Support For Antenna Device

Abstract

A support comprising a triangular frame pivotally mounted on a tower for supporting an antenna or reflector and means for locking said frame in an adjusted position.

Description

The subject of this invention is a swivelling supporting unit for a device intended to emit or to capture electromagnetic waves, i.e. an antenna or a reflector, the unit serving for mounting said device on a tower.

The invention will be described hereinafter by reference more specifically to the mounting of a parabolic reflector on a tower. This application is of particular importance in the field of telecommunication by means of Hertzian waves, but the invention can be used in other applications as well.

More specifically its subject is a triangular supporting frame mounted so as to pivot around an axle attached to one of the towers' uprights and locked in a proper azimuth by means of an articulated arm which in turn is attached to one of the struts of the tower.

Such a supporting unit permits the easy mounting on a tower of one or several emitting or capturing devices and their orientation in any desired azimuth, without the necessity of specially designed fixed frames such as used at present.

The invention will be more easily understood with the help of the following description.

On the attached drawing:

FIG. 1 is an elevation of a supporting unit for a parabolic reflector, mounted on a tower;

FIG. 2 is a ground-view of the same device, and

FIGS. 3 and 4 show in detail the systems by which this unit is attached to the tower.

In FIGS. 1 and 2 is shown a unit serving for mounting parabolic reflector 1 on a tower that comprises three uprights 2, 3 and 4 and struts such as those that can be seen on FIG. 2 at positions 5, 6 and 7.

The construction of the tower is not part of the invention and will not be described.

The unit for mounting the reflector on the tower consists essentially of a triangular frame composed of three principal tubular elements 8, 9, 10 and of two accessory tubular elements 11 and 12 for reinforcement, and of one tubular element 13 for locking the triangle in its position.

Such a device will be referred to hereinafter under the name of settling carrier which evokes its shape and its ability to pivot around the axis of the vertical element 10. Due to this pivoting, the reflector 1 may be oriented following any azimuth chosen within a dihedral angle of almost 300.degree.,defined by the vertical planes of struts 6 and 7.

The pivoting frame 8, 9, 10 may be attached and hinged to upright 3 by means of various systems. The one presented on the drawing is particularly simple. Each of the hinged connections 14 and 15 (FIG. 1) comprises a clamp 16 and an elastic plate 17 which grip the two elements 3 and 10. The tightening of this plate (by means of screw nuts, 22, on the threaded extremities 16a and 16b of clamp 16) is done only after the carrier has been oriented in the proper direction. Even after tightening, elements 10 and 16 could slide on the perimeter of the fixed part 3, so that this system by itself does not assure the perfect locking of the settling carrier.

Such a locking is achieved by means of arm 13, hinged at position 18 to elements 8 and 9.

The details of that hinged connection area shown in FIG. 1. The illustrative example described herein, provides for a plate 18a welded to the junction of 8 and 9 and hinging in a fork-joint 18b attached to one extremity of arm 13.

Arm 13 itself is attached at a variable point 19 of strut 7. In FIG. 4 a preferred system of connection is shown: the two elements 7 and 13 arranged in parallel planes, are girdled by clamps 20 and 21 which are connected to each other by a threaded rod 22 equipped with screwnuts 30, 31 for tightening.

It is obvious that in order to achieve the locking with the carrier being in any desidered position within the dihedral angle defined above, it is necessary to choose properly the point of attachment 19 either on strut 7 or on strut 6.

Reflector 1 is attached by means of, for example, threaded rods such as 27 and 28 (FIG. 2) to the four gussets 23 to 26 (FIG. 1) which form one piece with the carrier and are arranged in the diametrical plane of the tubular elements.

As a result of its pyramidal shape the described device is remarkably rigid so that there is no risk that the reflector's orientation might be changed as a result of the wind's action.

After the reflector has been mounted, it is easy to adjust its orientation according to the results of communication tests, since it is sufficient to loosen the hinged connections to alter slightly the orientation of the carrier.

Needless to say that various modifications could be made to the described and illustrated embodiment without going outside of the invention.

Claims

I claim:

1. An antenna system, mounted on a tower equipped with a journaled supporting unit, comprising the combination of: at least three tower uprights connected by struts, one of said uprights being a post for securing hinges for a rod parallel to said post, said rod forming with two legs a triangular frame, said legs being linked to an arm on an extremity thereof, and said arm being slidably attached by its other extremity to one tower strut; whereby the frame may be locked in a desired azimuth about the post.

2. A system as claimed in claim 1 in which the parallel rod is a pivoting tubular element attached in two places to a cylindrical post by two fixtures, each of said fixtures comprising a clamp cooperating with a tightening plate, said clamp including a bolt in the form of a stirrup embracing said post, and said plate including a saddle which engages a part of the tubular element and the surface of the cylindrical post; whereby a sliding of said surfaces may occur while the unit is being oriented in a proper operational direction.