Abstract:
An assembly is disclosed for finding and withdrawing wire and cable ends from locations inside a wall which is being constructed where they have been temporarily brought. The assembly includes a plaster ring fastened to a wall stud. A plaster ring cover plate is temporarily attached to the plaster ring. A hitch is provided on the plaster ring cover plate for joining the wire or cable ends to the cover plate. A tying member may be used to tie the wire or cable end to the cover plate if desired. A method for retrieving the wire and cable ends is also disclosed which includes placing a plaster ring near a location where the wire or cable ends are brought, providing a plaster ring cover plate which is removably engaged on the plaster ring with a hitch for receiving the wire or cable end, engaging the wire or cable end on the hitch, and engaging the plaster ring cover plate on the plaster ring. When the plaster ring cover plate is pulled off of the plaster ring, the wire or cable ends attached to the cover plate are drawn with the cover plate and out of the wall.

Description:
[0001]     This invention relates to assemblies for locating and withdrawing electrical wire and cable ends from places where they have been brought during the preliminary construction of a wall before the studs in the wall are covered. More particularly, it relates to a combination of a plaster ring and a plaster ring cover plate which remain clipped together until the wall has been finished; thereafter, the location of a wall fixture, such as an outlet, switch, telephone jack or the like, may be quickly located and identified by the plaster ring cover plate. A wire or cable end within the wall, previously tied to the plate, may be withdrawn from the wall without damage to the wire or cable, or the wall, through the central aperture of the plaster ring by pulling the plaster ring cover plate off the plaster ring and drawing the wire or cable end with it.  
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0002]     The wire protecting ring described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,608,252 addresses a related problem, namely, protecting electrical wire ends in a junction box during the construction of a wall. That patent recognizes the need for protecting the wire ends inside the wall while the surface members of the wall are being installed, namely, in this case, the wallboards. The patent discloses a ring which can be installed over an outlet box to identify the location of the box for the person who installs the wallboard sheets. The ring is intended to protect the wire ends inside the box as a portion of the sheet over the box is cut away and removed. A panel in the center of the ring over the wire ends closes a central aperture in the ring so that the cutting tool which the wallboard installer uses will not damage the wires. The panel is connected to the frame portion of the ring with links which may be broken, and the panel thereafter removed, so that an electrician can get through the wallboard to the interior of the box and grasp the wire ends in order to pull them out and affix them to a switch or other fixture on the roomside surface of the wallboard.  
         [0003]     Generally similar protective plates are illustrated in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,166,329; 6,479,749; and 6,462,278. And in U.S. Pat. No. 6,403,883 a protective plate which is nested into an electrical utility box utilizes a spike which points outwardly from the plate and pierces any covering put over the box in order to identify where the box is.  
         [0004]     While these assemblies protect wires which have been brought into the utility boxes, none of them deal with what occurs when a wallboard finisher closes the gaps between the rough cut edges of the wallboard around the box and the edges of the box itself with drywall compound. Oftentimes the compound is inadvertently spread over the edges of the cover plate, making it difficult to find and hard to retrieve any wiring inside the box. Moreover, none of these patents deal with an installation in which a utility box is not used, i.e., when the wire or cable ends are simply left inside the wall to be extracted later, assuming that they can be found, through a nondescript hole in the wallboard left by the previous workman, often without identification of the type of wiring or the type of fixture to be connected.  
         [0005]     The present invention solves these and other wire and cable end retrieval problems. It provides means for quickly identifying the type of electrical installation to be placed at a particular location. And it provides means for quickly withdrawing the wire or cable ends from the wall, whether they are in a utility box or not, and eliminates having the ends covered with dried joint compound.  
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0006]     An electrical conductor retrieval assembly is disclosed for finding and withdrawing wire and cable ends from places where they have been brought temporarily inside a wall construction. The assembly includes a wall stud and a plaster ring fastened to the stud. Opposed edge portions of the plaster ring define an opening through the ring from inside the wall. A plaster ring cover plate is also included which is temporarily and removably engaged on the edge portions of the plaster ring. A hitch on the plaster ring cover plate provides a connection for the wire or cable end to the cover plate. A bail or similar plate removal member may be attached to the plaster ring cover plate for pulling it off the plaster ring and drawing the wire or cable ends attached to the hitch out of the wall through the plaster ring.  
