US2728059A - Electric light socket provided with conductor insulation piercing contacts - Google Patents

Description

Dec. 20, 1955 H LAGIN 2,728,059

ELECTRIC LIGHT SOCKET PROVIDED WITH CONDUCTOR INSULATION PIERCING CONTACTS Filed Aug. 21, 1951 INVEN TOR. HERBERT LAGIN ATTORNEY 2,728,059 Patented Dec. 20, 1955 ELECTRIC LIGHT SOCKET PROVIDED WITH CON- DUCTOR INSULATION PIERCING CONTACTS Herbert Lagin, New York, N. Y. Application August 21, 1951, Serial No. 242,865 2 Claims. (Cl. 339-97) The present invention relates to an electric light socket and more particularly to the type used in the assembly of electric lamps and light fixtures of all types.

on October 19, 1948.

In these two patents, I have illustrated wire retaining prong.

oftentimes were soldered together.

The present invention contemplates in general the pro- The prongs here concerned with in one form are preferably made from a single member folded over upon itself to form two integral spaced elements between which the wire for the lamp is held as is illustrated in Pat. No. 2,427,464.

contact with the electrical wire upon inserting the prong in the base of the socket without the necessity first of stripping oil the insulation or soldering the wire to the contact with the prongs of the socket without requiring that insulation be stripped off the wire or that it be soldered to the prong, thereby decreasing the costs of socket assembly and reducing the time required therefor.

The wire holding and insulation cutting means here contemplated, are formed by the material constituting the prong itself, which material is forced or dished out as by a conventional stamping operation.

The present invention still further contemplates the provision of an electric socket in which the prong is formed sembled together.

These, other and further objects and advantages of the present invention will be clear from the description which follows and the drawing appended thereto in which Fig. 1 is a sectional elevation through a socket embody- Fig. 2 is a perspective view of a form of wire retaining prong according to my invention and broken to reduce the size of the drawing, showing a wire held thereby Fig. 3 is a sectional elevation of a modification of a socket according to my invention Fig. 4 is a perspective view, broken to reduce the size of the drawing, of a modified form of a wire retaining prong, according to my invention, and showing a wire held thereby Fig. 5 is a perspective view of a further modification of a wire retaining prong according to my invention, broken to reduce the size of the drawing and showing a wire held thereby.

Similar elements throughout the drawing are referred to by the same reference characters.

The wire retaining prongs 22 and 24 are formed from a resilient electnc itself to form a base by means of which the prong is cutting elements 34 and 36.

e switch compartment 38 is open at the bottom to receive the rotatable switch member 40 secured on the shaft 42.

The shaft 42 is carried on the support 44 which with the base 46 of the resilient electrode 48 is secured to the upper wall 50 of the skirt member 18 by the contact stud 52.

The top of the switch compartment body 16 is closed by the wall 54 which is slotted to receive the prongs 22 and 24 when they are inserted into the body 16 to assemble the socket, as will be described.

To assemble the socket, the cable 14 is inserted through the threaded opening of the cap 10 and spliced to form the two wires 56 and 58.

Referring now to Fig.

will be contacted by the metallic base of the lamp which is inserted into the socket.

The wire holding element'30 (see Fig. 2) is punched w to a m the sn r -li re ho d g membe 60. and he menin es; and 4- The other wire cutting element 34 is to form the inwardly extending sharp andfifi.

I opera ion th wire. 56., it in understood a h same operation applies to the wire 58, is inserted in the opening between the strap 60 and the element 30, where t is re a vel h y e d,

The prongs 22 and 24 are inserted in the slots in the ppe Wall 50 h y f r ng th emea r3 andi t a d t e e emen 30 n 3 r in the s rp pointe teeth 66,and 68 through the insulation of the wire against it thereby insuring good electrical contact without requiring the insulat'on to be stripped ofi. This also serves to eliminate any possible requirement of soldering as does the holding strap60.

To close a circuit through the lamp, the switch member 40 is rotated, by means of the conventional button (not shownlto force the resilient electrode 48 into contact with the prong 22, the circuit being completed through the prong 24 and the base of the lamp.

It will be noted that in the embodiment illustrated in Fig. 2, the wire is positioned on the inside of the prong and the contact made on either side of the strap member'60,th0ugh it will of course be recognized that only one cutting tooth need be provided. 7

In Fig. 5, I have illustrated a modification of a wire retaining prong in which the wire 56 appears on the outside of a wire holding element 70. The element 70 is punched outwardly to form the strap member 72, in which the wire is inserted, and the other wire cutting element 74 is punched inwardly to form the insulation cutting knife-like member 76.

Thus, when the prongs are ing slots in the upper wall 50, the knife-like member 76 is forced into the insulation to thereby make ,contact with the wire and may pass into the corresponding opening 78 remaining after the strap 72 is-punched out.

Referring now to Fig. 3, I have there illustrated an electric socket for use with the so-called butterfly switch by means of which any selected one of three light intensities, for example, 50 watts, 100 watts and 150 watts, may be utilized and in which socket the r-modification of prong illustrated in Fig. 4 is used, though it will be under.- stood that the modifications illustrated in Figs. 2 and may be used as well.

