US3156843A

US3156843A - Incandescent lamp mount

Info

Publication number: US3156843A
Application number: US65426A
Authority: US
Inventors: Samuel E Swasey; Kenton R Bagley
Original assignee: Sylvania Electric Products Inc
Current assignee: GTE Sylvania Inc
Priority date: 1960-10-27
Filing date: 1960-10-27
Publication date: 1964-11-10
Anticipated expiration: 1981-11-10

Description

Nov. 10, 1964 s. E. SWASEY ETAL 3,156,843

INCANDEISCENT LAMP MOUNT Filed Oct. 27, 1960 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 997 figs a-Q zb z i 22 |8 j l 2 SAMUEL E. SWASEY 2e KENTON R. BAGLEY INVENTORS 2( J IEb fi BY n ATTORNEY 1964 s. E. SWASEY ETAL 3,

INCANDESCENT LAMP MOUNT Filed 001;. 27, 1960 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 2 I 40$, 40) 2 40) 2b 4b 4b I 22 g-12 P g-19 fia-M SAMUEL E. SWASEY KENTON R. BAGLEY IN V EN TORS ATTORNE Nov. 10, 1964 s. E. SWASEY ETAL 3,155,843

INCANDESCENT LAMP MOUNT Filed Oct. 27, 1960 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 SAMUEL E. SWASEY KENTON R. BAGLEY INVENTORS ATTORNE Nov. 10, 1964 s. E. SWASEY ETAL 3,

INCANDESCENT LAMP MOUNT Filed Oct. 27, 1960 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 PRIOR ART SAMUEL E. SWASEY KENTON R. BAGLEY INVENTORS BY M ATTORN Y United States Patent 0 3,156,3 5.? ENQANBESCENT LAMP MfFUNT Samuel E. Swasey, Edgemere, Marbleliead, and Kenton R. llagiey, Beverly, Mass, assignors to taylvania Electrio Products inc, a corporation of Delaware Filed (lot. 27, 1959, her, No. 65,426 4 -Claiins, ll. 313-271) This invention relates to the manufacture of incandescent l-amps and more particularly to the fabrication of a mount structure for so-called 3-lite lamps and the like. Lamps of this type are provided with two filaments mechanically and electrically connected in such a manner that, in combination with suitable switching means, light of different intensities may be obtained. For example, a 30-70400 watt lamp of this type is one which is pr vided with a 30 watt filament and a 70 watt filament. The mechanical and electrical mount structure on the one hand and the aforesaid switching means on the other hand cooperate, in one modification, to permit one to use the 30 watt filament, the 70 watt filament or both in combination to provide an effective 100 watt filament.

Despite the many advances which have been made in recent years in the development of high-speed automatic lamp manufacturing equipment and the design of mount structures particularly suitable for fabrication by this equipment, prior to our invention many of the operations involved in the fabrication of a mount structure for this type of lamp have been performed manually or semiautomatically. One of the major reasons for this is the fact that great care must be exercised in the maintenance, within very close tolerances, of substantially uniform effective electrical length and physical configuration of the lamp filaments from lamp to lamp in order to obtain substantially uniform lamp characteristics and a relatively high degree of luminous efficiency. This factor of effective electrical length of the filament is a function of the overall length of the wire itself, the t.p.i. (turns per inch) of the primary coiling and, in the case of coiled coils, the t.p.i. of the secondary coiling.

Heretofore, in order to insure the attainment of these uniform quality characteristics, mounting of the 3-lite filaments has been a manual operation in which an operator adjusts the lead tip spacing when mounting each filament. In the mount structure of the prior art, which will be described in greater particularity below, a pair of filaments are attached at their ends to their respective lead-in wires and at least two filament support wires are employed to support each of the filaments in a crescent-shaped disposition. Each of these filament support wires is embedded at one end in an arbor button and the other end is looped around the filament intermediate its ends.

