US2648152A - Illuminated house number - Google Patents

Description

s- 1953 F. L. SIMPSON 2,648,152

ILLUMINATED HOUSE NUMBER Filed Aug. 15, 1949 I INVENTOR. Frank L. Simpson ATTORNEY Patented Aug. 11,1953

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE ILLUMINATED HOUSE NUMBER Frank L. Simpson, Denver, Colo.

Application August 15, 1949, Serial No. 110,242

3 Claims. 1

The present invention relates to illuminated house numbers. It has to do particularly with a portable electrically illuminated device or assembly which is capable of being applied to an upright wall of a house or porch in the vicinity of the entrance door to provide a combined illuminated house number for the property and to also provide light for the adjacent area, to thus eliminate the necessity of using a separate porch or entrance light. The device or assembly may also be readily attached to a porch of the building at the forward end of a portion thereof, to be disposed in a position above or adjacent to the step or steps leading up to the porch to perform the dual function of providing an illuminated number for the property and of illuminating the steps and adjacent porch area.

One of the objects of the present invention is to provide an improved device or assembly of the foregoing character which is relatively inexpensive to manufacture, which is of portable nature, which may be quickly and easily installed without requiring the services of a skilled mechanic or electrician, and in which the house numerals can be changed at will.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an improved device or assembly of the foregoing nature which comprises a skeleton frame preferably formed from a single piece of metal carrying removable and interchangeable preferably translucent plates which carry numerals and which has angularly disposed supporting arms or portions forming a part of the frame which permit the device to be mounted either with the arms dependin from the frame or projecting upwardly above the remainder of the frame, thus providing virtually a universally mountable device.

A further object of the present invention is to provide a device or assembly as aforesaid, in which the frame of the device may be inverted when desired and in which the detachable and interchangeable numeral-carrying plates may be attached so as to depend from a forward portion of the frame of the device or may be so mounted as to project upwardly above said forward frame portion; and one in which the illuminating means is disposed behind the numeral-carrying plates.

Another and important object of the present invention is to provide an illuminating device or assembly of the foregoing nature in which the box-like casing performs the dual function of providing means for housing the electrically connected lamp sockets and for reinforcing the substantially U-shaped frame of the device.

The foregoing and other objects and advantages of the present invention will appear from the following description and appended claims when considered in connection with the accompanying drawing forming a part of this specification, wherein like reference characters designate corresponding parts in the several views.

2 In said drawing: Fig. 1 is a front elevational View, partly broken way, of the improved illuminating device or assembly embodying the present invention;

Fig. 2 is an end elevational view of the device of Fig. 1, taken substantially along the line 2-4 of Fig. 1, looking in the direction of the arrows;

Fig. 3 is an enlarged fragmentary vertical sectional view, partly in elevation, of the box-like casing and one of the electrically connected lamp bulb sockets and lamp bulbs of the device or assembly; and

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary side elevational view showing another application of the device of the present invention to a building structure, this being in connection with a portion of a porch of a building.

Before explaining in detail the present invention it is to be understood that the invention is not limited in its application to the details of construction and arrangement of parts illustrated in the accompanying drawing, since the invention is capable of other embodiments and of being practiced or carried out in various ways. It is to be understood also that the phraseology or terminology employed herein is for the purpose of description and not of limitation, and it is not intended to limit the invention claimed herein beyond the requirements of the prior art.

With reference now particularly to the drawing, the U-shaped frame of the present illuminating device or assembly is shown as a whole at I0. This frame comprises, preferably, a front or forward portion II which extends in a vertical plane, end portions 12 which, as shown, extend in horizontal planes, and angularly disposed supporting arms or portions l3. The frame is preferably formed from a single metal strip or bar and is twisted at substantially the juncture of the forward portion II and the ends 12, as indicated at 14, so that the forward portion ll may be disposed in a proper position to receive the detachable and interchangeable numeral-carrying preferably translucent plates, herein after referred to, and the end portions may extend in a horizontal plane and be continued to provide the supporting arms [3, as shown.

The illuminating portion of the device or assembly comprises preferably an elongated boxlike metal casing or housing, shown as a whole at 15, which is preferably provided with end flanges I6 permitting it to be detachably mounted by means of screws or bolts 11 upon the end portions l2 of the frame. Thus, in addition to providing means for carrying the lamp bulb socket or sockets and the wiring of the device, the box-like casing provides means for interconnecting the end portions l2 of the frame to thus reinforce said frame.

In the form shown in Figs. 1 and 2, the boxlike casing I5 depends below the ends 12 of the frame and carries a pair of lamp sockets, one

only being shown at [8 in the drawing. The

socket l8 and the additional socket or sockets (not shown) are preferably mounted upon a wall IQ of the casing by means of bolts, or the like 20. The opposite wall 2| of the casing is provided with an opening to receive a rubber ring or grommet 22 which surrounds the plug portion of an electric lamp 23. The rubber grommet performs the dual function of sealing the opening, thus making the box-like casing 15 water tight, and, prevents any possibility of metallic sounds or rattles which might be set up by reason of the device or assembly being subjected to vibrations in use.

