US2650321A - Lamp unit and support structure therefor - Google Patents

Description

Aug. 25, 1953 E. a. NOEL LAMP UNIT AND SUPPORT STRUCTURE THEREFOR Filed Dec. 1 8, 1946 InvenTor' Edwqr-d B. Noel,

His ATTOFF\ LJ.

Patented Aug. 25, 1953 LAMP UNIT to General Electric New York AND SUPPORT STRUCTURE THEREFOR Edward B. Noel, Cleveland Heights, Ohio, assignor Company, a corporation of Application December 18, 1946, Serial No. 716,936

My invention relates to gaseous electric discharge devices, and is particularly concerned with constructional features of a type of lamp unit comprising a convoluted discharge tube mounted in an enclosing jacket or envelope and, in turn, adapted to enclose another lamp within its convolutions.

It is an object of my invention to provide a lamp of sturdy and simplified construction. Various features and advantages of the invention will be more particularly pointed out in the following description and in the claim.

In the drawing, Figs. 1 and 2 are elevations, partly in section, of a lamp unit embodying my invention, and Fig. 3 is a bottom view thereof.

Referring to the drawing, the unit comprises a helically coiled gaseous electric discharge tube I of glass or quartz containing a suitable ionizable atmosphere, such as a filling of Xenon, and having a cathode 2 and an anode 3 sealed in its ends. The tube I is supported within a framework of rigid support and current lead wires 4, 5 and 6 which extend upward from contact prongs or terminals I, 8 and 9, respectively, on an insulating base shell Ill. The anode lead 3 is connected by a flexible stranded section II to lead 4, while the cathode I2 is connected by a similar flexible section I3 to the lead 5. The tube I is secured t the support lead 6 by an auxiliary support strip or tie wire I6 which is looped around the turns of the tube I and secured at its ends, preferably by welding to the lead 6. The tube I is additionally supported between auxiliary supporting spud wires I4, I4 and I5, I5 extending laterally from the leads 4 and 5 respectively across the adjacent portions of the top and bottom of the helix I, but terminating short of the space enclosed by the helically coiled tube I, as shown in Fig. 2 of the drawing.

The lead 6, with its tie loop I6, serves additionally as an external triggering or starting electrode upon which a high voltage is impressed to ionize the gas in the tube I and thereby cause a discharge to take place between the cathode 2 and anode 3 which may be connected across a condenser so as to emit a flash of light of high intensity for photographic purposes. A suitable circuit of that type is illustrated, for example, in Patent 2,277,697 to H. E. Grier.

According to the present invention, the lead of tube I at l8 where it is tied to the helix I by another loop or tie wire I9. The one U-shaped 1 Claim. (Cl. 313-198) lead 6 thereby serves both the functions of a support and also an external triggering electrode on two sides of the helix I to increase the capacitative effect for starting purposes. At the same time, this construction leaves unobstructed access t the interior of the helix I for insertion of an incandescent modelling lamp 23 (Fig. 2) through an opening 20 in the base I0, without reducing clearances to the point where flashover might occur. One way of supporting the said modelling lamp in the helix is disclosed in application Serial No. 503,068, filed September 20, 1943, by this applicant and P. B. Davis, now U. S. Patent No. 2,469,607, issued May 10, 1949.

In another arrangement, the unit shown in the drawing is mounted on a base or support member by inserting its prongs I, 8, 9 into contact members on said base which carries a socket supporting the modelling lamp in position to be enclosed within the helix I.

The supporting framework is additionally supported from the enclosing glass jacket or envelope 2I by four spring strip braces 22 which are welded to the upper ends of the leads 4, 5 and Ii and the end portion I8 of lead 6, the said upper ends of the leads being located at the corners of a square to form a firm support. The braces 22 on supports 4 and 5 also serve to maintain those supports against the helix I which is thereby snugly cradled between the spuds I4, I4 and I5, I5 extending from the said supports. The use of spuds I4, I4 and I5, I5 on leads 4 and 5 has the advantage over the tie wires like I6 and I9 in that such tie wires, if used on leads 4 and 5, are apt to lead to electrolysis and failure of the bulb of the enclosed modelling lamp 23 when it touches the tie wire I6 01 I9 and a similar tie wire on lead 4 or 5.

In Fig. 2 I have illustrated one way in which the modelling lamp 23 may be supported within the helical tube I. The lamp 23 is carried by a socket 24 which is supported on wires 25, 26 carried by a plug 27 which, in turn, is carried by a flexible disc 28. The disc 28 is provided with holes corresponding in number and spacing to the prongs I, 8 and 9 and by means of which it is slipped over the said prongs.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

In a lamp unit, the combination of a helically coiled light-transmitting gaseous conduction tube having electrodes in the ends thereof, a light-transmitting tubular jacket surrounding said tube and open at one end, a base member attached to the said one end of the jacket and provided with an opening in alignment with the axis of the coiled tubev for insertion therethrough of a modelling lamp, a plurality of rigid conductive support wires secured to said base and extending longitudinally of and spaced around the outside of said coiled tube within said jacket, one of said support wires constituting a triggering electrode for said tube and being bent to an inverted U-shape extending across the top of the coiled tube and down its opposite side and having both legs of the U clamped to said tube by tie wires secured at their ends to said legs and looped around the turns of said tube, and two others of said support wires constituting current lead-in conductors electrically connected to respective ends of said tube and being provided with spuds extending laterally inward therefrom across the top and bottom turns of the coiled tube but terminating short of thespace 5 enclosed by said tube, and resilient brace members secured tothe upper ends of said lead-in support wires and bearing against the inner wall of said jacket to maintain said wires against said tube with said tube cradled between said spuds and with the space within said coiled tube unobstructed by said spuds, said support wires being so dimensioned as not substantially to obstruct the outward passage of light.

EDWARD B. NOEL.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS

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