CA1068246A - Battery powered lamp - Google Patents

Abstract

Abstract of the Disclosure A battery-powered lamp, such as a traffic hazard warning lamp has:

a. a casing formed with ledges for location thereon of the bottom edges of the batteries to retain the batteries in the casing, a fixing bolt, extending through the casing, serving to prevent disengagement of the batteries from the ledges;
b. said casing having apertures in two opposite sidewalls, each said aperture accommodating a respective lens which is a tight friction fit therein and may have ratchet-like teeth engaging with the material of the casing to retain the lens in position; and c. a switch in the form of a terminal strip engaged by terminals of the batteries said strip being long-itudinally slidable and having a bridging portion which is in or out of register with a stationary contact according to the position of the strip.

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Description

~P 27.6.76*

This inventiorl concerns ~attery-po~ered lamps, more particularly lamps of tlle kind comprising a casing housing one or more high-capacity batteries t such as so-called "lantern batteries"), a lens structure being mounted on the casing, and the casing being constructed for a bOlt to extend therethrough to enable the lamp to be mounted on a support such as a tripod, barrier, bracket or the likeO
Such lamps are used, ~or example, as road hazard warning lamps, for airfield illumination and for like pu~poses.

Often, SUCIl lamps have casings made of moulded plastics materials, use of plastics having hitherto been m~ e economical than other traditional materials. ~owever, more recently, the costs o~ plastics materials has increased substantially and it is desirable therefore, ~or economies to be achieved if at all possible to avoid excessive increases in manu~acturing costs and, consequently, in selling prices.

As hitherto proposed, the casings of ~uch lamps ~enerally comprise a hollow body part which accommodates the battery or batteries, as well as a removable base part or closure w~ich is held in position by the bolt and which, when in position, serves to retain the battery or batteriesO
The present invention is based upon the appreciation that considerable saving o~ costs can be achieved if the lamp can be designed so as not to require a base part or closure

2~ ~or the body part, in that the co~t of one component can be o~viated, and that by simplification of the configuration DP 27.6.76*

106~246 of the body part, this can, if desired, be made of common metal such as steel which is relati~ely less expensive than plastics at the present ti~eO

Pursuant hereto, the present invention provides, as a ~irst feature 9 a battery-powered lamp o~ the ~ind having a ca~ing comprising a box-like body part which houses one or more batteries and which is constructed ~or a bolt to extend therethrough to enable the lamp to be mounted on a support such as a tripod, characterised in that said body part is shaped to have an opening for insertion o~ the battery or batteries therein, and has one or more ledges, shoulders or other retaining protuberances for the battery or batteries to engage therewith and thereby to be retained in the casing, the bolt serving to locate said battery or batteries against 1~ disengagement from the retaining protuberancesO

With such arrangement, o~ course, it is not necessary to provide a separate base part or closure for the oasing~
since retention o~ the battery or batteries is achieved by the combination of the retaining protuberances and the bolt.

In the e~ent o~ the body part ~eing made of a plastics mater~al~ the ledges, shoulders or other retaining protuber-ances may be moulded integrally therein.

The body part may, however, conveniently be made Or sheet metal (eOg. sheet ~teel) in which case the retaining ~p 27.6.7~*

protuberances may be pro~ided by one or more lips or tongues formed by pressing out or bending over one or more portions of the material of the body part, or by one or more pegs secured to or through the walls of the body part or by g respective angle members secured to the respective inner wall3 of the casing.

The lamp of the invention may be designed to be powered by and for its casing to accommodate only a single battery or more than two batteries, for e~ample four ~lantern" `
batteries.

The lamp o~ the present in~ention may be ~urther characterised ln that the casing accommodates a light source and ha~ one or more lenses set in a wall or walls of the body part thereof, for transmission of light ~rom the or each said lens, whioh i5 preferably o~ a rigid plastics material, having a peripheral rim by which it is a ~riction fit in a respectl~e complementary opening in the respective wall of the casing body part.

With such a oonstruction, there~ore, for fitting the or each lens in place it i9 only necessary to press the lens into its re~pecti~e opening, the operations of securing the lens into a surrounding ~rame and the frame into the wall o~ the casing all being completely eliminated.

:
Preferably the or each opening is formed with an inwardly-2~ directed peripheral rim with which the rim o~ the lens engages ~rictionally.

