US1314008A

US1314008A - Liams

Info

Publication number: US1314008A
Authority: US
Publication date: 1919-08-26
Anticipated expiration: 1936-08-26

Description

A. C. McWILLlAMS.

FILM SOCKET FORSERIES LAMPS.

APPLICATION FIEED IULYH. 1911.

1,3 1 4,008 Patented Aug. 26, 1919. 4

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1- 412 l *Ill A. c. McjwlLLlAms; FILM SOCKET FOR SERIES LAMPS. APPLICATION min ;uL Y n, 1912.

,3 14,008 v Patented 26, 1919.

2 SH -SHEET.2.

UNITED STATES PATENT ()FFIQE.

ARTHUR C. MCWILLIAMS, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO GEORGE CUTTER COMPANY, SOUTH BEND, INDIANA, A CORPORATION OF INDIANA.

FILM-SOCKET FOR SERIES LAMPS.

Specification of Letters latent. Patented Aug, 26, 1919.

Application filed July 11, 1917. Serial No. 179,815.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ARTHUR C. MoWIL- LIAMS, citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Film- Sockets for Series Lamps: and "I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description ofthe invention, such. as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

In its general aspects, my inventionrelates to sockets or receptacles for series circuits and aims to provide advantageous means for maintaining the circuit closed at all times, regardless of the rupturing of a portion of the circuit in an attached socket or other auxiliary appliance or of the bodily removal of such auxiliary appliance. the same aspect, it also aims to provide simple and positive means for interlocking the socket with the detachable appliance to prevent an accidental separation. thereof, while permitting the same to be manually separated or joined at will; also, to provide simple means for introducing a puncturable dielectric at a desirable point in the circuit, for affording convenient access to the dielectric and for quicklyrestoring a punctured dielectric to operative condition without moving the latter. I

In another aspect, my invention relates to means for positively limiting the voltage required for puncturing the dielectric safety element in a film-protected lamp socket, for quickly attaching or detaching the same without materially afi'ecting this puncture voltage, and for quickly shifting the puncture points on a given dielectric element to utilize the latter repeatedly without detaching this element from its mounting.

More particularly, my invention relates to sockets for series lamps and aims to provide a common carrier as to positively interlock with the socket while automatically opening an otherwise closed shunt around the lamp and while permitting the lamp itself to be freely rotated with respect to the socket; to provide common means for making one of the electrical connections from the socket to the lamp and to one of the dielectrically separated elements; to afford a simple, effective and easily manipulated mounting for the dielectric; to define puncture points upon the latter and to permit these puncture points to be instantly shifted without the use of tools and without moving or even touching the dielectric; to provide a substantially constant pressure of the mounting against the dielectric, thereby maintaining the puncture voltage below a desired maximum, and to provide a generally simple, compact and cheap series socket construction. Still other ob]ects will appear from the following specification and from the-drawings, which drawings, however, are understood as illustrating only one embodiment of my invention.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a vertical and for the most part central section through a series socket embodying my invention, with a lamp in place.

Fig. 2 is a transverse section through the same, taken along the line 22 of Fig. 1 and looking downward.

Fig. 3 is a transverse section, looking upward from the line 33 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 4.- is a perspective view of the. upper portion of the lamp with the film-carrier and film in position on the lamp base.

Fig 5 is a perspective view of aspring fingered fork of the socket proper.

Fig. 6 is an enlarged perspective view of the detachable film-pressing collar of Figs. 1 and 1.

Fig. 7 is a fragmentary section ofa socket showing another shape of the live contact terminal.

Fig. 8 is a perspective view of an independent gripper finger, a number of which may be used in place of the fork of Fig. 5.

In L employing my invention on series lighting circuit the socket embodying the same may desirably have a porcelain base 1 integral with a porcelain collar 2, and may have on its base wire terminals 3 and 4 as shown in Fig. 1. Secured to these terminals and contacting with each other when the lamp is removed from the socket are

line closing contacts

5 and 6, of which the former is here shown as extending near one side'of the bore of the collar 2 but terminated short of the mouth of the latter, while the companion contact 6 extends substantially transversely of the socket and is continuously forced by its own resiliency toward the contact member 5. The base 1 also carries a plurality of arms 7 all extending within the bore of the collar 2 toward the mouth of the latter and all continuously pressed inward by their own resiliency, which arms may be carried by a common base, as in Figs. 1 and 5, 01' may be independent as in Fig. 8. These arms or gripper fingers 7 all have bends substantially in circumferentialalinement about the axis of the collar 2, thereby affording shoulders for jointly engaging a bead 8 on a clamp-cap 9. The contact 5 desirably is shorter than the arms 7 but so disposed as to engage the side of the clamp-cap 9 when the latter is thus interlocked with the arms 7. This clamp-cap fits over the screw base 10 of a standard incandescent lamp 11 and is clamped u)on saidbase by the screw 1:2

drawings.

