GB799499A - Improvements in or relating to electric torches - Google Patents

Abstract

799,499. Electric battery lamps. CHENG, W. G. Nov. 9, 1955, No. 32035/55. Class 39(2) A portable battery lamp for use alternatively as a torch or table lamp of the candle type, and comprising a casing with two end compartments each containing a lamp bulb connected to a two way switch for selective illumination of either bulb, one end being so shaped or arranged that the casing can be stood upright upon it when the bulb at the other end is used as a table lamp, is characterized by the feature that the end compattment which houses the lamp bulb 7 intended to be illuminated as a torch is separated from the battery by a transverse plastic partition or cup 9 fitted in the casing and provided on opposite sides of its base with interconnected contact means 8 and 12 for electrically connecting the positive terminal 13 of the battery to the movable switch member 15. In the example a plastic cup 9 secured near the flared lower end of a metal casing 1 by means of rivets 10 is provided with a slot in its side wall to receive a lateral tongue 15a projecting from a slidable contact strip 15 connected to the operating member 26 of a switch, movement of the slide in one direction serving to bring the tongue 15a against a contact disc or'plate 8 at the bottom of the cup 9 (shown inverted), and in the other direction bringing the free end of the contact 15 against a metal reflector 4 within which the bulb 7 is mounted. The centre contact of the bulb 7 abuts against a tougue 11 on the disc 8, which is connected by rivets to a metal strip 12 on the opposite side of the base of the cup, in contact with the positive pole 13 of the battery. When the free end of the contact strip 15 is brought against the reflector 4 in switch ing on the bulb 7 for use as a torch the other end of the contact strip bears against the lower end of a conductive strip 23 which is insulated from the casing and in contact with an inverted metal cup 18 at its upper end, the bulb circuit being completed by a spring 20 between the cup 18 and the negative pole or base of the cell 14. The bulb 19 at the narrow end of the torch is housed beneath a cylindrical cap 16 of transparent plastic or other material, and mounted in a socket 21 carried by an insulating disc 17 and connected by a metal strip 22 to the casing 1. The inverted metal cup 18 is secured to the underside of the insulating disc 17. Movement of the switch slide 26 upwardly from the intermediate or "off" position shown brings the contact tongue 15a against the disc 8, and the circuit of the bulb 19 is completed through the casing and contact strip 22. In a modification, Figs. 2 and 3, (not shown), the bulb 19 and transparent cap 16 are mounted on an inverted cup of insulating material which is slidable within the end of the casing 1, its inward and outward positions being defined by the heads of rivets which are engageable within holes in the upper part of the casing. A sliding contact maintains connection between the lamp socket and the casing.