Patent ID: 7959015

Claim:
A blanking panel for occupying one or more mounting locations in an equipment rack or cabinet enclosure of the type having spaced-apart parallel mounting rails for mounting conforming devices in a closely-spaced manner, which mounting rails define a plurality of predefined mounting locations spaced-apart at regular intervals, said blanking panel comprising: a front wall; first and second end portions on opposite lateral sides of said front wall; releasable connecting means suitable for releasably connecting said blanking panel to the mounting rails in a resilient, snap-mount manner, with said front wall facing outward, said releasable connecting means being disposed adjacent said first and second end portions of said blanking panel for engagement with said rails; laterally spaced apart first and second grips operable for mounting and removal of said blanking panel to and from the mounting rails; said grips being accessible from said front wall of said blanking panel when said blanking panel is mounted to the mounting rails, with devices occupying mounting locations immediately above and below said blanking panel; each first and second grip comprising a finger cavity formed in said front wall, each said finger cavity having a finger-receiving opening facing an adjacent end portion of said blanking panel, each finger cavity being operable to receive a finger therein inserted through said finger-receiving opening in a laterally inward direction, said finger cavities each having a rearwardly facing first bearing surface sized and shaped for engagement by a finger of a hand of the user; said first bearing surface having a length of at least 1 cm and being operable for receiving a pulling force exerted on said blanking panel by the user for removal of said blanking panel from the mounting rails; each grip having a forwardly-facing second bearing surface having a length of at least 1 cm and being operable for receiving a pushing force exerted on said blanking panel for mounting of said blanking panel onto the mounting rails, said first and second bearing surfaces of said grips being simultaneously engagable by a finger and thumb, respectively, of a hand of the user when the finger is disposed in said finger cavity for installation and removal of the blanking panel, and a laterally outward edge of said first bearing surface of each said first and second grips being spaced at least 5 cm laterally inward from said first and second end portions, respectively, of said blanking panel to permit engagement of the first and second grips by said user, with said first and second hands of said user located entirely between said first and second ends of said blanking panel.