DP 27.6.76*

~068Z46 The or each lens preferably has a surrounding flange or lip outside its rim, to define the possible depth of insertion of the lens into its opening~

To ensure that the or each lens cannot fall out o~ its opening or become dislodged there~rom, the or each len~
preferably ha~, on its peripheral rim, a plurality of ratchet-like teeth which, upon insertion of the or each lens into it~ respective opening, locate behind the material of the respective wall of the casing to resist removal o~ the lens ~rom its opening.

The teeth, of which there are conveniently three, are preferably o~ triangular configuration being formed integrally wlth the rim o~ the lens, the triangular configuration there-of serving to ensure that the teeth locate behind the material of the respective wall of the lamp then to resist removal o~
the lens from its opening, the material surrounding which i9 oonveniently recessed inwardly o~ the lamp.

The or each lens is, of course, preferably circular, but other configurations, such as he~agonal, octagonal or square are, o~ course, possi~le.

The lamp o~ the invention may be further characteri~ed in that it incorporates an electrical switch assembly comp-rising a support oarrying a conducting protuberance, and a slidable conductive strip member mounted for longitudinal 2~ sliding movement relative to said support and having a DP 27.~.76*

bridge portion disposed to register witll and form a bridge over said protuberance to p~ovide an "off" condition of the switch, in which there is no contact between the slidable strip member and the protuberance, longitudinal movement of the slidable strip member serving to bring said slidable strip member, adjacent to the bridge portion thereof, into contact with the protuberance to provide an "on" cnndition of the switch.

The bridge portion may, of course, be ~ormed in the slidable strip member by a recess or niche being cut out of the said strip member. In a particularly advantageous embodiment, however, the said bridge portion is constituted by an arched or ~oggled portion formed by bending the strlp member.

The support may be provided by a carrler memb~r which serves the practical function of carrying a number of components (of which the switch constitutes one) Or t~e lamp~

The Garrier member may, then, carry a bulb holder, a~d i~ desired appropriate flashing circuitry connected with said bulb holder; and the slidable strip member may constitute o~e of two conductive ter~inal strips, which may be carried by the carrier member, so a~ to be engageable by correspond-ing terminals o~ the battery or batteriesO

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~ DP 27.7.76*

10~i8Z46 The casing o~ the lamp conveniently has restricted openings~ at opposed locations, permitting access to the rcspective ends of the slidable strip member, e.g. by means of a thin rod, prong or like element, for displacing said strip member by pressure applied to the one or the other of said ends.

Said ends of the slidable strip member may be bent so as to e~tend approximately perpendicular to the plane of the strip memberO

The invention will be described ~urther, by way o~
example~ with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:-~ 'ig. 1 i8 a perspective view illustrating a preferred embodiment of lamp ac¢ording to the present invention;

~ig. 2 is an underneath plan, to an enlarged scale~
of the lamp of Figo l;

Fig, 3 ig a sectional front elevation o~ the lamp of ~igs. 1 and 2, to the same scale as rig. 2~

Fig. 4 is a sectional side elevation o~ the lamp of Fig~. 1, 2 and 3~

; Fig. g is an enlarged fragmentary sectional detail illustrating how the lenses o~ the lamp of ~igs. 1 to 4 are retained in place; and ~ 27-7-76*

1{~6824~;
Fig, 6 is an underneath perspective view illustating a carrier member ~orming part of the lamp of ~igs. 1 to 50 The illustrated embodiment of the lamp of the invention is a road hazard warning lamp and co~prises a generally rectangular box-like casin~ 10 made o~ sheet metal.
Thiq compri~es a top wall 11 connected at opposite edges respectively to a ~ront wall 12 and a rear wall 13 of the casing, these three walls 11, 12, 13 being integral with one another and being formed by-appropriately bending a ~lat element of sheet metalO Rectangular side gussetsl4 and 15 having ~ide flanges 16 and top ~langes 17 are located between the front and rear walls 12 and 13, being secured in plaoe by welding or brazing said flanges 16, 17 to the top, front and rear walls 11, 12, 13 as appropriate. The side gussets 14, 15 constitute inset side members of the casin~ 10 which, as will be understood from the various figures, is open-bottomedO

Along their bottom edges, at the open bottom of the casing, the side gussets 141 15 have respe¢tive inturned 20 lip9 or tongues 18 which de~ine respective ledges or protuberances on the inner surface of the side walls, provided by the side gussets 14, 15 of the casing 10.

