05/205904

09/18/1973

12/08/1971

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439/556

F21V19/00; H01R3/06

339/94R,94A,94C,94L,94M,125,126,127,128,129,59R,59L,59M,6R,6C,6M

Champion, Marvin A.

Hafer, Robert A.

I claim

1. In a lamp socket the combination comprising a generally tubular shell having a forward end adapted to be pressed into an opening in a mounting panel, flange means spaced rearwardly of the forward end of said shell and extending around and radially outwardly of said shell, a deformable sealing gasket around the outer surface of said shell forwardly of said flange means, and having an inner surface in contact with the outer surface of said shell and the forward surface of said flange, and having a concave outer surface inclining radially outwardly from the axis of the shell in the rearward direction from the forward edge of said inner gasket surface whereby when said shell is inserted into an opening in a mounting panel the inclined surface of said gasket is adapted to forcibly contact the edge of the opening and deform the gasket so that it becomes interengaged between said flange means and the mounting panel and thereby provides a seal between the lamp socket and the mounting panel.

2. The combination of claim 1 wherein said gasket is circumferentially continuous.

3. The combination of claim 2 wherein the rear edge of said inner gasket surface terminates at the forward surface of said flange means and wherein said gasket further includes a surface connecting the rear edge of said concave outer gasket surface with the forward surface of said flange means.

4. The combination of claim 2 wherein the rear edge of said inner gasket surface terminates at the forward surface of said flange means, and the rear edge of said concave outer gasket surface terminates at the forward surface of said flange means at a distance radially outwardly of the outer surface of said shell.

5. The combination of claim 1 wherein said flange means is circumferentially continuous.

6. The combination of claim 5 wherein the inner surface of said gasket terminates at the forward surface of said flange means and wherein said gasket further includes a surface connecting the rear edge of said concave outer gasket surface with the forward surface of said flange means.

7. The combination of claim 5 wherein the rear edge of said inner gasket surface terminates at the forward surface of said flange means, and the rear edge of said concave outer gasket surface terminates at the forward surface of said flange means at a distance radially outwardly of the outer surface of said shell.

8. The combination of claim 7 wherein the forward edge of said inner gasket surface is spaced forwardly of the rear edge of said inner surface a distance approximately equal to the radial distance of the rear edge of said concave outer gasket surface from the outer surface of said shell.

9. The combination of claim 1 further including a lamp housing having a mounting panel and means forming a generally circular opening in said panel, the portion of said shell between the forward edge of said concave outer surface of said gasket and said flange means being press fitted into said panel opening of said panel whereby said gasket is distorted and compressed between said panel and said flange means thereby forming a seal between the socket and the panel.

10. The combination of claim 9 wherein the maximum transverse dimension of said flange means is greater than the diameter of said panel opening.

11. The combination of claim 10 wherein said gasket and said flange means are circumferentially continuous.

12. The combination of claim 1 wherein said gasket comprises a yieldable, resilient material forming a circumferential fillet between the forward surface of said flange means and the forwardly adjacent portion of said shell.

13. The combination of claim 12 wherein said gasket material is a plastisol.

14. The combination of claim 13 wherein said gasket material is vinyl plastisol.

15. The combination of claim 1 wherein said shell comprises means forming a bulb receiving opening in the forward end thereof and a generally tubular portion continuing rearwardly from said flange means and radially inwardly thereof to terminate in an open rear end and further including an electrical contact arrangement within said shell for effecting electric connection with a bulb when the bulb is inserted into said shell and a plurality of wires having their forward ends electrically connected to said contact arrangement and extending rearwardly through the open rear end of said shell.

