Molded plastic stud box support and box

Claim 1

An electrical outlet box and an apparatus for supporting said electrical outlet box with respect to parallel and spaced apart first and second structural wall panels, said apparatus comprising: an outlet box having a plurality of side walls and a back wall defining a chamber with an open front, a flange means aligned with said open front and parallel with said back wall, and an access bore formed through said back wall, a unitary support member including an elongate shaft, a first abutment member formed at a rearward end of said shaft, disposed transversely of the shaft and having a substantially planar and transverse first abutment surface, and a second abutment member formed proximate a forward end of the shaft, said second abutment member having a substantially planar and transverse second abutment surface; a mounting segment disposed forwardly of said second abutment member and substantially coaxially with said shaft, said mounting segment including two parallel and spaced apart flexible legs extending forwardly of the second abutment member, each leg converging to a tip region, and two flared extensions, one flared extension projected rearwardly and transversely outwardly of the tip region of each of said legs, each flared extension including a rearward end portion spaced apart from its associated leg, said flared extensions together defining a forwardly converging cone having a forward tip and said rearward portions together defining a shoulder of the cone; and a flexible retaining member and means forming a retainer opening through the retaining member larger in diameter than said forward tip and smaller in diameter than said shoulder, said legs being flexible to permit their transversely inward displacement a sufficient amount to permit passage of said cone through said access bore of said outlet box and said retainer opening; whereby said retaining member is positionable about said shaft between said shoulder and said back wall of said outlet box, with said mounting portion extended through said access bore of said outlet box and into the chamber of said outlet box, with said flexible retaining member being elastically compressed to urge said shaft forward and thereby retain said second abutment member against said back wall of said outlet box with said second abutment surface contiguous with said back wall of said outlet box; and wherein a first distance between said first and second abutment surfaces is predetermined in accordance with the separation between said first and second structural wall panels, whereby said first abutment surface of said first abutment member is contiguous with one of said panels, and said flange means of said outlet box is contiguous with the other of said wall panels, with said shaft normal to said panels.