US3918882A

US3918882A - Flash lamp unit

Info

Publication number: US3918882A
Application number: US455225A
Authority: US
Inventors: Der Laan Jan Van
Original assignee: US Philips Corp
Current assignee: US Philips Corp
Priority date: 1973-04-24
Filing date: 1974-03-27
Publication date: 1975-11-11
Anticipated expiration: 1992-11-11
Also published as: DE2417742A1; NL7305669A; GB1414448A; FR2227552B1; JPS5014337A; CA1005037A; FR2227552A1

Abstract

The invention relates to a flash lamp unit having a number of percussion flash lamps arranged on a base plate, which base plate comprises a central pin which extends transversely to the plane of the base plate and at the free end of which remote from the base plate a number of springs are secured.

Description

United States Patent Van Der Laan Nov. 11, 1975 FLASH LAMP UNIT [56] References Cited lnventor: Jan Van Der Laan, Lagos. Nigeria UN STA S ATEN S l 3.537.805 ll/l970 Michatek 43 l/93 Asslgnee' 32k Corporauon 3.589.849 6/1971 Sturm et al. 431/93 Filedi 1974 Primary Eruminer-Carroll B. Dority, Jr.

APPL NO: 455,225 Attorney. Agent, oi Firm-Frank R. Trifari [57] ABSTRACT Forei n A Iication Prioritv Data g pp The invention relates to a flash lamp unit having at Apr. 24. 1973 Netherlands 4. 7305669 number of percussion flash lamps aHanged on a base plate. which base plate comprises a central pin which 2 extends transversely to the plane of the base plate and Field of Search 431/9204; the free end wh'ch remote the base pm a 140/1 354/143 number of springs are secured.

6 Claims, 4 Drawing Figures US. Patent Nov. 11, 1975 3,918,882

F lg. 3 25 I 16 17 I Fig.2 Fig.4

FLASH LAMP UNIT The invention relates to a flash lamp unit which can be coupled to a camera so as to be rotatable and which comprises a base plate and a number of percussion flash lamps arranged on said base plate, which flash lamp unit comprises a number of springs corresponding to the number ofthe flash lamps and of each of which a connection part is locked relative to the base plate, of which a second part extends mainly transversely to the plane of the base plate, and of which a third part is designed to percuss against a metal tube occurring on each of the flash lamps, said tube comprising an ignition mass and an anvil. Such a flash lamp unit is known.

The springs occurring in said known flashlampunit are formed from a metal wire which is bent mainly in the form of a U and which extends transversely tothe plane of the base plate. One free end of the U-shaped wire comprises a bent end portion with which the metal wire is locked in the base plate, the stretched portion of the spring designed to cooperate with a flash lamp occurring at the other free end of the U-shaped metal wire.

The drawback of this spring construction is the complicated shape of the spring as aresult of which during the manufacture of I the flash lamp unit the mounting of the springs is a laborious and time-consuming operation.

A further drawback of this known spring construction is that the connection parts of the springs have to be embedded in the material of the base plate, during which operation the material of the base plate'should be locally heated. This operation constitutes a possibility of stagnation during the production process. Moreover, the springs may be embedded in'a wrongposition in the material of the base plate so that the ready functioning of the springs is impeded.

It is an object of the invention to provide a flash lamp unit which does not exhibit the said drawbacks.

For that purpose, the flashlamp unit according to the invention is characterized in that on the .center of the base plate a pin is present which extends transversely to the plane of the base plate and to the free end of which the connection part of each of the springs is secured. By using a base plate having a pin at the free end of which the springs are secured, springs of a very simple shape may be used, while the locking of the springs to the pin is an operation which can suitably be mechanized.

The springs are preferably coupled in pairs by a common connection part. As a result of this the advantage is achieved that during assembly of the unit which comprises, for example, four lamps, not four separate springs are to be treated but only two mainly U-shaped spring constellations. Due to their U-shape said spring constellation can be very readily handled.

A favourable embodiment of the flashlamp unit according to the invention is characterized in that the end face of the free end of the pin remote from the base plate comprises two slots in which the connection parts of the springs are clamped. The connection of the connection parts in the slots may be a snap connection in which an extra lock can be obtained by choosing the length of the pin to be so that the end face of the pin supports against the inside of a light-permeable cap forming part of the unit, which cap surrounds the flash lamps and is secured to the circumference of the base plate. Preferably, however, the springs are clamped against the side walls-of the pin in a place between the end face of the pin and the base plate by means of a clamping ring which surrounds the pin and the springs and which'is adjustable in the longitudinal direction of the pin. The adjustability of the clamping ring in the longitudinal direction of the pin provides the advantage that the pretension in the springs and hence the percussion force can also be adjusted with it.

"A favourable embodiment of the flash lamp unit according to the invention is characterized in that the springs which are destined to cooperate with two oppositely located flashlamps are coupled by a common connection part, the slots in the end face of the pin extending cross-wise. As a result of this a flash lamp unit having very-simple, mainly U-shaped spring constellajuxtaposed flash lamps are coupled by a common connection part, the slots having a curved shape. This embodiment provides the advantage that the shape and dimensions of the spring constellations are the same.

