US1396294A - Focusing-socket for electric lamps - Google Patents

Description

E. A. SNOW. FOCUSING SOCKET FOR ELECTRIC LAMPS.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 22, 1920- 1,396,294. Patented Nov. 8, 1921.

IN VEN TOR.

WMATTORNEY cylindrical base or EUGEN E A. SNOW, 0F RIVER FOREST, ILLINOIS.

FOCUSING-SOCKET FOB ELECTRIC LAMPS.

Application filed March 22,

T 0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EUGENE A. SNOW, a citizen of the United States, residing at River Forest, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented new and useful Improvements in F ocusing-Sockets for Electric Lamps, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

My invention relates to the sockets of elec tric lamps which heretofore have been in some cases so constructed that when it was desired to focus incandescent electric lamps used in reflectors, particularly of automobiles, it was necessary to loosen a set-screw and adjust the lamp in the desired position, and then tighten the screw again. This, considering the position of the reflector, took both time and labor.

The object of my invention is to provide a simple and comparatively inexpensive improvement to the socket of the lamp, whereby such an adjustment of the lamp can be accomplished easily and quickly by hand, substantially as hereinafter fully explained and as particularly pointed out in the claims.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a longitudinal central section of a lamp socket embodying my improve ments and the reflector attached thereto and a side view of a lamp adjustably inserted therein.

Fig. 2 is a transverse section of the same taken on dotted line 2, 2, Fig. 1 looking in the direction indicated by the drawings.

Fig. 3 is a side view of the upper broken away portion of the reflector socket holder and lamp socket, shown in Fig. 1.

Fig. 4 is a detail view showing a central section of the socket holder.

In the drawings A represents an electric incandescent lamp constructed in the usual manner and provided with what is known to the trade as an Edison base, B, that is, a plug having one or usually two diametrically opposite short pins 7), b, projecting therefrom. When in use the base of the lamp is inserted in its cylindrical metallic socket C and these pins enter bayonet slots 0 and move longitudinally therein to the ends of said slots and the lamp is then turned on its axis to cause the pins to enter the lateral portions of the slots in which they are retained by the pressure of a yielding electrode.

My improvements employ the same lamps Specification of Letters Patent.

7 Patented Nov. 8, 1921. 1920. Serial No. 367,644.

and sockets now in extensive use, but the tubular boss or holder D in which said socket is secured is constructed differently. This metallic boss D, has the annular edge of the central opening of a reflector E seated and secured in a clrcumferential groove, or annular rabbet 6 made next the outer end of said boss, substantially as shown in the drawings.

The diameter of the entrance of the bore of the boss, at its front end, is but slightly greater than the circumference of the socket C, but to the rear of said front entrance the bore is increased in diameter and forms a seat f for a helical-spring F. The rear convolution of this spring is seated in an annular groove 9 made in said bore, and the one end thereof is bent outward and enters and is secured in a suitable perforation G in the wall of the boss. The end of the spring (which terminates immediately back of the front entrance of the bore of the boss is unsecured and the normal diameter of the bore of the spring is slightly less, say, one thousandth of an inch) than the outer circumference of the socket.

In operation the socket can be inserted in the boss D by passing it inward and at the same time turning it on its axis in the direction of the lateral portion of the slots 0. The friction of the outer circumference of the socket against the spring when the socket is turned in this direction slightly uncoils and expands the spring, and permits the socket to be adjusted either inwardly or outwardly according to the position it is desired to give the lamp and. when the lamp is released the spring will immediately contract and clamp and retain the socket in said position. If the lamp is turned in the opposite direction the frictional engagement of the socket will contract the spring and prevent the socket from turning. This permits extraction of the lamp by disengaging the pins 7), b, from the lateral portions of slots 0 of the socket and bringing them into the longitudinal portions thereof and the removal of the lamp easily efi'ected.

It will be apparent that the hcreinbefore described may be junction with a lamp having screws into its socket. In this ever, it would be necessary for of the socket to be smooth.

\Vhat I claim as new is:

1. In a focusing device for electric lamps,

improvement used in cona base that event, howthe exterior a tubular boss having adjacent to one end an external recess, a reflector which is fixedly attached to the boss apart thereofheing seated in said recess, an internal shoulder locatedadj acent to the end ot-the boss having the external recess, an internal recess ad jacent to the opposite end of the boss, a helical spring maintained within the boss by engagement at one end with the internal shoulder and at the other end by the internal recess, and a tubular lamp socket that is maintained in place by frictional engagement with theinner surfaces ofthe helical spring a A, a I

2. na focusing device for incandescent electric lamps, comprising a boss to which a reflector is fixedly attached, said boss having an internal shoulder adjacent to one end and adjacent to its other end an internal recess which is intersected by an aperture which extends through the boss, a spiral spring maintained within the boss, an end portion of the spring being shaped to engage with the recess and with the wall of the aperture, the opposite end portion of said spring engaging the shoulder, a lamp socket maintained in frictional engagement with the spring and means for connecting a lamp to the socket. V

'In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand this 17th day of March, 1920.

EUGENE AjsNoW.

WVitnesses:

FRANK D. THOMASON, VIoLE'r WARDELL.

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