US1959143A - Holding device for lamp-shade frames - Google Patents

Description

May 15, 1934. J. A. WATRAL HOLDING DEVICE FOR LAMP SHADE FRAMES Filed Nov. 7, 1933 I N VEN TOR. 24 fidfrd] ATTORNEY.

Patented May 15, 1934 UEE TABS HOLDING DEVICE FOR LAMP-SHADE FRAMES 2 Claims.

This invention relates to lamp-shade frames and more particularly to a construction for securing a lamp-shade frame to an electric light socket.

The principal objects of the present invention are to improve the construction of the holding devices for lamp-shade frames and to produce a holding device which is simplified in construction and less expensive to manufacture than prior constructions and which will hold a shade frame securely and firmly to a lamp socket.

With the above objects in view the invention consists in a holding device for lamp-shade frames embodying the novel and improved construction hereinafter described and particularly defined in the claims, the advantages of which will be readily understood and appreciated by those skilled in the art.

The invention will be clearly understood from the accompanying drawing illustrating a construction embodying the invention in its preferred form and the following detailed description of the construction therein shown.

In the drawing, Figure 1 is a view in side elevation of a construction embodying the invention applied to a lamp-shadeframe;

Figure 2 is a view partly in front elevation and partly in section substantially on the line 2-2 of Figure 3 illustrating a lamp socket and holding bar secured together; and

Figure 3 is a view in side elevation of the construction shown in Figure 2 looking from the right.

The construction illustrated in the drawing comprises an electric light socket indicated at 2 having the usual tubular projection or boss 4 into which is threaded a set screw 6. The socket is formed with a shoulder 7 having an outer fiat face 8 and located at the base of the boss 4.

The set screw 6 is provided with a head which projects beyond the peripheral surface of the boss 4 in all adjustments of the screw.

The construction for securing a shade frame to the socket comprises a bar indicated at 9. This bar is provided with aligned arms 10 and a loop 12 between said arms formed by bending the bar in an are considerably greater than a semicircle. This loop is connected with the arms 10 by curved portions 11 of the bar as clearly shown in Figures 1 and 3. Thus the loop is provided with an opening 13 for. the passage of the light cord and the head of the screw 6 in applying the bar to a lamp socket.

It has been heretofore proposed to secure a lampshade socket to a lampshade frame by means of a looped wire but my invention differs from the prior art devices with which I am familiar by providing a construction which, while possessing the necessary rigidity, may be produced at a considerable saving in cost.

It is to be noted that the light sockets intended to be used with lampshade holders of my invention and also those of the prior art are of standard construction and the distance between the surface 8 of the shoulder 7 and the screw 6, Fig ure 2, is a fixed one and is quite small. This imposes a limitation on the thickness of any holder designed to engage the socket between the shoulder 7 and the screw 6.

There is also a further limitation which must be given consideration. It is important that the bar 9 be rigid enough to constitute a firm support for the light socket. To this end it must be made of stock of relatively heavy gauge. In devices of the prior art using a looped wire for the socket support, this necessity of using stock of comparatively large gauge has also made it necessary to specially treat the loop to give it such shape in cross-section to enable sufficient stock to enter between the shoulder 7 and the screw 6 when the socket is turned in relation to the loop.

In the construction shown in the present application, I have taken into account the limitations set forth above.

To this end the bar 9 is made of sufliciently heavy stock to give the required rigidity to the frame, and the loop is formed with a fiat face 14, which fiat face is adapted to engage the flat face of the shoulder 7 to locate the frame properly with relation to the lamp socket. The loop possesses somewhat of a wedge shape in crosssection as clearly shown in Figure 2 and sufiicient stock enters between the shoulder 7 and the screw 6 to give a firm support to the socket.

Although a loop which is semi-circular in cross-section is shown as the preferred construction, some modification of this shape may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention or sacrificing any of the advantages thereof. For instance, the loop may be oval in cross-section or even triangular so long as there is a wedge-like portion presented to the screw head.

In applying the bar 9 to a lamp socket, the lamp cord is passed laterally through the opening 13 and the boss 4 on the socket is inserted axially through the loop 12 of the bar, the screw 6 being placed in position to pass through the opening 13 in this operation as shown in dotted lines in Figures 1 and 3. The bar 9 is placed with the flat face 14 in the loop 12 in engagement with the fiat face 8 of the shoulder 7 and the bar is then turned about the axis of the socket into a position such as shown in full lines in Figures 1 and 3. During this turning movement, the loop portion of the bar is forced against the head of the screw 6 between the same and the shoulder 7 and is pressed against the flat face 8 of said shoulder. The portion of the loop engaged by the head of the screw is also forced radially outwardly to a slight degree and the opposite side of the loop is thereby drawn over tightly against the boss 4. These actions serve to secure the loop portion 12 of the bar firmly to the lamp socket with the fiat face 14 of said loop portion in engagement with the face 8 of the shoulder '7.

To remove the bar from the lamp socket the bar is first turned about the axis of the socket to bring the head of the screw 6 into position in the opening 13 and the socket and the bar 9 are then moved relatively axially of the. socket to disengage the boss 4 from the loop portion 12 of the bar 9.

The bar 9 is secured to a lamp shade frame 16 so as to form a part of said frame. As shown in Figure 1, the arms 10 of the bar are secured to side members of the shade frame. This may be done in any well-known manner as by soldering, welding or clamping.

The above-described devices for securing a lamp-shade frame to a light socket are extremely simple in construction and inexpensive to manufacture. The construction described enables .a lamp-shade frame to be quickly and easily secured to and removed from a standard light socket and no changes in the light socket construction are required.

By adjusting the set screw 6, the force exerted by the screw on the loop portion of the bar 9 may be regulated.

While the bar 9 of semi-circular cross-section may be made at relatively small expense from a bar of circular cross-section by machining off substantially half of the bar on one side of the axis thereof, in practice the bar 9 would be made from stock which may be purchased in half-round or even triangular form directly from the mill. It then needs to be merely cut to the proper length and shaped to the required form.

It is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the particular construction and arrangement of parts of the illustrated embodiment of the invention but that this embodiment is merely illustrative of the invention and that the invention may be embodied in other forms within the scope of the claims.

Having explained the nature and object of the invention and having specifically described a construction embodying the invention in its preferred form, what is claimed is:-

l. A construction for securing together a lamp shade and a light socket, said socket provided with a cylindrical axially arranged boss with a shoulder adjacent the base of said boss and a set screw threaded transversely into said boss, said screw having a head projecting beyond the peripheral surface of the boss, said construction comprising a bar having an arcuate portion, the arc of which is greater than a semi-circle for encircling said boss, a fiat face on said arcuate portion for engagement with said shoulder and an outer face on said arcuate portion arranged to be engaged with the head of the screw by relative turning of the bar and said socket to secure the bar to the socket, the thickness of the arcuate portion of the bar being slightly greater than the distance between the shoulder of the boss and the screw head.

2. A bar adapted to be secured to a lampshade for supporting a light socket, said bar having a centrally located arcuate loop having a flat face, the outer surface of said loop meeting the flat face'thereof so as to form a wedge.

JOHN A. WATRAL.

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