Toward~ the top of the casing, the front and rear walls 12, 13 are eaoh formed with a respective openin~ 19 into : 25 whioh a re~pective circular lens 20 is located. Each of DP 27.7.7~*

~068246 these openings 19 is formed in a respective inwardly-pressed surrounding portion 21 of the front and rear walls 12, 13 respectively, these portions 21 circumscribing respective circum~erential rlms 22, and each s~lch rim 22 has three equiangularly-spaced radial notches 23 therein.
Each lens 20 comprises a central light-transmitting portion 24, formed at one side with cushions 2~ and at the other side with concentric tooth-like ridges 26, with grooves therebetween, as can be seen in Fig. 5 of the drawings, this central portion 24 being surrounded by an approximately cylindrical rim 27 and formed with a flange or lip 28 which determines the depth o~ insertion of the lenses 20 into their openings 19. Three equispaced pawl-like teeth 29 are provided on the cylindrical rim 27 and these correspond 1~ with the respective notches 23 so that upon each lens 20 being pressed firmly into its respective ope~ing 19, these teeth 28 snap behind the circumferential rim 22 of the respective wall 12 or 13 to ensure that the lenses 20 cannot unintentionally be remo~ed ~rom the front and rear ~alls 12, 13.

When ~itting the lenses 20, each ~uch lens 20 is simply pressed into its respective aperture 19, the rim 27 on the le~s being a tight ~riction ~it in the rim 22 around the ~ respective aper~ure 19. As the lens 20 i9 pressed in, the : 25 teebh 29 on its rim 27 eventually snap behind the material of the re~pective panel o~ the lamp9 the ~lange or lip 28 DP 27.7.76*

limiting the depth oy which the lens 20 can be ~ressed in, by abutting the outer surface of the respective front or rear panel of the casing of the lamp. l`he ~gagement of the teeth with the material of the panel is effective to prevent the lenses from becoming disengaged from their apertures, since such teeth engage firml~ with the inner surface of the material of the panel around the respective opening in the event o~ the lens tending to move outwardly `
of the aperture.

A carrier member 30, which is illustrated in detail in Figo 6l is acco~umodated in the casing lo immediately below the lowermost parts of the lenses 20. This carrier me~ber 30 comprises basically a plate-like or board-like element 31 stiffened by a thickening 32 around its outer edge and dimensioned 90 as to fit with a clearance, within the casing 10, substantially parallel to the top wall 11.
Along the two opposite lower sides of the ele~ent 31 are two integral locating projections 33 which present respective arcuate locating ed~es 34 to the lenses 20, the curvatures o~ these edges 34 being compl0mentary to the outer curv-atures of th0 rims 27 o~ the lens0s 20 so that the carr~er memb~r 30 can be located relative to the lenses 20 by the locating edges 34 engaging with the raspective rims 27.

Two battery-spacing fingers 3~, the ~unction of which will be deecribed later, are formed integrally with the element 31 so as to project frotn the la-tter, at the side ~p 27~7-76*

remote from the projections 32, substantially midway along the two longitudinal edges of said element 31.

Projecting substantially centr~lly froll~ tlle elem~t 31, between the pro jections 32 is a post-like bulb holder 36 5 into which fits a low-voltage bulb 37, the height of the holder 36 being such that when the carrier 30 is in position with the pro jections 33 locating with the lenses 20, fiilament 38 of the bulb 37 is in accurate register with the optical axes of the lenses 20, and optimum transmission by the lenses 10 20 of light from the bulb 37 will be achie~red. It will readily be under~tood that since the locating edges 34, whereby the carrier member 30 is located relative to the lenses 20, i8 arcuate and complementary to the outer cllrved surfaces of the lense4, the filament 38 will be properly 15 located at the optical axes of the lenses 20 even if the carrier member 30 is not absolutely parallel to the top wall 11.

On its underside the elem~nt 31 carries, ad,~acent one longitudinal edge, a fixed terminal strip 39 whioh is held 20 in place by retainers 40 integrally-moulded with the el e~nt 31. A lead 41 connects by one end to the terminal strip 39 and by its other end to an appropriate pole of the bulb holder 36.