16. In a lamp socket the combination comprising a generally tubular shell having a forward end adapted to be pressed into an opening in a mounting panel, flange means spaced rearwardly of the forward end of said shell and extending around and radially outwardly of said shell, a deformable sealing gasket around the outer surface of said shell forwardly of said flange means, and having an inner surface in contact with the outer surface of said shell and a surface inclining radially outwardly from the axis of the shell in the rearward direction from the forward edge of said inner gasket surface whereby when said shell is inserted into an opening in a mounting panel the inclined surface of said gasket is adapted to forcibly contact the edge of the opening and deform the gasket so that it becomes interengaged between said flange means and the mounting panel and thereby provides a seal between the lamp socket and the mounting panel, said shell comprising means forming a bulb receiving opening in the forward end thereof and a generally tubular portion continuing rearwardly from said flange means and radially inwardly thereof to terminate in an open rear end and further including an electrical contact arrangement within said shell for effecting electric connection with a bulb when the bulb is inserted into said shell, a plurality of wires having their forward ends electrically connected to said contact arrangement and extending rearwardly through the open rear end of said shell, and a protective boot for sealing the open rear end of said shell, said boot comprising a tubular forward portion telescoped onto the rear end of said shell and a space-enveloping portion on the rear of said boot for enclosing the open rear end of said shell in space-enveloping fashion, said space-enveloping portion comprising means forming a number of circular openings therein equal to the number of wires in said plurality of wires, one of said wires extending through each of said circular openings, each of said circular openings having a circumferentially continuous contact with the outer surface of the wire passing therethrough.

17. The combination of claim 16 wherein said circular openings are spaced rearwardly of the rear end of said shell.

18. The combination of claim 17 wherein said circular openings are generally coplanar.

19. The combination of claim 16 wherein the forward end of said boot is spaced rearwardly of said flange means.

20. The combination of claim 16 wherein said boot comprises a flexible waterproof material.

21. The combination of claim 20 wherein said boot material is polyvinyl chloride.

22. In a lamp socket the combination comprising a generally tubular shell having a forward end adapted to be pressed into an opening in a mounting panel, flange means spaced rearwardly of the forward end of said shell and extending around and radially outwardly of said shell, a deformable sealing gasket around the outer surface of said shell forwardly of said flange means, and having an inner surface in contact with the outer surface of said shell and a surface inclining radially outwardly from the axis of the shell in the rearward direction from the forward edge of said inner gasket surface whereby when said shell is inserted into an opening in a mounting panel the inclined surface of said gasket is adapted to forcibly contact the edge of the opening and deform the gasket so that it becomes interengaged between said flange means and the mounting panel and thereby provides a seal between the lamp socket and the mounting panel, said shell comprising a forward generally tubular shell piece having a bulb-receiving opening on the forward end thereof, a generally tubular cup retainer piece coaxial with said shell piece and extending rearwardly of the rear end of said shell piece, a generally circular core retainer piece within said shell and having a wall transverse to the axis of said shell, means forming an opening in said wall of said core retainer, and a ground blade integrally formed with said core retainer and having a forward connected end connected to a portion of the edge of said last-mentioned opening by means of a bend and having a free end spaced rearwardly of said core retainer wall.

23. The combination of claim 22 wherein the material thickness of said shell piece is different from the material thickness of said core retainer piece.

24. The combination of claim 22 wherein the rear end of said cup retainer piece is spaced rearwardly of the free end of said terminal blade.

25. The combination of claim 22 wherein said cup retainer piece axially surrounds said terminal blade.

26. In a lamp socket the combination comprising a generally tubular shell adapted to be inserted into an opening in a mounting panel and having an open forward end adapted to receive a bulb and an open rearward end, an electrical contact arrangement within said shell for effecting electric connection with a bulb when the bulb is inserted into said shell, a plurality of wires extending rearwardly through the open rear end of said shell and having their forward ends electrically connected to said contact arrangement, and a protective boot for sealing the open rear end of said shell comprising a generally tubular forward portion telescoped onto the rear end of said shell and a space-enveloping portion on the rear of said boot for enclosing the open rear end of said shell in space-enveloping fashion, said space-enveloping portion comprising means forming a number of circular oenings therein equal to the number of wires in said plurality of wires, one of said wires extending through each of said openings, each of said openings having a circumferentially continuous contact with the outer surface of the wire passing therethrough.