Many efforts have been exert d to effect modifications of this type of mount structure in order to mike feasible the automatic fabrication of the mount structure for this type of lamp. For example, it has been suggested that the two filaments with which lamps of this type are provided be substantially linear, i.e., disposed substantially normal to the longitudinal axis of the lamp and spaced from one another in different planes both horizontally and vertically. However, it has been found that a complex filament supporting arrangement must be provided and, despite this, attainment of a substantially uniform effective electrical length of these filaments from lamp to lamp is exceedingly difiicult to obtain. Although some success has been on joyed in the use of this type of mount structure when coiled filaments are used, it has been quite unsatisfactory when one or both of the filaments are of the more efiicient coiled coil type because of the additional problems in volved in the maintenance of substantially uniform effective electrical length of this type of coil.

In recent years certain improvements have been made in the design of mount structures to provide for the automatic manufacture of single filament lamps in which the filament is disposed vertically, i.e., substantially parallel to and in some cases substantially coincidental with the longitudinal axis of the lamp' Mount structures of this type are disclosed for example in the co-pending applications of Swasey et al., Serial No. 839,796 filed September 14, 1959 now Patent #3,007,074 and Serial No. 836,380 filed August 27, 1959 now Patent #1001073.

Since it is known that a coiled coil is more efiicient than a singly coiled filament, it is particularly desirable that new mount structures designed to permit fabrication thereof on high-speed automatic equipment should also be designed so that coiled coils may be used satisfactorily.

It is further desirable that a new mount structure be designed to provide for the mounting of the two filaments in the 3-lite lamp vertically.

in view of the foregoing, one of the principal objects of this invention is to provide a 3-lite lamp in which both filaments are disposed vertically.

Another object of this invention is to provide a mount structure for this type of lamp in which coiled coils may be used and their effective electrical length maintained substantially uniform within very close tolerances.

A further object of this invention is to provide a new mount structure for this type of lamp in which all of the mount fabricating operations may be performed on highspeed automatic lamp manufacturing equipment.

These and other objects, advantages and features are obtained, in accordance with the principles of our invention, by a new and novel mount structure fabricated by new and novel mount manufacturing techniques. In the fabrication of this mount structure only three. lead-in wires are fed to the head of the machine on which the fabricating operations are performed, despite the fact that four wires are required, two for each of the two filaments. This is a significant improvement over the art because it eliminates one article-feeding operation. This is preferably accomplished by initially feeding a long lead-in wire and then in a series of fabricating steps forming and severing from the free end thereof an extra short wire. Alternately, the long lead-in wire may be provided with a hook portion intermediate its ends as well as a hook portion at the free end thereof, in which case one end of each of the two filaments would be secured to one of these two hook portions of the common lead-in wire. Another novel echnique employed in the fabrication of our new mount structure is the manner in which the assemblage of mount components is provided with a pair of filament support wires. In accordance with our invention a length of filament support wire, from which two filament support Wires are to be formed, is fed in substantially hairpin shape to the head of the machine at about the same time as h other mount components are fed, and in subsequent fabrication operations the adjacent free ends of this wire are sealed in spaced relationship in the stern press, the blght of the hairpin is severed and the free ends so defined are looped around their respective filaments and thereby provide two separate filament support wires. This is also a significant contribution to the art since it renders unnecessary the use of a filament support wire inserting apparatus widely used in the industry in the manufacture of this type of lamp.

Other structural features of the mount and novel techniques in the fabrication thereof will be apparent to those skilled in the art from the description below of a specific embodiment of our invention.

In the accompanying drawings, FIGURE 1 is an elevational View of the mount components showing the relative position occupied by them after they have been fed to a head of the mount fabrication machine and before any operations have been performed thereon.

FIGURES 2 to 14 inclusive are fragmentary elevational views of the assemblage of mount components illustrating a preferred sequence of fabricating steps employed to manufacture the mount.

FIGURE is an elevational view on an enlarged scale of the complete mount.

FIGURE 16 is an elevational view of a finished lamp with the mount of FIGURE 15 disposed thereon.

FIGURE 17 is an elevational view of a typical 3-lite lamp of the prior art.

