Abstract:
A wall mounted hinged base providing a strong, attractive and convenient structure for mounting a luminaire to a building wall, thereby saving the cost of a lighting pole and foundation. The base is easily installed and has a hinge axis that may be placed on either the right or left hand side of the mounting base.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     The present invention relates to hinged base lighting devices for mounting onto upright walls of buildings. 
     2. Prior Art 
     Lighting devices having hinged bases are exemplified by my own U.S. Pat. No. 3,141,620 which shows a pole having a hinged base mounted on a foundation and U.S. Pat. Re. No. 26,995 which shows a base recessed into the ground. 
     Heretofore, when mounting a lighting pole and luminaire in close proximity to a building, it has been desirable to mount the luminaire directly onto the building, thereby saving the expense of a lighting pole, concrete foundation, underground wiring, etc. 
     However, there has not been available any kind of wall mounting base that would provide the same convenience or utility as was provided by a lighting pole, such as: high strength, ease of installing, hinging open to either right or left for ease in servicing, and aesthetically attractive styling. The present invention accomplishes all of these desirable features in a simple, low cost unit, and does thereby save valuable resources. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention relates to a wall mounted hinged base assembly having two portions, namely a cover which is hingedly attached to a base portion, and which symmetrically mounts a mast and luminaire. The cover hinges about a strong, substantially hidden hinge. The base portion of the base assembly, which attaches to the wall on which the unit is mounted, provides for an enclosure in which wire connectors can be placed when the luminaire is wired. The wall of the base which is attached to the upright wall of the building includes mounting apertures that have keyhole type slots for ease of attachment to existing pairs of studs or anchor bolts, so that the base can be hung on the anchor bolts prior to being fastened into place, with the hinge properly oriented. The additional anchor bolts or studs can be inserted into provided openings and the base assembly securely attached. The keyhole slots are oriented so that the narrow portion (tang portion) of the slot on opposite sides of the base extend toward the outside of the base. As will be seen with reference to the drawings, the hinged base can therefore be supported on the top pair of the keyhole slots regardless of which side the hinge is on. 
     In this way the base is a universal base that can be mounted with the hinge on either side of the base. 
     The hinge is made so that the base portion has a pair of recesses along one edge thereof. A cover member to which the standard for the luminaire is attached has mating ears that fit within the recesses, and are formed so that when pinned in place the cover may be pivoted from a closed position overlying the base portion to a position substantially 90° to the closed position so that the interior of the base portion, and the bottom side of the standard and cover plate are accessible for connecting wires. Then, when the cover is closed the cover rests against the outer edge of the base housing, and is held in place with cap screws of suitable design. Normally a socket head screw would be utilized for holding the cover securely in position. 
     The opening on the interior of the base portion through which the wiring extends, that is, the opening that leads to conduits or to a junction box, is off-center with respect to the chamber in which it is formed so that it is centered with the outside periphery of the base portion, and thus it is easy to center the standard supporting the luminaire with respect to the outside peripheral dimensions of the cover, because the wiring opening through the bottom of the base housing would be centered with respect to the center of the luminaire. 
     The base housing and the cover are made so that they can easily be cast in aluminum, therefore being lightweight and relatively low cost. The unit can also be used with flush mounted supply conduits, and bosses are also provided on the insides of the walls of the base portion for attaching flush or surface mounted conduits. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     FIG. 1 is a side elevational view of a wall mounted hinged base made according to the present invention; 
     FIG. 2 is a front elevational view of the device of FIG. 1 and taken as on line 2--2 in FIG. 1 with parts in section and parts broken away; 
     FIG. 3 is a view taken as on line 3--3 in FIG. 2; and 
     FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken along line 4--4 in FIG. 2. 
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
     As shown in FIG. 1, an upright wall, indicated generally at 10, for example a building wall, has an upright surface 11 on which a light is to be supported. The lamp housing indicated generally at 12 mounts a suitable bulb, and includes a diffuser 12A in a normal construction. The lamp housing is attached to the building wall 11 through the use of a hinged base assembly 13. The hinged base assembly 13, as will be more fully explained supports a rectangular cross section mast arm 14 that in turn supports the lamp housing 12. The arm 14 can be attached to the housing and to the base assembly in any desired manner. 