Additionally, extending lon~i tudinally of the elemen t 25 31, substantially along the longitudinal centre line lH:Iereo~

DP 27.7076*

~068Z46 is a movable terminal strip 42 which ser~es also as a switch member for the lamp. This strip 42 is held to the under-side of the element 31, whilst being slidable relative to the latter, by two L-shaped retainers 43, and has, at its 5 two ends, upwardly-bent tabs 44 which locate in or register with notches 45 provided in each end of the element 310 It will readily be understood that the tabs 44 serve to determine the extent by which the mo~able ter~inal strip 42 can be displaced.

As can be ~een from ~ig. 6, the terminal strip 42 has a bridge portion 46 formed therein by appropriate bending, and this is shown, in both FigS. 3 and 6, in an off position in which it bridges a contact 47 in the form, for example, of a blob of solder, this contact 47 being connected, by way of a respective lead 48 (if desired with the inter-position of appropriate circuitry to ensure ~lashing of the bulb 37) to the other pole of the bulb holder 36. In the event of the strip 42 being displaced longitudinally (e.g.
by means of a tool 49 having a narrow prong 50 (see ~igs.
l and 3) inserted through the appropriate one of two holes 51 to engage with one of the two tabs 44, the bridge portion 46 can be brought out of register with the contact 47 ~ic~
then contacts with the strip 42 which is then in its "on"
positionO

The carrier member 30 ser~es to define, in the l~er part o* the casing 10, a battery compartment which, as shown DP 27.7.76*

106~29t6 in the drawing, is occupied by two so-called "lantern"
lbatteries 52 each having two spiral resilient wire terminals 53 and 54 o~ which the ~erminal 53 is centrally disposed in the top of each battery 52 and therefore engages with the movable terminal strip 42, w~ilst the terminal 54 is disposed towards one corner of the top of the respective battery and engages with the fixed terminal ~trip 39. The batteries 52 are, therefore, connected in parallel with the bulb 37 in the bulb holder 38 and current to the bulb 37 can be switched on or off by appropriate movement of the strip 42 as already described.

At their upper ends, the batteries 52 locate one to each sicle of the battery-spacing fingers 35 o~ the underside o~ the carrier member 30, and it will be appreciated from Fig. 3 that upon insertion of the batteries 52 (which is effected one at a time with bolt 55 removed) each battery 52 has to be engaged, by its bottom edge, with a respective o~e of the t~o lips or tongues 18, by appropriate lateral movements of the bottom parts of the batteries 52. Wh~n in position located with said lips or tongues 18, the batteries 52 serve to retain the carrier member 30 in place by the terminals 53, 54 thereof loading the carrier member 30 resiliently toward~ the lenses 20 so as to locate with the latter by the locating projections 33.

The ~olt 55 extends through a hole in the ~ront wall 12 of the casing lO, and a registering hole in a reinforcing DP 2~.7.76*

plate 56 secured to said front wall 12, and threadedly engages into a corresponding hole in the rear wall 13 and a similar reinforcing plate 57 secured to said rear wall 13. ~otation of the bolt 55 for inserting it in place or removing it can be effected by insertion, into a recess 58 in its head, tongue 59 of the tool 50, which tongue 59 ha~
an offset tooth 60 which engages into an eccentric depress-ion 61 at the bottom of the recess 58. The bolt 55 can, if desired, be used for securing the lamp to a support, such as an upright post, barricade, tripod or the likeO

~ rom the foregoing, it will readily be understood that once the batteries 52 have been inserted in their positions~ and the bolt 55 has been screwed in place, removal of the batteries i8 not possible. The bolt 55 keep~ the batteries in engagement with the li~ or tongues 18 and they cannot be disengaged from said lips or tongues for removal from the casing until the bolt 55 is removed.
In turn~ this cannot be effected by anyone not in possession of an appropriate tool 49 for unscrewing the bolt 55, since t`hi~ cannot be unscrewed using con~entional tool90 It will also readily be understood that the preferred embodiment of the lamp of the lnvention, as described, is composed o~ a minimum of components and accordingly is relatively inexpensive to manufacture. Assembly of the components i8 easy, in that the carrier member 30 simply DP 27.7.76*

1~68246 has to be inserted into the casing 10 the right way up and then pressed into its correct position by subsequent fitting of the batteries which remain in place simply by resting on the lip~ or tongues 18 whilst the bolt 55 is being inserted and tightened.

