US3277292A

US3277292A - Light wands

Info

Publication number: US3277292A
Application number: US335815A
Authority: US
Inventors: John J Horan
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1964-01-06
Filing date: 1964-01-06
Publication date: 1966-10-04
Anticipated expiration: 1983-10-04

Description

I Oct. 4, '1966 JQJ. HORAN 3,277,292

LIGHT WANDS Filed Jan. 6, 1964 :3 Sheets-Shed 1 INVENTOR J- J. HORAN Oct. 4, 1966 LIGHT WANDS 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Jan. 6, 1964 INVENTOR. QQW

J. J. HORAN LIGHT WANDS Oct. 4, 1966 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed Jan. 6, 1964 HUN H 1 4 1 1 1 I Fav V 1 R 4/ l1 INVENTOR. QJ-@.W

United States Patent 3,277,292 LIGHT WANDS John J. Horan, 420 Quigley Ave., Willow Grove, Pa. Filed Jan. 6, 1964, Ser. No. 335,815 14 Claims. (Cl. 240--73) This invention relates to a new category of electric lighting and convenience apparatus that is particularly suited for use in the home. Devices of this invention fall into a permanence vs. portability category midway between household electric fixtures, on the one hand, which are permanently secured on wall or ceiling directly to electrical terminal boxes and cannot be relocated except by craftsmen skilled in the art and using appropriate tools, and which then make necessary plastering or other repair to cover the wound, and, on the other hand, to so-called lamps, more properly termed lamp holders, which stand on their own portable, weighted, bases (or, in compact form, hang on picture hooks) and are equipped with electrical power cords having plug-in connectors, which may safely be connected to or removed from any electrical convenience outlet by the housewife.

To furnish the devices of this invention with a name which is descriptive and which distinguishes them from art in the two older categories, they are termed light wands. The light wands of this invention do not require the services of an electrician and plasterer whenever they are to be installed, removed or relocated, as do household electric fixtures; nor do they impose the penalty of scarring wall panels with hooks in conspicuously high or eye-level areas, as do so-called pin-up lamps, nor do they demand floor or table space as do ordinary household lamps, or, more properly, lamp holders. They do not have to be moved to permit vacuum-cleaning or dusting of floors and walls.

The light wands of this invention generally have a bracket suitable for attachment to vertical surfaces and, particularly, to the baseboards of wood, metal, etc., that commonly cover the joints between walls and floors within the rooms of a house or apartment. The bracket can, however, be attached directly to electrical terminal boxes and even to floors, preferably adjacent to walls. To this bracket there is attached an upwardly pointing elastic rod member, which, when unstressed, is usually straight or slightly curved. The rod may be made from various materials and have variously shaped cross sections. Preferably, the rod member will not be made of materials that are brittle (in the range of probable loads), subject to plastic creep or deform by frictional processes. The local stiffness (elastic) may vary, generally increasing from the tip toward the base.

Mounted at the tip of each rod member or supported therefrom is a fixture, preferably consisting of an electriclight bulb or lamp, a socket for the lamp, a housing enclosing the socket, and a reflector, shade, globe, or combination of such light-directing or diffusing means. A switch may be located at the lamp-holding fixture or at any convenient point along the rod member, which supports, along its length, a portion of the length of the electrical power cord that is adapted to be plugged into any convenience outlet. The rod member is generally matched in stiffness to the weight supported by it and deflects elastically in order to position the lamp at the desired point.