     Referring now to FIG. 2, the base assembly includes a housing portion or base portion 15, that has a bottom wall 16 that mounts flush against the surface 11, and in the form shown, the base housing defines a generally rectilinear (almost square) enclosure through the use of a periphery bounding wall 20 that is attached to the bottom wall 16, and extends outwardly therefrom at generally right angles. The wall 20 extends on three sides of the enclosure and joins a partition wall 20A that bounds an interior chamber. On the side of the base housing 15 to the exterior of wall 20A a pair or recesses indicated generally at 21, are defined adjacent the sides of the base, as shown in FIG. 2. Between these recesses 21, there is a vertical outside wall 22, that forms the outer surface along the hinging side of the base housing and extensions of side walls 20. The outer sides of the recesses, and the inner sides of the recesses are also bounded by wall portions. It should be noted that the recesses 21 both extend the full depth of the base housing, that is, they extend from the bottom surface of the wall 16, to the top edge of the walls 20 and 20A, as can perhaps best be seen in FIGS. 3 and 4. 
     A cover member illustrated generally at 25 comprises a generally planar wall member, having a pair of downwardly depending ears 26 adjacent one side thereof, which ears extend along a plane with the edge of the wall forming the cover 25 and are flush with the outer surface of wall 22 when installed. The ears 26 mate with and fit closely into the recesses 21 along the hinge edge of the base housing 15. The cover member 25 includes a central opening 27 (FIG. 1) that is centered with respect to the periphery of the cover member, and adjacent the edge of the cover member opposite from the ears 26, a pair of openings are provided through which cap screws can pass for securing the cover to the base housing, when the cover is in its closed position as shown in FIG. 2. 
     Also, as fragmentarily shown in FIG. 2, the wall 16 has a large opening 30 therethrough, through which wires and conduit ends can pass. For example, where a conduit 31 is used in the wall 10, the wiring indicated generally at 32 can pass through the conduit, and the conduit will pass through the opening 30. 
     The opening 30 is centered with respect to the exterior dimensions of the base housing 15, and therefore, as shown in FIG. 2, is not centered with respect to the chamber defined by the walls 20 and partition wall 20A. However, the opening 30 is centered with respect to the opening 27, which in turn is centered on the cover member 25, and because of the hinge members, namely recesses 21 and ears 26 adjacent one side of the base assembly, the opening 30 is therefore not centered in the interior chamber. 
     Also centered on the exterior dimensions of the base housing, and positioned adjacent opposite edges of the base housing (as shown the upper and lower edges) are a plurality of mounting apertures indicated generally at 35A and 35B, and 36A and 36B. As can be seen, these apertures are generally keyhole type openings, having slot or tang portions 37A and 37B, and 38A and 38B, respectively. 
     It can be seen that the slot portions 37A and 37B, and 38A and 38B extend from the main portions of the apertures toward the adjacent peripheral wall, and that the tangs or slots of one pair of apertures therefore extend in direction away from the slots of the other pair. That is, the slot portions 37A and 37B extend toward the adjacent wall and in direction away from the slot portions 38A and 38B which also extend toward the adjacent side wall of the base housing. 
     Mounting studs or anchor bolts 40A and 40B are used to support the housing through the apertures 35A and 35B and slot portions 37A and 37B and suitable mounting bolts or studs 41A and 41B are used with respect to the slots portions 38A and 38B. 
     As can be seen, the side walls defining the recesses 21 having openings therethrough aliging with provided openings in the ears 26, through which suitable spring pins 43 can be passed for forming a hinge pin. The spring pins will fit tightly in the opening in the ears 26, but will be rotatable in the openings in the walls of the base housing forming the sides of recesses 21 to provide a hinge action. 
     The hinge pins are close to the plane of the mounting surface of wall 16. The hinge axis is substantially closer to this plane than to the plane of the outer edges of walls 20. In fact, the axes of pins 43 are at the center on the ears 26 in direction parallel to the plane of the mounting surface of wall 16 and are spaced above said plane an equal distance to the center distance. The end surfaces of ears 26 thus are part cylindrical surfaces centered on the axes of pins 43 so when the cover is pivoted, the ends of ears 43 clear the mounting surface and the inner surfaces of the recesses 21. 