It will also be understood that the prong illustrate'din Fig. 4'may, if desired, also be used in the socketillustrated in Fig. l modified to accommodate that pron The socket illustrated in Fig. 3 may be'used with a special three intensity lamp, such as the General Electric Three-Lite lamp.

A lamp of'this kind is composed of two filaments and internally wired so that current passing through one filament will provide a 50 watt light, current passing through another filament a 100 watt light and current passing concurrently through both filaments will provide a 150 watt lamp, although a lamp having three different intensities of light may be utilized.

The switch by means of which either one or both'of the filaments'may be connected in the circuit is conventional andis sometimes referred to as a butterfly switch. Only. so much of its construction as is required for an understanding of my invention will be here described,

The cap 10 (see Fig. 3) is slotted ,or recessed to receive thestraightunbent prong members 80 and 82, one being illustratedin Fig. 4.

h switch co p t ent body also punched out pointed teeth v66 inserted in the correspond- 16 is providedwith lonci a p ne emb receiv ng. cha s an th he switchconrpartp entjg, which is open at the bottomand v 4 provided with the upper slotted compartment closing wall 50.

The upper wall 54 of the skirt member 13 carries the resilient electrode 84 and the support 86 which are riveted to it by the contact stud 88, the shaft 90 being carried by the support.

The prong member 82 is. provided with the pin or finfier 91 on which is carried the resilient electrode 92 and which electrode is'held thereon by the four starred or butterfly switch member 94.

The upper wall ,50 is recessed to have frictionally mounted therein the contact member 96 which passes through the wall 54 into the interior of the shirt member 18 where it may be contacted by the base of the lamp inserted in the socket.

The contact member 96 is provided with the pin or finger 5 5 on which is carried the resilient electrode 97 which is also held on the pin or finger by the pressure placed upon it by a contacting finger of the star shaped or butterfly switch member 94.

The prong member 80 is larger than the prong member 82 and extends through the wall 54 into the interior of the skirt member where it will be contacted by the base of a bulb held in the socket.

The four starred or butterfly switch member 94 is provided with the contacts 98, 190, 102 and 164, which engage the complementary shaped electrodes 34, 92 and 97.

Referring now to Fig. 4, each prong member 88 and 82 is punched out at the upper part 105 to. form the wire receiving opening 108 and the or knife-like element 119.

The lower part 112 of the prong is punched out to form the catch 114.

In operation, a .wire 56 of the cable 14 is inserted in an opening 108 of each of prong members db, 82, to pass through the same to the other side of said prong members, as shown in Figs. 3 and 4 of the drawing. These prong members 80 and 82 are then forced into the corresponding slots and channel in the switch compartment body. The tooth or knife-like element 110 is thereby forced into the insulation to cut it and make contact with the wire.

The body 16 is recessed at 116 and 118 to form shoulders under which the catches on the lower part 112 of the prong members 80 and 82 pass by reason of the inherent resiliency or spring-like characteristic of the material from which all of the prongs are made.

twill be understood that the prong members 30 and 82 are made of a resilient current conducting materialso that as a prong is forced into a corresponding channel, the catch 114 is pressed into the opening 12 to permit the prong to be inserted. As the catch 114 is brought into alignment with a recess 116 or 113, the cat-ch because of the resilience of the material will spring away from the opening under the shoulder formed by the recess to thus lock the prong in place.

It will thus be recognized that the unbent or raight prong serves members S9 and 82 three purposes, namely, to hold the wire in position, provide an insulation cutting and wire contacting means and a prong locking catch to hold the body member 16 to the cap 10.

It will also be recognized that l have provided a socket prong by means of which the wire -ior the electric light is held in place and which prong has provided an insulation cutting and wire contacting means which isforced against the wire through its insulation upon insertion of the prong into-the socket.

It will be further recognized that with the so ket just described, the requirement of stripping insulation the lamp wire and soldering it to the prongs of the socket,

is dispensed with though a satisfactory strong contact is provided wire cutting recntrant tooth ited only by the scope of the appended claims in view of the prior art. I claim: 1. An electric light socket comprising a body member adapted to fit one end a pair of prongs attached to said surface of the cap and traversing said recess and adapted to pass into said parallel slots; each of said prongs being formed with 'a perforation one edge of which is in the form of a reentrant pointed knife element; insulated Wires passing through an aperture in said cap; the strands of said Wires entering said recess and respectively passing through said perforations at one side of said prongs to the other side body member;

6 of said prongs; said prongs with said strands being forced into said slots so that the knife elements pierce through the insulation of said wires and make electric contact therewith.

2. An electric light socket as defined in claim 1, in which said body member is formed with interior shoulders adjacent said slots engaging resilient offset lug elements projecting from said prongs.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,012,627 Gilbert Aug. 27, 1935 2,181,576 Chirelstein Nov. 28, 1939 2,301,919 Petry Nov. 17, 1942 2,309,311 Grohsgal Jan. 26, 1943 2,451,680 Lagin Oct. 19, 1948

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