The light wands of this invention accomplish such new objects as the following:

3,277,292 Patented Oct. 4-, 1966 To provide electric-lighting assemblies that do not require permanent installation by licensed craftsmen, as do chandeliers, sidewall brackets, etc., and yet are free from the placement limitations presently entailed with those lighting assemblies known generally as household lamps, which necessarily compete with other furniture and accessories for floor and table space;

To provide electric-lighting assemblies for room interiors that do notrequire emplacement of high and conspicous hangers that conspicuously scar walls, as do socalled pin-up lamps, and that do not trail cords conspicuously down and along the walls toward the nearest convenience outlet;

To provide conveniently placeable electric-lighting assemblies for the home that are not susceptible to being knocked down or knocked over by blows accidentally received;

To provide a means for positioning a light source either above the occupant of a chair or above a table without employing a heavy-based, awkward, so-called bridge lamp;

To provide electric-lighting assemblies that may optionally be left undisturbed by the householder, regardless of the movement of rugs and furniture, or may at his option be simply relocated without hiring skilled craftsmen;

To provide domestic electric-lighting assemblies that, when simply installed by anyone, will yield elastically and thus withstand either sharp vigorous blows or great deformation without damage either to themselves or to brackets, walls, etc., at the point of installation and without pulling out mounting screws, etc.

To provide domestic electric-lighting assemblies uncomplicated by mechanism but having in themselves the capability of permitting large adjustments in position or orientation of the light source to be made simply and with a minimum of effort, through utilization of the elastic properties of materials in the concept;

To provide domestic electric-lighting assemblies having in themselves the capability of assuming elastically a wide range of structural configurations in order to comply with aesthetic or other criteria of the person making the adjustment, and with a minimum of effort required to make the adjustment;

To provide domestic electric-lighting assemblies that fulfill the objectives above, while still being very light in weight and low in cost;

To provide domestic electric-lighting assemblies that, in general, use less material and are lighter in weight and cheaper to fabricate than are any other types of lighting assemblies of comparable overall dimensions or lighting capacity;

To permit low-cost factory shipment of domestic electric-lighting assemblies more cheaply by utilizing in their construction elastic rod members, which can be transported in quantity more compactly and cheaply when in straight form;

To introduce a new and artistically sound styling concept for electric-lighting decor.

Still other objects and novel features of this application will become apparent in the balance of the specification, in the claims, and in the drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a partially sectioned overall view of a light wand of this invention;

FIG. 2 is a partially sectioned view of a weighting means particularly suitable for use upon the light wand of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a partially assembled second form of weighting means intended for use upon the light wand of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a view of a portion of a light Wand of this invention diflerently arranged;

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary view of another form of the light wand seen in FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is a partial view of a light wand of this invention arranged in another manner;

FIG. 7 is a sectional view of one form of rod member 'for a. light wand of this invention, the section being cut near the lower end thereof;

FIGS. 8 and 9 are sectional views of the rod member seen in FIG. 7 but cut progressively closer to the tip of the rod member;

FIG. 10 is an overall view of another light wand of this invention, partly sectioned;

FIG. 11 is a partially sectioned view of the installed lower end of a light wand of this invention;

FIG. 12 is a view of another form of installed bracketing arrangement for a light wand of this invention;

FIG. 13 is a view of still another form of bracketing arrangement for a light wand of this invention;

FIG. 14 is a view of the mounting arrangement alternatively applicable to a light wand of this invention.

Referring now to FIG. 1, there is shown a plasticsheathed, tapered steel rod 21 of considerable length, say 5 to 8 feet when straight and unstressed. The rod is restrained and mounted in bracket 28 that is secured to baseboard 29. It might, alternatively, have been shown mounted in other brackets shown in other figures herein. Bracket 28 comprises primarily a tubular portion to receive the lower end of rod member 21 and a sheet metal portion shaped like an inverted letter J the thinwalled short legs 39 of which is pushed or driven down behind the baseboard as far as it will go, the bracket 28 then being locked in place by inserting screw An electric power cord 22 is adapted for plugging into wall-mounted convenience outlets. The cord 22 cOmmunicates via its path along the rod member 21 with the dishshaped light fixture 23, which is suspended from the tip of rod 21. A conventional socket, hidden within the fixture, and an electric lamp 24 complete the suspended array, the weight of which causes rod 21 to assume the contour shown. The switch assembly 25 is mounted at about the midpoint of the rod member 21.

