Security mounting assembly

A security mounting assembly for an electrical appliance, such as a color television monitor, includes a mounting ring which may be attached to a flat mounting surface by a series of fasteners. The mounting ring includes glide members disposed thereon radially outwardly of the fasteners and the mounting ring is captured between two flanges attached to a flat support tray. The support tray is attached to the television with fasteners and swivels in place upon the attachment ring.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
The present invention relates generally to devices for securely mounting 
large electrical appliances, such as televisions to a surface, and more 
particularly to a security mounting device with an enclosed turntable. 
Large electrical appliances, such as televisions and monitors, are commonly 
used in hotels, motels and hospitals. These appliances, because of their 
cost, present attractive targets to thieves and burglars. Theft of these 
items is costly and constitutes a serious problem to hotel chains, 
hospitals and the like. A need therefore exists for apparatus to securely 
mount these appliances and other electrical appliances such as computers, 
microwave and ovens and the like. 
Some security mounting systems exist and rely upon cables, such as that 
shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,268,099, while others such as that shown in U.S. 
Pat. No. 4,738,428 utilize locking bars and straps. These mounting systems 
are complicated in that they require extraneous components that must be 
threaded or intertwined with the mounting assemblies, and they can often 
be compromised by use of a crowbar. 
The present invention provides a security mounting system for relatively 
inexpensive cost and which securely mounts these electrical appliances to 
flat mounting surfaces such as table and counter tops. Simultaneously, the 
present invention provides the security mounting system with a rotatable 
portion enclosed within the mounting assembly so that the appliance 
mounted thereon is at least partially rotatable on its mounting surface. 
In accordance with the present invention, a turntable assembly is provided 
as part of the mounting assembly and includes a stationary attachment ring 
to which a series of glides are mounted. The attachment ring is held 
within one or more flanges which cooperatively define a clamp assembly 
disposed on the bottom of an appliance mounting tray. The glides provide 
multiple bearing points to facilitate rotation of the appliance on the 
mounting assembly. 
The appliance is secured to the mounting tray by means of one set of 
fasteners which pass through the mounting tray into apertures aligned on 
the bottom of the appliance. This set of fasteners maintain the appliance 
in a preselected orientation as the mounting tray. Another set of 
fasteners pass through openings in the attachment ring in order to secure 
the attachment ring to a mounting surface. These fasteners are located in 
the attachment ring interior of the glides and are spaced apart from the 
mounting surface by a series of spacers. The glides are thus held 
stationary within the attachment ring. 
Two interengaging flanges, or clamps, are mounted to the appliance mounting 
tray and cooperate to define an enclosure which surrounds and at least 
partially encloses the attachment ring to, in effect, capture the 
stationary attachment ring within a race. Thus, the mounting tray is 
rotatably mounted on the attachment ring and permits the appliance to 
swivel in place after mounting. 
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a secure 
mounting means for mounting an electrical appliance, such as a television 
receiver, to a flat surface wherein the mounting means includes a 
rotatable turntable enclosed within the mounting means. 
It is another object of the present invention to provide a mounting 
assembly for securely mounting a television receiver to a flat surface in 
which the exterior cabinet of the television receiver is supported on a 
planar support member and engaged therewith by a series of fasteners and 
in which the planar support member includes one or more flanges which 
define a security enclosure beneath the planar base member, the flanges 
securely enclosing a base attachment member which is attached to the flat 
surface, the base attachment member having a plurality of bearings 
supported thereon which give the planar support member the ability to 
rotate relative to the base attachment member. 
It is still another object of the present invention to provide a mounting 
assembly having a base attachment member in the form of a ring, the base 
attachment member having means for secure attachment to a flat mounting 
surface and a plurality of glides operatively associated therewith, the 
attachment member being held between opposing, engaging flange members 
which in turn are attached to an upper support plates, whereby the upper 
support plate and an appliance supported thereon rotate with respect to 
and upon the base attachment ring, but nevertheless enclose the attachment 
ring to thereby prevent access to its secure attachment means. 
These and other objects, features and advantages of the present inventions 
will be apparent through a reading of the following detailed description, 
taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein like 
reference numerals refer to like parts.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
A mounting assembly constructed in accordance with the principles of the 
present invention is illustrated generally at 100 in FIGS. 1 & 7. As shown 
in FIG. 7, the mounting assembly 100 is used to support a large electrical 
appliance, such as the television receiver or monitor 50 shown, upon a 
flat mounting surface 102, such as a countertop. The television is 
conventional and includes a viewing screen 51 held within an exterior 
housing 52 and which is joined to a base portion 54. 
The mounting assembly 100 includes an flat appliance support plate, or tray 
130, having a planar support surface 131 upon which the appliance 50 
rests. The support tray 130 preferably has length and width dimensions 
that are large enough to suitably support the appliance 50 thereon. The 
support tray 130 has opposing forward and rear edges 132, 133 respectively 
and the forward edge 132 of the support tray 130 may have a width greater 
than the width of the rear edge 133. 
The support tray 130 may further include a plurality of openings 137 
extending completely through the tray 130 and which are adapted to permit 
the passage therethrough of a set of fasteners 138. These fasteners are 
received in corresponding mounting holes (not shown) formed in the bottom 
of the base portion 54 of the appliance 50 in the manner described in U.S. 
Pat. No. 5,383,641, issued Jan. 24, 1995 and assigned to the assignee of 
the present invention, the disclosure of which is herein incorporated by 
reference. These fasteners 138 may be security-style fasteners as 
described below and they serve to attach the appliance 50 to the appliance 
support tray 130. The support tray 130 may further include, if necessary, 
vertical ledges 139 for attachment to vertical sides of the appliance 50. 