In order to facilitate an understanding and appreciation of the significance of our invention over the prior art, the typical prior art mount structure illustrated in FIG- URE 17 will be described first. The lamp of FIGURE 17 comprises an hermetically sealed lamp envelope 1 to which a base 3 is secured. In the fabrication of the mount structure shown in FIGURE 17, three lead-in wires 5, 7 and 9, provided with hooks on one end thereof, are fed manually to the head of a lamp stem fabricating machine because of the difficulties encountered in attempting to feed hooked lead-in wires automatically from a reservoir thereof. The head of the machine is provided with a stem 11 and an arbor 13 automatically in a manner well known in the art. After the stem press 15 has been formed and the lead-in wires 5, 7 and 9 sealed therein and the arbor 13 sealed thereto, this unitary intermediate product structure is withdrawn from the stem-making machine and certain operations are then performed thereon manually. An operator afiixes an extra short wire 17 to the common lead-in wire 7 at a point somewhat below the hooked end thereof. The operator then manually feeds this intermediate product structure into a filament support wire inserting apparatus. On this apparatus, means are provided for forming an arbor button 23 on an end of the arbor l3, inserting thereinto one end of each of four filament support wires and forming a pigtail on the free end of each of these four filament support wires 25. An operator then removes this intermediate product structure from the filament support wire inserting apparatus and transfers it to a filament mounting operator who affixes filaments 19 and 21 thereto. This operator secures one end of filament 19 to the hooked end of lead-in wire 9, threads the filament through the pigtails formed on the free ends of one pair of filament support wires 25 and then secures the other end of the filament 19 to the hooked end of the extra short wire 17. Similarly, the operator secures one end of filament 21 to the hooked end of lead-in 'wire 5, threads the filament through the pigtails formed on the free ends of the other pair of filament support wires 25 and then secures the other end of filament 21 to the hooked end of the common lead-in wire 7.

In view of the foregoing brief description of the typical mount structure and method of fabrication thereof of a 3-lite lamp of the prior art, it will be readily appreciated that high-speed production of these articles is not possible. Some operations are performed automatically, others are then performed manually and subsequently further automatic operations are performed, thus requiring several article handling operations to be performed on the intermediate product structures.

In the manufacture of the mount of this invention illustrated in FIGURE 15, all of the article feeding operations and the article fabricating operations are performed automatically on an apparatus of the type disclosed in US. Patent 2,637,144 issued to R. M. Gardner et al. on May 5, 1953. The apparatus employed in the manufacture of the mount structure of this invention is similar to that shown in the referenced patent except that the apparaus is larger, provided with more heads, and provided with a number of article working devices and tools to perform the various fabricating operations described below.

Suitable article feeding devices are employed to provide each head of the machine with the several mount components shown in FIGURE 1, namely a long lead-in wire 2, a length of filament support wire fed and shaped in substantially hairpin configuration and hereinafter referred to as the hairpin a pair of short lead-in

wires

6 and 8, a stem 10 and an exhaust tube 12. It will be noted that the stem 10 of FIGURE 1 and succeeding figures is provided with a dot 14. The actual article is not normally so provided but the illustrations thereof in the drawings have been provided with this dot in order to facilitate an understanding of the relative disposition of the articles of work during the fabricating operations.

With the articles of work disposed in the relative position as shown in FIGURE 1, conventional stem working operations are performed thereon, namely heating of an end of the stem to a plastic state and then shaping the glass so heated in a press to define a stem press 16 shown in subsequent figures. It will be noted that the free ends of the hairpin 4 in FIGURE 1 extend a short distance inside the stem. When the adjacent area of the stem It) is heated and the stem press is formed, these free ends of the hairpin will be sealed therein and thus define, as will be described below, two spaced ends of two separate filament support wires. The stem press is preferably of the three-cornered type as shown particularly in FIGURE 15 so that the work components sealed therein will extend therefrom in the relative positions thereof shown in FIGURE 15, i.e., the short lead-in wire 6 emerges from one corner of the press, the short lead-in wire 3 emerges from a second corner of the press, the long lead-in Wire 2 emerges from the third corner of the press and the legs of the hairpin emerge more centrally from the press and spaced from one another.