Referring momentarily to FIG. 2 in connection with FIG. 1, there is shown a tube 26 of soft plastic or of cloth, temporarily empty and, therefore, flat at one end 27 and fitted with

drawstrings

32, 32 as a closure at the other end. The tube 26 is shown cut away at 33 to reveal shot 30, which may be of metal or plastic, and which are shown to be partially filling the bag 26. The length of the bag 26 in this instance has been selected to be sufficient to lie full length around the circumference of the fixture 23 within its turned-up rim 31. The amount, density, and distribution of shot selectively used to fill or partially fill the tube 26 controls the dip of the end of the rod 21 and, therefore, the posit-ion of the fixture 23, as well as the amount and direction of tilt, if any, of the fixture 23. Weighted tube 26, or "a shorter bag, may be suspended by

drawstrings

32, 32, as a pendant adjustment, from various light wand arrangements shown in this and other figures.

Other arrangements of weights, concealed or intentionally displayed, to suit selectively the various rods and fixtures shown in the drawings may be made. Referring, for example, to FIG. 3 in connection with FIG. 1, there is shown a pair of horseshoe-shaped

weights

35, 35, permitted by pivot pin 36 to open so as to allow them to slip around the slim upper portion 37 of fixture 2 3 and then to be closed and locked in position by screw 38. Weighting means of still different configurations will be found to fit and serve with eight-wand arrangements shown in FIG. 4 and other drawings herein.

Referring now to FIG. 4, there is shown the same rod 21, this time sunmounted by a fixture comprising a metal cup 40, a partly translucent glass shade 41, and a hidden socket 42 and bulb 43, indicated by dotted lines. The switch 46 is mounted on the underside. of tray 47. In this instance, the rod 21 undergoes the lesser deflection desirable in this semi-torchere light wand, because most of the tensile component of stress, which in FIG. I lay in the rod member 21 to the right of its curving neutral axis, has been removed from the upper portion of the rod 21 and placed in cord 48, both ends of which are shown terminating in short lengths of

bead chain

49, 50, though one such length would have sufficed. In this instance, the

bead chains

49, 50 are, respectively, retained in a keyhole-shaped opening in the bottom of tray 47 and a slit in the arm 51. Arm 51 is adjustable axially and angularly by loosening screw 52 and retightening it with the arm 51 in the desired position and angular orientation. As in the case of FIG. 1, 'any of the mounting brackets of this invention might have been applied to the support of rod member 21 in FIG. 4.

Refer-ring now momentarily to FIG. 5, in connection with FIG. 4, there are seen sectioned portions of tray 47 and arm 51, previously described. They have the same spatial relationship in FIG. 5 that they had in FIG. 4, in which this relationship was accomplished through interaction of rod member 21 with a tensile member, the cord 48.

The same spatial relationship between tray 47 and arm 51 in FIG. 5 results from insertion between them of strut 53, which, because it is on the opposite side of the neutral axis of rod member 21 from the prior location of cord 48 in FIG. 4, is stressed in compression rather than tension.

Referring now to FIG. 6, the upper portion of rod member 211 is again shown, it now having thereon a slidable rider 53 having three

pins

54, 55, and 56 that afford bearing surfaces aligned to impose a slight reverse curvature on rod 21. The farther down this rider 53 moves upon the more erect portion of rod 21, the higher will be the position of the fixture with the lamp inside. The rider here is high, its effect here being minimal. At the fixture end of chord member 57, which is in tension here, there is a disc 58 having peripheral notches 59 through 63, into one of which the bead-chain end of chord member 57 may selectively be engaged. Depending on the length of the taut portion of chord member 57 and on the identity of the notch selected, more or less rod curvature and right or leftward orientation of fixture 64, together with its shade 65 and lamp 66, may be obtained. The lower end of chord 57 attaches to ring 67, which tilts and locks in place when the direction of pull has a sufiicient axial component.

