US1579936A - Reflector holder - Google Patents

Description

April 6 1926.

J. C. HERRON REFLECTOR HOLDER Filed Oct. 2, 19,24-

human 1 a I I m; ll W m ,dz cf/erra/y Patented Apr. 6, 1926.

UNITED STATES v v 1,519,935 PATENI OF I E.

JAMES C. HERRON', OF'CHICA'GO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR 'ro REFLECTOR & ILLUMIN T- ING CO., or CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION OF ILLINOIS.

REFLECTOR HOLDER.

Application filed October 2, 1924. Serial No. 741,133.

To all'whom it may concern Be it known that I, JAMES C. HnnRoN, a

.citizeirof the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in a Reflector Holder; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled. in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention relates to holders of the general class employed in connection with lamp sockets in supporting reflectors, shades or inclosing globes.

In employing such holders in certain classes of work, as for example in connection with show window lighting, several serious difficulties have been encounteredwithj the holders 110W in common use. One is due to the considerable variation in the diameter of the socket shells to which the holder is to be attached. Since even the make or general type of socket is often unknown to the reflector manufacturer or dealer, it is difficult for'him to judge the size of clamp which,

will be needed on the holders accompanying the reflectors, thereby leadlng to delays 1n corresponding Wltll customers or' exchanging holders, or else compelling the users to bend the supplied holders out of their proper shape in endeavoring to make them fit the sockets on which they are to be used.

While this'objection has been overcome to a certain extent by the adjustable holders heretofore provided, these in turn have con monly been objectionable in requiring the clamped portions of the holders to be bent to varying shapes whenadjusting them to sock ets of different diameters. frequently interferes with the firm clamping of the socket shell, causes the reflector to be moved out of its proper position with respect to the axis of the socket, and also obliges the maker of the holders to employ undesirably thin metal for the clamp of his holders. l Another serious objectionto the common types of holders resides in their being suit-. able only for affording a given spacing-between the socket and the reflector-gripplng portion of the holder, thereby confining the proper application of each holder to a single size of lamp. In practice, the-same sockets and reflect-orsare frequently employed with Such a bending any one of a number of sizes of lamps having different effective lengths (or lengths from their base ends totheir filament" centers), thereby requiring a corresponding change in the eifectivelength of thelholder according to the wattage of lamp which is to be used. lVhileadjustable holders have been constructed to meet this objection, these in turn have introduced undesirable complications, and have been lacking in rigidity and in their ability to retain their proper. adjusted position in spite ofj'arring. ,They also frequently have been objectionable through permitting direct rays of light from the lamp to issue through the holder when the latter was. in certain positions of adjustment. 7 i i My present invention aims to overcome all of 'thes'e*-objections' by providing a simple, firm and easily adjusted holder which can readily be employed interchangeably with widely varying sizesof socket shells'and with different sizes of lamps. More particularly, ,my invention provides a holder not 'to "be bent out of their shape during their attaching, in which this-clamp grips the socket shell along a large number of lines spaced circumferentially of the shell,

and in which the screw-connected Wings of the clamp remain substantially parallel throughout the range of adjustment of the holder. V It also provides a holder in which the 3djustment'for variations in the size of the lamp is effected bya bodily movement of the socket-gripping clamp with respect to the ieflectonsuppo'rting part of the holder, in which this'clamp has a tripod formation I affording the desired rigidity and has each of its lcgsheld against tilting although connectedto the main holder member only by single screw, and In which the clamp of the holder is held firmly in each adjusted position in spite of a possible loosening of 'the attaching screws through a jarring of the holder. Furthermore, myinvention provides an adjustable holder of this class in which the attaching legs of the holding clamp are'arranged so as to prevent the direct projection of light through the slots in which the attaching screws are movable during theadjusting of the holder.

Still further and also more detailed objects will appear from the following specification and from the accompanying drawings, in which Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a holder embodying my invention, assembled for use ping clamp of the holder, showing this as contracted for use with a socket shell of relatively small diameter.

.Fig. 4 is a similar view, showing the holder as expanded in diameter for clamping it to a considerably larger socket shell.

Fig. 5 is an enlarged elevation of one of the screws which attach the clamp portions to the holder member.

