Utility meter mounting pedestal

An improved meter mounting pedestal for use in providing underground utility service, particularly electric service to a building construction site after a foundation has been constructed but before the building has been erected. The pedestal comprises a vertical post of planar configuration having a rolled side edge along one side and a flange along a portion of the side opposite the rolled side edge. A flat steel upper plate having a rolled side edge is secured near the upper end of the post with the rolled side edge of the plate being adjacent to and in an overlapping relationship with a rolled side edge of the post. A second plate is secured to the post near the lower end thereof and is mounted to the outside face of the building foundation. A foundation anchor strap is adjustably secured to the post between ends thereof are in mounted to an appropriate surface of the building foundation or floor joist.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
This invention relates to mounting pedestals for utilities and more 
particularly to a mounting pedestal adapted to be secured to the outside 
face of a building foundation prior to the complete erection of the 
building thereon, such that underground utility service may be connected 
to a meter on said pedestal. 
DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART 
U.S. Pat. No. 4,864,467 issued Sep. 5, 1989 to Curtis W. Byrd et. al. and 
U.S. Pat. No. 3,879,641 issued Apr. 22, 1975 to Curtis W. Byrd disclose 
utility meter pedestals which are adapted to be mounted on a building 
foundation prior to the erection of a building on the foundation. The 
patents disclose the advantages of providing metered utility service, 
especially electrical power, at the building site during construction and 
providing a pedestal which neither interferes with the final construction 
nor requires removal and reinstallation of a meter once the building is 
completed. 
U.S. Pat. No. 3,879,641 discloses two different pedestals, both comprising 
vertical posts in the form of relatively wide steel plates having parallel 
edge flanges, the bottoms of which are adapted to rest on a brick ledge. 
In one embodiment, the meter box is fastened to a small seat bracket which 
extends forwardly at right angles to the post plate and at the top of the 
post plate; i.e., the meter mounting block sits on top of this bracket and 
is preferably secured thereto by threaded fasteners or rivets. 
U.S. Pat. No. 3,879,641 also discloses a strap which is secured to the 
pedestal post between the ends thereof and which is adapted to overlie the 
top and inside surfaces of the building foundation to assist in the proper 
positioning and securement of the pedestal post to the foundation during 
installation and construction phases. 
U.S. Pat. No. 4,864,467 discloses a utility pedestal comprising a vertical 
L channel post having flat steel upper and lower plates secured to the 
post at opposite ends thereof. The upper plate carries a utility meter box 
and the lower plate is secured to the building foundation. A strap is also 
adjustably secured to the post and anchored to the foundation in an 
overlying relationship. 
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
The present invention provides an improved utility meter pedestal which 
provides increased rigidity of the meter pedestal and meter box which in 
turn provides superior meter stability thereby increasing meter 
reliability. The pedestal includes a rigid elongated post of essentially 
planar configuration having an upper end and a lower end. The post has a 
rolled side edge along one side extending outwardly from and essentially 
perpendicular to the plane of the post. The side edge of the post opposite 
the rolled side edge is vertically bent 90.degree.along at least a portion 
of the side forming a flange. The combination of the rolled side edge and 
opposite flanged side edge provides substantially increased post rigidity 
and stability. Thus, a substantially improved and more secure utility 
meter pedestal is provided. 
A utility meter mounting plate is secured to the post near the upper end 
thereof. The utility meter mounting plate also has at least one rolled 
side edge, which when the plate is secured to the post, is adjacent to and 
in an overlapping or nesting relationship with the rolled side edge of the 
post. This overlapping rolled side edge relationship allows the meter 
mounting plate, and consequently a meter mounted thereon, to remain in a 
more secured, rigid and stable alignment with the post. 
A steel plate is also secured to the post near the lower end thereof and 
adapted to be fastened, such as by power driven nails, to the outer face a 
building foundation. In addition, the apparatus includes an intermediate 
bracket which may comprise a rigid strap or bracket preferably securable 
to the rear surface of the metal post in any of several locations 
substantially between the upper and lower ends and extends rearwardly 
essentially perpendicular to the post. In the secured or installed 
condition, the strap may overlie the top of the foundation and is secured, 
preferably by power driven nails, to the top-of the foundation to 
permanently hold the meter pedestal post in place. Alternatively, a 
bracket may be secured to the back of the post between ends thereof and 
adapted to be attached to the outside face of the foundation or a floor 
joist. 
