US2580359A - Portable electric lamp guard provided with a pivoted door - Google Patents

Description

H. E. MOIN EAU Dec. 25, 1951 PORTABLE ELECTRIC LAMP GUARD PROVIDED WITH A PIVOTED DOOR Filed March 9, 1949 U R m m W H W m 7& P

l HY EiIF 4 Patented Dec. 25, 1951 UNITED STATS FFICE PORTABLE ELECTRIC LAMP GUARD PROVIDED WITH A PIVOTED DOOR Application March 9, 1949, Serial No. 80,365

This invention relates to lamp guards for trouble lights, such as are used by mechanics and craftsmen. These trouble lights have an extension cord, with an insulating handle equipped with a lamp socket for an incandescent lamp bulb and may be moved from place to place to illuminate the work to be performed. To protect the bulbs of these lamps from breakage by engagement with extraneous objects, a wire cage loosely embracing and enclosing the lamp is mounted on the handle by means of a two part clamp to which the wires of the cage are welded. It is common to permanently affix to the exterior of one side of the wire cage an opaque shield which protects the eyes of the workman from direct glare of the lamp and also serves the purpose of a reflector.

With these constructions it is necessary, when a change of the bulb is required, to entirely remove the clamp from the handle by unscrewing the clamp screws which hold it in place thereon. After the clamp is released from the handle, it, together with the cage affixed thereto, must be entirely removed in order that access may be had to the bulb. After the old or broken bulb has been removed and replaced by a new one. the cage is replaced by reversing the operations stated. The breakage of bulbs in lampsof this character is a frequent occurrence and it is a nuisance to have to entirely remove the cage and its clamp from the handle in order to change the bulb.

The object of the present invention is to provide a novel and economical cage construction whereby the bulb may be changed in a simple and expeditious manner and without the necessity of removing the cage from the handle or releasing the clamp.

I accomplish this result by mounting a wire cage upon the handle, preferably by the use of a clamp as heretofore, but the wire cage is so constituted that a door may be opened in its side to permit the removal or replacement of a 2 Claims. (Cl. 240-64) bulb without removing the cage from the handle.

2 vantages of the widely used conventional trouble light of prior practice.

Features of the invention, other than those adverted to, will be apparent from the herein after detailed description and appended claims when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawing. I

The accompanying drawing illustrates one practical embodiment of the invention, but the construction therein shown is to be understood as illustrative only, and not as defining the limits of the invention.

Figure 1 is a perspective view showing a trouble light embodying this invention, with the door detached to provide in the side of the cage the opening through which the bulb may be introduced into or removed from the socket of the handle.

Figure 2 is a vertical transverse section through the cage and shield. This view shows the door closed and locked in full lines, while the dotted line position illustrates the door released and partly removed from the cage.

Figure 3 is a top plan view of the cage with the door removed.

In the drawings, l designates a handle, provided at its upper end with a lamp socket (not shown) adapted to receive an electric lamp bulb 2. An appropriate electrical cable passes into the lower end of the handle and is connected to the socket in the conventional way. The handle is preferably made of rubber or other insulating material in accordance with usual practice.

The upper end portion of the handle is embraced by a clamp 3' consisting of two semicylindrical sections secured to one another by bolts 4 which mount the clamp sections firmly on the handle. A wire cage is supported on the clamp 3. This cage comprises a series of upright, longitudinal wires 5, secured intermediate their ends to a horizontal spacing and reinforcing ring 5 by welding or otherwise. The lower ends of the wires 5 are welded to the clamp sections 3'. while their upper" ends are similarly secured to a wire ring 8 by welding or otherwise.

Fora little more than half way around the cage in a horizontal direction, the upright wires 5 are spaced relatively close together, so that the bulb 2 may be adequately protected against damage by contact .with extraneous objects. However, for the remainder of the distance around the cage, the longitudinal wires are omitted to provide the cage with a lateral door opening sufliciently wide to permit the bulb 2 to be passed therethrough into or out of the cage. This opening is adapted to be normally closed by a door 9. I may, if desired, make this door in the form of a wire frame, but I prefer to use a shield, similar to the conventional shield, for this purpose. In accordance with this invention, however, the shield is of a size and shape to close the door opening of the cage and is preferably pivotably secured at its top to the cage. This pivotal connection may permanently attach the shield to the frame. However, I prefer to provide it in its upper portion with a perforation l adapted to be detachably engaged with a hook H formed on a plate l2 welded across the upper surface of the ring 8. At that portion of the shield, contiguous to the reinforcing ring 6, the

shield is provided with an external bead forming an interior channel I3 adapted to register with and seat against that portion of the ring 6 which extends across the door opening. Near its lower edge, said shield is provided with an internal bead forming an external channel l4 and each of the longitudinal wires 5 of the cage are provided at a corresponding elevation with depressions or offsets 15 in the same horizontal plane as the external channel 14 of the shield.