Referring now to FIGS. 7, 8, and 9 these figures portray in sequence a range of changes in section of one of the rod members of this invention. As will be discussed later, it is desirable to vary the elastic stiffness along the length of the rod in many instances. As may also be noted in the figure-s, the weaker portions of a plasticshro-uded steel rod, represented by FIG. 9, could appear to the casual eye to have as great or greater bulk than a stronger portion shown in FIG. 7. The steel rod initially has a V-shaped cross section 162 near the base bracket. The sharpness of the vertex angle, and, thus, the depth and stiffness of the rod about an axis crossing the page, decreases from base to tip, as at 163, 164, in which last the V-bend disappears. Obviously the section modulus could alternatively have been varied by cutting the strip on a taper, with the widest portion at the base and the narrowest at the tip, while keeping the vertex angle constant. The two-conductor electric cord carries the numeral 165 in all figures. A plastic shroud 166, which may be a spiral wrap or a tube, and which may be loose or tight, masks the structure and cord.

Referring now to FIG. 10, there is seen another light wand employing a tubular rod member 72 of distinctive character and manner of fabrication. The same bracket 28 that was used in FIG. 1 again appears. Stem 71 is a short rod adapted to fit into bracket 28. Bonded to stem 71, and extending upwardly therefrom, is a tubular rod member 72, wound from strip. Moving upwardly, the rod member 72 has a gradually increasing diameter. The upper and lower ends of the tubular rod member 72 are shown in section in order to portray the relationship of the rod member 72 to other components of this light wand. The flat surfaces of the strip from which the tube is wound are generally parallel to the winding axis, being only slightly divergent therefrom in order to yield a conical effect and to achieve the curvature under load, the winding axis actually being straight. The rod member 72 displays a tendency toward greater separation of successive coils along the upper and outer surfaces as at 74, 74, as compared with

smaller gaps

73, 73 along the inward and lower surfaces.

Socket 76 is secured to upper bracket 75, which in turn is bonded to one convolution 77 near the upper end of the wound tubular rod member 72. Opposite the bracket 75, on the lower side of convolution 77, a hole 80 allows the chain 79 to clear. Chain 79 operates the unseen switch in lamp socket 76.

Referring now to FIG. 11, there is shown the lower portion 01f rod member 81 of stepped-cylindrical cross section, as seen at 82. Rod member 81 has a short solid stem 85 that serves in part as a reenforcement where the rod 81 enters the hole 83 in bracket 84. The stem 85 drops also through hole 86 in bracket 84, the end of the tubular portion of rod member 81 thus serving as a stop. Bracket 84 has a sharpened edge 87 to facilitate driving it down behind baseboard 88. Screw 89 holds the bracket in place on the baseboard.

Referring now to FIG. 12, another bracket-rod member structure is seen. Here the rod is of channel-shaped cross section, the depth of the

channel flanges

100, 101 decreasing with increasing distance from bracket 93. The bracket 93 is of two-piece construction, having a frontal member 94 and sliding member 95, which fits over the top of baseboard 96. The sliding member 95 is preferably fitted with studs or

captive screws

97, 98, to which wing nuts 99 are secured.

Spotwelds

102, 102 anchor the rod member 91 firmly to the frontal member 94.

Referring now to FIG. 13 another bracket-rod member assembly structure is seen. The U-shaped rod 111 is spotwelded at its lower end around a solid stem that is threaded 113 at its lower endwith a coarse pitch. The U- shaped portion is too large to be admitted within tube 114; but the threaded stem projects below; thus the rod member can be tightened against the upper end of the tube 114 by turning lever 115. Tube 114 is part of a formed frontal portion 116 of bracket assembly 119. The rear plate 120 is secured to the front portion 116 by loose pivot 121 and wing nut 122, which rotates on stud 123. Stud 123, in turn, is welded to rear plate 120. Thus the frontal portion 116 may rotate and be locked anywhere within the limited arc permitted by slot 124 therein.

Rear plate 120 has a right-angled foot 125, which permits securing this plate to the floor 128 adjacent baseboard 127. Use of the foot permits driving only a single screw into baseboard 127.

