Security mount   

The present invention is directed to a mount for use with, for example, televisions and computer monitors. The mount includes a shield that makes difficult the dismounting of the electronics product without the use of a special, nonstandard tool.

There exists an ongoing concern in the hospitality industry over the theft from hotel rooms of expensive electronics including televisions and large computer monitors. Patrons and uninvited visitors can easily walk off with these electronic products unless they are reasonably secured or the would-be thief is otherwise deterred from taking the device. Many existing mounts for electronics products are secured simply by screws or bolts to a surface (wall or cabinet or table) or to the electronics product itself. There are some efforts at a permanent attachment. However, the use of completely inaccessible and permanent attachment of a device to a surface must be balanced with the foreseeable future needs of a hospitality facility owner to have access to and remove electronics products for service or replacement.

SUMMARY

Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a security mount that is easily accessible and detachable by a hospitality owner, but which is difficult for a potential thief to dismount.

In one example a security mount includes a base plate and shield fixed to the base plate and a socket head screw. The base plate has a flat surface having a first hole therethrough configured to allow the shaft of the socket head screw to pass through the first hole. The shield has a wall that substantially surrounds the first hole and forms a chamber over the first hole, the wall having a second hole therein wherein the second hole is generally aligned with the first hole. The second hole has a geometric shaped perimeter that corresponds to the geometric shape of the cross section shape of the shank of a wrench to turn the socket head screw. The socket head screw may have a hexagonal socket and the second hole may have a hexagonal shaped perimeter substantially the same size as the hexagonal socket. The security mounts may include a plurality of first holes in the base plate, a plurality of socket head screws, and a plurality of second holes in the shield wherein each first hole has a corresponding second hole in the shield, and each second hole is generally aligned with its corresponding first hole, and wherein the shield substantially surrounds all the first holes in the base plate. The first hole and second hole may be separated by a first distance, and the socket head screw defines a length, and the first distance is at least about as long as the screw length. A security mount kit comprises a security mount as described herein and a wrench. The wrench has a tip and a reduced cross section portion of its shank, the tip having an outside geometric shape adapted to mate with the socket head screw. The reduced cross section portion has a cross sectional diameter that is less than the shortest diameter of the geometric shape of the cross section of the shank of the wrench to turn the socket head screw. In this way, the tip of the wrench may be inserted through the second hole, and the reduced cross section portion of the wrench is able to rotate freely in the second hole. The wall mount may have a socket head screw having a hexagonal socket and the hole has a hexagonal shaped perimeter substantially the same size as the hexagonal socket. The wall mount may include a kit that also includes a wrench. The wrench comprises a tip and a shank, the tip having an outside geometric shape adapted to mate with the socket head screw, and the shank having a cylindrical portion having a circular cross section. The diameter of the circular cross section is less than the shortest diameter of the geometric shape of the socket portion of the socket head screw.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is an environmental perspective view displaying how a security wall mount would connect to the back of an electronic product such as a television or monitor.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a security wall mount in one example of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a security wall mount that is shown in FIG. 2 except that the security wall mount in FIG. 3 is shown in the closed position.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a security wall mount that is shown in FIG. 2 that is partially exploded.

FIG. 5 is a side elevation view of the security wall mount shown in FIG. 3 in the closed position.

FIG. 6 is an environmental perspective view of a security mount in another example of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is the perspective view of the security mount shown in FIG. 6.

FIG. 8 is a side elevation view of a security mount as it would be secured on a surface.

FIG. 9 is a top plan view of the mount shown in FIG. 7.

FIG. 10 is a collection of socket head geometric shapes that are some examples of the geometric shape that may be used in accordance with the present invention.

FIG. 11 is a perspective view of a security mount in a still further example of the present invention.

FIG. 12 is a perspective view of the security mount shown in FIG. 11 with the security cover shown in exploded view separated from the base plate.

FIG. 13 is an explanatory perspective view of a wrench, shield hole and socket screw.

FIG. 14 shows four alternative geometric cross sectional shapes of the shield hole.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The security mount invention described herein includes the use of a shield surrounding a socket head screw. The shield has a hole in it that generally aligns with the socket portion of a socket head screw. The perimeter of the hole has a geometric shape that corresponds to the geometric shape of the cross section of the shank of a wrench used to turn the socket head screw. The corresponding shape of the socket wrench shank and the shield hole means that conventional socket wrenches can access the socket head screw, but conventional wrenches cannot turn it. Instead, a special, unconventional tool is needed having a circular or reduced cross section portion of the shank of the wrench in order to both engage the socket head screw and rotate in the shield hole. This requirement of an unconventional wrench in combination with a mount is a significant deterrent to theft of electrical products that may be attached to the mount.