The invention will "be described in greater detail with reference to the drawing of an embodiment of the flash lampunit, in which FIG. 1* shows the base plate, the springs and the clamping ring of a flash lamp unit having four flash lamps in the assembled condition,

' FIG. 2 shows one of the spring constellationsof FIG.

FIG. 3 shows the end face of the pin according to another embodiment of the flash lamp unit, and

FIG. 4 shows the spring constellations which are suitable for use in the embodiment shown in FIG. 3.

On the base plate 1 of the flash lamp unit according to the invention shown in FIG. 1 four flash lamps 2 are arranged of which only one is shown. For that purpose the base plate comprises four recesses 3 in which a metal tube 4 fits which occurs on each of the percussion flash lamps. An anvil and an ignition mass are arranged in said metal tube, said mass exploding by a percussion against the metal tube so that the ignition of the combustion material in the flash lamp is produced.

A pin 5 which extends transversely to the plane of the base plate is present on the center of the base plate 1. At the free end 6 of the pin 5 two spring constellations 7 and 8 are secured. As is also shown in FIG. 2, each spring constellation is formed from two

springs

9 and 10 manufactured from one piece of metal wire and coupled by a common connection part 11. This connection part is clamped in one of the

slots

12 and 13 which occur in the end face of the free end 6 of the pin. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 1 said slots extend crosswise. Each spring constellation comprises a common connection part 11, two

parts

14 and 15 extending along the sides of the pin and two

parts

16 and 17 extending parallel to the plane of the base plate. The

parts

16 and 17 are destined to percuss against the metal tube of one of the percussion flash lamps. For that purpose, said

parts

16 and 17 are each locked in a pretensioned condition by a locking member 18 (see FIG. 1). The unlocking of a spring is carried out by means of a percussion member connected to the shutter mechanism of a camera, which member penetrates into the flash lamp unit via one of the apertures 19 and lifts one of the

parts

16 or 17 over the associated locking member 18. When once it is unlocked, the

part

16 or 17 is moved in the direction of the arrow P by the spring action and percusses against the metal tube of the flash lamp. it is obvious that the length of the parts 14 and of one spring constellation is larger than that of the other spring constellation because in the end face of the pin one lies over the other. The difference in length corresponds to the thickness of the spring material.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 1 the springs are clamped against the sidewall of the pin by a ring 20. This ring is adjustable in the longitudinal direction of the pin so that the pretension in the springs is controllable.

The end face 21 of a pin shown in FIG. 3 and occurring in another embodiment of the flash lamp unit according to the invention comprises two

slots

22 and 23 which have a curved shape. The associated

spring constellations

24 and 25, respectively, shown in FIG. 4 have

common connection parts

26 and 27, respectively, the shapes of which correspond to the shapes of the

slots

22 and 23. The advantage of the spring constellations thus formed is that one type of spring constellation will suffice per flash lamp unit. The connection of said spring constellations to the pins occurs preferably by means of a clamping ring.

Although in the embodiments described spring constellations were always shown which each consist of two springs coupled by a common connection part, four separate springs may also be used which are each clamped in a slot in the end face of the pin by means of a connection part. The connection of the springs or spring constellations in the slots may furthermore be a 4 clamping connection, in which the connection parts in the slots are locked by the inside of the screening cap which surrounds the flash lamps and whose edge is connected to the edge of the base plate.

What is claimed is:

l. A flash lamp unit for cooperation with an associated camera, said unit including a base plate and a striker carried thereon, said striker including at least one pair of radially extending arms disposed in a common plane, an upstanding elongated member having one end fixed to the axial extremity of each arm which is closest to the other arm of said pair, a connection member joining the other ends of said upstanding elongated members fixed to said pair of radially extending arms, and means for holding each of said elongated members in fixed relation with respect to said base plate, said means including an upstanding pin and means attaching said elongated members to said pin.

2. The apparatus as described in claim 1 wherein said means includes a slot disposed in said pin for cooperation with said connection member.

3. The apparatus as described in claim 2 further including at least one more slot disposed in said pin and at least one more striker carried in said slot.

4. The apparatus as described in claim 3 further including a clamping ring dimensioned and configured for snug fitting engagement about said pin and said strikers to clamp said strikers against the sides of said pm.

5. A flash lamp unit as described in claim 4 wherein said slots extend transversely to each other.

6. A flash lamp unit as described in claim 5 wherein said slots have curvilinear shape and are disposed at discrete angular locations so as not to intercept.

Claims

1. A flash lamp unit for cooperation with an associated camera, said unit including a base plate and a striker carried thereon, said striker including at least one pair of radially extending arms disposed in a common plane, an upstanding elongated member having one end fixed to the axial extremity of each arm which is closest to the other arm of said pair, a connection member joining the other ends of said upstanding elongated members fixed to said pair of radially extending arms, and means for holding each of said elongated members in fixed relation with respect to said base plate, said means including an upstanding pin and means attaching said elongated members to said pin.

4. The apparatus as described in claim 3 further including a clamping ring dimensioned and configured for snug fitting engagement about said pin and said strikers to clamp said strikers against the sides of said pin.