US2988725A

US2988725A - Refrigerator light socket

Info

Publication number: US2988725A
Application number: US685148A
Authority: US
Inventors: Thomas A Vallee
Original assignee: UNILECTRIC Inc
Current assignee: UNILECTRIC Inc
Priority date: 1957-09-20
Filing date: 1957-09-20
Publication date: 1961-06-13
Anticipated expiration: 1978-06-13

Description

June 13, 1961 T. A. VALLEE 2,988,725 REFRIGERATOR LIGHT SOCKET Filed Sept. 20, 1957 United States Patent REFRIGERATOR LIGHI SOCKET Thomas Vallee, Oconomowoc, Wis., assignor to Un lectnc, Inc., Milwaukee, Wis., a corporation of Wisconsin Filed Sept. 20, 1957, Ser. No. 685,148

2 Claims. (Cl. 339-126) This invention relates to sockets for mounting a lamp bulb by which the interior of an electric refrigerator or the like is illuminated, and the invention has for its gencral object the provision of an improved socket of that type which may be manufactured more easily, shipped more conveniently, and assembled into a refrigerator more readily than previously known sockets used for the same purpose.

The socket for a light bulb that illuminates the interior of an electric refrigerator or deep freezer cabinet usually comprises a cup shaped receptacle or shell which receives the light bulb base, molded into a resilient housing of insulating material. The shell has a conductive side wall and a conductive center contact insulated from the side wall and exposed at the interior of the shell, and the side wall and center contact of the shell are connected with opposite terminals of an electric current supply to provide for energization of the bulb. The housing, which is usually molded of rubber or neoprene, has an opening which provides access to the mouth of the shell and has integral flanges on its exterior by which it is adapted to be mounted in a hole in an inner wall. panel of a refrigerator or freezer cabinet. Current is brought to the shell by means of conductor wires which extend from a side of the housing which is remote from the opening therein, and the mounting flanges lie between said opening and the conductor wires so that when the socket is mounted on a panel a light bulb seated therein will be located in front of the panel and the wires will lie behind it.

Heretofore in sockets of the character described the conductor wires have been secured directly to the side wall and center contact of the shell, by solder or other conductive bonding means, and have had their end portions adjacent to the shell molded directly into the resilient housing.

Since refrigerator light sockets are usually made by a supplier located at some distance from the manufacturerof the refrigerators into which they are assembled, the relatively long wires molded into the housing of each socket and dangling therefrom were a source of constant annoyance. T-hey complicated manufacture of the sockets because they had to be inserted during molding of the housing; they were a nuisance during shipment of the sockets, and particularly in packing and unpacking the sockets before .and after shipment; and they were again a.source of annoyance when the socket was assembled into a refrigerator or freezer cabinet. Moreover, these wires'were long enough to become easily entangled with other objects and pulled out of the socket, thus rendering the socket worthless.

Obviously, too, the wires had to be long enough to permit their free ends to be readily connected to other units in'the electrical circuit of the refrigerator or freezer, but not too long for the wiring harness in which the socket was used, and consequently the socket with its attached wires did not have any substantial degree of versatility which would permit it to be used in substantially different models of refrigerators and freezers.

'In spite of these disadvantages, the practice of molding the end portions of the conductor wires into the socket housing has persisted for at least twenty years, as may. be seen from the patents to Kollath, Re. 20585 (originally issued in 1935), Langdon, No. 2,099,304 (issued in 1937), Welch, No. 2,277,468 (1942) and Holloway, No. 2,460,636 (1949).

In contrast to this long standing past practice, it is an object of this invention to provide a refrigerator lamp socket of the character described which has only a pair of simple terminal connectors exposed at its exterior, with no Wires permanently fastened to the socket and dangling therefrom, and wherein the projecting portions of the terminal connectors are effectively protected against the possibility of inadvertent short circuiting engagement by conductive objects.

It is also an object of this invention to simplify and facilitate the manufacture, as well as the subsequent handling, of refrigerator light sockets of the character described, by the provision in such a socket of a pair of simple terminal strips which may be very readily and se curely fastened to the shell in which the light bulb is engaged, as a sub-assembly prior to molding of the housing, and which terminal strips have exposed portions projecting outside the housing and adapted to cooperate with female spade-type terminal connectors to provide for connection to the socket of electrical conductors having any desired length.