Referring to the illustrated embodiment,

. this includes a tubular main holder member 1 which desirably tapers upwardly and which is provided at its lower end withthe customary means, such as screws 2, for engaging the neck of the reflector, shade or globe 12 which is to be supported bymy device. To connect this holder member'to the shell of the supporting socket, I provide a socket-gripping member -which desirably consists of three counterpart portions connected by suitable screws. In the illustrated form, each of these portions comprises a shank 3 which extends into the bore of the holder member 1 and which carries at its upper end a cross-head. This cross-head preferably is composed of a plurality of flat parts,

such as the parts 4, 5 and 6, disposed at oblique angles to each other and adapted to bear tangentially against the shell 7 or 8 of the supporting socket. Each of the crossheads also desirably includes a pair of end portions 9 and 10 bent so as to be disposed approximately radially of the supporting socket, thereby permitting a ready connection of the end wings 9 and 10 on adjacent cross-heads by screws 11. here the neck of the. supported reflector 12 is considerably larger in diameter than the socket shell, I may also form a bend in the upper end of each shank 3 by providing a horizontal part- 16-between the upright main portion 3 of the shank and the cross-head, as shown in the drawings.

Each of the shanks 3 of the socket-gripping member is sec-uredto the holder member by a screw 13 extending through the lateral wall of the holder member and threaded into the said shank. To allow for an adjustment in the effective length of my device, I desirably provide the holder member with longitudinalslots 14, each of which slots has its major portion of a width slightly greater than the diameter of the shank 15 of one of the last named screws. Then I provide each such slot with spaced enlargements 17 each of which is adapted to house an enlarged shank portion 18 formed onthescrew adjacent to the head thereof. Thus arranged, it will be obvious that when each of these screws is tightened, the seating of the enlarged screw portion 18 in the corresponding enlargement of the slot through which the screw extends will prevent the screw from sliding along theslot. However, by backing out the screw until this enlarged portion 18 clears the outer surface of the holder, the screw will be free to move in the slot, so that the socket-gripping member can be moved longitiulinally of the holder member until the screw is in alinement with another enlargement of the slot. 3y suitably spacing these enlargements to correspond to the (liiference in the effective length of different wattages of lamps, I can readily adapt my holder for interchangeable use with lamps of such differences, thereby assuring the reflector manufacturer of an eflicient use of his reflectors.

By forming the cross-heads of the socketgripping member of flat portions disposed in relatively oblique planes to one another, I secure a firm engagement of each of these cross-heads with the gripped socket along a numberof vertical lines without requiring these gripping portions to be made of such a thin metal as to permit bending of the same. Consequently, I can employ relatively heavy metal for these parts and particularly so since the bends at the connections of the horizontal portions 16 of each socketgripping member to the shank and crosshead of that member permit the stems of this member 'to bend somewhat when adjusting my device to sockets of different diameters. This enables me to employ my device effectively with sockets having shells of greatly varying diameters, as shown for example in Figs. 3 and 4.

Since the socket-gripping member in the illustrated form has a tripod leg formation,

this in itself would tend to deter a rocking of the member about the screws which connect it to the holder member. However, I desirably provide the holder member with auxiliaryformations engaging the shanks 3 of the socket gripping member atpoints spaced from the screws 13, so as to positively prevent any such rocking. For this purpose, I am here showing the holder member as provided at its upper end with an inwardly directed flange 17 having recesses 18 through which the shanks 3 These recesses correspond closely in width 'to the shank, so that the lateral recess walls -w1ll engage the edges of the corresponding shanks to prevent each shank from rocking extend.

about the screw which secures it to the holder member 1.

through'that slot. To ventilate the holder member of the device, I form lateral open ings in the same and preferably do this by providing inwardly bent louvres 19 which extend upwardly within the holder as shown in Fig. 2, thereby also preventing light from being projected through these ventilating openings.

However, while I have illustrated and described my invention inan embodiment including varioushighly desirable features of construction and arrangement,'I do not wish to be limited to these, as numerous changes might obviously be made without departing either from the spirit of my invention or from the appended claims. Neither do I wish to be limited to the employment of all of the novel features of my invention in conjunction with one another.

I claim as my invention 1. In a holder for supporting a reflector or the like from a socket, a tubular holder member having means at its lower end for engaging the reflector, a socket gripping member having a plurality of shanks extending into the holder member, and screws re spectively securing the said shanks to the holder member; the holder member having longitudinal slots through which the respective screws extend, each slot being provided with spaced enlargements and each screw having an enlarged shank portion sooketed in one of the enlargements of the slot adjacent thereto when the screw is tightened.

which each shank of the socket gripping member extends downwardly beyond its engagement with the adjacent screw so as to close the slot through which the screw extends.

3. A reflector holder as per claim 1, in which each screw has the shank portion thereof inward of its enlarged shank portion of a diameter smaller than the portion of the adjacent slot between the enlargements of the slot; thereby permitting the screw to be slid from one to the other of the slot enlargements after retracting the screw to dispose its enlarged portion outside the holder, without detaching the screw from'the holder shank through which it is threaded.

Signed at Chicago, Illinois, September JAMES c. HERRON.

2. A reflector holder as per claim 1, in A

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