US3560733A

US3560733A - Take-apart lamp harp

Info

Publication number: US3560733A
Application number: US737674A
Authority: US
Inventors: Herman Bergman
Original assignee: Berger Instruments Inc
Current assignee: Berger Instruments Inc
Priority date: 1968-06-17
Filing date: 1968-06-17
Publication date: 1971-02-02
Anticipated expiration: 1988-02-02

Abstract

A take-apart lamp harp to be mounted on a lamp for supporting a shade thereon. The lamp harp has components which can readily be connected together and disassembled from each other. The lamp harp consists only of a bracket and a resilient bail. The bracket has a base provided with a pair of facing upwardly extending channels which flare upwardly away from one another. The channels having their interiors directed toward each other with each channel having an outer base wall extending upwardly from the base and a pair of opposed sidewalls extending inwardly from the outer base wall and respectively terminating in bottom edges which are spaced from and directed toward the base. At least one of the sidewalls of each channel is formed at its inner surface with an inner groove extending upwardly from its bottom edge, having an open bottom end, and having distant from its open bottom end an upper closed end. The resilient bail terminates in a pair of opposed elongated free end portions which flare upwardly away from one another to match the flare of the channels and are laterally movable into the channels. These free end portions of the bail are respectively provided with projections which are received in the grooves, entering into the latter through the open bottom ends thereof.

Description

United States Patent [73] Assignee Berger Industries, Inc.

Maspeth, N.Y. a corporation of New York [54] TAKE-APART LAMP HARP 10 Claims, 1 1 Drawing Figs.

[52] US. (I 240/148, 240/36, 240/108, 240/145 [SI] Int.CI. F2lv 17/00 [50] Field of Search [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,453,658 11/1948 Chilo 2,53I,023 ll/I950 Berger..

240/ 1 48 240/ l 48 240/ 148 240/ l 48 240/ I48 Primary Examiner-John M. Horan Assistant ExaminerT. A. Mauro Attorney-Kirschstein, Kirschstein & Ottinger ABSTRACT: A take-apart lamp harp to be mounted on a lamp for supporting a shade thereon. The lamp harp has componentswhich can readily be connected together and disassembled from each other. The lamp harp consists only of a bracket and a resilient bail. The bracket has a base provided with a pair of facing upwardly extending channels which flare upwardly away from one another. The channels having their interiors directed toward each other with each channel having a an outer base wall extending upwardly from the base and a pair of opposed sidewalls extending inwardly from the outer base wall and respectively terminating in bottom edges which are spaced from and directed toward the base. At least one of the sidewalls of each channel is formed at its inner surface with an inner groove extending upwardly from its bottom edge, having an open bottom end, and having distant from its open bottom end an upper closed end. The resilient bail terminates in a pair of opposed elongated free end portions which flare upwardly away from one another to match the flare of the channels and are laterally movable into the channels. These free end portions of the bail are respectively provided with projections which are received in the grooves, en tering into the latter through the open bottom ends thereof.

PATENTEU-FEB 2'91! 3,560,733

F/GQI z H A {5 26 28 0 INVENTOR. HERMAN BERGMAN ATTORNEYS P IE U FEB 2:971 3,560,733

SHEET 2 0F 2 INVENTOR. HERMAN BERGMAN ATTORNEYS 1 TAKE-APART LAMP'HARP BACKGROUND or THE INVENTION The'present invention relates to lamps.

In particular, the present invention relates to lamp harps.

As is well known, most modern lamp harps are designed so that they can be taken apart to enable the bail to be removed so as to lower the height of the lampfor shipment. Conventional lamp harps include a lower bracket which is separately attached to the lamp base, and, after shipment, the bail of the lamp harp is coupled to the bracket. For this purpose, in-addition to the bracket and bail-,- suitable sleeves are provided for longitudinal movement along the bail into a position with respect to the bracket where the latter receives the bail for releasably holding the bail and bracketassembled together, preventing inward movement of the bail legs out of the bracket. Moreover, it has been customary to provide flats on placed inwardly toward each other away from the channels of the bracket. In order to disassemble the components it is necessary first to force the bail to move downwardly so as to a bracket.

the sides of the bail legs to match the inner surfaces of the bracket channels.