Another object of this invention resides in the provision of a refrigerator light socket of the character described which is compact, and therefore easy to handle and ship, by reason of the fact that it does not have wires molded into its housing and dangling therefrom, and which, by the same token, is easier to manufacture because no wires need be handled during the process of molding the resilient housing.

With the above and other objects in view which will appear as the description proceeds this invention resides in the novel construction, combination and arrangement of parts substantially as hereinafter described and more particularly defined by the appended claims, it being understood that such changes in the precise embodiment of the hereindisclosed invention may be made as come within the scope of the claims.

The accompanying drawing illustrates one complete example of the physical embodiment of the invention constructed according to the best mode so far devised for the practical application of the principles thereof, and in which:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of a refrigerator light socket embodying the principles of this invention, shown in disassembled relation to a portion of a refrigerator wall panel in which the socket is adapted to be installed; and

FIGURE 2 is a longitudinal sectional view of the socket, shown installed in a panel and illustrating one type of wire terminal connector adapted to be used therewith.

Referring now to the accompanying drawings, the numeral 5 designates generally a refrigerator light socket embodying the principles of this invention and adapted to be installed in a panel 6, such as an inner wall panel of an electric refrigerator or deep freezer. In general the socket comprises a cup shaped shell or receptacle 7, in which the base of a conventional light bulb socket (not shown) is adapted to be seated, and a molded body.

8 of rubber, neoprene or other resiliently deformable insulating material surrounding the shell and providing a housing for mounting the same upon the panel.

The shell 7 has a substantially cylindrical metal side wall 10, helically ridged to provide threads which cooperate with those on a standard lamp bulb base, and terminating at its inner end in an inturned annular flange 11. The inner end wall of the shell comprises inner and outer

circular discs

12 and 13 of fibre or other insulating material. A coaxial rivet 14 holds the discs in flatwise superimposed relationship, with their marginal edge portions clampingly overlying the flange 11 to secure the 3 end wall to the side wall, and the inner end 15 of the rivet also serves as a center contact for a light bulb in the shell.

Embedded in and extending through the body of the housing are a pair of metal terminal strips 16 and 17 having end portions accessible from the outside of the body to provide

terminals

19 and 20. Conductors 21 may be connected to the

terminals

19 and 20, as by means of conventional female clip-type terminal connectors 22 fastened on the ends of the conductors, and in this way energizing current may be conducted through the terminal strips to a light bulb in the shell.

The inner end of terminal strip 16 is securely fastened to the shell by means of rivet 14, which thus also provides a direct connection between said terminal strip and center contact 15. The strip 16 preferably extends generally radially from the shell, but it may have a pair of opposite oblique bends along its length, as at 24 and 25, to insure adequate spacing between it and terminal strip 17.

Terminal strip 17 is preferably bent to a substantially L shape and has one leg 26 overlying and bonded to the outer surface of the cylindrical side wall of the shell, as by spot welding or soldering, while its other leg 27 projects laterally from the shell, parallel to the outer portion of terminal strip 16.

It will be apparent that both terminal strips have very secure connections to their respective parts of the shell, the security of those connections being augmented by the fact that the shell and terminal strips are molded into the housing as a sub-assembly, so that each terminal strip is embedded in the housing throughout a substantial portion of its length. Moreover, the terminal strips resist being pulled out of the housing by reason of the fact that an embedded portion of each strip is disposed at a substantial angle to its projecting portion so as to resist forces parallel to the exposed

terminal portions

19 and 20. On the strip 16 this angularly disposed embedded portion is the segment 28 which lies between the oblique angled bends 24 and 25 therein, while the inner leg 26 of the second strip is of course perpendicular to its exposed terminal portion.

To provide for mounting the socket in a panel, the housing has

flanges

29 and 30 extending therearound. These flanges oppose one another and are spaced apart a distance substantially equal to the thickness of a panel in which the socket is to be mounted, and their opposing faces are parallel to a plane lying between them. Preferably both flanges extend continuously around the housing so as to be adapted to grip marginal edge portions around a hole 32 in the panel to provide snug engagement with the panel whereby displacement of the socket is securely resisted and whereby a seal is provided which prevents passage of air and moisture from one side of the panel to the other through the hole 32.