The terminal strip 42 ha~ to be present, of course, ~or engagement therewith of the respective terminals o~
the batteries, and by making this strip 42 displaceable and so as to cooperate with the contact 47 as described, the need for the provision of a separate switch arrangement i~ avoided and a consequential cost saving is achievedO

The invention is not con~ined, of course, to the ~oregoing example, a~d ~ariations may be made theretoO-For i~stance, the ledge or protuberance arrangement which 1~ serve~, in conjunction with the bolt 55, for retaini~g the batteries 52 in position may be executed in various ways dif~ering ~rom what ha~ been illustrated. Thus~ instead of the ledges or protuberances being provided by the bent-over lips or tongues 18, they could be provided by separate anele membera~ secured to the inner surfaces of the side walls o~ the casing, e.g. by welding or brazing, or by pog~
or tongues which are secured into the pro;ect through the sidewall~ of the casin~. The casing could, of course, be ; ~ormed by moulding ~rom a suitable plastic~ matérial in which event the lsdges or like protuberances can be moulded , integrally or can be incorporated by way o~ moulded-in DP 27.7.76*

~068246 steps or shoulders. It is not essential that the casing should both accommodate the lenses and the batteries, and the casing could, i~ desired, be in two parts, connected together, o~ which one part is provided by or is fitted with the lenses and the other part accommodates the batteries.

Insofar as the switch arrange~ent, pro~ided by the displaceable terminal strip 42, is concerned, it will readily be understood that alternative means, di~fering from what has been described, may be provided ~or displacing the strip 42, and, therefore, switching on and off, ~or instance in~olving a pivotahle dolly or rotatable knob.

The mode of operation of the switch asse~bly compris-ing the slidable strip member 42 and the conductine protuberance or contact 47 bridged by the bridge portion 46 1~ of the slidable strip member 42 will readily be understood ~rom the raregoing descriptionO Whilst the bridge portion 46 of the slidable strip 42 actually bridges the protuberance 47, the ~witch assembly i8 in an "off" or open condition and no current pas~es to the bulb in the bulb holder. When the lamp i9 required to be switched on, the user ta~es the tool 4~ and inserts it by its prong 50 into an appropriate one of the two openings 51 in the side walls of the casing, thereby to engage the corresponding end 44 of the slidable strip member 42 and to ~lide the latter relative to the carrier (and the resilient contacts of the battery) untll it contacts the protuberance. This gives an "on" or closed DP 27.7.76*

~0682~ ~
condition of the switch assembly, at which current is provided to the bulb by way of the flasher circuitD

~ or switching off, ~he prong 50 is inserted into the other of the openings to engage the other end of the slid-5 able strip and displace the latter back to its "off" positionO

It will readily be appreciated from the above descript-ion that the switch assembly of` the invention is obtained in an extremely ~imple and ~nexpensive manner. It would be necessary to provide the two terminal strips f`or engagement by the battery contacts in any event, and the switch assembly is obtained by the simple expedient of` making one o~ these ~tr~ p9 movable~ and engageable with and disengage-able from, the conductive protuberance.

It will readily be understood also that the invention 1~ can be applied to any construction of lamp involving one or more lenses set into a generally flat panel of a casing o~ the lamp and ~uch lamp need not be battery-powered but oould, for example, be a paraffin lamp. Of course, as already stated the lenses do not have to be circular; they can be of` any practical shape, for example, square, hexagonal or octagonal, although a circular configuration is uoually to be preferredO

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Claims (26)

The embodiments of the invention in which an exclusive property or privilege is claimed are defined as follows:

1. A battery-powered lamp comprising a casing in the form of a box-like body part having a top and side walls for housing at least ore battery and, extending between two opposite side walls of the body part, a bolt by means of which the lamp can be secured to a support, wherein the box-like body part is open at its lowermost end and at least one of the side walls has at least one inwardly-extending protuberance on which a battery can be supported and wherein the bolt is so positioned with respect to said side wall that when the battery is supported on said protuberance, the bolt retains the battery against disengagement from the casing.