Interposed between this clamp ring 17 and l the top of the clamp-cap is a dielectric, de-

sirably in the form of a flat ring of cloth or paper, which dielectric is thus clamped be tween the said clamp-cap and the camactuated ring 17. However, instead of providing the latter ring 17 with an unbroken flat contact surface and thus permitting the dielectric to he punctured at any point whatever, I provide substantially conical tits 18 on this ring, thus defining definite puncture points in the dielectric-(or film, as the latter is commonly called in series lighting practice). Consequently, if the lamp burns out while in position, the-current will jump through the film at one or more of these definitely located points, leaving the remainder of the film ring substantially unscorched. Then, upon withdrawing the lamp from the socket and thereby affording access to the clampcap and the parts carried by the latter, the clamping ring 17 can readily be raised slightly and then rotated sufficiently to cause the tits 18 to bear on fresh portions of the film, thereby resetting the film without moving or touching the latter;

In practice, I have found that a film of the small size easilyspositioned over an ordinary lamp base can thus be used. a number of times, and since the film itself need not be moved or in any Way disturbed while resetting the film clamp, I avoid the tearing of the film which has been so common where the attempt was made to move a film which had been partly scorched to adjoining parts by the puncturing s ark. Moreover, I have found that by suita 1y pointing the tits 18 and suitably proportionlngthe cooperating spring fingers 16 and the slope of the cam surface on the Stud 14." I can effectively keep down thevoltage required for puncturing the film, being thus able to reduce it to several hundred Volts less than that required for the same film with the film holding parts of the series sockets heretofore in use. Consequently, I avoid the risk of having the voltage rise sufficiently with the burning out of one lamp to affect other lamps on the circuit alsoa point of particular importance with the modern nitrogen filled lamps in view of the higher temperatures at which they operate.

At the same time, it will be obvious from the drawings that the clamp-cap 9 can be instantly slipped over and attached to the base of an ordinaryEdison base lamp, thereby making this clamp cap substantially integral with the lamp. Then, on slipping this cap into the socket, the bead 8 readily engages the spring fingers, thereby securely interlocking the lamp with the socket so that it cannot jar loose as in the case of screwthreaded sockets and parts threaded thereinto. When thu positioned, any rotating of the lamp about its axis (as when cleaning the same) cannot affect the security of its position, and there is no danger of its graduall y creeping out of the socket. Meanwhile the stud 1 by pressing against the line contact (3 (which contact is suitably spaced from the shoulder on the line contact 5 to give this effect) holds the automatic line-closing contacts apart, yet permits them to contact instantly when the lamp is removed from the socket. Moreover, since the resistance of all the sloping shoulders engaging the bead 8 must {be overcome, the lamp must be pulled out with some speed, so that the said lineclosing contacts engage each other too rapidly to permit the arcing which has proven destructive in corresponding portions of series sockets having threadedly connected parts permitting a slot withdrawal of the lamp and of the film-carrier. Likewise, when replacing the film-carrier and the lamps on which it is mounted, the joint resistance of the spring fingers 7 insure a quick snapping of the film-carrier into its to any one accidentally reaching the mouth of the socket.

Wheirthe film has been used a sufficient number of times to'effectively utilize it, the film-ring 17 can readily be pulled off the stud 14 and the film itself replaced with another. To avoid a change in the effective pressure dueto a possible bending or distorting of the fiat portion of the ring 17, I

preferably dispose the tits 18 substantially in line with the spring fingers 16. However, I do not wish to be limited to this or other details of the construction herein disclosed,

:leaving the gripping of the latter entirely to the spring fingers 7 I claim s my invention: 1. Means for shuntingthe filament of a series incandescent lamp, comprising a metal member secured to one terminal'of the lamp, a conductor carried byand insulated from the said member and contacting-with the other lamp terminal, and an auxiliary member mounted directly on the said conductor and disposed for clamping a dielectricbetween itself and the said metal member, the conductor having an enlarged head and the auxiliary member having a resilient portion adapted to be snapped over the said head.

2. Means for shunting the filament of a series incandescent lamp, comprising a metal member secured to one terminal of the lamp, a conductor carried by and insulated from the said member and contacting with the other lamp terminal, and an auxiliary member mounted directly on the said conductor and disposed for clamping a dielectric between itself and the said metal member, the auxiliary member being rotatable with respect to the metal member and one of the said membersbeing equipped with a projection directed toward the other member to define a puncture point in the dielectric.

3. Means for shunting the filament of a series incandescent lamp, comprising a metal member secured to one terminal of the lamp, a conductor carried by and insulated from the said member and .cont-acting'with the other lamp termin'al, and an auxiliary member mounted directly on the said conductor and disposed for clamping a dielectric between itself and the said metal member, the

auxiliary member being rotatable with re-,

spect to the metal member, andone of the said members being equipped with a plurality of symmetrically disposed projections directed toward the other member to define puncture points in the dielectric.