         [0007]     From the foregoing, and from what follows, it will be apparent that the present invention solves the problems of finding the cover plate, removing it from the wall easily, identifying the type of fixture for the location, pulling the wire or cable out of the wall readily and accessing it quickly by a simple disconnect from the plaster ring cover plate.  
         [0008]     Accordingly, it is one of the objects of this invention to provide an electrical conductor retrieval assembly for pulling a wire or cable end out of a wall readily by connecting it to a plaster ring cover plate before the finishing members of the wall are installed.  
         [0009]     It is another object of this invention to provide a cover plate for withdrawing a wire or cable end from inside a wall which is readily accessible despite excessive and indiscriminate applications ofjoint compound or other plastering compounds around the plaster ring on which the cover plate is mounted.  
         [0010]     It is another object of this invention to provide a cover plate for withdrawing a wire or cable end from inside a wall which affords an easy identification to an electrical fixture installer of the type of wiring at a particular location and of the intended fixture.  
         [0011]     It is another object of this invention to provide a cover plate for withdrawing a wire or cable end from inside a wall which utilizes a rapid disconnection of the wire or cable from the cover plate once the wire or cable is pulled out of the wall.  
         [0012]     Other objects and features of this invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art of designing, constructing and using plaster rings in wall constructions from an examination of the following detailed description of a preferred embodiment of this invention as well as an examination of the accompanying drawings. 
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0013]      FIG. 1  is a perspective view of the front face of a plaster ring cover plate embodying the present invention;  
         [0014]      FIG. 2  is a perspective view of the rear face of the plaster ring cover plate shown in  FIG. 1 ;  
         [0015]      FIG. 3  is a sectional view of the plaster ring cover plate shown in  FIG. 1 , taken along line  3 - 3  in  FIG. 1 ;  
         [0016]      FIG. 4  is a perspective view, partly broken away, of a prior art wall construction showing a plaster ring and a nearby cable end;  
         [0017]      FIG. 5  is a sectional view of the prior art wall construction shown in  FIG. 4 , taken along the line  5 - 5  in  FIG. 4 ;  
         [0018]      FIG. 6  is a perspective view, partly broken away, of the plaster ring cover plate shown in  FIG. 1  with the end of a cable tied to it preparatory to being assembled onto a plaster ring;  
         [0019]      FIG. 7  is a perspective view, partly broken away, of the plaster ring cover plate shown in  FIG. 6  with the end of a cable tied to it being pulled away from the plaster ring shown in  FIG. 6 ;  
         [0020]      FIG. 8  is a sectional view, in perspective and partly broken away, of the plaster ring cover plate shown in  FIG. 1  assembled on a plaster ring and showing the plaster ring cover plate&#39;s preassembly position in phantom;  
         [0021]      FIG. 9A  is an enlarged view of a pre-assembly position of parts of the plaster ring cover plate and plaster ring shown in the circle labeled  FIG. 9  in  FIG. 8 ;  
         [0022]      FIG. 9B  is an enlarged view of parts of the plaster ring cover plate and plaster ring shown in the circle labeled  FIG. 9  in  FIG. 8  in assembled position;  
         [0023]      FIG. 10  is an enlarged view of assembled parts of the plaster ring cover plate and plaster ring shown in the circle labeled  FIG. 10  in  FIG. 8 ;  
         [0024]      FIG. 11  is a perspective view partly broken away of a pair of assembled plaster ring cover plates and plaster rings mounted on wall studs and having identification labels adhesively attached to the front faces of the plaster ring cover plates;  
         [0025]      FIG. 12  is an enlarged plan view of the label shown in  FIG. 11 ;  
         [0026]      FIG. 13  is a view of several labels coded with different colors which may be used on the plaster ring cover plates shown in  FIG. 11 ;  
         [0027]      FIG. 14  is a perspective view of a ficture plate for an electrical connection on the room side of a wall showing the end of an electrical cable connector fastened into and protruding through an opening in the fixture plate;  
         [0028]      FIG. 15  is an enlarged perspective view of a portion of the rear side of the fixture plate of  FIG. 14  showing attachment of the electrical cable connector to the fixture plate;  
         [0029]      FIG. 16  is an enlarged portion of the electrical cable connector of  FIG. 15  illustrating the openings in the connector for receiving a plurality of conductor wire ends from the cable;  
         [0030]      FIG. 17  is an alternative form of plaster ring and plaster ring cover plate assembly embodying the present invention showing low voltage electrical wires tied to the plaster ring cover plate;  
         [0031]      FIG. 18  is a sectional view of the assembly shown in  FIG. 17 , taken along the line  18 - 18  in  FIG. 17 , and showing the plaster ring cover plate being snapped into place on the plaster ring;  
         [0032]      FIG. 19  is an exploded view of a plaster ring and plaster ring cover plate embodying the present invention with low voltage wires engaged on the plaster ring cover plate which is arranged to be mounted onto a junction box in a wall;  
         [0033]      FIG. 20  is a perspective view of the assembly shown in  FIG. 19 ; and  
         [0034]      FIG. 21  is a sectional view of the assembly shown in  FIG. 20 , taken along the line  21 - 21  in  FIG. 20 . 