These conventional constructions are undesirably complex and expensive tomanufacture and are difficult-to manipulate in connection with the assembling and disassembling the harp components.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION struction of this typewhere the bail and bracket remain re-v liably connected to each other with the bail rigidly held by the bracket and incapable of twisting with respect thereto, while at the same time the bail can be readily removed from the bracket through exceedingly simple manipulations.

It is a further object of the invention to eliminate the flats on the'bail legs while maintaining a rigid connection between the bracket and the bail.

Furthermore, it is an object of the invention to provide a construction of this type which is exceedingly simple and inexpensive to manufacture.

According to the invention the harp bracket has a base provided with a pair of opposed channels-The opposed bracket channels extend upwardly from the base. The interiors of these channels are directed toward each other, and each channel has 'an outer base wall integral with the base and a pair of I mutually parallel sidewalls extending inwardly from the outer base wall and terminating in bottom edges spaced from and directed toward the base. At least one of the sidewalls of each channel is formed at inner surface-with an inner groove having at the bottom edge of the sidewallan open bottom end and terminating in a closed upper end opposite to its open portions of the bailzare respectively providedwith projections which are respectively received in the grooves and which are inserted into the latter through the open bottom ends thereof.

Thus, with this construction, in order to assemble the bail with the bracket itis only necessary to initially situate the free end portions of the bail in the channels with the projections located just beneath the bottom edges of the sidewalls of the channels, and in this way these projections will have access to the open bottom ends of the grooves ready to be shifted upwardly along the interiors thereof. These projections can be moved up only to an extent limited by the closed top ends of. the grooves, so that as long as the projections remain in the groovesthe bail cannot be separated by upward movement away from the bracket and the legs of the bail cannot be dis- BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS The invention is illustrated by way of example in the accompanying drawings which form part of this application and in which:

FIG. I shows in elevation a lamp harp of the invention associated with additional conventional lamp components and shown in connection with a lamp shade and finial illustrated in dot-dash lines; I

FIG. 2 is an elevation of the elongated free end portions of the bail of the harp;

FIG. 3 is an elevation of the harp bracket shown connected with the elongated free end portionsof the bail, the right channel of the bracket and the right free end portion of the bail of FIG. 3 being broken away to show partly in section the manner in which the bail isreceived in the channel;

FIG. 4 is a bottom plan view of the bracket of FIG. 3 as seen when looking upwardly toward the lower surface thereof;

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary partly sectional elevation, at an enlarged scale as compared to FIG. 3, taken along line 5-5 of FIG. 3 in the direction of the arrows in a plane parallel to the left bracket channel of FIG. 3;

FIG. 6 is a transverse section looking upwardly toward the left channel bracket of FIG. 3, FIG. 6 being at the same scale as FIG. 5 and taken along line 6-6 of FIG. 3 in the direction of the arrows;

FIG. 7 is a fragmentary elevation showing, in a view similar to FIG. 3, the connection between the bail and bracket of a harp structure which slightly differs from that of FIG. 3;

FIG. 8 is a bottom plan view of the bracket of FIG. 7 as seen when looking upwardly toward the bracket;

FIG. 9 is a sectional elevation taken along line 9-9 of FIG. 8 in the direction of the arrows and showing the elongated free end portions of the bail joined to the bracket, the left leg of the bail of FIG. 9 being fragmentarily illustrated to more clearly show the structure of the bracket and FIG. 9 also showing this left leg in a dot-dash position just prior to movement of this left leg of the bail into registry with the bottom end of the left channel of the bracket;

FIG. 10 is an elevation taken along line 10-10 of FIG. 7 in the direction of the arrows and showing partly in section at an enlarged scale as compared to FIG. 7, the manner in which the bail is connected with the bracket; and

FIG. 11 is a transverse section taken at the same scale. as FIG. 10 along line 11-11 of FIG. 7 in the direction of the arrows and further illustrating how the bail and bracket are joined to each other.

DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Referring now to FIG. I, a lamp 20 is fragmentarily illustrated therein. This lamp 20 has an 'omamental support or base 22 the top of which is shown in FIG. 1. This support 22 has at its top end an opening through which a threaded pipe 24 extends, this pipe being fixed in any suitable way to the support 22. The top of the pipe 24 is screwed into the tapped bottom collar of a standard socket 26.

A lamp harp 28 of the present invention is firmly clamped between the support 22 and the socket 26. This harp 28 consists only of a harp bracket 30 and a harp bail 32. The bail 32 is in the form of an elongated resilient wire of circular cross section having had the configuration which is most clearly shown in FIG. I imparted thereto in a wire bending machine, while the bracket 30 is fabricated from a single piece of sheet metal by suitable punching, swaging and bending operations, as well as by further operations referred to below.

As is most clearly apparent from FIG. 4, the bracket 30 has a flat base 34 of elongated configuration formed with a central opening 36 through which the pipe 24 extends, and it is the base 34 which is clamped between the support 22 and the socket 26. At its opposed ends the base 34 of the bracket 30 has a pair of opposed upwardly extending U-shaped

channels

38a and 38b which are oppositely but equally outwardly inclined with respect to the base in the manner shown most clearly in FIG. 3. As is apparent from FIG. 3, the

channels

38a and 38b are inclined upwardly and outwardly from the base 30 at an angle of less than 90 with respect to the horizontal and preferably in the order of 30 to 45 off the vertical.

Each of the

channels

38a and 38b has an outer base wall integral with and extending upwardly and outwardly from the bracket base 34. The outer base wall 40b of right channel 38b is shown partly in section in FIG. 3, while FIG. 6 sectionally illustrates, in a transverse section, a downward extension of the outer base wall 400 of the channel 38a. These

channels

38a and 38b have in addition to their

outer base walls

40a and 40b, respectively, pairs of opposed mutually parallel side walls which respectively extend inwardly from the outer walls. Thus, FIG. 6 shows the opposed sidewalls 42a of the channel 38a while the opposed sidewalls 42b of the channel 38b are visible in FIG. 3. These channel sidewalls respectively terminate in bottom edges 44a and 44b which are spaced from and directed toward the bracket base 34. Thus, the

channels

38a and 38b are arranged with their interiors directed toward each other and with their sidewalls terminating in the bottom edges 44a and 44b which are spaced upwardly from the base 34 of the bracket.

Each of the channel sidewalls 42a and 42b is formed pursuant to the present invention at its inner surface with an inner groove 46a and 46b, respectively, and all of these grooves terminate in open bottom ends situated at the bottom edges 44a and 44b. As is particularly apparent from FIG. 3, these inner' grooves 46a and 46b are of the same inclination as the

channels

38a and 38b and extend upwardly from their open bottom ends to terminate at upper closed ends which are situated at a relatively small distance upwardly from the bottom edges 44a and 44b of the channel sidewalls.

The bail 32 has a pair of

opposed legs

50a and 50b (FIG. 2) which respectively terminate in inwardly inclined elongated free end portions 52a and 52b, the inclination of which matches the inclination of the channels, and the diameter of the circular cross section of the wire which forms the bail 32 is such that these elongated free end portions 52a and 52b can be laterally snugly slidably displaced into and out of the

channels

38a and 38b between the sidewalls thereof.

In the region of its bottom extremity 54a, the leg 52a if fomied with a pair of opposed projections 56a, while in the region of its bottom extremity 54b the elongated free end portion 52b of leg 50b is fonnedwith a pair of opposed projections 56b. As is apparent from FIGS. 2, 3, and 6, the

projections

56a and 56b are small enough to be respectively snugly slidably received in the grooves 46d and 46b, these projections being displaced upwardly into the grooves through the open bottom ends thereof.

