Lamp base

Information

  • Patent Grant
  • 6171135
  • Patent Number
    6,171,135
  • Date Filed
    Thursday, January 6, 2000
    25 years ago
  • Date Issued
    Tuesday, January 9, 2001
    24 years ago
Abstract
A lamp base includes a base body, a lamp socket fixed under the base body, a housing protecting the base body and the lamp socket, and a cap closing up the housing. To terminals are provided in the base body to connect to two power wires passing through an upper wire hole of the cap. The cap has a short tube portion extending down from the wire hole to press down the power wires on an upper surface of the base body to secure the power wires tightly so as not to loosen off the two terminals if exterior force should pull the power wires by accident.
Description




BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION




This invention relates to a lamp base, particularly to one with a structure of letting connecting power wires not pulled off by external force, not loosening off the terminals, very safe to use and convenient to combine.




A known conventional lamp base shown in

FIG. 1

, has a lamp base body


10


made of insulating material, a lamp socket


20


with threads for a lamp to engage with, a housing for preventing dirt, and a cap


40


provided with a wire hole


401


.




The lamp base


10


has two terminals


101


,


102


for connecting two power wires


50


by means of screws or inserting holes. In this example screw connection is shown. The lamp base


10


further has a switch


103


fixed transversely for turning on and off the lamp. And a switch has various structures to handle, such as by turning, pushing or pulling, or with no switches. No matter what structure it may be, its function is the same cap


40


is usually made of metal for good appearance. So an insulating cylinder


301


and am insulating gasket


402


have to be provided respectively to prevent dirt or any bit of miscellaneous matter to enter the lamp base to stick to the two terminals to cause bad contact or unsteady current.




Further, as for the known conventional lamp base and the power wires


50


, their connecting mode and the connected condition are shown in FIG.


2


. The power wires


50


firstly pass through the wire hole


401


and the gasket


402


of the cap


40


, two naked ends connected to the two terminals


101


,


102


. Generally, a knot


501


is made to the power wires


50


to prevent the same from loosening off or becoming bad contact, for the power wires


50


are connected to the terminals


101


,


102


. Function of the know conventional structure is to secure the power wires


50


and more securely locating the power wires


50


by sandwiched between the upper surface of the lamp base body


10


and the bottom of the insulating gasket


402


. Thus, should the power wires be pulled by exterior force, the knot


501


receives the force, not letting the naked points directly pulled off the terminals


101


,


102


.




However, the known conventional connecting mode has been found not really avoiding the connect disadvantages mentioned above, but on the contrary involving difficulty in assembly. A first point is inconvenience of assembling in preparing the length of the power wires


50


so as to connect with the terminals


101


,


102


. A second point is the tightness and the size of the knot


501


, impossible to connect with in case of too short, and difficult to close the cap


40


in case of too large, resulting in extreme difficulty in assembling. In addition, in making a knot, a metal wire inside an insulating tube is bent to disfigure, causing bad transmission or unstableness of electric current, if worse. So this kind of knot is not correct usage of electricity.




SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION




The objective of the invention is to offer a lamp base, which has a structure of easy and quick assemblage, and high safety in use.




The feature of the invention is a tube portion of a proper length formed to extend down from a center wire hole of a cap closing on a housing surrounding a lamp base body and a lamp socket fixed under the lamp base body for a lamp to screw in. When the cap closes an upper end of the housing, the tube portion may press two power wires down on an upper surface of the lamp base body to secure the power wires tightly so as not to let their naked ends separated or loosened from two terminals in the lamp base body if exterior force pulls the power wires by accident











BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS




This invention will be better understood by referring to the accompanying drawings wherein:





FIG. 1

is an exploded perspective view of a known conventional lamp base;





FIG. 2

is a cross-sectional view of the known conventional lamp base;





FIG. 3

is an exploded perspective view of a lamp base in the present invention;





FIG. 4

is a cross-sectional view of the lamp base under using condition in the present invention;





FIG. 5

is a cross-sectional of the first embodiment of a lamp base using a screw mode and with a switch under using condition in the present invention;





FIG. 6

is a cross-sectional view of the first embodiment of the lamp base using a screw mode and with a pull chain switch in the present invention;





FIG. 7

is a cross-sectional view of the first embodiment of a lamp base using a screw mode and with no switch in the lamp base in the present invention;