One example of a security mount is shown in FIGS. 1-5. A telescoping wall mount 15 includes a base plate assembly 16, a support plate 17 and a strut assembly 20. This mount 15 attaches to the back of an electronic product 10 such as a television or computer monitor. The support plate 17 has holes 18 therein that correspond to holes 11 on the back of an electronic product. Conventional screws or other fasteners secure the electronic product 10 to the support plate 17.

Telescoping wall mount 15 may be vertically mounted, for instance on a wall or on a cabinet wall. Alternatively, however, the telescoping wall mount 15 could be used horizontally, for instance, mounted on a table or ceiling. The mount could be oriented at other angles depending on the surface that will support the mount and the necessary orientation therefrom.

FIGS. 1 and 2 illustrate the telescoping movement of the support plate 17 on the base plate assembly 16—FIG. 2 shows the support plate in an extended position, while FIG. 3 shows the support plate in the closed or adjacent position. This movement of the support plate 17 away from or back to the base plate assembly 16 may be useful for obtaining access to the back of an electronic product 10 for service or replacement. The movement can be actuated by a turnbuckle screw as demonstrated in FIGS. 1-5. Alternatively, the movement could be actuated by a spring or other movement device.

In FIGS. 1-5, the telescoping wall mount 15 is actuated by the rotation of a turnbuckle screw 36. When the screw 36 is rotated in one direction, the base plate 17 moves away from the base plate assembly 16—see FIG. 2. When rotated the other way, the screw 36 brings the support plate 17 snug and tight against the base plate assembly 16—see FIG. 2.

Referring still to FIGS. 1-5, the wall mount assembly 15 shall be described in more detail.

The base plate assembly 16 includes a flat back panel 50 having holes 51 therethrough. The holes 51 allow for the base plate assembly 16 to be secured to a surface. Different fasteners (not shown) could be used including, for example, screws, nuts and bolts, or nails. The base plate assembly 16 further includes sidewalls 52 that have one end of struts 20 slidably and rotatably mounted therein. The struts 20 are mounted onto rivets 28. The rivets 28 are the end sections of cross members 26. The struts 20 are rotatably mounted on the rivets 28 and slide in slots 30 that are formed in the sidewalls 52.

The base plate assembly 16 also includes end walls 45 and 53. The end walls 45 and 53 have turnbuckle screw 36 rotatably secured therein. One end 29 of screw 36 is mounted onto end wall 53. The first end 29 of screw 36 includes a bearing that allows rotation of the screw 36. The other end 33 of screw 36 is rotatably secured onto end wall 45. Again, second end 33 of screw 36 includes a bearing that provides for rotation of the screw. The second end 33 of screw 36 includes a socket head screw 34. Cross members 26 are threadably engaged to the screw 36. When the screw 36 is rotated, the first end 25 of screw 36 will move the cross member backwards and forwards along the length of that first end 25. Similarly, the second end 27 of the screw 36, once rotated, moves the cross member 26 back and forth along the length of the screw. The threads of the first portion 25 and second portion 27 of the turnbuckle screw 36 are oppositely oriented so that when the screw 36 is rotated, the cross members 26 either move towards each other or away from each other. This movement toward and away from each other by the cross members 26 is the movement that lifts the struts 20 and the support plate 17 away from the base assembly or contracts then back toward the base assembly 16.

Shield 19 is fixed to the end wall 45 of the base plate assembly 16. The end 45 of the base plate assembly 16 is the end where the socket head end 34 of the turnbuckle screw 36 is accessible. The socket head screw 34 turns the screw 36. The shield 19 includes a shield hole 35. The shield hole 35 has a geometric shaped perimeter that matches the cross sectional shape of the shank of a socket wrench 40 that turns the screw. The shape of the shield hole 35 may be the hexagonal shape shown in the figures, which is the most common shape for the shank of the socket wrenches that fit the socket screws head shapes shown in FIG. 10; these socket head shapes include, but are not limited to, sockets commonly referred to as a hex (or Allen) socket, square socket, torx socket, tri-wing socket, clutch drive socket, torq-set socket, polydrive socket, triple square socket, spline drive socket, double hex socket, snake eyes socket (not shown) and Bristol socket and each comes in a number of different sizes. Still further alternatives include tamper resistant versions hereof including, for instance, sockets that have small posts configured therein that require special, hollow tip socket wrench tips. Other shapes for the shield hole and wrench shank are possible, including but not limited to square, spline, double square and triple square. The shield 19 wraps around the socket head screw 34 and prevents reasonable access to that screw head except through the shield hole 35.