'4. In a lamp and socket combination, a metal cap substantially incasing the lamp shell and electrically connecting one terminal of'the lamp direct to a line terminaL'a contact member carried byfibut insulated from the cap and connecting the otherlamP terminal to the circuit, and an auxiliary conducting member detachably disposed be- V respectively contacting with the lam tween the cap and the auxiliary conducting member and rotatable with respect to'the cap.

5. In a lamp and socket combination, a metal cap substantially incasing the lamp shell and electrically connecting one terminal of the lamp direct to a line terminal, a contact member carried by but insulated from the cap and connecting the other lamp terminal to the circuit, and. an auxiliary conducting member detachably disposed between the cap and the contact member and rotatable with respect to the cap, the auxiliary conducting member being rotatable with respect to the contact member.

' 6. In a lamp and socket combination, a metal cap substantially incasing the lamp shell and electrically connecting one terminal ofthe lamp direct to a line terminal, a

'contact member carried by but insulated from the cap and connecting the other lamp terminal to the circuit, and an auxiliary conducting member detachably disposed between the cap and the contact member and rotatable with respect to the cap, one of the elements between which the dielectric is disposed being equipped with puncture-defining projectlons directed toward the other of said elements.

7. Means for shunting the filament of a series incandescent lamp, comprising a metal member secured to one terminal of thelamp, a conductor carried byifand insulated from the said member and contacting with the other lamp terminal, andan auxiliary member mounted directly oirjthe said conductor and disposed for clampinga dielectric between itself and the said metal member, the auxiliary member having resilient portions and the said conductor being so shaped that clamping disposition merely by the engagement of the said resilient portions with said conductor- 8. Filament-shunting means for an incandescent lamp, comprising a pairof metal members associated with the lamp base and terminals on the latter, a puncturable ielectrio disposed. on the surface of one of the said members, an auxiliary metal element interposed between the dielectric and the other metal member, and cam means associated with said auxiliary element and the last named member for causing the auxiliary element to press against the dielectric.

9. In a series electric lighting system, the combination with a lamp'and' a. socket, of an annular metal element electrically connected to one lamp terminal, anannular dielectric disposed on the said annular element, a metal stem axial of the dielectric and electrically connected to the other lamp terminal, and an auxiliary metal member mounted onthe stem and presenting a plurality of projections spaced points to press the dielectric against the said annular element; the auxiliary metal member beingarranged for manual retraction fromthe stem and rotation on the latter, thereby permitting the said projections to successively engage diflferent points of the dielectric.

10.. In a series electric lighting system, the combination with a lamp, of a pair of annular elements disposed for'jointly shunting the lamp, and an annular and puncturable dielectric disposed between said elements, the said annular elements being relatively rotatable.

11. In a series electric lighting system, the

combination with a lamp, of a'pair of an nular elements disposed for jointly shunting the lamp, and an annular and puncturable dielectric disposed between said elements, the said annular elements being relatively.

rotatable and one thereof being equipped.

with puncture-defining projections directed toward the other thereof.

12. In a series electric lighting system,

base, a dielectric disposed upon said annular end, and clamping means carried by the stem and pressing the dielectric against said annular end, the clamping means being movable upon the stem so that the same may be brought to press successively against different portions of the dielectric.

13. For use on a series circuit, a terminal carrier; a circuit-connecting appliance therefor equipped with means for simultaneously gripping the carrier, making the circuit connections thereto and opening a shunt around said connections; the said means including a stem secured tothe carrier and a shunting switch member engaged by the stem to open the switch; and auxiliary means for shunting the said connections, the said auxiliary means comprising a conducting element concentric with the' stem, a resilient element rotatably mounted on the stem, and a dielectric clamped between the said elements.

14. For use on a series circuit, a terminal carrier; a switchin socket therefor, and an intermediary mem er rigidly clamped to the terminal carrier and arranged for methus gripped; and auxiliary shunting means comprising. a clamping-member rotatably mounted on the last named conductor and a dielectric clamped between the two conductors.

.115. In a socket for a series lamp, the combination with a pair of current conducting members normally forming part of the cirsuit to the lamp,-oi' a uncturable dielectric disposed upon one of the said members, and means connected to the other member and engaging the dielectric nd adapted to shunt the circuit upon a puncturing of the latter,

the said means being movable to bring the same into engagement with different parts of the dielectric without moving the latter. I

16. For use with an Edison base series lamp and a socket havin a self-closing line switch and a plurality 0% spring fingers, an intermediary member carried by the lamp and comprising a substantially single-piece cup-shaped metal element housing the screwshell of the lamp and afibrding direct electrical connection from the latter to one terminal of the line switch and having formations interlocking with the spring fingers to hold the intermediary member and the lamp in predetermined relation to the socket, a conductor carried by and insulated from the cup-shaped element and disposed for atfordin direct electrical connection between the axial lamp terminal and the other terminal of the line switch and for opening the line switch, an annular dielectric disposed