The socket or sockets [8 (one only being shown) are electrically connected together by suitable electric conduits 24 and the casing 15 carries an electric lead-in conduit 25 which has its end preferably provided with an electric plug (not shown) which may be plugged into a standard socket to illuminate the bulb or bulbs 23.

In the form of Figs. 1 and 2, the box-like casing I depends below the end portions 12. In this form, the numeral-carrying translucent plates 25, each having a numeral 26- affixed thereto, the plates being preferably formed from some suitable translucent plastic, frosted or milk glass, or other suitable material, are detachably mounted upon the vertically disposed forward portion I l of the frame and are removably held in place by cap screws or bolts 21. It will be seen that the numeral-carrying plates 25 depend below the member II and it will also be seen that the illuminating means, namely the electric lamp bulb or bulbs 23 are disposed behind the plates and concealed by them. While merely for purposes of illustration the forward frame portion H is shown as provided. with four detachable and interchangeable numeral-carrying plates 25, a smallernnmber'or a greater number of plates. may, however, be provided dependent, of course, upon the number of digits constituting the house number.

The device of the form of Figs. 1 and 2 is preferably mounted upon an upright surface or wall 9, see Fig. 2, by means of the angularly disposed supporting arms 13 which are held in place by screws or bolts 8.

When it is desired to mount the device or assembly at the forward or front end of a porch beneath the roof structure thereof, the frame is preferably inverted from its position of Fig. 2 to the position in which it is shown in Fig. 4 and the numeral-carrying plates 25 are attached to the forward frame portion H so. as to extend upwardly above said frame portion. In this position, that is in the position of Fig. 4, the lamp bulb or bulbs 23 are disposed at the rear of the plates 25 as in the. preceding form and are. thus.

concealed from view by those plates. The angularly disposed supporting arms 13 are preferably attached to a horizontal member 30 disposed beneath the roof structure, indicated as a whole at 31 in Fig. 4, said structure being provided with a drain gutter 32, as shown. The device of Fig. 4 will function in precisely the same manner in its inverted position as in the position of Figs. 1 and 2. It will be merely necessary to provide numeral-carrying plates 25 in which the numerals 26 are in upright position. The numerals 26 may be located in substantially the center of the plates, as in Figs. 1 and 2, or they may be l cet dc oserto t e upper e ge. f he. sup or ing; plates 25 of Fig. 4.

If the property upon'which the sign. is to be used carries. ajlow identifying number of. merely one or two digits, the entire device could be made of a smaller size and would include, in that case, only a single socket and one lamp bulb. For property located where five digit numbers prevail, for example, the size of the frame and the box-like casing may be increased and more than two lamp sockets and lamp bulbs provided if expedient.

In use, it has been found desirable to employ translucent plastic plates 25 which resemble frosted glass or milk glass, with the numerals 26 being formed from a non-transparent plastic of a contrasting color, such as black. The numerals 25 are attached to their supporting, plates 25 preferably by means of a plastic cement. They could, however, be attached by means of screws or small bolts, if desired, or in any other suitable manner.

While I have referred to the casing or housing is as being formed from metal, it will be understood that it may be formed as well from plastic, hard rubber, or any other suitable material. Moreover, a fluorescent lamp may be substituted for the incandescent lamp bulb or bulbs 23.

I claim:

1. In a combined porch light and illuminated house number device, a substantially u-shaped horizontal frame having angularly disposed supporting arms extending from the opposite ends of thev U-shaped frame providing means for mounting the frame on a supporting surface, removable and interchangeable numeral-carrying translucent plates carried by the forward portion of the frame to be disposed in upright position, means for removably attachin the plates to said forward frame portion, a normally horizontally disposed elongated box-like casing having end flanges and extending from end to end of the frame and interconnecting the end portions thereof to reinforc said frame, lamp sockets disposed up-right within the casing, leadin el ctric wiring connected to said sockets and adapted to be plugged into a source of electric current, and lamp bulbs disposed within the sockets behind the numeral-carrying plates to illuminate the same and to unobstructedly illuminate the area below and in the general vicinity of the device.

2. A device accordin to claim 1, wherein. the angularly disposed supporting arms extend downwardly from the opposite end portions of the U-shaped frame, wherein the numeralcarrying plates project downwardly in depending relationship from the forward portion of the frame, and wherein the lamp bulbs also depend from the box-like casing in positions behind the plates.

3. A device according to claim 1, wherein the angularly disposed supporting arms extend upwardly from the opposite ends of the U-shaped frame, wherein, the numeral-carrying translucent plates extend upwardly above the forward portion of the frame, and wherein the lamp bulbs project upwardly from the box-like casing and are disposed behind said plates.

' FRANK L. SIMPSONI References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,435,308 Jones Nov. 14-, 1922 1,568,630 Shearer Jan. 5, 1926' 1,640,819 Campbell Aug. 30, 1927 1,786,883 Zahonyi Dec. 30, 1930: 2,274,138 Gerstenberser Feb. 24, 1942;

Images