The strut arms 20 are connected on one end to the rivets 28 and connected by second rivets 31 to the side walls 55 that carry the support plate 17. The strut arms 20 are rotatably connected around the rivets 31 so that the struts 20 will freely move up and down in lifting the support plate 17. With specific reference to FIG. 5, it is seen that the fully closed position of support plate with respect to the base plate assembly 16 leaves the support arms struts 20 slightly angled with respect to each other. If the support plate 17 was allowed to retract so that the strut arms 20 were exactly parallel and linear with respect to each other, then it would be difficult or impossible to initiate the motion of the support plate 17 back upwardly and away from the base plate assembly 16.

In operation, the support plate 17 is actuated in motion away from the base plate assembly 16 through rotation of the turnbuckle screw 36. The screw 36 is turned by inserting a socket head wrench into the socket head 34. The socket head wrench 40 includes a tip 42 and a reduced cross section portion 41 of its shank, in this example, that has a circular cross section. The wrench 40 is inserted through the shield hole 35 and inserted into the socket screw 34. The reduced cross section portion 41 of the shank of the wrench 40 is aligned with the shield hole 35. Because the circular cross section portion 41 has a diameter less than the shortest diameter of the shield hole 35, the wrench 40 rotates freely. Please note that if a conventional socket head wrench were inserted through the shield hole 35, it would not be able to turn as it would be locked or retained by the shield hold 35 that has the same geometric shape as the socket geometric shape.

The material that forms the shield 19 must be a robust and rigid material. In some examples, it is formed from steel or other hard metal material. In this way, the shield hole 35 is a rigid hole that cannot be easily deformed to allow access to and control of the turnbuckle screw 36 by way of the socket head 34. Of course, the shield 19 may be made of other rigid materials suitable for this purpose.

In use, the security wall mount is effective in a number of ways. First, all of the fasteners that anchor the mount to a surface or wall through holes 51 are not visible and are inaccessible once the mount has been installed and the support plate turned to the closed position shown in FIGS. 3 and 5. Likewise, any fasteners that connect the support plate 17 to the electronic product 10 are inaccessible when the support plate 10 is withdrawn to its closed position. The only way to move the support plate 17 and the attached electronics product, short of doing structural damage to the mount or to the surface on which the mount is fixed, is to turn the screw 36 and extend the support plate out from the base plate assembly 16. The shield 19 covers the operational end 34 of the screw 36. Therefore, it is not easy for a potential thief to even visually see the screw through the shield hole 35. And then, even if they do determine that there is a socket screw inside that needs to be turned, then they must determine which socket head style and size is on that socket screw 34. Even then the socket screw 34, cannot be turned without a special wrench 40 that has a tip 41 adapted to be received by the socket head and a reduced cross section portion 41 of the shank that has been adapted to have a smaller diameter and, in the illustrated example, a circular cross section so that it can be turned. Accordingly, there are many layers of security features that are incorporated in the mount 15.

Turning now to FIGS. 6-9, there is shown another example of a security mount that incorporates the functional features of a shield hole surrounding a socket head screw. This security mount 60 includes a base plate 62 and shield 65. The shield 65 includes shield holes 66 therein. In the example shown in FIG. 6, an electronics product 61 is shown on a vertical post 63 that is fixed to the security mount 60 on the surface of the plate 62.

The shield 65 is essentially a chamber that includes shield hole 64 oriented or aligned over holes through the base plate 62 that are underneath the shield hole 66. As is best seen in FIG. 8, socket screw 75 may be fixed into a substrate surface 80 by using a wrench 70 that extends through the shield hole 66. The reduced cross section portion 71 of the shank of the wrench 70 allows the tip 72 to engage the screw head 75 to drive the shaft 76 of the screw into the surface 80. As shown in FIG. 9, the shield hole 66 is aligned over the socket screw head 75 shown in broken lines through the opening defined by the hole 66. The shield hole 66 has a geometric shaped perimeter that matches the cross sectional shape of the shank of a socket wrench 70 that turns the screw. The shape of the shield hole 66 may be the hexagonal shape shown in the figures, which is the most common shape for the shank of the socket wrenches that fit the socket screws head shapes shown in FIG. 10. Also, it is necessary to technically provide the width of the reduced cross section portion 71 of the shank along the axial length of the wrench 70 so that the wrench may freely rotate as the screw 75 moves into and out of the substrate where the screw is attached. For example, the socket head 34 of the turnbuckle screw 36 in FIGS. 1-5 does not move axially, so the reduced area portion 41 of wrench 40 can be relatively short in axial length. On the other hand, reduced cross section portion 71 of the shank of wrench 70 needs to have an axial width of about 1-2 inches to allow the wrench to move in and out of the shield hole 64 as the screw 75 goes into a support surface.

