US3144992A - Night light construction - Google Patents

Description

Allg 18, 1964 CHAN CHEUNG NIGHT LIGHT CONSTRUCTION Filed March 18 United States Patent O M' 3,144,992 NIGHT LIGHT CONSTRUCTION Chau Cheung, 1-7 Nam 0n St., Shakwan, Hong Kong Filed Mar. 18, 1963, Ser. No. 265,629 l Claim. (Cl. Mtl-6.4)

This invention relates to a night light and more particularly to one which is portable and self-contained.

It is an object of the invention to provide a night light which has a circuit maker which, when the light unit is placed upon a table or other supporting surface will keep the circuit open from a battery within the body of the light to a light bulb carried by the body and wherein, when the light unit is raised from the supporting surface, the circuit maker will complete the circuit to the light bulb to illuminate the same. When the light unit is replaced upon a supporting surface, the circuit will be broken and the light extinguished.

Another object of the invention is to provide a lightv with a circuit breaker as described above, wherein the circuit breaker can be adjusted to maintain the circuit in a closed or open condition regardless of whether the light unit rests upon or is free of any supporting surface.

Still a further object of the invention is to provide a night light having a simply constructed and readily adjustable circuit maker, a portion of which comprises means for holding the several parts of the light body together.

The above and other objects will more fully appear from the following description in connection with the accompanying drawing:

FIG. l is a side elevational view of an embodiment of the invention with the battery and its support, the wiring and portions of the circuit maker in broken lines;

FIG. 2 is a sectional detail, on an enlarged scale, of the base of the light and showing the structure of the circuit maker;

FIG. 3 is a bottom plan view of the base of the light taken approximately as indicated by the line 3-3 of FIG. 2.

The structure illustrated includes a lamp body 4 having a bottom section 6, a top section 8 and a handle 10, said handle being suitably secured to the bottom section 6. The two sections 6 and 8 are secured together by means of a bolt 10 which extends upwardly through a central portion 12 of the bottom section and through the top section, and its upper end carries a knurled ornamental nut 14. The lower end of the bolt 10 carries a serrated nut 16 which of course can be rotated to move it upwardly and downwardly on the bolt 10.

Supported in the lower section 6 is a pair of conventional metal clips 18 adapted to support a small battery 2t) such as used in ashlights. Supported by the forward underside of the upper body section 8 is a lamp socket 22 adapted to receive an incandescent lamp 24 in the usual manner.

Secured to the underside of the lower portion 12 of the lower body section 6 is a resilient contact 26 which has an enlarged intermediate portion 28, shown in FIG. 3, provided with a central opening 30 through which the bolt 10 extends. The opening 3l) is somewhat larger than the bolt 10 but smaller than the diameter of the serrated nut 16 on the lower end of said bolts. Thus, the resilient 3,144,992 Patented Aug.`18, 1964 ICC Contact 26 can be moved generally upwardly and downwardly into and out of contact with the nut 16, and continuously out of contact with the bolt 10.

As viewed in FIG. 1 when the lamp body 4 is held by the handle 10 out of contact with any supporting surface, the resilient contact 26 will flex downwardly and engage the nut 16, thereby establishing a circuit from the battery 20 through a conductor 32, through the resilient contact 26, nut 16, bolt 10 and a conductor 32 through the lamp socket 22 and thence by a conductor 34 to the center pole of the battery 20.

When the lamp unit is placed upon a supporting surface, the :ilexible contact 26 will take the position shown in FIG. 2. In FIG. 1 the free end of the flexible contact 26 is shown extending below the bottom of the lamp body 4. When placed upon a support, the exible conductor 26 will first engage the supporting surface and as the lamp body contacts the supporting surface, the contact 26 is lexed upwardly to the position of FIG. 2, so that the Contact 26 is out of engagement with the nut 16 and the light circuit is broken. Thus, the night light can be placed upon a table beside a bed and it will not be lighted until it is picked up by the user. However, the nut 16 can be adjusted on the threaded bolt 10 so that the nut is in a position above that shown in FIG. 2 and in contact with the exible contact 26 when the lamp is resting upon a supporting surface so that the light will remain on whether or not it is resting upon a support.

When the device is prepared for packaging and shipment, the nut 16 can be threaded downwardly on the bolt 10 to a position where it will not be contacted by the flexible contact 26 even when the lamp body is out of engagement with a supporting surface. This permits the lamp to be assembled complete with the battery 20 in place and there will be no danger that the circuit will be accidentally closed during shipment and storage.

Another feature of the axial adjustment of the nut 16 on the threaded bolt 10 resides in the fact that if the flexible contact 26 should be bent out of its original position, the nut 16 can be adjusted on the bolt 10 to compensate for any change in position of the exible contact in a direction axially of the bolt 10 when said flexible contact is at rest.

It should of course be understood that various changes can be made in the form, details arrangement and proportions of the various parts without departing from the spirit of the invention.

I claim:

In a portable self-contained night light, a body having means for supporting a battery therein, a lamp socket on the body having means for electrical connection with one pole of a battery carried by said battery-supporting means, said body having a downwardly open recess in its bottom, a stationary contact in said recess having means for electrical connection with the other pole of said battery, said stationary contact comprising a threaded post of electrically conductive material and an electrically conductive nut threaded thereon for adjustment axially of the post, a movable contact in said recess and extending below the bottom of the body and being spring biased downwardly to engage said nut when the light is raised from a supporting surface, said movable Contact comprising a member having means for electrical connection With said other pole of said battery and being supported for movement relative to the body and said post and intersecting the path of movement of said nut When said nut is adjusted on said post, said movable contact, when the light is placed upon a supporting surface, being shiftable by engagement with the supporting surface to a position out of engagement With said nut, and said nut being adjustable toward and away from said movable contact.

References Cited in the tile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS {ammerstein Oct. 21, Floraday Nov. 28, Stein Oct. 24, Schroyer Dec. 20, Frank Oct. 30,

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