VERSCHUERE, Frank (Wannegemdorp 13, B-Wannegem, BE)
DEVOLDER, Carl (Ruiterijstraat 6, Roeselare, B-8800, BE)
VERSCHUERE, Frank (Wannegemdorp 13, B-Wannegem, BE)
| Claims . 1.- Light fitting (2) for mounting on a ceiling of sheet material with at least one example of a supplementary mounting aid (1)/ whose visible side (6) is at a predetermined depth or height with respect to the visible side (17) of the surrounding ceiling, characterised in that the light fitting (1) can be secured to the mounting aid (2) with a first fastener, the mounting aid (2) can be secured to the ceiling with a second fastener, with the mounting aid (2) consisting of a primarily plate-shaped part with at least two horizontal surfaces that are vertically displaced with respect to one another that are equipped at the ends (9, 10) of at least two of the displaced surfaces for the use of the first fastener, and that is equipped in one of the two displaced surfaces for the use of the second fastener. 2.- Light fitting and supplementary mounting aid according to claim 1, characterised in that the first fastener consists of at least one screw thread (8) that is provided in the light fitting (1) and at least one bolt (15) that can be inserted in a hole (11) placed in the mounting aid (2) and can be tightened into the screw thread (8) . 3.- Light fitting and supplementary mounting aid according to claim 1 or 2, characterised in that the light fitting (1) is made from ceramic material, whereby at least one nut (8) is placed in the ceramic material during the plastic phase when being formed. 4. - Light fitting and supplementary mounting aid according to any one of the foregoing claims, characterised in that the minimum of two surfaces of the mounting aid (2) that are displaced vertically with respect to one another are formed by means of a stepped profile. 5. - Light fitting and supplementary mounting aid according to any one of the foregoing claims, characterised in that the second fastener is at least one screw (14) that is secured in the mounting aid (2) from the visible side (17) of the ceiling. 6. - Light fitting and supplementary mounting aid according to any one of the foregoing claims, characterised in that the mounting aid (2) has a series of perforations (12) over at least part of the surface with which it rests against the blind side (16) of the ceiling, that can each act as a point of application for the second fastener (14) . 7. - Light fitting and supplementary mounting aid according to any one of the foregoing claims characterised in that the mounting aid (2) is made of aluminium or an aluminium alloy. 8. - Light fitting and supplementary mounting aid according to any one of the foregoing claims characterised in that spacers in the form of rings (18) can be placed between the mounting aid (2) and the light fitting (1), which can change the predetermined built-in depth. 9. - Light fitting and supplementary mounting aid according to any one of the foregoing claims characterised in that the predetermined depth or height of assembly of the light fitting (1) is equal to zero, such that the visible side (6) of the light fitting (1) is flush with the visible side of the surrounding ceiling. 10. - Mounting aid for mounting light fittings, characterised in that the mounting aid (2) can be secured to a light fitting (1) by a first fastener, the mounting aid (2) can be secured to a ceiling by a second fastener, the mounting aid (2) consists of a primarily plate-shaped part with at least two horizontal surfaces that are displaced vertically with respect to one another, that is equipped at the ends (9, 10) of at least two of the displaced surfaces for the use of the first fastener, and that is equipped in one of the two displaced surfaces for the use of the second fastener. 11. - Mounting aid for mounting light fittings, characterised in that it has the characteristics as described in any one of the previous claims. 12.- Light fitting for use with a mounting aid, characterised in that it has the characteristics as described in claims 1 to 9. 13.- Method for building in a light fitting according to claim 12 at a predetermined depth or height in a ceiling of sheet material, characterised in that one step of it is that a mounting aid (2) according to claim 10 or 11 is secured to the light fitting (1) with the first fastener such that this specific built-in depth or height can be realised. 14. - Method according to claim 13 to build in a combination of the light fitting (1) and two mounted examples of a supplementary mounting aid (1) according to claims 1-9, characterised in that the method contains the steps that the combination is guided through a suitable opening in a ceiling of sheet material with one of the mounting aids (2) first, the mounting aids (2) are laid on the blind side (16) of the ceiling on either side of the opening and that the mounting aids (2) are secured with the second fastener (15) from the visible side (17) of the ceiling. 15. - Method according to claim 13 or 14 in which the predetermined depth is equal to zero, which means that the visible side (6) of the light fitting (1) is mounted flush with the visible side (17) of the surrounding ceiling. |
The present invention relates to a light fitting for mounting in a ceiling of sheet material, a supplementary mounting aid and a method for using the light fitting and mounting aid.
