US3517182A - Photoflash lamp unit - Google Patents

Description

June 23, 1970 1 N-BROKJKs T 3,517,182

PHOTOFLASH LAMP mm Filed Feb. 7, 1968 INVENTORS DAVID N. BROOKS BgfimD ELM BY M AT ORNEY 3,517,182 PHOTOFLASH LAMP UNIT David N. Brooks, Peabody, and Bernard Kopelman, Salem, Mass., assignors to Sylvania Electric Products Inc., a corporation of Delaware Filed Feb. 7, 1968, Ser. No. 703,675 Int. Cl. G03b 15/02 US. Cl. 2401.3 8 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A disposable package for holding a plurality of percussively ignited photoflash lamps including a platform which provides support and has protection for the percussion portion of the lamp to prevent accidental flashing. The platform has a plurality of arms extending from the center thereof which forms a post, and a plurality of apertures through which the percussive portion of the lamp extends. Each of the arms has a depression therein which is aligned with one of the apertures in the platform and receives the percussive portion of the lamp to thereby prevent the lamp from being accidentally flashed.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the invention The present invention relates to flash photography, and more particularly to a disposable package or unit containing a plurality of sequentially ignitable photoflash lamps with an individual reflector for each lamp disposed therein, and a connecting base for indexing the unit. More specifically, this invention concerns a disposable package for use with percussively ignitable photoflash lamps in which protection and support is afforded to the percussive portion.

Description of the prior art There has been a need for a more reliable photoflash lamp which is not based upon a supply of electrical current for ignition. To attain this goal, a photoflash lamp has been developed which flashes upon a percussive below. Such lamps are disclosed in the copending application of Kopelman, Ser. No. 679,142, filed Oct. 30, 1967, entitled Flashlamp and assigned to the same assignee as the present application.

The lamp disclosed in the Kopelman application includes a glass envelope, sealed at one end and enclosing a fill of oxygen and shredded zirconium foil. A deformable metal tube extends through the press seal to the interior of the envelope and is closed at its outer end. A charge of percussively ignitable material is disposed in the tube and when struck, will ignite and spew hot particles into the body of the envelope against the zirconium foil, thereby flashing the lamp.

Such lamps require packaging which is attractive yet functional and capable of being handled without igniting the photoflash lamp due to accidental striking. Although packaging for electrically flashed lamps has been developed, such units are not completely satisfactory for the percussive types. For example, in the United States patent to Kottler, No. 3,327,105, a housing is discussed for four electrically flashed lamps. These lamps are disposed upon a base and seated in front of reflectors. The reflectors and lamps are contained within a light transmitting shield.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION According to the present invention, we have discovered a single-use, easily handled unit for holding percussively ignited photoflash lamps. The package is adapted to be connected directly to a suitable hammer and indexing United States Patent 3,517,182 Patented June 23,, 1970 mechanism in the camera. A light transmitting cover is provided. for the unit and individual reflectors are included for each lamp so that a separate camera flash reflector is not needed, the individual reflectors being designed particularly for the specific lamp included in the package. A platform is disposed at the bottom of the package and an integrally connected center post is disposed therebeneath. The center post includes arms with a depression at the end of each into which fits a tube for percussive ignition of a lam The center post provides means for indexing and preventing accidental flashing of the lamps.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIG. 1 is an exploded, perspective view of a photoflash lamp package.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the upper surface of the base of the package. FIG. 2a is an enlarged cross-sectional view taken along the lines Za-Za in FIG. 3.

FIG. 3 is a plan view of the bottom of one embodiment of the base of the package.

FIG. 4 is a plan view of the bottom of another embodiment of the base of the package. FIG. 4a is a side elevational view of the base shown in FIG. 4.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS As shown in FIG. 1, the present invention comprises a disposable multilamp unit or package having a connecting base or platform portion 11 which is connectable with a suitable receiving socket in a photographic camera for indexing the percussive tube of the lamp before a hammer. Four vertically arranged photoflash lamps 12 of generally conventional shape are orthogonally spaced about the top surface thereof. Each photoflash lamp 12 comprises a hermetically sealed, light transmitting glass envelope containing a combustion supporting gas under pressure and a charge of ignitable metal which produces an amount of light of selected peak and duration when ignited by a blow upon tube 14. The construction and operation of the photoflash lamp is described in the previously mentioned application of Kopelman.

The press seal or bottom portion 15 of each of the photoflash lamps 12 rests upon the platform 11 and is supported by engaging shoulders (not shown in this figure). A percussive tube 14 of each lamp is disposed through an aperture 16 in the platform 11 and extends therebeneath to rest upon arms 18 and be cradled in a depression (not shown in this figure). Centrally disposed beneath the platform 11 is a center post which is formed integrally therewith. The center post can be designed so as to include a plurality of anvil portions 17 (one of each lamp) which are aligned with each of the apertures 16 and the sides of each of the percussive tubes 14 are disposed thereagainst. When using such anvil portions 17, protection for the percussive tube 14 is afforded together with prevention of ignition as might occur if the tube was accidentally struck before use. Moreover, the anvil portions serve as bases for the tubes 14 so that when the latter is radially struck by a hammer, unyielding support for the tube is provided, thereby reliably flashing the lamp. On the other hand, when the anvil portion 17 is not utilized, the tube 14 is supported by the depression and the aperture 16 thereby allowing the hammer blow at almost any angle. Such elimination is frequently desirable when a wire is inserted inside tube 14 as mentioned in the Kopelman application.

