US3581080A

US3581080A - Lamp housing and electric terminal construction

Info

Publication number: US3581080A
Application number: US817400A
Authority: US
Inventors: Hugo Magi
Original assignee: Dominion Auto Accessories Ltd
Current assignee: Dominion Auto Accessories Ltd
Priority date: 1969-04-18
Filing date: 1969-04-18
Publication date: 1971-05-25
Anticipated expiration: 1988-05-25

Abstract

A lamp housing in which a crook-shaped terminal is looped around a split pin through which the bared end of an electric wire is inserted, so that the terminal contacts the bared end. One projecting part of the terminal is biased toward the center contact of an electric bulb by reason of another projecting part thereof bearing against a portion of the housing.

Description

United States Patent Inventor Hugo Magi Etobicoke, Ontario, Canada 817,400

Apr. 18, 1969 May 25, 1971 Dominion Auto Accessories Limited Toronto, Ontario, Canada Appl. No. Filed Patented Assignee LAMP HOUSING AND ELECTRIC TERMINAL CONSTRUCTION 7 Claims, 8 Drawing Figs.

U.S. Cl 240/8.2, 339/188, 339/217 Int. Cl 860: 1/32, HOlr 33/48 Field of Search 240/ 8.2, 8.3; 339/188 (C), 174 (Inquiry), 188 (R), 256 (T), 217 (R) [56] References Cited UNITED STATES IPATENTS 3,072,878 1/1963 Woodward et al 339/2 l 7X 3,226,537 12/1965 Hanson et al 240/82 3,320,607 5/1967 Rueger.......................... 339/221X 3,391,376 7/1968 Hammell et al 339/217X Primary Examiner-S. Clement Swisher Assistant Examiner-Daniel M. Yasich Attorney-Sim & McBurney ABSTRACT: A lamp housing in which a crook-shaped terminal is looped around a split pin through which the bared end of an electric wire is inserted, so that the terminal contacts the bared end. One projecting part of the terminal is biased toward the center contact of an electric bulb by reason of another projecting part thereof bearing against a portion of the housing.

LAMP HOUSING AND ELECTRIC TERMINAL CONSTRUCTION This invention relates generally to lamp housings of the kind used for marker lights and clearance lights on vehicles. More particularly. this invention relates to the interior of such a lamp housing, and to the shape and mounting arrangement of one of the terminals adapted to contact the light bulb.

One of the disadvantages of conventional lamp housings of the kind to which this invention is directed has to do with the large number of steps required for assembly. In many conventional lamp housings, a number of threaded fasteners are used, usually requiring corresponding tapped holes, while others require the soldering of wires to terminals, often in difficult 1ocations. Conventional lamp housings requiring threaded fasteners and/or soldering are by necessity more expensive to manufacture and more difficult to assemble.

In view of the above disadvantages of conventional lamp housings, it is an object of this invention to provide a lamp housing construction requiring no threaded fasteners and no soldering.

It is a further object of this invention to provide an electric terminal for use within a specially constructed lamp housing, the electric terminal being such as to perform four separate functions simultaneously: (a) to provide electrical contact between an electric wire and the central terminal of a bulb, (b) to urge a bulb into its bayonet-locking position in the bulb socket, (c) to crimp the electric wire where it contacts the same so as to establish good electric contact and to preclude the possibility of the wire being pulled out of the lamp housing, and (d) to maintain itself resiliently in its desired position without the aid of soldering or threaded fasteners.

Accordingly, this invention provides, in combination, a lamp housing having a bulb socket and a split pin projecting from the lamp housing adjacent the bulb socket substantially normal to the bulb socket axis, and a resilient terminal looped around the split-pin to at least partially encircle the latter and having one end adapted for electrical connection with the cen tral contact of a bulb in the bulb socket, and the other end adapted to bear resiliently against a part of the lamp housing in a direction which results in said one end being urged toward the bulb, the split-pin being adapted to receive the bared end of a wire such that the portion of the resilient tenninal which loops around the split-pin contacts said bared end.

One embodiment of this invention is shown in the accompanying drawings, in which like numerals denote like parts throughout the several views, and in which:

FIG. 1 is an exploded, perspective view of the essential elements in this invention, the lamp housing being partly cut away;

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the lamp housing of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the terminal of this invention;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the terminal of this invention, from a different angle;

FIG. 5 is a partial sectional view taken in the plane of the split-pin as shown by the lines 5-5 in FIG. 1;

FIG. 6 is a view of the split-pin normal to the view shown in FIG. 5, with the split-pin being shown in elevation;

FIG. 7 is a view similar to FIG. 5, with the terminal of FIG. 3 in position, and the bared end of an electric wire lodged in the split of the split-pin; and

FIG. 8 is a view similar to FIG. 2, but includes all of the necessary components required to illuminate the bulb.

