Conduit, electrical conduit, pipes, and other “plumbing” often must be routed through and/or attached to other structures. For example, electrical conduit in a house may need to be routed through wall studs in order to reach electrical boxes, outlets, etc.
Copper (or ABS, PVC, steel, etc.) piping may need to be routed through or around floor joists to, for example, a water faucet.
In industrial applications, overhead pipe racks may carry multiple pipes for electricity, wires and cables, gases, compressed air, water, etc.
When routing any of these “pipes” through a structure, such as a wall, an opening needs to be made to allow the pipe to pass. Trying to figure out where to drill a hole in the wall is often difficult for pipes that may already be in place, for example, already hung from a ceiling. Additionally, there may not be a convenient way to measure from floors or walls where the hole is needed, or there may be obstacles in the way of making a measurement. This presents a problem.
USPTO Backgrounds
USPTO Backgrounds