FIGS. 11 and 12 illustrate a further alternative example of the use of a shield surrounding a socket head screw. As can be imagined by one of skill in the art, there are inevitably other configurations that incorporate a shield with a geometric shaped shield hole surrounding and preventing access to a socket head screw. The present invention is not limited to the three examples illustrated in the drawings.

Turning now to FIGS. 11 and 12, a mount 100 is shown fixed on a surface 99. The surface 99 could be a table, cabinet, wall or any other mounting surface that would support an electronics product. As shown, a vertical post 101 extends up from the mount 100 and supports an electronics product 102. The vertical post 101 is fixed to a swivel mount plate 103 that is supported by a swivel bearing (not shown, under swivel mount plate) on the base plate 105 of mount 100. The base plate 105 has holes 107 in it for fixing the base plate to a surface. The base plate 105 further includes vertical walls 110 that have threaded holes 112 positioned in them.

Shield plate 115 includes downwardly extending walls 117 that have holes 118 therein. The holes 118 in the walls 117 are positioned to align with the threaded holes 112 and the vertical walls 110 of the base plate 105. The shield plate 115 also includes shield holes 120. In operation, socket head screws 122 will feed through the holes 118 in the shield plate 115 and be anchored in the holes 107 in the base plate 105 to secure the top of the shield to the base plate. Those socket head bolts 122 are accessible only through the shield holes 120 which are aligned therewith. Accordingly, a conventional socket wrench is not acceptable for use, since it would not rotate around in the shield hole 120. Only a specialized wrench like the wrenches described earlier herein would be acceptable.

FIG. 13 is a representative view of a part of a security mount. Specifically, there is shown the wrench 130, the security wall 140 having a security hole 141, and a screw or bolt 150 having a socket 151. Focusing on the wrench 130, as noted in each of the examples of wrenches discussed already herein (wrench 40 and wrench 70), the wrench is made up of a shaft 131, a reduced cross sectional portion 132 and a tip 133. While a hexagonal wrench is shown as wrench 130, it is possible that the wrench would have other shapes including, for instance, shapes such as those shown in FIG. 10. Also, it is possible that shank 131 can have a different geometry than tip 133. For instance, it is industry convention that a shaft 131 will have hex shape. This is without regard to the shape of the tip 133. However, the shank 131 can be any other geometry having a non-round cross sectional shape. Similarly, the reduced cross sectional portion 132 can have many different cross sectional shapes. For ease of operation, it is preferred that it would be round in cross sectional shape. Also, as discussed earlier herein the width W34 of the reduced crossed area portion 132 can vary depending on whether the screw 150 moves in to or out of a surface or stays relatively stationary in depth in relation to the shield hole 141.

Just like the shank 131 of a wrench 130 can be any non-round shape, likewise the shield hole 141 would typically be the same non-round cross sectional shape. However, the shield hole and wrench shank shape do not have to be identical. For instance, in FIGS. 14A-D, there are shown four alternative, non limiting examples of shield hole shapes that might be used, for instance as shown, with a hexagonal shaped wrench shank. In each example, a straight edge of the hexagonal shank that is shown centered in each hole shape would align with one or more straight edges on the shield hole geometry. As long as the longest axis (or dimension) of the wrench shank is longer than the shortest axis (or dimension) of the shield hole, this would or could prevent the rotation of the wrench that is otherwise able to be inserted in through the shield hole. Therefore, while FIG. 14C illustrates the preferred shape of the shield hole matching that of the shank of a wrench, the other figures are examples of how other shapes that are different from but that are otherwise compatible with the shape of the shank of a wrench may be used to prevent a conventional wrench use that does not have a reduced cross sectional area portion.

This invention is susceptible to considerable variation in its practice. Therefore the foregoing description is not intended to limit, and should not be construed as limiting, the invention to the particular exemplifications presented hereinabove. Rather, what is intended to be covered is as set forth in the ensuing claims and the equivalents thereof permitted as a matter of law.