Attention is first directed to FIG. 1, in which there is shown a portion of a lamp housing 10 having sidewalls l2 and a bottom wall I4. A socket-defining portion 16 is integral with bayonet-type joint for a conventional bayonet-type bulb. The specific construction of the socket-strap 26 and the socketdefining portion 16 will not be described in detail here, because the conventional bayonet-type joint does not form part of this invention.

Also shown in FIG. I is an electric terminal 44 which is adapted to fit down over the split-pin 24. In FIG. I, the electric terminal 44 is shown vertically above the split-pin 24.

As best seen in FIGS. I, 3, 4 and 8, the terminal consists ofa cylindrical portion 46 which is adapted to partly encircle the split-pin 24, a flat band portion 48 which is integral with the cylindrical portion 46 and extends substantially tangentially therefrom, and an end portion 50 joined integrally with the cylindrical portion 46 through a section 52 which is curved in the opposite direction from the curvature of the cylindrical portion 46, such that the end portion 50 extends substantially perpendicularly away from the flat band portion 48. Along the margin 54 of the end portion 50 are two teeth 55 which are adapted to dig into the part 23, thereby gripping the latter and maintaining the electric terminal 44 in the desired position axially of the split-pin 24.

As shown in FIG. 8, the electric terminal 44 is adapted to slide down over the split-pin 24, and is designed in such a way that the flat band portion- 48 is pressing in the clockwise direction (about the split-pin 24) against the central contact 57 of a bulb 58, while the end portion 50 presses in the counterclockwise direction (about the split-pin 24) against the part 23.

FIG. 8 shows the bulb 58 in its locked bayonet position within the socket defined between the socket-strap 26 and the socket-defining portion 16.

Attention is now directed to FIGS. 5, 6 and 7, in which the split'pin 24 is shown. As seen particularly in FIGS. 5 and 6, the split 60 down the center of the split-pin 24 does not really extend all the way to the bottom wall 14 of the lamp housing 10. The bottom of the split 60 in the split-pin 24 has substantially an inverted V-shape 62 so that, as shown in FIG. 7, the bared end 63 of a wire 65 can be lodged in the split 60, and the electric terminal 44 can be brought down around the split-pin 24 far enough to crimp the bared end 63 ofthe wire 65. When the bared end 63 is crimped in this manner the wire 65 cannot be manually pulled away from its contact with the electric terminal 44. The crimping and the contact between the bared end 63 and the electric terminal 44 is clearly shown in FIG. 7.

It will now be appreciated that the function of the teeth 55 is to maintain the electric terminal 44 in the FIG. 7 axial location with respect to the split-pin 24, such' that the bared end 63 of the wire 65 is maintained in its crimped, gripped condition.

Attention is now directed to FIG. 4, in which two notches 68 are shown in antipodal locations around the cylindrical portion 46 of the electric terminal 44. The notches 68 are located in such a way as to be aligned with the split 60 in the split-pin 24, and the bared end 63 is received within the notches 68, thus permitting the cylindrical portion 46 of the electric terminal 44 to be pressed down firmly against the bottom wall 14 of the lamp housing 10.

It will be appreciated that the V-shaped 62 at the bottom of the split 60 is not essential to this invention. In fact, it is conceivable that the bottom of the split 60 could be even with the bottom wall 14 of the lamp housing 10, provided the pressure of the electric terminal 44 downwardly against the bared end 63 of the wire 65 were sufficient to hold the wire 65 in position.

In FIG. 1, wire 65 is shown passing upwardly through the more remote of the two bore holes 20 and then bending around toward the bottom wall 14. Probably, the bend in the wire 65 the bottom wall 14 and defines a substantially semicylindrical recess 17.

A cartridge 18 is integral with the sidewalls 12 of the lamp housing 10, and has two bore holes 20 which pass through the bottom wall 14 of the lamp housing 10, and thus communicate the interior of the lamp housing with the exterior thereof. An interior wall 22 extends between the cartridge I8 and the socket-defining portion I6. A part 23 is integral with and outstanding from the sidewalls 12 on the remote side of the interior wall 22. Also on the remote side of the interior wall 22 is an integral, upstanding split-pin 24 positioned, as shown in FIG. 2, approximately midway between the interior wall 22 and the part 23. I

Returning to FIG. I, a socket-strap 26 has a semicylindrical portion 28, two wing portions 30, each having an aperture 3i,

and a leg portion 32. At the bottom of the leg portion 22 is a horizontal portion 34 having pairs of grip-tabs 36 adapted to grip the bared end38 of a wire 40 which enters the interior of the lamp housing through the nearer of the two bores 20 in FIG. 1.