2. A battery-powered lamp as claimed in Claim 1, wherein said protu-berance is a ledge.

3. A battery-powered lamp as claimed in Claim 2, wherein the ledge is bent over from the lowermost end of said side wall.

4. A battery-powered lamp comprising a casing in the form of a rectan-gular box-like body part having a top and four side walls for housing two batteries and, extending between two opposite side walls of the body part, a bolt by means of which the lamp can be secured to a support, wherein the box-like body part is open at its lowermost end and each of the other two opposite side walls has at least one protuberance on which a battery can be supported and wherein the bolt is so positioned with respect to said other side walls that when the batteries are supported on said protuberances, the bolt extends between the batteries and retains them against disengagement from the casing.

5. A battery-powered lamp as claimed in Claim 1, wherein a carrier plate within the casing supports a light source and at least one of the side walls of the body part has at least one lens through which light from the light source can be transmitted and wherein the carrier plate defines, between itself and the lowermost end of the body part, a space for accommodating the or each said battery.

6. A battery-powered lamp as claimed in Claim 5, wherein said side wall has an opening therethrough and wherein said lens has a peripheral rim by which the lens is a friction fit with the material bounding said opening.

7. A battery-powered lamp as claimed in Claim 5 or 6, wherein two oppo-site side walls of the body part each has one lens.

8. A battery-powered lamp as claimed in Claim 5 or 6, wherein each said lens is of rigid plastics material.

9. A battery-powered lamp as claimed in Claim 5 or 6, wherein each said lens is circular.

10. A battery-powered lamp as claimed in Claim 6, wherein the material bounding the opening is recessed inwardly of the lamp.

11. A battery-powered lamp as claimed in Claim 6, wherein each said lens has a surrounding flange outside its peripheral rim to define the depth of insertion of each lens into its opening.

12. A battery-powered lamp as claimed in Claim 11 wherein each lens has, on its peripheral rim a plurality of ratchet-like teeth which, upon insertion of each lens into its respective opening, locate behind the material bounding the opening to resist removal of each lens from its opening.

13. A battery-powered lamp as claimed in Claim 12, wherein the teeth are triangular in configuration and are integral with the rim of each lens.

14. A battery-powered lamp as claimed in Claim 12, wherein each lens has three teeth.

15. A battery-powered lamp as claimed in Claim 12, wherein the material bounding each opening in the side walls of the body part has notches which register with the teeth on each lens.

16. An electric lamp as claimed in Claim 1, further comprising a switch assembly comprising a support carrying a conducting protrusion and a slidable conductive strip member mounted for longitudinal sliding movement relative to said support and having a bridge portion disposed to register with and form a bridge over said protrusion to provide an "off" condition of the switch, in which there is no contact between the slidable strip member and the protrusion, longitudinal movement of the slidable strip member serving to bring said slid-able strip member, adjacent to the bridge portion thereof, into contact with the protrusion to provide an "on" condition of the switch.

17. A lamp as claimed in Claim 16, wherein the conducting protrusion is in the form of a blob of solder to which a lead is connected.

18. A lamp as claimed in Claim 16 or 17, wherein the bridge portion is formed in the slidable strip member by a recess or niche being cut out of said strip member.

19. A lamp as claimed in Claim 17, wherein the bridge portion is consti-tuted by an arched or joggled portion formed by bending the strip member.

20. A lamp as claimed in Claim 19, wherein the support is provided by a carrier member which serves the practical function of carrying a number of components in a piece of electrical equipment.

21. A lamp as claimed in Claim 20, wherein the carrier member carries a bulb holder.

22. A lamp as claimed in Claim 21, wherein the carrier member also carries appropriate flashing circuitry connected to the bulb holder.

23. A lamp as claimed in Claim 22, wherein the slidable strip member constitutes one of two conductive terminal strips engageable by corresponding terminals of one or more batteries.

24. A lamp as claimed in Claim 23, wherein the said one of the terminal strips is carried by the carrier member.

25. A lamp as claimed in Claim 24, and comprising a casing having res-tricted openings, at opposed locations, permitting access to the respective ends of the slidable strip member for displacing it.

26. A lamp as claimed in Claim 25, further including a tool, having a thin rod, prong or the like element, for insertion into holes in the casing, for moving the strip between its on and off positions.