Referring now to FIG. 14, there is shown a plate-type bracket 141, having four mounted holes 142, which may be used for fastening by screws to baseboard, wall, etc. Two pairs of hooks, such as the

pair

143, 143 shown in the figure, are adapted to grasp an object behind bracket 141, such as the conventional mounting brackets, normally located, top and bottom, on electrical receptacle boxes of the type customarily used for housing plug-in types of convenience outlets such as 144, 144. It Will be noted 6 that plate 141 has been relieved in the central area 153, so that it serves also as a protective cover for a receptacle box, while yielding full convenience access to

electrical outlets

144, 144.

Four more holes are provided 145 in plate bracket 141, two of these holes already having been covered by thumb nuts 146, that retain the screw-threaded ends of the hidden lower pair of hooks. The upper pair of

hooks

143, 143, joined by pivot 146, also project through plate 141 and await application of nuts 146, like those already secured to the threaded ends of the hidden lower books.

There are also shown two

straps

147, 148, which are spot-welded to plate 141. They'receive rod member 149. The upper strap 147 is serrated on its upper edge to receive, with choice of angular orientation, the pin 150 on rod member 149, which is of semi-cylindrical cross section. Since rod member 149 does not have the symmetry of circular cross section, it will fiex in the plane in which it has minimum moment of inertia. Thus, the position of the pin 150, when permitted to settle into one of the serrations in strap 147, determines the direction of flexure and lean of rod member 149.

The lower end of the two-conductor insulated electric cord 151, the upper end of which is supported by the upper end of rod member 149, terminates in the conventional two-prong plug 152, which is shown plugged into one of the pair of convenience outlets 144, accessible via the opening 153 in the plate 141.

Plate 141 might have been mounted by means other than shown, including the means normally employed by craftsmen. In such case, the usual mounting strap that is normally secured across the face of similar rectangular re ceptacle boxes might have been employed as an adapter for securing bracket 141. However, such an awkward arrangement would have interfered with the use of

convenience outlets

144, 144 and would have instead made it necessary to shut off power while permanently splicing wiring from the light wand to the wiring inside the box. It would not have been permissible to use the ordinary lamp cord shown.

Use of spliced wiring would have severely limited achievement of the list of objects of this invention; so such an arrangement would be greatly inferior. The arrangement shown in the drawing is inherently more consistent with the character of the light wands, which are readily subject to relocation by the householder without requiring rework of the installation by a craftsman. In this particular case, when the light wand is moved it is simply replaced by a cover plate.

Some discussion as to the amount of taper required in the rod members generally may be in order. At any point along a strictly horizontal beam or rod member having a fixed end, the bending moment is a function of the weight of the end-mounted fixture times the lateral distance from such point to the center of gravity of the fixture, plus the moment imposed by the weight of the intervening portion of the rod member itself. The latter moment, if relatively small, may be neglectedv The elastic stiffness which we will invest in the rod member at any point will be a function of the locally effective bending moment versus the fiexure desired there. When the ratio of length to depth is great enough, the rod becomes appreciably curved, as in these light wands; and the use of ordinary beam formulae will introduce serious error, because of the complexity of moment patterns due to the great changes in the slope of the curving rod member. For uniform curvature of a rod within an interval wherein it is substantially horizontal, the stiffness in the rod itself must increase toward the base end at the same linear rate as does the moment of the tip-suspended fixture. Assuming, for a rod of solid rectangular cross section and constant width, that the stiffness at any point is a function of the cube of the depth of the rod at that point, the radius of curvature will remain practically constant only for a short, approximately horizontal, interval if the cube of the depth within this interval increases linearly with the distance from the (3.6. of the fixture, or, to put it another way, if the ratio between the cube of the depth and the distance along the the rod remains constant within the interval. However, if this ratio increases as we move toward the fixed end of the rod or cantilever beam, the radius of curvature increases; that is, the rod becomes less curved.