The socket-defining portion 16 has two integral protuberances 42 which are adapted to register with the apertures 31 when the socket-strap 26 is brought down to rest against the socket-defining portion 16. Once in this position, the protuberances 42 are deformed in such a way that the socket-strap 26 cannot be removed. Preferably, the protuberances 42 are made of material capable of softening under the application of heat, such as a thermoplastic material, and, once the socketstrap 26 is in position with the protuberances 42 registering with the apertures 31, a welding tool is brought into contact with the protuberances 42 to expand them in the manner of a rivet, such that the socket-strap 26 is secured in position. The socket-strap 26 and thesocket-defining portion 16 define a conventional shown in FIG. I would be sufficient to resist any attempt to pull the wire 65 out of the lamp housing 10, providing the electric terminal 44 were securely positioned against the bottom wall 14 of the lamp housing 10.

it is mentioned above that the protuberances 42 can be advantageously made of a material capable of softening under the application of heat, and those familiar with the art to which this invention pertains will appreciate the economic advantage to be realized by integrally molding the lamp housing 10, the socket-defining portion 16, the interior wall 22, the cartridge 18, the split-pin 24, and the part 23, all from the same material in a single molding operation.

What I claim as my invention is:

1. in combination:

a lamp housing having a bulb socket and a split-pin projecting from the lamp housing adjacent the bulb socket substantially normal to the bulb socket axis,

and a resilient terminal looped around the split-pin to at least partially encircle the latter and having one end adapted for electrical connection with the central contact of a bulb in the bulb socket, and the other end adapted to bear resiliently against a part of the lamp housing in a direction which results in said one end being urged toward the bulb,

the split-pin being adapted to receive the bared end of a wire such that the portion of the resilient terminal which loops around the split-pin contacts said bared end.

2. The invention claimed in claim 1, in which said other end of the resilient terminal has tooth means adapted to grip said part of the lamp housing.

3. The invention claimed in claim 1, in which the split of the split-pin is shorter than the split-pin, such that the bared end of a wire lodged in the split is adapted to be crimped by the resilient terminal when the latter encircles the split-pin.

4. The invention claimed in claim 1, in which the bottom of the split in the split-pin has substantially an inverted V-shape, such that the resilient terminal looped around the split-pin is adapted to crimp the bared end of a wire lodged in the split.

5. The invention as claimed in claim 4, in which the resilient terminal has a cylindrical portion adapted to at least partially encircle the split-pin, tee cylindrical portion having notches aligned with the split in the split-pin, the V-shaped grooves being adapted to receive the bared end of the wire extending out either side of the split.

6. The invention claimed in claim 5, in which said other end of the resilient terminal has tooth means adapted to grip the said part of the lamp housing, thereby to resist displacement of the resilient terminal longitudinally of the split-pin.

7. The invention as claimed in claim 6, in which said one end of the resilient terminal is a flat band portion, the flat band portion being integral with said cylindrical portion and extending substantially tangentially therefrom, and in which said other end is joined integrally with said cylindrical portion through a section curved in the opposite direction from the cylindrical ortion so that said other end extends substantially perpendicu arly away from the flat band portion, the said part of the lamp housing exerting a force on said other end which is transmitted around the cylindrical portion to the band portion and urges the latter away from the said part of the housing and towards the bulb.

Claims

1. In combination: a lamp housing having a bulb socket and a split-pin projecting from the lamp housing adjacent the bulb socket substantially normal to the bulb socket axis, and a resilient terminal looped around the split-pin to at least partially encircle the latter and having one end adapted for electrical connection with the central contact of a bulb in the bulb socket, and the other end adapted to bear resiliently against a part of the lamp housing in a direction which results in said one end being urged toward the bulb, the split-pin being adapted to receive the bared end of a wire such that the portion of the resilient terminal which loops around the split-pin contacts said bared end.

7. The invention as claimed in claim 6, in which said one end of the resilient terminal is a flat band portion, the flat band portion being integral with said cylindrical portion and extending substantially tangentially therefrom, and in which said other end is joined integrally with said cylindrical portion through a section curved in the opposite direction from the cylindrical portion so that said other end extends substantially perpendicularly away from the flat band portion, the said part of the lamp housing exerting a force on said other end which is transmitted around the cylindrical portion to the band portion and urges the latter away from the said part of the housing and towards the bulb.