The utility meter pedestal of the present invention also lends itself 
readily to the provision of temporary electrical utility services during 
the construction of a building on the foundation to which the utility 
meter pedestal post is attached. This is achieved through the installation 
of a third intermediate plate on to the flanged side of the post, which 
plate is adapted to receive a temporary outlet box which may be wired to 
the meter and to the electrical service to provide metered electricity 
during the construction phase of the building. 
In the preferred embodiment the utility meter pedestal of the present 
invention readily accommodates both brick and siding construction and may 
be installed before or after erection of the building or the foundation 
has begun. At least in the case of brick, the bottom plate is secured to 
an exposed, below grade portion of the foundation which is also the brick 
ledge. In the case of siding, the bottom plate of the pedestal is 
preferably configured to space the rear leg of the pedestal post forwardly 
of the front face of the foundation by a sufficient distance to permit 
siding to be installed on the exterior building walls without undue 
interference from the utility meter post.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
Referring to FIG. 1, a utility meter pedestal 10 comprises a rigid steel 
elongated post 12 generally of a planar configuration and of sufficient 
length and width such that it may be secured to a building foundation 13 
at a point which will be below ground and when the building is erected and 
extends upwardly above ground a sufficient distance to conveniently 
support a utility meter as more particularly described hereafter. 
Preferably post 12 is approximately six feet in length and extends 
approximately 42 inches above the surface of the ground when mounted to 
the building foundation. Post 12 is preferably of steel construction and 
is phosphated, galvanized, painted with rustproof paint or otherwise 
protected against rusting. 
Referring to FIGS. 2 and 3 post 12 has a rolled side edge 14 and a flanged 
side edge 16 opposite the rolled side edge. In the illustrated embodiment 
the rolled edge 14 extends outwardly from and perpendicular to the rear 
face 18 of the post 12 and the flanged side edge 16 defines an included 
angle of 90.degree. with the flanged side edge extending outwardly from 
the front face 20 of the post. 
A meter mounting plate 22 is secured to the front face 20 of the post 12 at 
the upper end thereof. This is preferably achieved by trimming the flanged 
side edge 16 of post 12 near the upper end thereof as shown in FIG. 3 so 
that the plate 22 may be mounted flush against the front face of post 12 
and the flanged side edge extends along the side thereof from the bottom 
of the post to a point just below the bottom of the meter mounting plate 
22 as best shown in FIG. 3. The meter mounting plate 22 has at least one 
rolled side edge 24 which is adjacent to and overlaps the rolled side edge 
14 of post 12 such that the rolled side edge 14 rigidly nests within 
rolled side edge 24. The meter mounting plate 22 further includes an 
extended portion 23 extending downwardly along the rolled side edges 14 
and along and inside the flange 16. The extended portion 23 is preferably 
three inches in length. Plate 22 is preferably spot welded to post 12. A 
metal utility meter box 25 for a conventional utility meter is mounted to 
the plate 22. Conduit 30 extends from the underside of the meter box to a 
point below ground in parallel spaced relationship to post 12 and contains 
electric utility service wires which provide electric service to the 
meter. Conduit 30 is secured to post 12 by means of a clamp 32. An 
intermediate plate 35 is secured to the flange near the upper portion and 
a temporary electrical outlet box 36 is mounted on plate 35 and is 
electrically connected to the meter to provide metered electric service 
during the building construction. Thereafter the temporary outlet box may 
be removed. 
An anchor plate 26 is secured to the post 12 near the lower end thereof and 
may be riveted, bolted or spot welded thereto. Plate 26 is preferably 
configured to provide flat mounting surfaces 27a and 27b which are 
rearwardly offset from the center portions 27c. Mounting surfaces 27a and 
27b are mounted to the outside wall of the foundation causing post 12 to 
be spaced out from the foundation wall. Mounting plate 26 may be on the 
order of 10 to 14 inches in height and approximately 6 to 8 inches in 
width and is preferably made of galvanized steel. 