Disposed beneath the center post are arms 18 which cover the entire bottom of percussive tube 14. The arms 18 are integrally connected to the platform 11 by means of the centerpost. They intersect at the center of the platform 11 and are arranged in a cruciform shape. Because 3 of the protection afforded by arms 18, accidental flashing of the lamp is prevented when the package is handled or placed upon the camera. Each arm 18 has a depression 31 (clearly seen in FIG. 2a) positioned immediately below and aligned with aperture 16 and adapted to receive the end of tube 14.

Disposed between, and separating the photoflash lamps 12 from each other is a reflector portion of preformed sheet material having a light reflective coating and defining an inwardly dished, individual light reflector surface 29 of suitable shape for each of the four photoflash lamps 12. A light transmitting shield or cover 30 of substantially cubic shape is sealed to the top surface of the platform 11 and is disposed over the photoflash lamps 12 and the reflector portion 29.

Each of the photoflash lamps 12 and corresponding reflector surfaces 29 comprises a photoflash component suitable in itself for use in augmenting ambient light to achieve a desired amount of illumination. The selected photoflash component is connectable with a synchronizing hammer in the camera for ignition of the lamp 12 in timed relation iwth camera operation. Each photoflash component forms a complete attachment, without need for additional attachments or reflector structures other than the single connecting socket and the hammer elements.

Referring now to FIG. 2, the shoulders (which were previously mentioned) are disposed upon the top of platform 11 and spaced by a distance substantially equal to the width of the press seal 15 of the photoflash lamp 12. The percussive tube 14 will fit into the aperture 16 and the lamp will be fixedly held by shoulders 20. Centrally disposed in the base 11 is a square retention aperture 19 with the center post disposed therebeneath.

In FIG. 2a the disposition of the tube 14 in the aperture 16 is shown. The end of tube 14 can rest in depression 31 of arm 18. The distance between the upper surface of platform 11 and the bottom of depression 31, is substantially equal to the external length of tube 14. As mentioned previously, anvil 17 which forms the center post and integrally connects arm 18 to platform 11, can be eliminated so as to provide for a freely standing tube 14 in depression 31 with no anterior support. In that case, the center post is merely a connector. When anvil 17 abuts against tube 14, support and rigid disposition is provided.

In FIG. 3, the reverse side of the base 11 and cruciform arrangement of arms 18 beneath retention aperture 19* is shown. The arms 18 extend out sulficiently so as to be disposed beneath the aperture 16 in the base 11. A depression is disposed in the arms 18 and aligned with the aperture 16 (shown in FIG. 3) for retention of the tube 14.

A variation of the center post of FIGS. 1 to 3 is shown in FIGS. 4 and 4a. The platform 21 can be identical to the one described previously in FIG. 2. The arms 22 are arranged tangentially so as to meet substantially in the center thereof and form a post. Forming a part of and extending at right angles from the outer ends of each of the arms 22 are support extensions 24. Depressions 25 are disposed in the extensions and are aligned beneath apertures 26 in platform 21. Hence, When a lamp is placed on the top of the platform 21, the tube will extend through the aperture 26 and the end will fit into the depression 25..

As shown in FIG. 4a, the support extensions 24 and arms 22 are integral with platform 21 and connected thereto by means of anvil portion 27 (which may be eliminated and substituted by a connector as mentioned previously in the discussion of FIGS. 1 to 3). Preferably, a small recess 31 is cut at the inner end of each anvil portion 22 so as to provide for easy attachment of the 4 unit to the camera. The shoulders 28 which hold the lamp in place on the platform 21 function in the same manner as shoulders 20 in FIG. 2.

It is apparent that modifications and changes can be made within the spirit and scope of the instant invention, but it is our intention, however, only to be limited by the spirit and scope of the appended claims.

As our invention, we claim:

1. A photoflash unit comprising:

a platform support;

a center post disposed beneath said platform support and including a plurality of arms extending from the center;

means connecting said arms to said platform support;

a depression disposed in each of said arms;

a plurality of aperture means disposed in said platform support, each of said aperture means being aligned with one of said depressions;

a plurality of percussively ignitable photoflash lamps disposed on the top of said platform support, each of said lamps having a metal tube containing a percussively i gnitable charge and extending therebcneath, each of said tubes extending through said aperture means and terminating in said depression.

2. The unit according to claim 1 wherein each of said lamps includes a press seal at the bottom thereof through which said tube extends and said base has a pair of shoulders disposed against the sides of each of said preSs seals.

3. The unit according to claim 1 wherein each lamp has a reflector disposed behind it and said lamps and reflectors are contained within a light transmitting shield.

4. The unit according to claim 3 wherein said platform is generally square and four lamps are disposed thereon with four reflectors disposed behind said lamps, said platform and said shield joining together to form a generally cubic shape.

5. The unit according to claim 1 wherein the edge of said means connecting said arms to said platform is disposed between said aperture and said depression and forms a support anvil for said tube.

6. The unit according to claim 4 wherein the arms are arranged in a cruciform shape, the intersection of said arms forming a post and being disposed substantially in the center of said platform.

7. The unit according to claim 4 :wherein the arms tangentially extend from the center, the intersection of said arms forming a post being disposed substantially in the center of said platform.

8. The unit according to claim 1 wherein a central, generally square aperture is disposed on said platform, above the center point of said arms and adapted to engage a retainer on a camera.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 10/1933 Kobayashi 43l;93 XR 7/1963 Prochnow 240-13 3/1967 Aymar 240--1.3 4/1969 Shaffer et al 431-93 14,821 4/1934 Australia.

NORTON ANSHER, Primary Examiner F. L. BRAUN, Assistant Examiner US. Cl. X.R.

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