A portion of the housing which is disposed entirely to one side of the flanges thereon defines a downwardly opening well 33 in which the shell is coaxially seated and the axis of which is substantially parallel to the planes of the flanges. Thus the housing may be: considered substantially L-shaped, with the shell-enclosing portion thereof forming one leg 34 of the L and the flanges 29and 30 extending around its other leg 35; The flange 29 which overlies the front surface of a panel. in which the socket is mounted is spaced sufficiently far out from the junction of the two legs: of the L to hold the shell in a position such that a bulb seated therein will be spaced forwardly of the panel a short distance; The lower portion of the shell-enclosing leg 34 of the housing comprises an annular relatively flexible lip 37 extending below the mouth of the shell to have sealing'engagement with the glass portion of a light bulb screwed into the shell, and thereby provides a moisture seal. for the mouth of the socket.

The rear flange 30 on the housing merges into a rearwardly projecting annular wall 39 which projects behind the panel on which the socket is mounted and defines a well 41, the axis of which is perpendicular to the axis of the shell and which opens away from the rear of the panel on which the socket is mounted. Into this well 41, from the bottom thereof, the exposed end portions of the two terminal strips project, so that they andthe terminal connectors secured to them are protected by the annular wall 39 from inadvertent short circui'ting engagement by conductive objects.

From the foregoing description taken together with the accompanying drawings it will be readily apparent that this invention provides a socket for refrigerator light bulbs wherein the dangling wires, molded into the housing of the socket, which formerly characterized such devices, have been eliminated, and wherein the shell in which the lamp bulb base is adapted to be received has a pair of terminal strips securely fastened thereto to provide a compact subassembly which can be conveniently molded into the resilient housing and which greatly facilitates shipping, handling and installation of the complete socket.

What is.claimed as my invention is:

l. A refrigerator lamp socket adapted to be installed in a non-circular hole in a panel of a refrigerator cabinet, comprising: a body of resilient insulating material; spaced opposing front and rear flanges on the body, completely encircling the same, and adapted to grip the marginal edge portions of a non-circular mounting hole in a panel; a short intermediate body part joining said flanges at their bases and having a non-circular cross sectional shape and size corresponding to that of the hole in the panel so as to fit the hole and cooperate with said flanges to hold the socket body against all movement relative to the panel; said body having a front part integral with said front flange and a smaller rear part integral with the rear flange; a metal shell mounted in a cavity in the front body part to receive the base of a light bulb, said shell having a center contact adjacent to the bottom of said cavity, insulated from the wall of v the shell; the rear flange projecting a uniform distance outwardly from said non-circular intermediate body part and comprising the largest portion of the rear body part, said rear body part being taperingly reduced in cross section toward its rear extremity and providing a rearwardly convergent nose which at its rear extremity has a non-circular shape similar to but smaller than that of said intermediate body part to facilitate insertion of the rear part of the socket through a hole in a panel from the front thereof; the front flange projecting outwardly from said intermediate body part farther than the rear flange so as to stop rearward inserting motion of the socket in a panel mounting hole when said intermediate body part is in registry with the edge of the hole said rear body part having a rearwardly opening well therein, the bottom of which lies' closely adjacent to the plane defined by the junction between said intermediate body part and the rear flange, the side surfaces of said well being substantially normal to said plane and together with the convergent external surfaces of said nose defining an annular wall on the rear body part to enhance the flexibility of said nose and thereby facilitate projection thereof through a mounting hole in a panel; and a pair of rigid terminal conductors embedded in the socket body, in spaced relation to one another, the inner end of one conductor being electrically connected with said center contact and the inner end of the other conductor being electrically connected with said shell, said conductors projecting rearwardly through said intermediate body part and the bottom of said well and having their rear end portions terminating and housed within said well.

2. The refrigerator lamp socket of claim 1, wherein said cavity in the front body part is disposed onan axis said plane.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 5 Cameron Apr. 6, 1920 Herskovitz May 18, 1926 McKinley Feb. 28, 1928 Webster Apr. 25, 1933 Kollath Oct. 22, 1935 10 Kaplan Nov. 14, 1939 Welch Mar. 24, 1942 Benander Aug. 4, 1942 Holloway Feb. 1, 1949 Cole Nov. 16, 1954 Woofter Feb. 17, 1959 FOREIGN PATENTS Germany May 2, 1957