The effect of the changes in slope of the curving rod is similar to that of increasing the ratio. The effective bending moment generally increases more slowly than it would in a horizontal beam interval. The cosine of the angle of inclination of the rod member decreases toward zero as we proceed toward the base end. This causes the gravity force to be applied more and more angularly across the rod instead of perpendicularly to the rod. The increasing angularity partly counteracts the effect of the increasing length of moment arm. In fact, as we approach the bracket end of the rod, the direction of moment application may become almost parallel with the axis of the rod. Rods of constant taper may appear to encounter the maximum transverse moments in the region of 30 to 50 slope. It is desirable to tailor the elastic stiffness of the rods to produce the desired curvatures and rates of change of curvature that will maximize the esthetic effect. In summary, although it will generally be found to be desirable to diminish the curvature as the bracket end is approached, the overall taper will be much less steep than it would be for a cantilever beam.

It will be obvious that various combinations of base structure, rod member, and fixture, as well as combinations of these with weights, tensile members, compressive members and auxiliary beam-type members can be made by anyone and will be within the scope of this disclosure. It will also be obvious that various combinations of features I have shown can be combined with various conventional items without departing from the scope of my invention, such combinations now being obvious to those skilled in the art who have seen my disclosure; and it is, accordingly, intended in the appended claims to cover such equivalents as may fall within the true scope of my invention and without the prior art. I wish it to be understood that this invention is not to be limited to the specific form or arrangements of parts which I have shown or described or specifically covered by claims.

Therefore, I claim:

1. The combination of:

a slender, elongated, flexible, elastic rod member having a base end and a tip end,

the elastic stiffness of said rod member varying at a predetermined rate with respect to the length thereof; bracket means located at said base end,

said bracket means being configured to be secured against an extraneous guiding surface, said rod member being oriented to project generally in a vertical direction from said bracket means;

means comprising an object of predetermined mass supported at the tip end of said rod member and applying a known downward gravitational force thereupon,

said force applied by said means being sufiicient, as related to the aforementioned stiffness of said rod member, to cause a predetermined, clearly visible deflection, elastically downward, of said tip end of said elongated, flexible rod member,

said object including an electric-lighting device having therein an electric lamp;

a pair of electrical conductors insulated from each other,

said conductors each having one end thereof terminating in an electrical power connector,

the other ends of each of said conductors being connected in electrical communication with said lamp,

the said combination constituting a decorative non-rigid apparatus for electrical illumination of room interiors,

whereby lightness in weight of household illuminating apparatus is made feasible.

2. An electric lighting apparatus as in claim 1,

the elastic stiffness of said rod member increasing toward said base end thereof.

3. An electric lighting apparatus as in claim 2,

the elastic stiffness of said rod member having been adjusted so that the said rod member describes an are having a radius of curvature that increases generally towards said base upper end.

4. An electric lighting apparatus as in claim 1,

said apparatus having auxiliary weight means supported at said tip end.

5. An electric lighting apparatus as in claim 1,

said apparatus having also a spacing member,

said spacing member being coupled at opposite ends thereof to said rod member,

said spacing member thereby spanning an interval of said rod member,

said spacing member imparting a force via said ends thereof into said rod member and modifying the deflection of said rod member at least at one end of said interval. 6. An electric lighting apparatus as in claim 5, at least one of said opposite ends of said spacing member being adjustable with respect to said rod member,

whereby the radius of curvature of said rod member in said interval may be manually adjusted and a range of positions for said lamp selected.

7. An electric lighting apparatus as in claim 5, said rod member having an axis,

said apparatus having also at least one projecting member extending transversely of the axis of said rod member,

said projecting member being interposed between said rod member and one of said opposite ends of said spacing member.

8. An electric lighting apparatus as in claim 1,

said rod member having two opposite surfaces curved in the plane of curvature, said apparatus having also a rider on said rod member, said rider having two mutually spaced bearing surfaces abutting against and bearing on one of the said curved surfaces of said rod member, and a third bearing surface so spaced from said first mentioned hearing surfaces as to abut and bear on the second of said curved surfaces of said rod member and to interfere thereagainst so as to change the curvature thereof elastically, whereby said rider constitutes an adjustment means for the position of said lamp.