At a station subsequent to the stations at which the stem has been thusly formed, the long lead-in wire 2 and the hairpin s are deflected outwardly as shown in FIGURE 2 to provide room for the insertion of working tools to shape the short lead-in

wires

6 and 8. As shown in FIGURE 3 each of the short lead-in

wires

6 and 8 have been bent at two points to thereby define segments 6a, db and 6c in lead-in wire 6 and segments 8a, 8b and Se in lead-in wire 8. In the right-hand illustration in FIGURE 3 the article of work has beenrotated counter-clockwise from the position which it occupies in the left-hand illustration of this figure and only a fragmentary portion of the long lead-in wire 2 and the hairpin 4 is shown. As shown in FIGURE 4, hooks 6d and dd have been formed in the lead-in

wires

6 and 8. As shown in FIGURE 5, the segment 6c of lead-in wire 6 and segment Sc of lead-in wire 8 are bent substantially 90 to define segments 6e and 82 respectively extending substantially normal to the longitudinal axis of the stem and pointed toward one another in substantially the same horizontal plane. This completes the fabricating operations on the short lead-in wires, each of which is now disposed in a position to receive an end of a filament.

Fabricating operations are now performed on the long lead-in wire 2. As shown in the right-hand illustration in FIGURE 6, the long lead-in wire 2 is bent substantially as shown to define segments 2:; and 2b. As shown in the left-hand illustration in FIGURE 6, the segment 2b is bent 90 counterclockwise and then bent substantially further counterclockwise about a radius to a substantially paper clip type of configuration identified by the reference character 20. The paper clip 20 is then joined, as by welding for example, to the segment 21) at 2d. The bight of the paper clip 20 is then severed and the two free ends formed thereby are flattened as shown in FIGURE 7. Thus the long lead-in Wire has been provided from itself with an extra short wire 18 attached thereto and substantially parallel to the segment 2e thereof. As shown in FIGURE 8, the segment 2e of the long lead-in wire 2 is then rotated clockwise about 180 so that it is extending substantially parallel to but pointing in a substantially opposite direction from the direction in which the extra short wire 18 extends and hooks are 3,1 stress formed on the ends of segment 2e and the extra short wire 18. The segment 2e of the long lead-in wire 2 and the extra short wire 18 are then shaped as shown in FIG- URES 9 and 11 to thereby bring the hooks 2 and 18b respectively into substantially vertical alignment with the hooks 6d and 8d respectively formed on the free ends of the two short lead-in

wires

6 and 8. Thus a pair of vertical aligned hooks have been provided on opposite sides of the longitudinal axis of the stem 16 for receiving a pair of filaments.

Lamp filaments

20 and 22 are then presented to these hooks and the hooks are closed about the ends thereof as shown in FIGURE 10.

Although we prefer to obtain the extra short wire 18 from the long lead-in wire 2 by the formation of paper clip 2c, it will be readily appreciated by those skilled in the art that other means may be employed to provide the common lead-in wire, i.e., long lead-in wire 2 with a pair of hooks for receiving one end of a pair of filaments. For example, other forms of closed loops may be employed rather than the paper clip configuration. Alternatively, the long lead-in wire may be provided with a hook portion intermediate its ends as well as a hook portion at the free end thereof, in which case one end of the two filaments would be secured to one of these two hook portions of the common lead-in wire.

The hairpin 4 of the filament support wire is shaped as shown in FIGURE 12 and the bight thereof is severed to define two separate

filament support wires

40 and 4b. As shown in FIGURE 13 the free ends of these two

filament support wires

4a and 4b are bent inwardly substantially 90 and outside the filaments. The free ends of these

filament support wires

4a and 4b are then looped around their respective filaments as shown in FIGURE 14. This completes the fabrication of the 3-lite lamp mount structure, an enlarged view of which is shown in FIGURE and identified generally by reference number 24.

In certain of FIGURES 2 to 14, some of the work components not directly involved in the operations illustrated in these particular figures have been omitted for clarity of illustration of the particular work components on which operations are being performed. Similarly, certain reference numbers have been omitted in some of the figures for the same reason.

Further lamp manufacturing operations, utilizing the mount 24 of FIGURE 15 as one of the work components, are performed in a manner well known to those skilled in the art, the mount being hermetically sealed to a lamp envelope 26 and a base 28 afiixed thereto to provide a finished lamp as shown in FIGURE 16.