FIG. 8

is a cross-sectional view of the first embodiment of a lamp base using a screw mode with wire fixers in the present invention





FIG. 9

is an exploded perspective view of the first embodiment of a lamp base with an insert clamp mode and with a rotating switch in the present invention;





FIG. 10

is a cross-sectional view of

FIG. 9

under using condition;





FIG. 11

is a cross-sectional view of the first embodiment of a lamp base using an insert clamp mode with a push switch in the present invention;





FIG. 12

is a cross-sectional view of the first embodiment of a lamp base using an insert clamp mode with a pull chain switch in the present invention;





FIG. 13

is a cross-sectional view of the first embodiment of a lamp base using an insert clamp mode with no switch in the present invention;





FIG. 14

is a cross-sectional view of the first embodiment of a lamp base using an insert clamp mode and wire fixers in the present invention;





FIG. 15

is an exploded perspective view of a second embodiment of a lamp base using a screw mode with a rotating switch in the present invention;





FIG. 16

is a cross-sectional view of

FIG. 15

under using condition; and,





FIG. 17

is a cross-sectional view of the second embodiment of a lamp base using a screw mode with wire fixers in the present invention.











DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT




In order to understand preferred embodiments of the invention, combining modes of power wires and a lamp base are to be described, classified into two kinds.




1. A Screw Securing Mode.




As shown in

FIG. 3

, the invention includes a lamp base body


1


made of an insulating material, a lamp socked


2


fixed under the lamp base


1


for a lamp to screw in, a metal housing


3


surrounding the lamp base body


1


and the lamp socket


2


, and a metal cap


4


closing an upper open end of the housing


3


.




The lamp base body


1


has two terminals


11


,


12


connected to two power wires with screws, and a switch


13


fixed laterally to turn on and off power.




The housing


3


has an insulating cylinder


31


on an inner peripheral surface, and the cap


4


has an insulating gasket


42


with a center wire hole


43


fixed in the cap


4


. The main characteristic is a short tube portion


44


extending down from the center hole


43


. When the power wires


5


pass through an upper wire hole


41


of the cap


4


, the center hole


43


of the gasket and through the short tube portion


44


, naked ends


51


of the power wires


5


are connected with the terminals


11


,


12


of the lamp base body


1


. Then after the cap


4


closes the housing


3


as shown in

FIG. 4

, the short tube portion


44


presses and forces the power wires


5


on an upper surface of the lamp base body


1


in an L-shaped condition, so that when exterior force pulls the power wires


50


by accident or unintentionally, the exterior force may not reach or affect the naked ends


51


connected to the terminals


11


,


12


.




Next, another mode is shown in

FIGS. 5 and 6

, having the same lamp base body


1


, the same lamp socket


2


, the same housing


3


and the same cap


4


and the same insulating gasket


42


as the example just described above. The different point is that a push switch


14


shown in

FIG. 5

or a pull chain switch


15


shown in

FIG. 6

is used. One more mode is no switch is provided in a lamp base body


10


but a push button fixed on a wall is used to turn on and off the lamp on the lamp base, as shown in FIG.


7


. Those examples all use the insulating gasket


42


and the short tube portion


44


for securing the power wires


5


on the upper surface of the lamp base body


1


.




Further, this mode can be applied to a lamp base body


1


with wire fixers as shown in

FIG. 8

, and this lamp base body


1


has two inverted L-shaped wire fixers


16


for the power wires


5


to fit therein, with cooperation of the short tube portion


44


pressing the power wires


5


at the same time to obtain double securing function, using a rotating switch or other switches.




An Insert Clamp Mode.




As shown in

FIG. 9

, a lamp base body


1


is used, a lamp socket


2


fixed under the lamp base body for a lamp to screw in, a metal housing


3


and a metal cap


4


with a wire hole


41


are also provided. But the lamp base body


1


has two insert holes


11


,


12


in an upper flat surface for two naked ends of power wires to insert and clamped tightly therein. A rotating switch


13


is provided to extend out of the lamp base body, and the housing


3


has an insulating cylinder


31


inside. The cap


3


has an insulating disc


42


with a center hole


43


and a short tube portion


44


extending down from the center hole


43


. When the power wires


5


extend through the upper center hole


41


of the cap, the center hole


43


and the short tube portion


44


, the two naked ends


51


of the power wires


5


insert in the insert holes


11


,


12


of the lamp base body


1


. When the cap


4


closes the housing


3


, the short tube portion


44


press the power wires


5


on the upper surface of the lamp base body


1


to let the wires bent as L-shaped.