     
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS  
       [0035]     A plaster ring cover plate  10  is shown by itself in  FIGS. 1-3 . Riser edge portions  12 ,  14 ,  16  and  18  incorporate a height dimension into the plate, and planar member  20  spans the top of the plate, normally extending to at least two of the riser edge portions  12 ,  14 ,  16  and  18 . Spring arms  22  and  24 , fastened at their base ends  26  and  28 , respectively, to top planar member  20 , include curved distal ends  30  and  32  which slidably snap onto and temporarily grasp an edge portion  34  of a plaster ring  36  (See  FIGS. 8, 9A  and  9 B). Similar spring arms  38  and  40  are fastened at their base ends  42  and  44 , respectively, to the planar member  20  and have curved distal ends  46  and  48 , respectively, which slidably clip over and temporarily grasp a second edge portion  50  of plaster ring  36  (See  FIGS. 8 and 10 ). The spring arms  22  and  24 , and  38  and  40 , thus temporarily engage and grasp the plaster ring and hold the plaster ring cover plate clipped onto the plaster ring,  
         [0036]     The planar member  20  has a rear face  52  arranged to confront the interior of the wall and a front face  54  arranged to face away from the wall construction. A removal member such as bail  56  is disposed on the planar member  20  and may be engaged in a recess such as  58  on the front face  54  of planar member  20  by inserting bent ends  60  of the bail into sockets  62  inside the recess  58 . When so engaged, the bail  56  may be laid flat within the recess  58  to permit at least a substantial portion of the front face  54  to form a receiving portion of the planar member  20  on which a label  64  (See  FIGS. 11, 12  and  13 ) may be adhesively placed facing away from the interior of the wall. Later, when the label  64  is removed, bail  56  may be easily grasped. A yoke portion  66  of the bail may be lifted from recess  58 , as shown in  FIG. 3 , and provide a means for gripping the bail and pulling it in order to pull the cover plate  10  against the spring bias of arms  22  and  24  of the plaster ring  36 .  
         [0037]     Whenever the plaster ring cover plate  10  is intended to be temporarily attached to a plaster ring having mounting tabs, such as the tabs  68  which include screw engagement holes  70  (See  FIG. 7 ), the planar member  20  may be provided with recessed front face portions  72  and  74  having apertures  76  and  78 , respectively. The apertures  76  and  78  are in registration with the screw engagement holes  70  in tabs  68  so that screws (not shown) may be inserted into the registered apertures and temporarily hold the plaster ring cover plate onto the plaster ring. The recessed front face portions  72  and  74  maintain a level flat surface on the front face  54  of the planar member for receiving a label  64 .  
         [0038]     Alternatively, a plaster ring cover plate  80  (See  FIGS. 17, 18 ) which includes riser edge portions  82  and  84  and a planar member  86 , as well as spring arms  88 ,  90 ,  92  and  94 , may be provided with legs, such as legs  96  and  98  having feet  100  and  102 . The feet include apertures  104  and  106  which register with apertures  110  and  108  in tabs  114  and  112 , respectively, on a plaster ring  116 . Screws (not shown) may be inserted into the registered apertures  104 ,  108  or  106 ,  110  to further secure the plaster ring cover plate  80  to the plaster ring  116 .  