Thus, in order to assemble the ball 32 with the bracket 30 it is only necessary to insert the

legs

50a and 50b into the

channels

38a and 38b with the

projections

56a and 56b initially located just beneath the bottom edges 44a and 44b of the channel sidewalls. In this way the

projections

56a and 56b will become aligned with the open bottom ends of the grooves 46a and 461:, respectively, so that in response to a slight upward movement of the bail 32 at this time the projections will be displaced longitudinally upwardly along the grooves and can move therein up to abut the closed top ends thereof.

The bail 32 has, when unstressed, a condition where the

legs

50a and 50b are spaced from each other by a distance greater than the distance between the

channels

38a and 38b. Thus, when these

legs

50a and 50b are deflected toward each other to be received in the channels, they will, due to their inherent resiliency, press outwardly against the

outer base walls

40a and 40b of the channels, and in this position the

projections

56a and 56b will respectively be received in the grooves 460 and 46b.

Once the bail and bracket are assembled as indicated in FIGS. 1, 3, 5 and 6, the bail cannot be removed from the bracket unless the

legs

50a and 50b thereof are first lowered to displace the projections downwardly beyond the grooves, whereupon the bail legs can then be deflected inwardly toward each other out of the channel. As long as the projections are situated in the grooves, in which they will remain due to the resilience of the bail and the friction resulting from the pressure thereof against the outer base channel walls, the bail cannot be displaced upwardly beyond the position where the

projections

56a and 56b respectively engage the closed top ends of the grooves 46a and 46b. The friction is sufficiently great to prevent the bail from shifting downwardly under the light weight of the lamp shade and finial. In addition these projections coact with the inner side edges of the grooves to prevent inward lateral displacement of the bail legs out of the channels'. Thus, the parts will remain reliably assembled until the bail is deliberately forced downwardly and deflected inwardly in the above manner to disconnect it from the bracket.

The inclination of the channels 38a and 38!) with respect to the base 34 of the bracket 30 not only contributes to the reliability of the connection by reason of the fact that the

legs

50a and 50b tend to resiliently move apart from each other to cammingly urge the projections upwardly along the grooves, but in addition the inclination of the channels and the matching inclination of the free end portions 520 and 52b will contribute to the stiffness of the structure and will reliably prevent any undesirable twisting of the bail with respect to the bracket.

Before the sidewalls 42a and 42b of the channels 380 and 38b are bent with respect to the outer base walls thereof, the grooves 460 and 46b are formed at the inner surfaces of the sidewalls as, for example, by being coined therein. Moreover, it is an easy matter to form the

projections

56a and 56b next to the

extremities

54a and 54b by coining, extremely close dimensional tolerances not being required, so that an exceedingly simple inexpensive method may be used for the manufacture of the structure.

It is to be noted that in the example of FIGS. l-6, the

projections

56a and 56b respectively have configurations substantially corresponding to the configurations of the grooves 460 and 46b, so that these grooves are substantially filled by the projections to further contribute to the reliability of the connection.

FIGS. 7-11 show another'embodiment of the invention which is identical with that of FIGS. 1-6 except for the dif ferences referred to below. I

With the embodiments of FIGS. 71l, the harp 60 has a bracket 62 which is generally of the same structure as the bracket 30. This bracket 62 has a flat base 64 terminating in ,the same way, at opposed ends, in the upwardly and oppositely

inclined channels

66a and 66b which respectively correspond to the

channels

38a and 38b. However, with the embodiment of FIGS. 7ll the inner side surfaces of the channel sidewalls are respectively formed with grooves 68a and 68b which are of a different inclination that that of the

channels

66a and 66b. Thus, as is most clearly apparent from FIGS. 7 and 9, the grooves 68a and 68b are inclined at an angle closer to a right angle with respect to the base 64 than are the channels 660 and 66b. However, these grooves 68a and 68b also have bottom open ends at the bottom edges of the sidewalls of the channels and terminate in upper closed ends situated only a relatively short distance upwardly from their bottom ends.

