US2320917A - Portable lamp - Google Patents

Description

June 1, 1943. Q E Y 2,320,917

PORTABLE LAMP Filed April 3, 1941 Fig.4.

Patented June 1, 1943 umro STATES PATENT orricsq PORTABLE LAMP Oscar L. Ely, Boston, Mass.

Application April 3, 1941, SerialNo. 386,669

1 Claim.

This invention relates to portable lamps, and is more especially concerned with the requirements of apparatus of this type designed for use by the police.

In connection with various phases of police work, there is much need for a hand lamp of greater power and adaptability than that furnished by flashlights. For example, such uses occur in controlling trafic during a fire, or at the scene of an accident, in searching wooded districts for lost persons or for criminals, and in lighting large areas temporarily, as in making a rescue of a drowning person, or searching for a body.

The present invention aims to devise a lamp structure which Will meet these various requirements.

The nature of the invention will be readily understood from the following description when read in connection with the accompanying drawing, and the novel features will be particularly pointed out in the appended claim.

In the drawing,

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a lamp structure embodying this invention;

Fig. 2 is a vertical, sectional view through the head portion of the lamp casing;

Fig. 3 is a horizontal, sectional view showing the joint structure for releasably securing the lamp casing on a supporting bracket; and

Fig. 4 is an elevation of the end of the handle showing the socket mounted therein.

The structure shown comprises a lamp casing 2 having a handle 3 secured rigidly thereto or forming an integral part thereof. Mounted within the casing is a main electric lamp 4, Fig. 2, preferably forming a part of a so-called sealed beam unit including a reflector 5 and a lens 6, all assembled into a unitary structure adapted to be mounted in a lamp casing, or to be removed therefrom, as a complete assembly. Any other suitable lamp arrangement may, however, be substituted for the sealed beam unit. A bezel 1 removably secured in the open end of the casing by screws 8-8, Fig. 1, bears against the shoulder 9 on the lamp unit and holds it in its operative position in the casing.

The lens of this unit closes the greater part of the light emitting opening at the front end of the casing, but preferably leaves spaces at both the top and bottom to receive translucent signs, such as those shown at H and 12. These signs are painted on glass plates, or made in any other suitable manner, usually in appropriate colors, and the lettering on them is exposed through apertures formed in the bezel l. Illumination for these signs is provided by two small supplemental electric lamps I3 and I4, respectively, mounted in the casing immediately behind the signs.

It is contemplated that power for the lamps 4, l3 and [4 will be supplied at times from the generator or battery of a cruising car, and at other times by a portable battery, such as the 7 volt dry battery shown at l5. For this purpose a socket l6, Fig. 4, is mounted in the end of the handle 3, or at some other appropriate point on the casing, where a connector or plug I! may be conveniently entered in it, the usual form of plug including two terminal pins adapted to enter holes a and bin the socket Iii. Conductors connect the terminals of this socket with the lamps 4, I3 and I4, preferably through a switch, such as that shown at I8, Fig. 1, so that the lamps may be selectively controlled. That is, either the'main lamp 4 alone may be lighted, or the two supplemental lamps I3 and I4 may be switched on, or all three of them may be shut off. The nature of these connections will be obvious to any one skilled in this art.

In using the lamp with the battery IE, it is secured to the top of said batery by means of a bracket 20 having upright flanges overlying the opposite edges of the battery, each flange having a pair of thumb screws 2| threaded therethrough to fasten the bracket securely to the battery casing. This bracket also carries ears or trunnions in which an arm 22 is pivotally mounted by means of a bolt 23 equipped with a thumb screw, this arrangement supporting the lamp casing for adjustment into various angles of inclination.

In order to secure the lamp casing firmly but releasably to the bracket, a T-shaped lug 24 is formed integral with, or is otherwise secured rigidly to, the lamp casing and projects from the lower side thereof, and the arm 22 has an undercut slot in the upper end thereof tapered, as shown in Fig. 3, to receive the head of the lug 24. A small latch 25 is pivoted to the front of the lug where it serves normally to lock the lamp casing securely to the arm 22. This latch may, however, be turned up into a horizontal position where it unlocks the lug so that the latter may be slid back out of the socket provided for it in the arm, thus disconnecting it from the bracket. The plug [1 and the flexible cord connected therewith, are utilized to conduct current from the terminals 26 and 21 01 the battery to the terminals of the socket, but this connection can be interrupted at any time by pulling the plug I'I out of the socket.

It will now be evident that this invention provides a portable lamp structure which can either be connected to a small portable battery, as shown in Fig. 1, and used in this condition to explore a wooded district, to search buildings, furnish the light for rescuing a drowning person, or for various purposes. Or, the lamp may be removed from the battery and plugged on to an extension cord connected with the current supplying system of a cruising car. In this condition the lamp can be held in the officers hand while he uses it in controlling traffic, or for any other purpose. Such a lamp structure finds a multitude of uses in connection with police work.

While I have herein shown and described a preferred embodiment of my invention, it will be understood that the invention is susceptible of embodiment in other forms without departing from the spirit or scope thereof.

Having thus described my invention, what I desire to claim as new is:

A portable electric lamp structure comprising a lamp casing, a handle secured to said casing, a bracket including a plate adapted to extend across the top of a portable battery and having downwardly extending flanges at opposite ends thereof to overlap the sides of said battery, screw-threaded fasteners extending through said flanges to secure the bracket to said battery, an arm pivotally mounted on said bracket for adjustment into various angles of inclination, a handle secured to said lamp casing and projecting rearwardly therefrom, said arm having a socket in the upper end thereof transversely disposed with reference to the arm, said handle having a T-shaped lug rigid therewith and extending downwardly therefrom and shaped to fit slidably into said socket to secure the handle and the casing to said arm, and means for releasably fastening said lug in said socket.

OSCAR L. ELY.

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