Patent Application
20170059138
This application includes material which is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has no objection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent disclosure, as it appears in the Patent and Trademark Office files or records, but otherwise reserves all copyright rights whatsoever.
The present invention relates in general to the field of lighting, and in particular to a novel shade nut for securing a lamp shade.
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The foregoing and other objects, features, and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following more particular description of preferred embodiments as illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which reference characters refer to the same parts throughout the various views. The drawings are not necessarily to scale, emphasis instead being placed upon illustrating principles of the invention.
Reference will now be made in detail to the preferred embodiments of the present invention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. The following description and drawings are illustrative and are not to be construed as limiting. Numerous specific details are described to provide a thorough understanding. However, in certain instances, well-known or conventional details are not described in order to avoid obscuring the description. References to one or an embodiment in the present disclosure are not necessarily references to the same embodiment; and, such references mean at least one.
Reference in this specification to “an embodiment” or “the embodiment” means that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment is included in at least an embodiment of the disclosure. The appearances of the phrase “in an embodiment” in various places in the specification are not necessarily all referring to the same embodiment, nor are separate or alternative embodiments mutually exclusive of other embodiments. Moreover, various features are described which may be exhibited by some embodiments and not by others. Similarly, various requirements are described which may be requirements for some embodiments but not other embodiments.
The ring-shaped snap-on shade nut 315 has a threaded portion 330 which allows the nut to be threaded onto the threaded lamp holder 120. The ring-shaped snap-on shade nut 315 further has clips 320 that are, in an embodiment, semi-flexible and extend in a direction perpendicular to the axis of the threaded portion 330. The semi-flexible clips 320 allow the consumer to snap a shade member 130 of the shade onto the shade nut to secure the shade onto the lamp holder assembly. The snap-on shade nut 315 may optionally be pre-attached to the lamp holder at the factory, or at another time prior to sale to the consumer, so as to allow the consumer to snap the shade onto the nut and tighten the nut onto the lamp holder assembly with reduced risk of the shade being dropped and damaged. The snap-on shade nut 315 may employ as many clips 320 of varying designs as required to retain the shade while securing the nut. The clips 320 can comprise a flexible material such as metal or plastic, so that they can act as spring clips. In such embodiments, the clips 320 bend in when shade member 130 is pressed down onto the shade nut until the shade 130 snaps into place. The shade member 130 snaps onto the clips 320, which prevent it from falling while tightening shade the shade nut. The clips 320 form tabs that can then be used to tighten the nut onto the threaded lamp holder 120 so as to secure the shade member 130 further onto the assembly without the risk of the shade member 130 detaching from the assembly. The shade member 130 may be, e.g., a glass bowl or other base of a lamp shade.
The snap-on shade nut 315 and the clips 320 may be composed of metal, and the nut portion may be fabricated separately from the clips 320 or fabricated together with them so as to provide unitary piece.
The above embodiments and preferences are illustrative of the present invention. It is neither necessary, nor intended for this patent to outline or define every possible combination or embodiment. The inventor has disclosed sufficient information to permit one skilled in the art to practice at least one embodiment of the invention. The above description and drawings are merely illustrative of the present invention and that changes in components, structure and procedure are possible without departing from the scope of the present invention as defined in the following claims. For example, elements and/or steps described above and/or in the following claims in a particular order may be practiced in a different order without departing from the invention. Thus, while the invention has been particularly shown and described with reference to embodiments thereof, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes in form and details may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.