The bail 70 of the harp 60 also has a pair of opposed

springy legs

72a and 72b, and the bail 70 is also made of a springy wire of circular cross section. These

legs

72a and 72b of the bail 70 also terminate in inwardly inclined elongated free end portions 74a and 74b the inclinations of which correspond to that of the

channels

66a and 66b, respectively as is shown most clearly in FIG. 9.-These elongated free end portions 740 and 74b are provided in the region oftheir extremities 76a and 76b 'with pairs of opposed projections 78a and 78b'which are respectively received in the grooves 68a and 68b. It will be noted that the

projections

78a and 78b are much smaller than the

projections

56a and 56b and in fact may simply take the form of pimples of metal coined from the material of the wire which forms the bail 70.

With this construction the

projections

78a and 78b need not be located directly at the extremities 76a and 76b of the

legs

72a and 72b, respectively, and since they are substantially smaller than the grooves 68a and 68b, the parts can be manufactured with less accuracy than is the case with the embodiment of FIGS. 1-6.

Moreover, as 'a result of the illustrated inclination of the grooves 68a and'68b. when one of the legs of the bail is situated in a channel with its projections in the grooves thereof, this one leg can rock to some extent in the channel so as to facilitate entry of the other leg into or removal thereof out of the other channel, as indicated by the dot-dash line illustration of the leg 72a in FIG. 9. Nevertheless, it will be noted that when the

projections

78a and 78b are in the grooves 68a and 68b, the bracket 62 and bail 70 are reliably held together and cannot be separated from each other unless one of the bail legs is first deliberately forced downwardly, after which the bail leg can be displaced inwardly out of the channel. The friction between the legs and the base walls of the channels provides a sufficiently firm coupling to prevent the bail from being displaced downward under the weight of a lampshade and finial. 7

Therefore, while the construction of' FIGS. 7-ll can be made with somewhat less precision that that of FIGS. l-6, so

that it is even less expensive, nevertheless, the results with respect to ease of assembly and disassembly, low cost, and rigidity of the assembled harp 60 are maintained with this embodiment also.

lclaim:

1 l. A take-apart lamp harp consisting of a resilient bail and a bracket, said bracket having a base and a pair of opposed channels respectively extending upwardly from said base, said channels having their interiors directed toward each other and each channel having an outer base wall integral with said base of the bracket and a pair of opposed sidewalls extending inwardly from said outer wall, said sidewalls of each channel respectively terminating in bottom edges which are spaced from said base, at least one of said sidewalls of each channel being formed at its inner surface with an inner groove extending upwardly from its bottom edge, having a closed end distant from said bottom edge and having 'an open bottom end situated at said bottom edge of said sidewall, said resilient bail having a pair of lower elongated free end portions respectively movable'laterally into said'channels and respectively having projections respectively received ,in said grooves and dimensioned to move slidably upwardly therein through said open bottom ends thereof and. into abutment with said distant closed ends of said grooves for maintaining said bail assembled with said bracket.

2. The combination of claim 1 and-wherein said sidewalls of each channel are respectively formed with a pair of said inner grooves which are aligned with each other and said bail having at each of said elongated free end portions thereof a pair of opposed projections respectively received in the grooves of each channel.

3. The combination of claim 1 and wherein each channel of said bracket is inclined upwardly fromsaid base thereof at an angle of less then with respect thereto and said elongated free end portions of said bail respectively having inclinations corresponding to those of said bracket, channels.

4. The combination of claim I and wherein said elongated free end portions of said resilient bail have in an unstressed condition of the latter a distance from each other greater than the distance between said channels of said bracket so that when situated in the said channels said free end portions of said bail tend to resiliently press against said outer base walls of said channels.

5. The combination of claim 1 and wherein said projection at each of the free end portions of said bail is integral with said bail.

6. The combination of claim 5 and wherein said projection is formed from the material of said bail.

7. The combination of claim 3 and wherein said grooves are respectively of the same inclination as said bracket channels.