More specifically, the light fitting with accompanying mounting aid is intended to be built into a ceiling of sheet material at a specific depth and to ensure that this can easily be done with different ceiling thicknesses.
A ceiling of sheet material generally consists of profiles on which sheets are placed, such that there is an open space behind the sheets.
A light fitting for building into a ceiling can be designed such that it must be built in at a certain depth or height for aesthetic reasons.
This is difficult to realise.
Firstly it is difficult to build in the fitting at the desired depth. To this end, with known light fittings and their accessories, increases or decreases of thickness must be made and secured on the blind side of the ceiling, which is not easy. This has the disadvantage that it is difficult and takes a long time to build in the light fittings at a certain depth .
A further disadvantage is that the result is often not optimum, which is aesthetically not desirable.
Secondly, the attachment points provided on the light fitting for fasteners must be very precisely found from the visible side, while they cannot be seen because they are on the blind side of the ceiling.
Marking out these points with a template is a known possibility here, but this has the disadvantages that it is laborious and must be done very accurately and thus easily leads to errors.
A further disadvantage is that, even if a solution is found for realising a good construction with a certain ceiling thickness, it is not flexible and thus does not, or not easily, work with different ceiling thicknesses.
The purpose of the present invention is to provide a solution to at least one of the aforementioned disadvantages and other disadvantages by providing a light fitting for mounting on a ceiling of sheet material with at least one example of a supplementary mounting aid, whose visible side is at a predetermined depth or height with respect to the visible side of the surrounding ceiling, in which the light fitting can be secured to the mounting aid with a first fastener, the mounting aid can be secured to the ceiling with a second fastener, with the mounting aid consisting of a primarily plate-shaped part with at least two horizontal surfaces that are vertically displaced with respect to one another that are equipped at the ends of at least two of the displaced surfaces for the use of the first fastener, and that is equipped in one of the two displaced surfaces for the use of the second fastener.
This has the advantage that it is easy to mount the light fitting, such that it can be done more quickly and/or by less experienced people.
Another advantage is that a simple change of orientation of the mounting aid enables the light fitting to be mounted at precisely the desired depth with different ceiling thicknesses. The light fitting can thus be easily adjusted to the ceiling thickness, which increases the flexibility of the use of the light fitting. A further advantage is that the light fitting can be easily and accurately built-in completely flush with the visible side of the ceiling, such that a particularly aesthetic effect is achieved. In a specific embodiment, the mounting aid has a relatively large area with a large number of perforations close to one another.
This has the advantage that the mounting can be easily done from the visible side, because every perforation can form a point of application for a screw or other fastener driven in from the visible side.
In another specific embodiment, the light fitting is made of ceramic and during the plastic phase of the material nuts are applied that act as a point of application for bolts with which the mounting aid is secured.
This has the advantage that great freedom of form is obtained for the light fitting, which is characteristic of ceramic, and which enables coupling with the mounting aid by universal metal fasteners, such as bolts.
The purpose of the invention is also to provide a mounting aid for mounting light fittings, whereby the mounting aid can be secured to a light fitting with a first fastener, the mounting aid can be secured to a ceiling with a second fastener, the mounting aid consists of a primarily plate- shaped part with at least two horizontal surfaces that are vertically displaced with respect to one another, that are equipped at the ends of at least two of the displaced surfaces for the use of the first fastener, and that is equipped in one of the two displaced surfaces for the use of the second fastener.
In a specific embodiment, this mounting aid is intended to be fitted on the. blind side of a ceiling of sheet material for assembly of a light fitting with its visible side at a predetermined depth or height with respect to the visible side of the surrounding ceiling. A further purpose of the invention is to provide a method for building in a light fitting according to the invention at a predetermined depth in a ceiling, of sheet material, in which one step of it is that the mounting aid according to the invention is secured to the light fitting with the first fastener such that this built-in depth can be realised. In a specific embodiment of this method, two examples of the mounting aid are used and the method comprises the steps that the combination is guided through a suitable opening in a ceiling of sheet material with one of the mounting aids first, the mounting aids are laid on either side of the opening on the blind side of the ceiling, and that the mounting aids are secured from the visible side of the ceiling with the second fastener.
