Illumination – Self powered lamp – Cylindrical flashlight casing
Patent
1987-05-19
1989-10-17
Lazarus, Ira S.
Illumination
Self powered lamp
Cylindrical flashlight casing
362208, 362204, 362390, 200 60, F21L 700
Patent
active
048751464
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
This invention relates to hand torches and the like.
A typical construction for a hand torch comprises a tubular barrel or body and a detachable head or cap which incorporates or retains a lens, reflector and bulb holder. One or more cylindrical batteries are contained in the body, and the uppermost battery makes contact with its central contact pip, on the contact stud of the bulb or on a metal contact of a bulb holder immediately at the rear of the bulb contact stud. The bulb is positively located in the direction towards the front end of the torch, to locate it accurately relative to the reflector so as to provide a focus beam.
In conventional torches, bulbs are often damaged and made inoperative, by the torch being dropped. Dropping the torch tends to cause the battery or batteries to shift abruptly along the torch body, and the resulting impact on the rear end of the torch bulb (particularly in the case of the larger batteries and multi-battery torches) is often sufficient to make the bulb inoperative, even if a bulb holder contact is present between the battery pip and the bulb contact stud. Even if the torch is dropped in such a way as to tend to move the batteries away from the bulb, the bulb is still commonly damaged, because the contact spring provided at the rear end of the torch body reverses the direction of movement of the batteries relative to the body and bulb.
A hand torch is known, in which a shock absorber/abutment is provided as an additional component seated behind the reflector and surrounding the bulb holder, to limit forwards movement of the batteries towards the bulb holder. This construction is expensive and difficult to assemble, both in manufacture and when the user opens the torch to change batteries or bulbs, because the shock absorber-abutment is a separate loose component which has to be located accurately in position and angular orientation when the torch is assembled or reassembled.
According to one aspect of the present invention, a torch or the like is provided with a bulb holder, and an abutment/shock absorber integral with the bulb holder, for limiting movement of the battery or batteries towards the bulb holder and for absorbing and/or diverting away from the bulb the kinetic energy of any such movement.
Preferably, the shock absorber/abutment is an annular body of plastics material around the bulb holder proper, against which the forward and rim of the battery or the foremost battery abuts in normal conditions.
Preferably, a central contact is provided in the bulb holder, having a forward portion which makes contact with the contact stud of a bulb when seated in the holder, and a rear portion which makes contact with the central contact tab of the battery when the rim of the latter abuts on the shock absorber/abutment.
By making the shock absorber/abutment integral with the bulb holder, we ensure that it is always correctly placed in the torch when the torch is assembled or reassembled. Production cost is significantly reduced and convenience in use is enhanced. Furthermore, the preferred form of shock absorber/abutment, to be described hereinafter, provides enhanced protection for the bulb, compared with the previous construction described above.
According to another aspect of the present invention, a lens of a torch, hand lantern or the like is made of a toughened acrylic material, in particular that known under the trade name OROGLASS DR, manufactured by Rohm and Haas.
Compared with existing materials used for such lenses, this material has excellent clarity, vastly improved strength and toughness against impact, and it can be welded to plastics materials commonly used for torch and lantern manufacture such as ABS and polystyrene.
A hand torch embodying the present invention is illustrated by the accompanying drawings, in which:
FIG. 1 is a longitudinal cross section of a hand torch embodying the invention;
FIG. 2 is a section through the torch on the line B--B of FIG. 1 showing a lens holder and shock absorber unit; and
FIG. 3 is a rear view of the lens holder an
REFERENCES:
patent: 1403538 (1922-01-01), Burgess
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patent: 2651763 (1953-09-01), Grimsley
patent: 3076891 (1963-02-01), Moore
patent: 3898450 (1975-08-01), Kilby
patent: 4041304 (1977-08-01), Spector
patent: 4286311 (1981-08-01), Maglica
patent: 4734834 (1988-03-01), Petzl et al.
patent: 4737892 (1988-04-01), Ohashi
Cornell Ronald S.
Cox D. M.
Duracell Inc.
Lazarus Ira S.
McVeigh James B.
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