Electrical outlet box and pawl mounting device

Claim 1

An electrical outlet box having a wall structure providing front to rear wall means and a bottom wall interconnected therebetween, the front to rear wall means and bottom wall defining a chamber within the wall structure which opens through the front of the box, said front to rear wall means comprising a pair of opposed side walls and a pair of opposed end walls interconnected between said side walls, each of said side and end walls terminating in a common frontal plane defining the front opening of said box, said box further including electrical fixture mounting post members adjacent the inside surface of each opposed end wall in opposed alignment generally centrally of said end walls, said wall means also defining an outermost periphery of said box and including end wall portions which are recessed inwardly from said periphery and inwardly from the remainder of said end wall so as to define recessed areas extending along said periphery of said box from the front to the rear thereof, said recessed areas in said end walls being in diagonally opposed alignment on opposite sides of said electrical fixture mounting post members, first flange means secured to said front to rear wall means extending laterally outwardly beyond said outermost periphery of said box, pawl means mounted in said recessed areas, said pawl means being rotatably actuable between a retracted position within the confines of said outermost periphery of said box and an extended position beyond said outermost periphery of said box, said pawl means including clamping flange means adapted to engage the wall surface adjacent said wall opening when said pawl means is in said extended position, means restraining rotational movement of said pawl means in both clockwise and counterclockwise directions in said extended position, said means restraining rotational movement of said pawl means includes a single pawl stop flange member extending in a plane parallel to the plane defined by said pawl arm and pawl tab portions when said pawl means is in said extended position, a hub portion, an arm portion extending tangentially of said hub portion and terminating on one side thereof in said clamping flange means, and a tab portion extending coplanar with said arm portion and terminating on the side of said hub portion opposite said clamping flange means, whereby said pawl means travels linearly both into and out of clamping engagement with said wall surface adjacent said wall opening.