27. The combination of claim 26 wherein said circular openings are spaced rearwardly of the rear end of said shell.

28. The combination of claim 27 wherein said circular openings are generally coplanar.

29. The combination of claim 26 wherein said boot comprises a flexible waterproof material forming waterproof seals between said tubular boot and said rear portion of said shell and between said boot and each of said wires.

30. The combination of claim 29 wherein said boot material is polyvinyl chloride.

31. The combination of claim 26 further including a flange on said shell forwardly of the forward end of said boot, said flange extending around and radially outwardly of said shell.

This invention relates to lamp sockets and more specifically to an improved arrangement for mounting and retainer a lamp socket in a lamp housing.

Certain lamps of an automotive vehicle such as parking, turn signal and/or marker lamps are often mounted on the vehicle in locations exposed to road splash and similar adverse conditions. In order to maintain reliable lamp operation, it is imperative that the lamp sockets employed in these lamps be properly sealed so as to prevent water from reaching the socket which either might short out the lamp circuit or eventually corrode the socket shell. Furthermore, in a mass production operation such as automotive assembly, it is highly desirable to use a lamp socket which is of relatively simple, economical construction and can be quickly and securely mounted in a lamp housing.

The primary object of this invention is to provide an improved arrangement for sealing and mounting a lamp socket in a lamp housing.

Another object is to provide a push-in type lamp socket which, when pressed into an opening in a lamp housing, automatically seals the opening with a waterproof seal.

A further object of the invention is to provide a lamp socket in accordance with the preceding object which is susceptible to various modifications which enable the socket to be compatible with both standard-sized openings in lamp housings and standardsized electrical terminals.

It is also an object to provide an improved protective boot enclosing the portion of the lamp socket exterior to the lamp housing in which the socket is mounted which is highly immune to fracture or damage by a tool used to press the lamp socket into the lamp housing.

Additional objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent in the following description and drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a top view of a first form of the lamp socket assembly of the present invention mounted in a lamp housing with a portion of the housing broken away.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged side view of the lamp socket assembly of FIG. 1 shown by itself and having portions broken away.

FIG. 3 is a right-hand end view of the lamp socket assembly of FIG. 2 showing the lamp socket by itself prior to the application of the sealing boot.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken along line 4--4 in FIG. 1.

FIG. 5 is a top view of a second form of the lamp socket assembly of the present invention mounted in a lamp housing with a portion of the housing broken away.

FIG. 6 is an enlarged top view of the lamp socket assembly of FIG. 5 shown by itself and having portions broken away.

FIG. 7 is a right-hand end view of the lamp socket assembly of FIG. 5.

Turning now to the first form of the invention illustrated in FIGS. 1 through 4, the lamp socket assembly 10 comprises a three-piece metal socket 12 having a forward tubular shell 14, an intermediate circular core retainer 16 and a rearward tubular cup retainer 18. An out-turned circular flange 20 on the rear of shell 14 is connected to the tubular side wall of the shell by means of a curved bend 22. A corresponding out-turned flange 24 on the forward end of core retainer 16 abuts flange 20, and the two flanges are securely held together by a circular return bent lip 26 at the forward end of cup retainer 18 thereby forming a circular flange arrangement 27 around socket 12. An axially intermediate portion of cup retainer 18 is diametrically reduced to define a circular shoulder 28 which is spaced rearwardly of lip 26 and against which the rear end of core retainer 16 abuts. A ground terminal blade 30 is integrally formed from a portion of the material which is removed from core retainer 16 to define an opening 32 in the rear wall thereof. Terminal 30 is turned outwardly (from its preformed broken line position of FIG. 3) perpendicular to the rear wall of core retainer 16 along a bend line but terminates short of an opening 34 in the rear wall of cup retainer 18.