The support tray 130 is utilized to mount the appliance to a flat support 
surface in a manner which permits the appliance to swivel, or rotate about 
a central axis C of the mounting assembly 100, without compromising the 
integrity of the mounting assembly from a security consideration. In this 
regard and in an important aspect of the present invention, the mounting 
assembly 100 includes a rotating support means, illustrated in FIGS. 1 & 
2, as an annular attachment ring 110. The attachment ring 110 is 
preferably formed from a durable metal and may be suitably stamped or 
die-cut from a sheet metal blank. The attachment ring 110 has distinct 
inner and outer perimeters 111, 112 which define a ring body portion 113 
therebetween. 
A series of openings 114, 116 are present in the attachment ring 110. One 
set of the openings 114 is formed at specific intervals I.sub.1 along the 
outer perimeter 112 of the attachment ring 110, while the other set of 
openings 116 is formed within the body portion 113 of the attachment ring 
110, also at specific intervals I.sub.2, shown interspersed between pairs 
of openings 114. The intervals may be uniform as illustrated, or varied to 
accommodate the height and diameter of the spacers 118 and glides 124. As 
illustrated in FIG. 2, the two sets of openings 114, 116 are staggered in 
their intervals along the attachment ring body portion 113 so that any 
given opening 114 is flanked by two of the other openings 116 and 
vice-versa. 
One set of the openings 116 is generally associated with a like number of 
individual, hollow cylindrical spacers 118 that support the attachment 
ring 110 away from and above the support surface 102. A set of fasteners 
122, shown as screws, are used to firmly secure the attachment ring 110 to 
the support surface 102 as illustrated in FIG. 6. The spacers 118 may be 
cylindrical as illustrated and hollow. They each contain a central bore 
123 through which the shank of one screw 122 passes. The height of the 
spacers 118 may be chosen to accommodate various different appliances, but 
for the most part, it will not be great enough to permit a large space 
underneath the support tray 130 and attachment ring 110 for a crowbar or 
other prying device to fit between. 
The other set of openings 114 of the attachment ring 110 receive a 
plurality of bearing means therein, illustrated in the Figures as a 
plurality of glide members 124 having respective enlarged opposing top and 
bottom head portions interconnected by a central portion 127 of reduced 
diameter. The head portions of the glides include respective enlarged 
glide surfaces 125, 126 formed thereon which respectively oppose the 
underside 140 of the support tray and the top interior bearing surfaces 
141 of two enclosure flanges 150, 152. 
As shown in FIGS. 1-6, the mounting assembly 100 includes an enclosure 149 
that, in essence, captures the attachment ring 110 in a manner that 
permits the support tray 130 to rotate or swivel freely in an unimpeded 
manner in a complete circle around the attachment ring 110. The enclosure 
149 is formed from two flanges 150, 152 that are attached to the support 
tray 130 and which form a race for the guide members 124. 
The first flange 150 has a width W.sub.1 that exceeds the outer diameter D 
of the attachment ring 110. The flange 150 is preferably drawn from sheet 
metal in a manner that defines three distinct sidewalls 155 thereof. The 
sidewalls 155 extend from the flange 150 into contact with the underside 
140 of the support tray 130 by a series of feet 156 through which rivets 
157 may extend to rigidly attach the flange 150 to the support tray 130. 
(FIG. 6.) The leading edge 158 of the first flange 150, as defined by a 
front sidewall 155 thereof, is located close to the forward edge of the 
support tray 130. The two trailing edges 159 of the flange 150 extend 
rearwardly of the center C of the attachment ring 110 by the distance F 
shown in FIG. 1. 
The trailing edges 159 of the flange 150 can be seen as interconnected by a 
curved edge 160 and is positioned between respective radii R.sub.1, 
R.sub.2 of the attachment ring glide members 124 and spacers 118. In other 
words, the interior edge 160 of the flange 150 has a radius R.sub.3 of a 
distance at which the flange edge 160 is interposed between the attachment 
ring spacers 118 and their associated fasteners 122, and the attachment 
ring glide members 124 to thereby allow complete and unimpeded rotation of 
the support tray 130 on the attachment ring 110. As seen in FIG. 6, the 
interior edge 160 may approximately abut the exterior of the spacers 118. 
The second flange 152 is likewise formed with two trailing edges 164 that 
are interconnected by an interior curved edge 165 having a radius 
generally equal to that of the first flange 150 (R.sub.3). The trailing 
edges 164 of the second flange 152 may be spaced somewhat apart from their 
first flange counterparts 159 as illustrated in FIG. 1, or they may be 
adjacent thereto. The second flange 152 further has an endwall, or leading 
edge 170, that has one or more apertures 172 formed therein in alignment 
with like apertures 174 formed in a pair of anchor tabs or legs 176 as 
shown. Security fasteners 178, such as tamperproof or specially-keyed 
screws which cannot be engaged by conventional tools, such as blade, 
Phillips-head or Allen-head screwdrivers, and are used to attach the 
second flange 152 to the support tray 130 after the support tray 130 and 
the appliance 50 is inserted over the attachment ring 110. 
The two flanges 150, 152 cooperatively form an enclosure that captures the 
attachment ring 110 in a manner that permits unimpeded rotation of the 
support tray 130. The flanges 150, 152 preferably depend downwardly a 
sufficient extent as shown in FIG. 6 to prohibit entry of a prying tool, 
such as a crowbar into the space S between the flange 150 and the support 
surface 102. 
While the preferred embodiment of the invention have been shown and 
described, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that changes 
or modifications may be made thereto without departing from the true 
spirit and scope of the invention.