With the intention of better showing the characteristics of the invention, a preferred embodiment is described hereinafter by way of an example, without any limiting nature, of the mounting aid and light fitting according to the invention, with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein:
figure 1 schematically shows in perspective a light fitting and the mounting aid according to the invention; figures 2 and 3 show a cross-section of the light fitting and mounting aid in a mounted position with two different ceiling thicknesses, and
figure 4 shows a cross-section as in figures 2 and 3, but for an alternative mounting.
The use of the words horizontal and vertical, and higher and lower, must be understood as relating to the orientation of components in a light fitting installed in a ceiling.
Figure 1 schematically shows a light fitting 1 and mounting aid 2 according to the invention.
The light fitting 1 consists of a ceramic body 3 with a hole 4 intended for mounting a lighting element, for example a spotlight. The light fitting has a blind side 5 and a visible side 6.
On two edges of the light fitting opposite to one another there is a recess 7 in which there are nuts 8, that are put in before the ceramic material hardens. The recess 7 is lower with respect to the blind side 5, at a precisely defined distance A, in this case 9.5mm from the visible side 6.
The mounting aid 2 consists of an aluminium plate that has holes 11 at the two ends 9, 10 that match the nuts 8, and which have a form that fits in the recess 7. The mounting aid 2 has a stepped profile with a drop B, that runs parallel to the ends 9 and 10, such that both ends 9 and 10 are staggered over the distance B. The mounting aid has a large number of perforations 12 that are placed in a grid pattern over a surface 13 of the mounting aid 2.
The perforations 12 have a diameter of 2 mm for example. The material between the perforations 12 must have sufficient strength to act as a point of application for a screw 14. This determines the separation between the perforations 12: if the separation is too small, and thus too little remaining material between the perforations 12, the remaining material has insufficient strength.
By making the plate from a hardened aluminium alloy instead of pure aluminium, the distance between the perforations 12 can be made smaller so that there are more potential points of application, while the required strength is preserved so as not to break under the forces of driving in a screw 14.
The use of the mounting aid 2 and the light fitting 1 is very simple and as follows.
Two examples of the mounting aid 2 are mounted on either side of the light fitting 1 by means of bolts 15.
If the light fitting 1 has to be built in in a ceiling of sheet material with thickness C, as in figure 2, this is done with the end 9. If the light fitting 1 has to be built in in a ceiling of thinner sheet material with thickness D, as in figure 3, this is done with the end 10.
When, as in this case, a flush fitting is desired, D is equal to A, and C equal to A + B.
Because the distance B is equal to 3 mm in this case, the distance A is equal to 9.5 mm and the light fitting 1 has to be built-in flush with the visible side of the ceiling, in this example, the ceiling thicknesses C and D for which the light fitting 1 is suitable, are equal to 9.5 and 12.5 mm, corresponding to the usual standard thicknesses of plasterboard.
Then the combination of light fitting 1 and two mounting aids 2 is placed in the ceiling through a hole provided for this purpose, with one of the mounting aids 2 first, and positioned, while the mounting aids 2 rest on the blind side 16 of the ceiling.
From the visible side 17 of the ceiling, the mounting aids 2 are fastened to the ceiling by placing at least one screw 14 through the plasterboard, which grips into one of the perforations 12.
As there are many perforations 12 over the entire surface 13, the screw 14 does not need to be positioned precisely because it can easily find a point of application if it is screwed in somewhere on the visible side 17 that corresponds to the position of the surface 13.
The visible sides 6 and 17 of the ceiling and the light fitting 1 are now in the same plane- The transition between the two can now be plastered over and finished, so that there is a seamless transition.
If a flush construction is desired in a different sheet thickness other than C and D, and/or a non-flush fitting in the two given standard thicknesses, the distance between the mounting aid 2 and the light fitting 1 can be changed by means of spacer ring as shown in figure 4. The present invention is by no means limited to the embodiments described as an example and shown in the drawings, but a light fitting and mounting aid according to the invention can be realised in all kinds of variants, without departing from the scope of the invention.
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