An insulating core 36 is retained in socket 12 and carries a pair of spring-loaded electrical contacts 38 and 40. When a dual filament lamp bulb 42 is inserted into socket 12, after socket assembly 10 is mounted in a mounting panel, contacts 38 and 40 are biased by their springs into engagement with mating contacts on the bulb and can conduct electric current from lead wires 44 and 46 respectively to the respective filaments. The current is conducted away from bulb 42 through a grounded lead wire 48 terminating in a push-on type connector 50 which is telescopically engaged on blade 30. The ground connection of bulb 42 to blade 30 is established, as is conventional, by the retention thereof in socket 12 provided by mechanical engagement of pins 52 on the bulb base 53 with J-slots 54 formed in shell 14.

The forward tubular end of a protective boot 56 is telescoped over the diametrically reduced portion of cup retiner 18 to abut shoulder 28. Preferably, boot 56 is constructed from a sturdy, yet flexible, waterproof material such as polyvinyl chloride. Boot 56 may be secured to cup retainer 18 with a suitable adhesive. Wires 44, 46 and 48 are spaced apart from each other and the rear end of boot 56 is enclosed, such as by heat sealing, about each individual wire to seal the rear end of the boot.

A deformable sealing gasket 58, in the form of a circumferentially continuous ring, is deposited as a fillet between the forward surface of circular flange arrangement 27 and the immediately forward tubular side wall portion of shell 14. The outer surface 60 of gasket 58 inclines inwardly in the forward direction from the out-turned flange arrangement 27 to the outer surface of the tubular wall of shell 14. The inner surface 62 of gasket 58 conforms to the concave contour at the junction of shell 14 and the out-turned flange arrangement (defined by bend 22 and the adjacent portions of shell 14 and flange 27). Preferably, gasket 58 is formed from a plastisol, such as vinyl plastisol. The plastisol may be deposited in the illustrated form by inclining the forward end of socket 12 upwardly at roughly a 45° angle and flowing the plastisol into the concave contour at the junction of the tubular shell wall and the out-turned flange arrangement as socket 12 rotates about its axis. A suitable adhesive is preferably applied to these surfaces prior to deposition of the plastisol. With this technique, the radially outer surface 60 of the deposited gasket is slightly concave having a radius of curvature greater than the radius of curvature of bend 22 and having the radial and axial dimensions of the inner surface 62 approximately equal to each other.

The tubular portion of shell 14 immediately forward of bend 22 is dimensioned for a press fit into the circular hole in the housing in which socket assembly 10 is to be mounted. As can be seen in FIG. 1, socket assembly 10 is mounted in a sealed lamp housing having a mounting panel 64 by inserting the forward end thereof through a circular hole 66 in panel 64. Socket assembly 10 is expeditiously and securely mounted with the aid of an axially slotted tubular tool 68. The slot (not shown) in tool 68 permits the tool to be inserted over the necked-down rear end of boot 56 and the outgoing lead wires and then forwardly advanced to abut the rear surface of the out-turned circular flange arrangement. As can be seen, the inner diameter of tool 68 is greater than the outer diameter of the forward end of boot 56 and freely passes over the boot without damaging it. Because boot 56 terminates at shoulder 28 short of lip 26, a metal-to-metal contact is provided between tool 68 and the out-turned flange arrangement 27 so that it is impossible for tool 68 to fracture boot 56 when it presses the lamp socket into hole 66. As socket assembly 10 is pressed into hole 66, the rear circular edge of hole 66 embeds into the deformable gasket 58 before socket assembly 10 is fully inserted into panel 64. Continued forward movement of socket assembly 10 presses the outer surface of the press fit portion of shell 14 into frictional contact with the inner surface of hole 66 to thereby retain socket 12 on panel 64. Concurrently, wherever contact occurs between shell 14 and panel 64, the deformable gasket 58 is forcibly wiped away from the surface of shell 14 and the bulk of the gasket compresses axially between the rear surface of panel 64 and the forward surface of the out-turned flange arrangement of socket 12. This deformation coupled with a certain resiliency of the gasket material tends to urge gasket material into any minute free spaces in hole 66 where press fit between panel 64 and shell 14 is imperfect and also into an outer peripheral bead between panel 64 and socket assembly 10. The amount of material forming gasket 58 and the location thereof relative to the out-turned circular flange are preferably constructed so that the flange arrangement (whose outer diameter is greater than the diameter of hole 66), when fully compressing gasket 58 against panel 64, forms a stop to prevent further insertion of socket assembly 10. In this way, when bulb 42 is inserted into socket 12 after the socket is mounted in the housing, the bulb filaments are positioned at the focal point of lens 70. Once socket assembly 10 is mounted in panel 64, bulb 42 is made accessible for replacement by removing lens 70. With socket assembly 10 so mounted, gasket 58 forms a water-tight seal which seals the interior of the lamp housing around hole 66. Because boot 56 also forms a waterproof seal, it is impossible for water to penetrate into socket 12. In particular, the separation between lead wires 44, 46 and 48, as they leave the rear end of boot 56, permit the rear end of the boot to form around each wire individually when the rear end of the boot is sealed. By employing boot material such as polyvinyl chloride, the rear end of the boot is formed by the usual technique so that the boot material forms a complete circumferential seal around each individual wire. The axial length of the seal must be sufficiently formed to embrace a sufficient length of each wire so that the wires may be directed, if necessary, away from the boot in various directions without breaking the seal.

