US2308821A - Switchless multiple bulb electric lantern - Google Patents

Description

Patented Jan. 19, 1943 vSWITCHLESS MULTIPLE BULB ELECTRIC LANTERN William M. Moxley, Kansas City, Mo.

Application December 3, 1941, Serial No. 421,498

3 Claims.

This invention relates to electric hand lanterns and it has for its object to provide an improved assemblage of parts by virtue of which a very rugged and reliable type of lantern may be produced. Electric hand lanterns have recently found wide favor for use among railroad men, where they have rapidly supplanted the old type oil lantern.

In the earlier types of electric hand lanterns, two bulbs were provided together with a switch through which either bulb could be lighted from a battery common to both bulbs. Thus, if one bulb burned out, the user, by merely shifting the switch', could bring the other bulb into action. However, this margin of safety is now deemed to be insufcient, and the Interstate Commerce Commission has indicated that it is desirable to provide a third or spare bulb, so that under no likely contingency would a brakeman or like signalman be left without signaling means.

In the manufacture and use of electric 1anterns of the general type under discussion, the movable switch elements not only constitute a considerable item of expense, but they cause most of the trouble to which these lanterns are subject.

Therefore, it is a primary object of the present invention to get rid of any movable switch element; to provide the three bulbs demanded by best practice; to make the screwing of these bulbs into their sockets serve as the switching function, and to provide friction means between the bulbs and the lamp housing, serving to hold the bulbs in the position to which they are moved, either inwardly or outwardly of their respective sockets.

In the accompanying drawing:

Fig. 1 is a View partly in side elevation and partly in vertical section, of a lantern embodying the invention;

Fig. 2 is an underside plan view of the lantern body alone, illustrating the three lamp bulbs;

Fig. 3 is a plan View of a metallic contact disc hereinafter described;

Fig. 4 is an enlarged sectional view through a part of the contact disc and its associated insulating disc, and

Fig. 5 illustrates one of the springs constituting the friction means between the bulbs and the lamp body, as hereinafter described.

Like numerals designate corresponding parts throughout the several figures of the drawing.

Referring to the drawing, 5 designates the lamp body, 6 the bail, 'I a skeleton supporting base, and 8 the battery, all of these parts being common in lanterns of this type. A metallic contact disc 9 carries three contact studs lil, said studs projecting through openings il formed in a disc I2 of insulating material. The disc I2 is secured by a rivet I3 to the bottom I4 of the metallic casing 5. The contact disc 9 is provided with a central opening I5 that is materially larger than the head of the rivet. Thus, there is no contact between disc 9 and bottom I4, through said rivet. The rivet carries the insulating disc I2, and this disc, in turn, carries contact plate 9 and insulates said contact plate from the bottom I4.

Three sockets I5 project downwardly 4from the bottom I4 and receive th'e threaded Shanks I'I of conventional light bulbs I8. When these bulbs are screwed into the sockets, their upper ends make contact with the corresponding contact studs I0 of plate 9. The positive pole of the battery is in contact with plate 9 through contact spring or equivalent element I9, while the negative side of the battery is in electrical communication with the bottom I4 through contact spring or equivalent element.

Thus, when any bulb is screwed into its socket until its upper end engages a corresponding stud III, the bulb will be lighted by current flowing from I9, through plate 9, said stud I0, a lamp bulb Il, a socket I6, bottom I4 and spring 20, back to the battery.

Friction creating springs 2| encircle the lamp sockets and bear between the bodies of the bulbs and the bottom I4. The function of these springs is to create such friction between the lamp bulbs, the springs and the sockets, that any lamp bulb will remain in the position to which it is turned, whether screwed inwardly or outwardly. Thus, no separate movable switch elements need be provided and the many troubles experienced with movable switch elements, arising from corrosion, accidental bending and the like, will be eliminated.

It is clear that elimination of switch parts will result in increased economy in manufacture, as well as freedom from switch trouble.

The invention is not limited to the precise construction set forth', but includes within its purview whatever changes fairly come within either the terms or the spirit of the appended claims.

Having described my invention, what I claim l. An electric lantern comprising a body, a battery therein, a plurality of lamp sockets depending from the underside of said body, a plurality of lamp bulbs adapted to be screwed into said sockets, -a skeleton base upon which said body is mounted, of such amplitude and Sulliciently open to permit the entry of the fingers thereinto for the purpose of turning said lamp bulbs, a contact plate within the body common to all of said bulbs, the lighting of said bulbs or the extinguishment of the same being effected by screwing the bulbs into or out of said sockets, and friction Ymeans surrounding each of said sockets and bearing between the corresponding bulb and the lamp body and serving to hold fric- L t f tionally the lamp bulb in the position to which it may have been turned in the action of lighting or extinguishing the same.

2. An electric lantern comprising a body, a battery therein, a plurality of lamp sockets depending from the underside of said body, a

lamp bulbs, a contact plate within the body common to all of said bulbs, the lighting of'said bulbs or the extinguishment of the same being effected by screwing the bulbs into or out of said sockets, and helical springs surrounding the lamp sockets and bearing between the lantern body and the upper sides of said bulbs and serving to hold the bulbs in the position to which they are turned in the act of lighting or extinguishing them.

3. An electric lanternr comprising a body, a.

battery therein, a lamp socket depending from the underside of said body, a lamp bulb adapted tQ be screwed into' said socket, a skeleton base upon which said body is mounted, of such amplitude and suiciently open to permit the entry between the bulb and the lamp body and serv-V ing to h'old frictionally the lamp bulb in the position to which it may have been turned in the action of lighting or extinguishing the same.

WILLIAM M. MOXLEY.

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