This insert and clamp mode also has various control methods, as shown in

FIGS. 11

,


12


and


13


, respectively provided with a push switch


14


, a pull chain switch


15


or no switch.

FIG. 14

shows that a lamp base body


1


has two insert holes


11


,


12


in an upper surface, two upright wire fixers


16


, and a rotating switch


13


at one side. The difference between the lamp base with the insert holes and that with a screw fastening mode is only the connecting methods of the power wires


5


with the lamp base body


1


. They all use the insulating gasket


42


, and the short tube portion


44


to secure the power wires


5


.




Next, a second embodiment of a lamp base is shown in

FIG. 15

, which includes a housing


6


made of an insulating material, a cap


7


also made of an insulating material, a lamp base body


1


made of an insulating material, and a lamp socket fixed under the lamp base body


1


for a lamp to screw with. The lamp base body


1


has two terminals


11


,


12


to connect to power wires


5


by means of a screw fastening or inserting fastening.

FIG. 15

shows the screw fastening method. And a rotating switch


13


(a push switch, a pull chain switch or no switch) is provided at one side of the lamp base body


1


. Further, the cap


7


has an upper wire hole


41


for the power wires


5


to pass through in. The main feature of this embodiment is a tube portion


72


of a proper length formed to extend down from the upper center wire hole


71


. Then the power wires


5


pass through the wire holes


71


of the cap


7


and the tube portion


72


, and are connected to the terminals


11


,


12


, After the cap


7


is closed on the housing


6


as shown in

FIG. 16

, the tube portion


72


may press the power wires


5


down on the upper surface of the lamp base body


1


, with the wires


5


bent as an L-shape. Should any exterior force pull the wires


5


, it might not let the naked ends


51


of the wires


5


separated or loosened from the terminals


11


,


12


.




If the wire fixers


16


are provided on the lamp base body


1


, the tube portion


72


of the cap


7


may press down the power wires


5


on the lamp base body


1


, as sown in

FIG. 17

, resulting in double positioning effect.




In general, the special feature of the invention is the tube portion formed in the cap closing on the housing, pressing and securing the power wires in position and not easily pulled off the terminals of the lamp base body, no matter what the connect mode of the power wires with the lamp base body may be, or no matter what the switch may be.



Claims
  • 1. A lamp base comprising a lamp base body made of an insulating material, a lamp socket fixed under said lamp base body for a lamp to screw with, a housing surrounding said lamp base body and said lamp socket, and a cap closing on said housing; said lamp base body having two terminals for two naked ends of power wires to connect to, and a switch fixed with said lamp base body to turn on and off said lamp, said cap having an upper center wire hole for said power wires to pass through in, an insulating gasket with a center hole placed in said cap; characterized by a short tube portion formed to extend down from said center hole of said gasket, said short tube portion pressing down said power wires on an upper surface of said lamp base body to bend as an L-shape so as not to let exterior force pull said naked ends of said power wires completely separated from said terminals after said power wires pass through said upper center hole of said cap and through said center hole and said tube portion of said gasket and have said naked ends connected to said terminals and said cap is closed on said housing.
  • 2. A lamp base comprising a lamp base body made of an insulating material, a lamp socket fixed under said lamp base body for a lamp to screw with, a housing made of an insulating material surrounding said lamp base body and said lamp socket, and a cap made of an insulating material screwing with an upper end of said housing; said lamp base body having two terminals for naked ends of two power wires to connect to, a switch fixed with said lamp base body to turn on and off said lamp, or said switch not fixed with said lamp base body, said cap having an upper center wire hole for said power wires to pass through in; characterized by said cap having a tube portion of a proper length extending down from said center wire hole, said tube portion of said cap pressing said power wires on an upper surface of said lamp base body to bend as an L-shape so as not to let exterior force pull said power wires separated completely from said terminals after said power wires pass through said center wire hole and said tube portion of said cap with naked ends of said power wires connected to said terminal and said cap screws with said housing.
US Referenced Citations (3)
Number Name Date Kind
1794274 Blumensaadt et al. Feb 1931
1818614 Glade, Jr. Aug 1931
1829127 Cammack Oct 1931