In Figure 1, the shield, i. e., the door, is shown as separated from the cage. When the parts are in this condition, the bulb 2 may be readily passed into removed from the cage through the side opening beneath the ring 6. Under normal conditions, however, the parts are assembled as shown in Figure 2. To accomplish this, the shield is brought into position to pivotably engage the perforation Ill of the shield with the hook II. This may be readily accomplished by bringing the shield into the dotted line position shown in Figure 2. The shield is then pivotably swung inwardly into the full line position of Figure 2 to cause the internal channel l3 of the shield to seat against the underlying portion of the reinforcing ring 6. A retainer, in the form of a ring 16, is then moved upwardly over the handle and into engagement with the external channel M of the shield and the depressions l5 of the wires 5, which collectively form a seat for said ring. The wires 5 are slightly resilient and the retainer 16 is made of such size that it is adapted to be sprung into engagement with said seat to place the upright wires 5 under a suflicient stress to effectually hold the ring from being inadvertently dislodged.

When the parts are fully assembled, they appear as shown in Figure 2, wherein the shield is resiliently held in place upon the cage, with the lamp bulb safely housed within the resulting structure. Whenever it is necessary to change the bulb this may be readily accomplished by merely springing the retaining ring Hi from its seat so that it may fall over the handle into the position of Figure 1 and thereby release the shield for ready removal.

In the accompanying drawing, the wires 5 are attachedto the-handle by means of a two part clamp. If desired, the lower ends of these wires 5 may be secured permanently to the handle, as by molding them into the handle or otherwise fixedly attaching them thereto, without departing from this invention. It is preferred that the usual hook H be fixed to the plate l2, so that a trouble light may be hung from a suitable support.

The foregoing detailed description sets forth the invention in its preferred practical form,

but the invention is to be understood as fully commensurate with the appended claims.

Having thus fully described the invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. A trouble light comprising: a handle having a socket to receive an electric lamp bulb, a wire cage mounted upon the handle and embodying Wires extending longitudinally of the axis of the bulb and also a reinforcing ring extending crossaxially around and secured to the several longitudinally extending wires to space them apart and reinforce them, the majority of said longitudinally extending wires being annularly spaced apart a distance appreciably less than the diameter of the bulb but there being a door space left between two adjacent longitudinally extending wires sufficiently great to permit the passage of the lamp bulb therethrough, and a door for normally closing said door space, said door embodying an interioriy concave shield with a pivotal connection to the end of the wire cage remote from the handle and an external channel near its end aznacent the handle, and a retaining ring cross-axially embracing both the Wire cage and the shield and detachably engaged with said channel and with the longitudinally extending Wires of the cage to normally hold the shield in closed position.

2. A trouble light comprising: a handle having a socket to receive an electric lamp bulb, a wire cage mounted upon the handle and embodying wires extending longitudinally of the axis of the bulb and also a reinforcing ring extending crossaxially around and secured to the several longitudinally extending wires to space them apart and reinforce them, the majority of said longitudinally extending wires being annularly spaced apart a distance appreciably less than the diam eter of the bulb but there being a door space left between two adjacent longitudinally extending wires sufficiently great to permit the passage of the lamp bulb therethrough, and a door for normally closing said door space, said door embodying an interiorly concave shield, with a pivotal connection to the end of the wire cage remote from the handle and provided with an arcuate internal channel seating over that portion of the reinforcing ring which extends across the door space and also having an external channel near its end adjacent the handle, and a HECTOR E. MOINEAU.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 972,480 Southwick Oct. 11, 1910 1,315,494 Heinrich Sept. 9, 1919 1,634,439 Urbahns July 5, 1927 1,735,295 Olley Nov. 12, 1929 2,178,907 Hockley Nov. 7, 1939 2,448,582 Fike Sept. 7, 1948

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