further 
includes a retaining boss 109 formed as a part of the holding bracket 107. 
As can be seen in FIG. 1, the corner walls 103 and 105 are not joined 
together but define an opening or access passage 106. A mounting bracket 
111 is shown with a locking section 112 positioned within the holding 
bracket 107 and held in place by the retaining boss 109. The mounting 
bracket 111 also includes a second section 113 which is shown extending 
from the corner section of the CPU or other electronic component box 101. 
In the FIG. 1 exemplary embodiment, an alignment, mounting or attaching 
hole 115 is shown within the second section 113 of the mounting bracket 
111. 
In general, the arrangement shown in FIG. 1 demonstrates a deployed 
position of the mounting bracket 111 in which the second section 113 of 
the bracket 111 is extended to be placed over a corresponding vertically 
disposed attaching or alignment lip of a mounting rack. Such racks may 
include two such alignment edges which are on each side of a mounting 
rack. An electronic box will generally fit between such edges and in some 
cases the boxes will have corresponding extensions such as the second 
section 113 of the bracket 111, which are designed to overlap the rack 
edge for alignment of the electronic box within the rack mount. Such an 
overlapping arrangement provides an aesthetic appearance and also secures 
the electronic box in place. 
The box may be secured to a greater extent by using the aligning or 
attaching hole 115 in conjunction with corresponding attaching holes in 
the extended edge of a mounting rack. As shown in FIG. 1, the side wall 
105 would face outwardly from the rack in which the electronic box 101 is 
mounted. In applications where it is desirable to have quick access to the 
CPU server box 101 on frequent occasions, either for servicing or 
modification, the second section 113 of the bracket 111 is not secured to 
the rack, (for example by using screws through the hole 115), but merely 
overlaps and lies in contact with the rack edge. In that situation, the 
server box 101 is attached to a sliding assembly, which is well known in 
the art, and is selectively pulled outwardly from the rack to yield access 
to the electronic on the inside of the CPU or server box 101. 
The mounting system shown in FIG. 1, is arranged to allow the mounting 
bracket 111 to be easily removed from the server box 101 when it is 
necessary to relocate or remove the server box 101 from its rack mount. 
The second section 113 of the bracket 111 can be rotated clockwise to 
disengage the locking section 112 of the bracket 111 from the holding 
bracket 107 within the server box 101. The bracket 111 may then be 
slidably removed from the CPU box and carried or stored separately. The 
removal of the bracket 111 facilitates moving the server box 101 since 
there will be no extended portions of the box. Once the unit is placed at 
a new location or when it is to be remounted, the server box 101 may be 
placed in its rack position and the removable or detachable mounting 
bracket 111 may again be locked into the CPU box to provide an alignment 
or attaching lip or extension for alignment with a corresponding extension 
of the mounting rack assembly. The holding or latching function performed 
in the present example by the relationship between the retaining boss 109 
and the locking section 112 of the bracket 111 may be implemented through 
many other arrangements and hardware locking or latching sets, and the 
present illustration is not intended to limit the scope of the present 
invention in any way. Similarly, the mounting hole 115 may be omitted from 
the mounting bracket 111 without departing from the scope or spirit of the 
present invention. Without the hole implementation, the second section 113 
of the bracket 111 would serve as an overlapping member to overlap and 
align with a corresponding edge of a rack assembly and fill or cover-up 
the full width of the rack assembly as hereinbefore explained. 
FIG. 2 shows the arrangement of FIG. 1 from a top view which better 
illustrates the arrangement of the retaining boss 109 to engage with the 
locking section 112 of the bracket 111. 
FIG. 3 is another perspective view of the arrangement shown in FIG. 1 and 
shows the same components from a different angle. 
FIG. 4 shows an exemplary embodiment of another mounting apparatus and 
system for the rack mounting of CPU or server electronic boxes. The view 
in FIG. 4 shows the right side corner of a CPU, container, or server 
electronic box 401. The present invention would be most frequently 
implemented with the bracket systems installed in the front left hand 
corner as shown in FIG. 1 and also the front right hand corner as shown in 
FIG. 4, although in any installation either one or the other of the 
mounting bracket systems shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 4 would be implemented. 
The server box 401 includes a side wall 403 and a front wall 405. The side 
wall 403 is extended within the server box 401 to define a locking or 
holding bracket 404. The holding bracket 404 includes locking or latching 
retaining bosses 407 and 409. The front wall 405 also includes a storing 
bracket 411 with a locking boss 413. 
A mounting bracket 415 is shown in a stored or shipping position in FIG. 4 
where there are no extended edges from the server box 401. In that 
position, the bracket 415 is conveniently stored securely within the 
server box 401. The bracket 415 in the stored position is readily 
disengaged from its stored position as shown, and may then be installed in 
its deployed rack mounted position in a manner similar to that shown in 
connection with FIG. 1. 
The mounting bracket 415 includes an extended section 417 and a locking 
section 419. When the server 401 is to be installed in a rack mount, the 
bracket 415 is pulled out of the storage position within the storing 
bracket 411 and re-installed in a deployed or mounted position as shown in 
FIG. 5. In the deployed position, the locking section 419 of the bracket 
415 is slidably engaged with and locked into the holding bracket 404 
between the retaining bosses 407 and 409. The extended section 417 of the 
bracket 415 extends outwardly from the server box to overlap and align 
with a matching extension or lip on a mounting rack as was hereinbefore 
explained in connection with FIG. 1. 
FIGS. 6 and 7 show perspective views of the arrangements shown in FIGS. 4 
and 5, respectively and like numerals identify like parts. 
Thus, there has been provided, in accordance with the present invention, an 
improved mounting system and bracket apparatus which can be stored within 
an electronic assembly with which it is used, and selectively detachable 
to be reinstalled as a mounting and alignment accessory to aid in the 
mounting of the electronic apparatus within a rack mount system. 
The apparatus of the present invention has been described in connection 
with the preferred embodiment as disclosed herein. Although an embodiment 
of the present invention has been shown and described in detail herein, 
along with certain variants thereof, many other varied embodiments that 
incorporate the teachings of the invention may be easily constructed by 
those skilled in the art. Accordingly, the present invention is not 
intended to be limited to the specific form set forth herein, but on the 
contrary, it is intended to cover such alternatives, modifications, and 
equivalents, as can be reasonably included within the spirit and scope of 
the invention as defined by the following claims.