     Cap screws, one of which is indicated generally at 44 in FIG. 2 pass through opening in the cover 25 and are threaded into steel inserts 45 that are in turn forced into cast-in lugs or bosses 46 adjacent the wall 20 of the base housing 15 opposite from the hinge side. Bosses 25A on the cover rest on the bosses 46. 
     The cap screws 44 serve to tighten the cover plate down against the upper edges of the wall 20, to securely hold the cover plate in position in combination with the hinge pins. 
     As stated previously, the standard 14 can be held in place on the cover 25 with a variety of ways. As shown, the arm 14 is an extruded aluminum member having tension rod supports 46 attached to the walls thereof (see FIG. 2 as well as FIG. 1) and threaded tension rods 47 supported on the supports 46 extend through provided apertures in the lamp housing 12, and through provided apertures in the cover 25. These rods 47 can then be threaded tightly with suitable nuts, to clamp the arm 14 between the lamp housing 12 and the cover 25 to hold the unit as a fixed assembly. Also, the arm 14 can be welded to the cover 25, or could be attached to a collar that would be bolted directly to the cover 25. Any suitable form of attaching the arm 14 can be used. 
     As stated, the lower ends of the ears 26, as shown in FIG. 4, have a rounded part cylindrical surface 26A centered on the center axis of the pins 43, so that the hinged cover 25 can rotate without having interference of the ends of the ears with the mounting surface 11 or with the wall 20A as the cover pivots. When the cover is hinged or pivoted to position as shown in FIG. 4, the arm 14 or lamp housing will swing about the vertical pivot axis of the pins 43, shown in FIG. 2. The interior of the base housing 15 is then completely accessible so that the wiring can be done easily. Connectors and wire lengths can be placed in the chamber formed by the walls 20 and 20A. When the cover 25 is to be closed, it is pivoted into position overlying the base housing and the cap screws 44 are then used for tightening the cover securely to the top of the base housing. 
     It should be also noted that suitable sealing strips (resilient foam tape for example) can be placed along the top edges of the walls 20 and 20A, to seal the interior chamber completely from atmosphere if desired. 
     One of the features of the present device is that it is usable with the hinge axis on either side of the housing assembly when it is installed. For ease of installation, the keyhole apertures can be used for initial support. The upper pair of studs or anchor bolts can be installed before the housing is supported. For example in FIG. 2, if the anchor bolts 40A and 40B are in place, but the anchor bolts 41A and 41B are not in place, the base housing 15 may be placed on the upper anchor bolts and the base housing will be supported in the keyhole slots 37A and 37B. The bolts or studs slip into tangs of the slots to hold the base housing securely until the nuts are placed onto bolts 40A and 40B, then the bolts 41A and 41B can be fastened into the wall. When installations are to be made with the hinge axis on the opposite side of the base assembly, the base assembly is rotated 180°, and then the keyhole slots 38A and 38B are at the top edge, and the hinge axis is vertically extending and on the left-hand side of the base assembly, as viewed in FIG. 2. The top pair of the keyhole slots are used to support the base initially, until such time as the other anchor bolts are put into place, thereby simplifying installation for either right or left hand hinging. The universal oppositely directed keyhole slots permit this ease of initial installation with either right or left hand hinging. 
     The base assembly is thus relatively easy to install, low in cost, and provides a secure heavy duty assembly. The cast-in ears 26 on the cover have surfaces that are generally planar with the outer surface of wall 22 on the hinge side of the base housing 20, when the cover is in closed position, so that the hinge is almost perfectly concealed. This forms an attractive assembly. Because the opening 30 in wall 16, which provide access to the wiring conduit or junction box, and the keyhole mounting slots, are centered with respect to the outer periphery of the base housing rather than with respect to the chamber on the interior of the housing, the exterior of the base housing will be centered on the wiring source (junction box or conduit). The arm 14 also is centered on the outer peripheral dimensions of the base assembly and therefor aligns with opening 30 and the wiring source. A very attractive, symmetrical, hinged base assembly with a vertically extending hidden hinge for mounting onto vertical surfaces is provided. 
     The walls 20 have bosses 20B on the interior thereof. The bosses 20B provide areas where surface conduits can be connected if desired. 
     The surface of base wall 16 against the upright surface 11 can be sealed or weatherproofed if desired to keep moisture out of the interior chamber and out of junction boxes or conduits under the base.