         [0039]     The planar member  20  in the plaster ring cover plate  10  is provided with a hitch  118  which has a wire or cable engagement portion  120 . The end of an electrical wire or cable  124  may be fastened to the engagement portion  120  of hitch  118  and be held there adjacent the planar member  20 . Engagement portion  120  preferably is a strip of the material forming the planar member  20  stretched and pressed inwardly toward the interior of an anticipated wall construction and leaving an aperture  122  through the planar member from the rear face  52  of the planar member to the front face  54 . The aperture  122  exposes engagement portion  120  of the hitch  118  so that the engagement portion is accessible from the front face  54  of the planar member. The end of wire or cable  124  (See  FIG. 6 ) may be connected to the plate  10  by fastening it to the engagement portion  120  with a plastic tie  126 , although other means for fastening the wire or cable to the hitch may be used. For example, the engagement portion  120  may be designed as a clip or hook (not shown).  
         [0040]     Oftentimes, too, when the wires are small enough to be quite supple, as the light voltage wires  128  are in  FIGS. 17 and 18 , they may be tied themselves to the engagement portion  130  of a hitch  132 . Or they may be looped around a hitch portion on a plaster ring cover plate and connected to a succeeding wiring segment with a tying, twist connector as shown in  FIGS. 19 and 21 .  
         [0041]     In the form of cable-to-plate connection illustrated in  FIGS. 6, 7 , and  8 , the plastic tie  126  is passed around the wire or cable end  124 , through aperture  122 , and around the engagement portion  120  of the hitch  118 . Using a plastic tie in this form of connection exposes a segment of the plastic tie in aperture  122  from the front side  54  of the plaster ring cover plate and permits an electrician or other installer to quickly snip the plastic tie  126  with his wire clippers. In this manner a quick disconnection is accomplished which disengages the cover plate from the wire or cable end after the installer has pulled the wire or cable end out of the wall with the cover plate (See  FIG. 7 ).  
         [0042]     In prior art installations, as illustrated in  FIGS. 4 and 5 , the early stages of constructing a wall entailed bringing a wire or cable end  134  to a point inside the wall, usually near a stud  136 , adjacent to a place where a plaster ring  138  had been affixed to the stud. Sometimes the wires were brought into a junction box  140 , as illustrated in  FIGS. 19 and 21 . When surface members, usually wallboards  142 , were fastened to the studs, openings  144  had to be created around the raised plaster ring portions  146  in order to bring the wallboards flush against the studs. The openings  144  were also necessary to permit access through the plaster rings to the wire and cable ends inside the wall. But making the openings  144  fit around the raised plaster ring portions  146  exactly and without leaving a seam was impossible. Moreover, when an opening  144  had to be made in the vicinity of a junction box into which wires had already been pulled, the wires were often damaged by a wallboard installer&#39;s knife or saw.  
         [0043]     Protective knock-out plates were sometimes used in the central apertures of the plaster rings, attached to and suspended on the raised plaster ring portions  146  as above described. The wallboard openings  144  around the plaster rings were usually filled with joint cement  148  up to the edges of the raised portions  146 . The cement was difficult to control. When protective plates were used, the joint cement often sealed the edges of the plates to the plaster rings. When protective plates were not used in the central openings of the plaster rings, joint cement often spilled inside the plaster rings, sometimes coating the wire ends and, in any event, making it difficult for a fixture installer to fish through a plaster ring and pull the wire ends out in order to connect a fixture.  
         [0044]     As described above, the present invention makes withdrawal of the wire and cable ends rapid and easy for an electrical fixture installer. Instead of leaving a wire or cable end inside a wall as it is being constructed somewhere in the vicinity of the place where a fixture is to be installed when the wall is finished and painted, as the wire or cable end  134  is in  FIGS. 4 and 5 , the present invention is utilized by drawing a wire or cable end  124  out of the wall through the central aperture  150  of a plaster ring and attaching that end  124  to a hitch such as the hitch  118 . Thereafter the plaster ring cover plate  10  bearing hitch  118  with the wire or cable end  124  attached, is temporarily and removably engaged on the edge portions of a plaster ring.  