8. A take-apart lamp harp consisting of a resilient bail and a bracket, said bracket having a base and a pair of opposed channels respectively extending upwardly from said base, said channels having their interiors directed toward each other and each channel having an outer base wall integral with said base of the bracket and a pair of opposed sidewalls extending inwardly from said outer wall, said sidewalls of each channel respectively terminating in bottom edges which are spaced from said base, and at least one of said sidewalls of each channel being formed at its inner surface with an inner groove extending upwardly from its bottom edge, having a closed end distant from said bottom edge and having an open bottom end situated at said bottom edge of said sidewall, said resilient bail having a pair of lower elongated free end portions respectively movable laterally into said channels and respectively having projections respectively received in said grooves and dimensioned to move slidably upwardly therein through said open bottom ends thereof and into abutment with said distant closed ends of said grooves for maintaining said bail assembled with said bracket, each channel of said bracket being inclined upwardly from said base thereof at an angle of less than 90 with respect thereto and said elongated free end portions of said bail respectively having inclinations corresponding to those of said bracket channels, said grooves being inclined at an angle different from the inclination of said bracket channels.

9. The combination of claim 8 and wherein said grooves are inclined at an angle closer to 90 angle with respect to said base of said bracket than said legs.

10. The combination of claim 1 and wherein said projections of said elongated free end portions of said bail are situated in the immediate vicinity of bottom extremities of said bail where saidfree end portions thereof terminate.

Claims

1. A take-apart lamp harp consisting of a resilient bail and a bracket, said bracket having a base and a pair of opposed channels respectively extending upwardly from said base, said channels having their interiors directed toward each other and each channel having an outer base wall integral with said base of the bracket and a pair of opposed sidewalls extending inwardly from said outer wall, said sidewalls of each channel respectively terminating in bottom edges which are spaced from said base, at least one of said sidewalls of each channel being formed at its inner surface with an inner groove extending upwardly from its bottom edge, having a closed end distant from said bottom edge and having an open bottom end situated at said bottom edge of said sidewall, said resilient bail having a pair of lower elongated free end portions respectively movable laterally into said channels and respectively having projections respectively received in said grooves and dimensioned to move slidably upwardly therein through said open bottom ends thereof and into abutment with said distant closed ends of said grooves for maintaining said bail assembled with said bracket.

2. The combination of claim 1 and wherein said sidewalls of each channel are respectively formed with a pair of said inner grooves which are aligned with each other and said bail having at each of said elongated free end portions thereof a pair of opposed projections respectively received in the grooves of each channel.

3. The combination of claim 1 and wherein each channel of said bracket is inclined upwardly from said base thereof at an angle of less then 90* with respect thereto and said elongated free end portions of said bail respectively having inclinations corresponding to those of said bracket channels.

4. The combination of claim 1 and wherein said elongated free end portions of said resilient bail have in an unstressed condition of the latter a distance from each other greater than the distance between said channels of said bracket so that when situated in the said channels said free end portions of said bail tend to resiliently press against said outer base walls of said channels.

8. A take-apart lamp harp consisting of a resilient bail and a bracket, said bracket having a base and a pair of opposed channels respectively extending upwardly from said base, said channels having their interiors directed toward each other anD each channel having an outer base wall integral with said base of the bracket and a pair of opposed sidewalls extending inwardly from said outer wall, said sidewalls of each channel respectively terminating in bottom edges which are spaced from said base, and at least one of said sidewalls of each channel being formed at its inner surface with an inner groove extending upwardly from its bottom edge, having a closed end distant from said bottom edge and having an open bottom end situated at said bottom edge of said sidewall, said resilient bail having a pair of lower elongated free end portions respectively movable laterally into said channels and respectively having projections respectively received in said grooves and dimensioned to move slidably upwardly therein through said open bottom ends thereof and into abutment with said distant closed ends of said grooves for maintaining said bail assembled with said bracket, each channel of said bracket being inclined upwardly from said base thereof at an angle of less than 90* with respect thereto and said elongated free end portions of said bail respectively having inclinations corresponding to those of said bracket channels, said grooves being inclined at an angle different from the inclination of said bracket channels.

9. The combination of claim 8 and wherein said grooves are inclined at an angle closer to 90* angle with respect to said base of said bracket than said legs.

10. The combination of claim 1 and wherein said projections of said elongated free end portions of said bail are situated in the immediate vicinity of bottom extremities of said bail where said free end portions thereof terminate.