The three-piece construction of socket 12 enables core retainer 16 with the integrally formed terminal blade 30 to be formed from stock whose thickness renders terminal blade 30 compatible for use with a particular standard-sized connector 50. At the same time, shell 14 may be constructed from material whose thickness differs from that of the material of core retainer 16 so that shell 14, whose inner diameter must be dimensioned to accept a standard bulb base, can also be sized for a press fit engagement with a specific standard-sized opening in mounting panels of lamp housings. It should also be noted that because blade 30 is connected to core retainer 16 only along a bend line, cup retainer 18, by circumferentially surrounding blade 30, prevents blade 30 from being broken or bent during any rough handling which the socket may encounter. In instances where panel 64 is electrically grounded, it is unnecessary to employ ground blade 30 since a ground connection is established by the press fit of shell 14 in mounting panel 64. In such situations, a two-piece shell, like that to be next described, may be used.

FIGS. 5 through 7, illustrate a second form of the invention. The lamp socket assembly 72 comprises a two-piece metal socket 74 having a shell 76 and a cup retainer 78 pressed onto the rear end of shell 76. Out-turned circular flange 80 on the forward end of cup retainer 78 extends radially outwardly beyond the outer surface of shell 76. A plastisol sealing gasket 82 is deposited as a fillet between the forward surface of flange 80 and the forwardly adjacent outer surface of shell 76. A single lead wire 84 and contact 86 conduct electric current to a single filament lamp bulb 88. The ground connection for lamp bulb 88 is through the press fit of shell 76 in an opening 90 in an electrically grounded mounting panel 92. A protective boot 94 is telescoped over the rear end of cup holder 78 and sealed around lead wire 84 to permit metal-to-metal contact between flange 80 and tool 68 without damaging the boot. Socket assembly 72 is pressed into opening 90 of panel 92 in similar fashion described in connection with the first embodiment so that gasket 82 forms a waterproof seal between panel 92 and socket assembly 72. In this second embodiment, shell 76 is constructed from a suitable stock thickness for compatibility with a standardsized opening 90. If mounting panel 92 were ungrounded, a ground blade could be formed on socket 74 with either a two-piece or three-piece construction depending upon the particular installation requirements.

The invention provides an excellent weatherproof seal for lamp sockets which are located in positions exposed to adverse conditions. Moreover, the invention may be practiced with various modified forms of lamp sockets in accordance with the specific installation requirements.