As shown in FIG. 3, foundation strap 40 is secured by conventional 
fasteners to the rear face of post 12 between the meter mounting plate and 
anchor plate. Strap 40 is preferably formed from an L-shaped length of 
galvanized steel and comprises a rearwardly extending flat leg which 
extends over and lies on the top surface of the foundation 13 as best 
shown in FIG. 5. Several linearly spaced holes 44 may be predrilled in 
post 12 between ends thereof to permit the foundation strap 40 to be 
mounted on the rear face of the post in any of several locations to 
accommodate different foundation dimensions. 
Alternatively, as shown in FIGS. 2 and 4, an adjustable anchor bracket 50 
may be used in place of strap 40 when no top surface of the foundation is 
available such as when the frame of the building has already been 
completely or partially erected. Bracket 50 comprises an L-shaped length 
of galvanized steel having one leg attached to the rear face of post 12 
and a rearwardly extending leg 53. At least one additional length of 
L-shaped galvanized steel 54 is fastened to the rearwardly extending leg 
53 so that the leg of said additional L-shaped length may be mounted to a 
floor Joist or outside basement wall of the building. The rearwardly 
extending leg 53 contains linearly spaced slots to receive fasteners 
allowing the L-shaped length 54 to be adjustably fastened to the rearward 
extending leg 53 to accommodate varying dimensions. 
In another embodiment of pedestal 10 as shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, the post 
12' has a rolled side edge 14' which extends outwardly from and 
perpendicular to the front face 20' of post 12' and a flanged side edge 
16' opposite the rolled side edge which also extends outwardly and 
perpendicular from the front face 20'. The meter mounting plate 22' has at 
least one rolled side edge 24' which is adjacent to and rigidly nests 
within the rolled side edge 14' of the post as best shown in FIG. 7. 
The method of installing the pedestal will now be described with reference 
to all of the figures and with the understanding that FIGS. 4 and 5 
represent a typical installation of the device on a foundation having a 
conventional brick ledge. 
The post 12 is first assembled: the meter mounting plate 22 is preferably 
welded to the front face of post 12 at the factory in the preferred 
location. Similarly, the anchor plate 26 is secured by fasteners, spot 
welds or rivets to the rear face of post 12 at the factory. However, it is 
preferable to secure the anchor plate 26 to the post 12 by bolts 29 so as 
to permit the selection of either a flat plate (not shown) or the offset 
plate shown in FIG. 2. The foundation anchor plate 26 is installed in the 
appropriate set of holes 28 for installation on the foundation 13. 
A portion of the foundation 13 below grade is preferably exposed by 
excavation in the immediate vicinity of the underground utility service 
line. The installer places the post 12 against the foundation with the 
post in a vertical orientation; a carpenter's level is preferably used to 
determine that the post is perfectly vertical in both lateral and fore and 
aft planes. The plate 26 is flush against the exposed outside face of the 
foundation 13 usually below grade, and the strap 40 rests on top of the 
foundation as shown in FIG. 5 or alternative the bracket 50 is secured to 
the foundation wall or floor joist as shows in FIG. 4. After again 
checking for the plumb condition, a power-driven nail gun is preferably 
used to permanently secure the plate 26 and the strap 40 or bracket 50 to 
the appropriate surfaces of the foundation 13. 
Prior to the installation step described above, the back surface of the 
meter box 25 is secured by threaded fasteners 33 to the front face of the 
plate 22 through holes 34. Conduit 30 is secured by clamp 32 to the and by 
plastic coupling 55 to the bottom of the meter box 25 in a conventional 
manner. If temporary service is to be provided, plate 35 is secured to the 
flanged side edge 16 of post 12 in any desired location and the outlet box 
36 is thereafter secured to the plate 35. The installer threads the 
electric utility service lines upwardly through conduit 30 and makes the 
appropriate electrical connections to the meter and to the outlet box 36. 
The building which is to be erected on foundation 13 may thereafter 
progress in the normal fashion without undue interference from the 
preinstalled condition of the pedestal post 12 and the various accessories 
thereon. 
It is to be understood that the pedestal of present invention may be 
fabricated from a variety of materials including metals as well as 
synthetic polymers. Furthermore, the pedestal may be fabricated in 
configurations other than those shown herein. Thus, it will be appreciated 
that the foregoing drawings, discussion and description are merely 
illustrative of the present invention, and not a limitation on the 
practice thereof. It is the following claims, including all equivalents 
which define the invention.