US1183870A - Portable electric lamp. - Google Patents

Description

gwvento'as atto'cmgs Patented May 23, 1916.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

HUBERT M. GREIST, FREDERICK W. BECKERT, AND GEORGE L. HINMAN, OF HAVEN, CONNECTICUT, ASSIGNORS TO THE GREIST MANUFACTURING COM- PANY, A CORPORATION OF CONNECTICUT.

PORTABLE ELECTRIC LAMP.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 23, 1916.

Application filed September 23, 1915. Serial N 0. 52,203.

Y b all whom it may 0011mm Be it known that we, llunnn'r M. Gnnis'r, FREDERICK l/V. Bucnun'r, and (inonon L. I-IINMAN, all citizens of the United States, residing at New llaven, in the county of New Ilaven and State of Connecticut, have invented or discovered certain new and useful Improvements in Portable Electric Lamps, of which the following is a specification, reference being had therein to the accompanying drawing.

This invention relates to that class of portable electric lamps inwhich clamping springs, (by which the lamps may be attached to various objects, and which also serve as lifting springs for suction cups) are normally housed within the conical bases of the lamps, but are capable of being partly extended beyond the bottoms of such bases when such clamping springs are to be used for attaching the lamps to various ob .jects, as the edge of a table, the back of a chair, or the like. The conical bases of these portable electric lamps, of the class to which the present invention relates, are usually formed of thin sheet brass, and the volute wire clamping springs have usually been attached to the insides of these thin sheet brass. bases by small clips soldered to the insides of the bases about midway of their height, these clips, in each instance, overlying one side of a median coil of the volute spring so as to leave the other parts of the coil free to perform a clamping attaching function, and also free to lift a sliding stem to which a rubber suction cup is secured, and by means of which suction cup the lamp may be attached to a looking-glass or other hard smooth surface, if desired. This soldering operation, in securing a spring to the inside of a hollow lamp base, is a somewhat diflicult one, and in thus attaching these volute springs directly to the insides of the thin brass bases of the lamps such bases are liable to be dented or buckled, either by the operation of soldering the clips to the bases, or by the strain on the bases at the points where the springs are attached, when stress is applied to the springs. While this trouble might be obviated by using heavy sheet brass for the lamp bases, such means of avoiding the difficulty would be objectionable on account of the increased cost; and

held in a lifted position by a volute the present invention has for its object to avoid this weakness in a simple and economical manner, by providing the spider washers, which serve to steady the sliding stems carrying the suction cups, with extensions having hooks with which the volute wire springs may be engaged to secure them in place, thus avoiding soldering operations, for attaching the springs to the lamp bases, altogether, as will hereinafter more fully appear.

In the accompanying drawing Figure l is a verticalv sectional view of a lamp base embodying the present invention, and Fig. 2 is a bottom view of the same.

Referring to the drawing, 12 denotes a thin conical sheet metal lamp base to which is suitably connected or attached a somewhat heavy or stiff metal spider washer 13, preferably of brass or bronze. This washer 13, in the preferred form of the invention herein shown, is secured to the base 12 by a tube or long eyelet 14 which is flanged or turned outward slightly at its top and bottom and which receives a vertically sliding stem 15 extending upward through the top of the conical base 12 and which is normally spring 16 the top of which is soldered or otherwise suitably attached to the lower end of said stem, thus making an enlargement serving as a stop to limit the upward movement of said stem under the lifting influence of said spring. The lowest coil of the volute wire spring 16 ,is preferably attached to the base 12 by being received in a groove afforded by an inturned lip 17 at the bottom of said base, one portion 18 of said lip being, in the present instance, bent down partly around said lower coil to'hold the same in place.

One of the longer arms 19 of the spider washer 13 is provided with two separated depending hooks 20 with which a median coil of the spring 16 is engaged, to hold said spring in place and said spring is preferably provided with a quick bend 21 disposed between said hooks, to insure a proper grasp of the latter on said spring. This means of attaching the spring 15 will leave a coil 16 sufliciently loose so that it may be partly drawn out of the base of the lamp to be used as a clamping spring to attach the lamp to any suitable object, the upper coils of the volute spring being also left free so as to exert a lifting influence on the sliding stem 14. By thus attaching the volute spring 15 to a stifl' arm of the spider washer 13 any danger of marring or indenting the thin sheet brass base 12 is avoided, and the soldering operations, heretofore required in attaching the springs to the bases, are done away with.

The extensions or longer arms 19 of the spider washer and. the upper surfaces of which are shaped to conform to the lower or inner surface of the lamp base, serve not only to stiffen said base but also serve to prevent any buckling or indenting thereof by direct strain thereon from the volute spring 16, either when the latter is compressed in forcing down the sliding stem 14, or in pulling out a clamping coil, as 16, when it is desired to attach the lamp to any suitable object.

The spider washer 13, with its longer arms or extensions 19, being of rather thick or heavy metal, serves to weight the base somewhat, so that the lamp will not be top heavy. Ihus any danger of denting or buckling the thin brass lamp base 12, through the spring 16, is entirely avoided, and the lamp base is stiffened and somewhat weighted by the washer 13 and its extensions, while the tube or long eyelet 14, by which the washer 13 is attached to the base 12, obviates the necessity of soldering the washer to the base, as heretofore.

From the foregoing it will be apparent that the invention provides a very convenient and desirable means for attaching volute wire spring,

volute clamping and lifting springs and spider washers to lamp bases.

Having thus described our invention we claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent:

1. In a portable electric lamp, the combination with a sheet metal base, of a metal washer located within said base and having an extended arm provided with depending hooks, and a volute wire spring a median coil of which is engaged with said hooks and thus is attached to said arm, leaving other parts loose.

2. In a portable electric lamp, the combination with a sheet metal base, of a metal washer located within said base and having an extended arm provided with depending hooks, and a volute wire spring a median coil of which is engaged with said hooks and thus is attached to said arm, leaving other parts loose, said spring being provided with a quick bend disposed between said hooks. 3. In a portable electric lamp, the combination with a sheet metal base, of a metal washer located within said base, a tube slightly flanged at top and bottom and serving to secure said washer to said base, 'a a median coil of which is attached to an arm of the washer, leaving other parts loose, a sliding stem within said tube and to which the upper end of said volute spring is attached, so as to exert a lifting influence thereon, and a suction cup carried by said sliding stem.

In testimony whereof we aflix our signatures, in presence of two witnesses. HUBERT M. GREIST. FREDERICK W. BECKERT. GEORGE L. HINMAN.

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