         [0045]     A preferable manner of temporarily attaching the plaster ring cover plate to a plaster ring is illustrated in  FIGS. 8-10 . The distal ends  46  and  48  of spring arms  38  and  40  are hooked over edge portions such as edge  50  of the plaster ring, and then the distal ends  30  and  32  of spring arms  22  and  24  are clipped onto edge portions such as edged  34  of the plaster ring. In  FIG. 9A , the directional arrow  152  indicates the movement toward edge  34  which arm  22  takes during engagement of arm  22  on edge  34 , and directional arrow  154  indicates the movement of arm  22  during engagement to accommodate passage of arm  22  onto edge  34 .  FIG. 9B  illustrates the engaged position of arm  22  on edge  34 . Beginning with the position of the plaster ring cover plate shown in phantom in  FIG. 8 , movement of the cover plate in the direction of arrow  156  brings the spring arms  38  and  40 , and also spring arms  22  and  24 , into their engagements on the edges of the plaster ring shown in  FIGS. 8, 9A ,  9 B and  10 .  
         [0046]     Removal of cover plate  10  from plaster ring  36  is accomplished, as shown in  FIG. 7 , by grasping the bail  56  on the plaster ring cover plate  10  and pulling it away from the plaster ring  36  in the direction indicated by arrow  158 . As the plate  10  is pulled away from the plaster ring, tie  126  attached to the hitch  118  pulls the wire or cable end  124  through central aperture  150  in the plaster ring and out of the wall. There a fixture installer can quickly disengage the plate  10  from the wire or cable end  124 , as by clipping tie  126 , and then affix end  124  to the electrical fixture intended for that location.  
         [0047]     One form of such an electrical fixture is illustrated in  FIGS. 14-16 . An installation plate  160  contains a cable connecting socket  162 . A cable connector  164 , having a plurality of electrical conductor receiving members  166 , includes an installation plate connector block  168  which snaps into engagement with the edges of socket  162 . A fixture installer preparing to use the end of a cable withdrawn from inside a wall at the location where the installation plate  160  is intended to go can quickly and easily disconnect a plaster ring cover plate from the cable end as above described, connect the ends of the conductor wires inside the cable to the connector  164 , snap the block  168  into place in the socket  162  and affix the installation plate, with the connection completed, onto the room side of the wall. No time is wasted looking for a cable end within the wall or uncovering a cable from a hardened mass ofjoint compound.  
         [0048]     In the application shown in  FIGS. 19-21 , low voltage wires  170  and  172  may be pulled through a conduit  174  into junction box  140 , and, instead of being tied in a knot  176  around hitch  132  as shown in  FIGS. 17 and 18 , they may be looped through a hitch  178  on plaster ring cover plate  180 , as shown in  FIGS. 19 and 21 , and joined with twist connectors  182  and  184  to a further pair of low voltage wires  186  and  188  which have been pulled into the junction box  140  through conduit  190 . When the wires  172 ,  174  have been connected to wires  186 ,  188  in this manner, as shown in  FIG. 19 , the plaster ring  192  and the plaster ring cover plate  180  on which the wires are engaged are assembled on the junction box  140  as shown in  FIG. 20 . The connected wires are stuffed inside the junction box as shown in  FIG. 21 .  
         [0049]     Screws  194  and  196  may be used to hold the entire assembly together, as shown in  FIGS. 19-21 , or may only be used to hold the plaster ring onto the junction box (not shown). In either assembly, the plaster ring cover plate  180  is temporarily and removably engaged on the plaster ring, as above described, so that a fixture installer can remove the cover plate quickly and pull the wires from the junction box as he draws the cover plate away from the plaster ring.  
         [0050]     When various electrical systems are to be installed in a building, it is very helpful to a fixture installer to know which locations match the various systems without having to refer to a series of diagrams. For example, the plaster rings  36  on the studs  136  in  FIG. 11  may or may not support the same voltage system. Further, when there are various locations to install fixtures in a room, or a series of rooms, it is helpful and time saving to see all of the locations quickly. Accordingly, the plaster ring cover plate  10  may be provided with an adhesively mounted label  64  printed in an eye-catching color to facilitate finding a particular fixture location. The colors can be varied, to match the number of systems being installed, i.e., computer locations, high and low voltage lighting, appliances and the like.  FIG. 13  illustrates a variety of labels in colors,  64 A,  64 B and  64 C. Still other information can be conveyed about the fixture installations by way of directions printed on the labels.  
         [0051]     It is evident from the preceding disclosure that even though particular forms of the invention have been illustrated and described, still, various modifications can be made without departing from the true spirit and scope of the invention. No limitations on the invention are intended, and its true scope is set forth in the following claims.