9. An electric lighting apparatus as in claim 1,

said bracket including adjustment means for rotating said rod member at the base end thereof through a range of angular positions.

10. An electric lighting apparatus as in claim 9,

said bracket including clamping means for holding said rod member at the base end thereof against inadvertent rotation out of a selected orientation.

11. An electric lighting apparatus as in claim 9,

said adjustment means including provision for rotation of said rod member about plural axes.

12. An electric lighting apparatus as in claim 1, said elastic rod member having a generally tubular configuration, said conductors being routed at least in part therewithin.

13. An electric lighting apparatus as in claim 12, said elastic rod member being slotted, whereby greater deflection thereof is obtained.

14. An electric lighting apparatus comprising, in combination:

bracket means for attachment against a vertical surface,

an elongated, springy, elastic rod member having a base end and an upper end,

the base end terminating in said bracket means,

said rod member projecting generally in a vertical direc- 9 1t) tion from said bracket means; an electric-light fixture References Cited by the Examiner attached to said rod member at the upper end thereof, UNITED STATES PATENTS said fixture including therein an electric lamp of appmpriate mass; 912,308 2/1909 Grrmler.

and conductor means electrically connected to said lamp 5 8/1929 Canaday' and terminating in a plug for connection to electrical Reis X oWer outlets of the plug-in type the mass of said 2 Cabernoc X p 3,191,898 6/1965 McCullough 24843 fixture, including the lamp, comprising means of sufficient magnitude, in relation to the elastic stillness of FOREIGN PATENTS said rod member, to cause a predetermined, clearly 10 504,229 7/1951 Belgium.

visible, transverse elastic deflection of the upper end when said base end is secured against a vertical sur- NORTON ANSHER, y Examine"- face. CHARLES R. RHODES, Assistant Examiner.

Claims

1. THE COMBINATION OF: A SLENDER, ELONGATED FLEXIBLE ELASTIC ROD MEMBER HAVING A BASE END AND A TIP END, THE ELASTIC STIFFNESS OF SAID ROD MEMBER VARYING AT A PREDETERMINED RATE WITH RESPECT TO THE LENGTH THEREOF; BRACKET MEANS LOCATED AT SAID BASE END, SAID BRACKET MEANS BEING CONFIGURED TO BE SECURED AGAINST AN EXTRANEOUS GUIDING SURFACE, SAID ROD MEMBER BEING ORIENTED TO PROJECT GENERALLY IN A VERTICAL DIRECTION FROM SAID BRACKET MEANS; MEANS COMPRISING AN OBJECT OF PREDETERMINED MASS SUPPORTED AT THE TIP END OF SAID ROD MEMBER AND APPLYING A KNOWN DOWNWARD GRAVITATIONAL FORCE THEREUPON, SAID FORCE APPLIED BY SAID MEANS BEING SUFFICIENT, AS RELATED TO THE AFOREMENTIONED STIFFNESS OF SAID ROD MEMBER, TO CAUSE A PREDETERMINED, CLEARLY VISIBLE DEFLECTION, ELASTICALLY DOWNWARD, OF SAID TIP END OF SAID ELONGATED, FLEXIBLE ROD MEMBER, SAID OBJECT INCLUDING AN ELECTRIC-LIGHTING DEVICE HAVING THEREIN AN ELECTRIC LAMP; A PAIR OF ELECTRICAL CONDUCTORS INSULATED FROM EACH OTHER, SAID CONDUCTORS EACH HAVING ONE END THEREOF TERMINATING IN AN ELECTRICAL POWER CONNECTOR, THE OTHER ENDS OF EACH OF SAID CONDUCTORS BEING CONNECTED IN ELECTRICAL COMMUNICATION WITH SAID LAMP, THE SAID COMBINATION CONSTITUTING A DECORATIVE NON-RIGID APPARATUS FOR ELECTRICAL ILLUMINATION OF ROOM INTERIORS, WHEREBY LIGHTNESS IN WEIGHT OF HOUSEHOLD ILLUMINATING APPARATUS IS MADE FEASIBLE.