Socket lock for ornament bulbs

Details Socket lock for ornament bulbs Socket lock for ornament bulbs

1999-02-25

2001-02-27

Donovan, Lincoln (Department: 2839)

Electrical connectors

With coupling movement-actuating means or retaining means in...

Retaining means

C439S358000, C362S229000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06193540

ABSTRACT:

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a socket lock for an ornament bulb, which comprises a latch and a retaining groove to lock a bulb base in a socket.
2. Description of Related Art
A conventional method of joining an ornament bulb to a socket is a simple press joint. However, the disadvantage of the press joint is that the bulb may be loosened from the socket, because of thermal deformation caused by temperature changes.
To rectify the above defect, a lock joint was developed that included a latch and corresponding attachment block. The latch can be folded to lock with the attachment block. However, the production costs increase dramatically with the requisite manual labor required to fold and lock the latch with the attachment block for the great number of bulbs.
As shown in
FIG. 11
, a wedge joint at the junction of the socket (
90
) and the bulb base (
80
) includes a wedge (
82
) and two corresponding semicircular attachment blocks (
92
). The wedge (
82
) is integrally formed at the end of a horizontal radial post integrally formed at the top of the bulb base (
80
). The two attachment blocks (
92
) define a gap (
94
) therebetween, and each has a flat bottom surface attached on the top of the socket (
90
). The width of the gap (
94
) is slightly smaller than that of the upper end of the wedge (
82
).
To install the bulb base (
80
) into the socket (
90
), the wedge (
82
) is pushed into the gap (
94
) till the upper edge of the wedge (
82
) abuts the bottom edge of the attachment block (
92
). Then, the attachment blocks (
92
) retain the wedge (
82
) therebetween and thereunder.
The wedge joint is easy to assemble, but still there is a problem of replacement, especially when replacement of a failed bulb is necessary. Therefore, a more advanced joint method needs to be developed.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The main object of the present invention is to provide a lock joint between an ornamental bulb and a socket, which comprises a T-shaped latch and two attachment blocks respectively on the bulb base and the socket at the joint. When the bulb base is inserted into the socket, the latch beside the base or socket slides over the fixture blocks being inserted into a corresponding gap, which is defined between the two attachment blocks, and the bulb is lock therein. When the bulb needs to be released from the socket, a person can easily detach the T-shaped latch from the attachment blocks and pull the bulb out of the socket.


REFERENCES:
patent: 4970632 (1990-11-01), Tseng
patent: 5428516 (1995-06-01), Harris
patent: 5647759 (1997-07-01), Lien
patent: 5803591 (1998-09-01), Lin

Affiliated with

Also associated with

Rating

Socket lock for ornament bulbs does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.

If you have personal experience with Socket lock for ornament bulbs, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Socket lock for ornament bulbs will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

Comments { 0 }

Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-2573111