Claims
- 1. An electric lamp comprising:
- a sealed, light-tranmitting envelope having a bulbous portion and a press sealed end portion, said sealed end portion substantially rectangular in cross section and including a first part and a second part adjacent thereto;
- at least one filament located within the interior of said bulbous portion of said envelope;
- a pair of lead-in conductors each connected at one end thereof to said filament, each of said conductors sealed within said press sealed end portion of said envelope and projecting exteriorly thereof; and
- an electrically insulating base member including an elongated opening and secured to said first part of said press sealed end portion of said envelope adjacent said bulbous portion and providing a cover for only said first part such that said first part is located within said opening, said base member including therein means for maintaining the exteriorly projecting portions of said lead-in conductors in predetermined alignment against a respective external surface of said press sealed end portion, said alignment maintaining means comprising a pair of slots, each of said slots being located within a respective internal wall of said base member and having a respective one of said lead-in conductors located therein, said second part of said sealed end portion not covered by said base member and adapted for being positioned within a socket member or the like for providing electrical contact to said lead-in conductors in the region of said press sealed end portion adjacent said second part, said conductors projecting exteriorly of said press sealed end portion at said second part, said base member being of unitary construction and expandable in the region of said elongated opening to facilitate positioning of said base member on said press sealed end portion.
- 2. The electric lamp according to claim 1 wherein said first part of said press sealed end portion of said envelope includes at least two upstanding segments thereon defining a receiving channel therebetween, said base member being snugly located within said receiving channel when positioned on said press sealed end portion.
- 3. The electric lamp according to claim 2 wherein the member of said pairs of upstanding segments defining a receiving channel therebetween is two, both of said pairs being spacedly positioned on said external surface of said press sealed end portion, said base member being positioned within both of the receiving channels defined by said pairs.
- 4. The electric lamp according to claim 3 further including an upstanding element located on said external surface of said press sealed end portion substantially between said spacedly positioned pairs of said upstanding segments for engaging a surface of said base member when said base member is located within said receiving channels to thereby assist in retaining said base member therein.
- 5. The electric lamp according to claim 1 wherein said envelope is glass and said base member is plastic.
DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION
This application is a continuation, of application Ser. No. 5,80,917, filed 2/16/84 now abandoned.
1. Technical Field
The invention relates to electric incandescent lamps and, more particularly, to such lamps which include an electrically insulating base as part thereof.
2. Background
The features of the present invention are particularly useful as applied to the construction of incandescent lamps employed in automobiles, such as the dual-filament lamps employed in tail light assemblies.
One well known example of existing lamps of this type generally employed a type S-8 glass bulb cemented in a brass, double contact bayonet base. Although used for a number of years, such bases pose a number of disadvantages. For example, anyone who has replaced such a lamp in their automobile will appreciate the great difficulty experienced in position-referencing the base to insure the proper lamp-to-socket orientation. The base is cylindrical and the only orientation reference means are small indexing pins at the sides of the base. This referencing problem also holds true for automatic insertion of the lamp into the socket during production thereof. Further, the lamp to base construction for dual filament lamps of this type requires three soldering points for electrical connections (the two lead-in wires serving as the common connection are twisted and soldered to the sidewall of the base, while the other two wires are respectively soldered to the twin contact nodes at the bottom of the base). This leads to corrosion or other contact degradation problems caused by soldering fluxes. Finally, the bayonet base lamp requires a somewhat complicated and relatively expensive socket design.
One attempted solution to the several aforementioned problems inherent in brass base lamps is defined in U.S. Pat. No. 4,028,577 (P. E. Gates et al), said patent assigned to the same assignee as the instant invention and being a continuation-in-part of U.S. Pat. No. 3,979,627 (S. J. Leadvaro et al). In U.S. Pat. No. 4,028,577, there is described an electric lamp having a sealed end containing therein (or extending therefrom) a reentrant glass stem sealed about its periphery to the glass bulb. This end is positioned within a plastic base having a cylindrical body portion (for housing the somewhat cylindrical-shaped sealed end) and adjacent wedge portion. While this concept proved advantageous in several ways over the aforementioned brass base lamps, it was necessary to provide additional features, steps, etc. in order to satisfactorily produce and utilize this arrangement. For example, it was necessary to position the extending tip segment (from the sealed end) a sufficient distance from the base's inner, bottom wall in order to provide protection thereof. Maintenance of this distance was assured by cementing the bulb (along the outer walls) to the base. It was also necessary in this design to pass the lamp's projecting lead-in wires through corresponding passages (holes) within the base, thus mandating a relatively complex (and time-consuming) alignment and insertion procedure. Even further, final lead-in wire retention necessitated yet another production step (e.g., heat staking) which added still further to the cost of this lamp.
It is therefore a primary object of this invention to enhance the electric lamp art.
It is a particular object of this invention to provide an electric lamp which is relatively simple in design, can be readily and inexpensively produced and which eliminates the need for soldering or the like and the typical problems associated therewith.
It is yet another object of this invention to provide such a lamp wherein the lamp's projecting lead-in wires are both positively aligned and retained externally of the lamp's sealed end to thereby assure positive electrical connection thereto when the lamp is positioned (e.g., inserted) within a corresponding socket component.
These and other objects, advantages and features are attained, in accordance with the principles of this invention, by an electric lamp comprising a sealed, light-transmitting envelope having a bulbous portion and a press sealed end portion adjacent thereto, at least one filament located within the bulbous portion of the envelope, a pair of lead-in conductors connected to each filament and sealed within the press seal end portion of the envelope and projecting exteriorly thereof, and an electrically insulating base member which is secured to a first part of the press sealed end portion and provides a cover therefor, said base member including therein means for aligning the exteriorly projecting portions of the conductors in predetermined alignment against a respective external surface of the press sealed end portion. The remaining, second part of the press sealed end portion is not covered by the base and is adapted for being positioned within a socket member or the like wherein electrical contacts are located, said contacts electrically contacting the portions of the lead-in conductors which lie adjacent the exposed second part of the press sealed end portion.
US Referenced Citations (15)
Foreign Referenced Citations (3)
| Number |
Date |
Country |
| 071060 |
Oct 1959 |
FRX |
| 0305581 |
Dec 1929 |
GBX |
| 1103227 |
Feb 1968 |
GBX |
Continuations (1)
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Number |
Date |
Country |
| Parent |
580917 |
Feb 1984 |
|
Patent Grant
4724353