What we claim is:

l. A lamp comprising: an hermetically sealed envelope having a longitudinal axis; a stem disposed in said enelope at an end thereof, the longitudinal axis of said stem being substantially coincident with the longitudinal axis of said envelope, and said stern having a press formed on the inner end thereof; a pair of short lead-in wires of substantially the same length secured in said stem press and extending generally longitudinally within said envelope and further extending laterally toward one another and substantially normal to the longitudinal axis of said envelope and terminating short of said axis and having hooks formed in the ends thereof; a long lead-in wire secured in said stern press and extending generally longitudinally within said envelope and substantially further than said pair of short lead-in wires, said long lead-in wire further extending laterally and having a hook formed at the end of said laterally extending portion, said hook being substantially in register with one of said hooks formed on the ends of said short lead-in wires; an extra short wire secured adjacent one end thereof to said long lead-in wire at a point below the point at which said long lead-in wire extends laterally, said extra short wire extending laterally and having a hook formed on the other end thereof, said hook being substantially in register with 6 the other of the said hooks formed on the ends of said short lead-in wires; and a filament disposed substantially vertically, extending between and supported by each of said two pairs of registered hooks.

2. A lamp comprising: an hermetically sealed envelope having a longitudinal aids; a stem disposed in said envelope at an end thereof, the longitudinal axis of said stem being substantially coincident with the longitudinal axis of said envelope and said stem having a three-cornered press formed on the inner end thereof; a pair of short lead-in wires of substantially the same length secured in and emerging respectively from a corner of said threecornered press and extending generally longitudinally within said envelope and further extending laterally toward one another and substantially normal to the longitudinal axis of said envelope and terminating short of said axis and having hooks formed in the ends thereof; a long lead-in wire secured in said stern press, emerging from the third corner of said three-cornered press and extending generally longitudinally within said envelope and substantially further than said pair of short lead-in wires, said long lead-in wire further extending laterally and having a hook formed at the end of said laterally extending portion, said hook being substantially in register with one of said hooks formed on the ends of said short lead-in wires; an extra short wire secured at one end to said long lead-in wire, said extra short wire extending laterally and having a hook formed on the other end thereof, said hook being substantially in register with the other of the said hooks formed on the ends of said short lead-in wires; and a filament disposed substantially vertically, extending between and supported by each of said two pairs of registered hooks.

3. A lamp comprising: an hermeticaly sealed envelope having a longitudinal axis; a stem disposed in said envelope at an end thereof, the longitudinal axis of said stem being substantially coincident with the longitudinal axis of said envelope, and said stem having a three-cornered press formed on the inner end thereof; a pair of short lead-in Wires of substantially the same length secured in and emerging respectively from a corner of said threecornered press and extending generally longitudinally within said envelope and further extending laterally toward one another and substantially normal to the longitudinal axis of said envelope and terminating short of said axis and having hooks formed in the ends thereof; a long lead-in wire secured in said stem press, emerging from the third corner of said three-cornered press and extending generally longitudinally within said envelope and substantially further than said pair of short lead-in wires, said long-lead-in wire further extending laterally and having a pair of spaced hooks formed therefrom, each of said hooks being in register with one of said hooks formed on the ends of said pair of short lead-in wires; and a filament disposed substantially vertically, extending between and supported by each of said two pairs of registered books.

4. A lamp comprising: an hermetically sealed envelope having a longitudinal axis; a stem disposed in said envelope at an end thereof, the longitudinal axis of said stem being substantially coincident with the longitudinal axis of said envelope, and said stem having a press formed on the inner end thereof; a pair of short lead-in wires of substantially the same length secured in said stem press and extending generally longitudinally within said envelope and further extending laterally toward one another and substantially normal to the longitudinal axis of said envelope and terminating short of said axis and having hooks formed in the ends thereof; a long lead-in wire secured in said stem press, emerging therefrom at a point substantially equidistant from the points of emergence of said short lead-in wires, and extending generally longitudinally within said envelope and substantially further than said pair of short lead-in wires, said long lead-in wire 4' further extending laterally and having a hook formed at the end of said laterally extending portion, said hook being substantially in register with one of said hooks formed on the ends of said short lead-in wires; an extra short wire secured at one end to said long lead-in wire at a point below the point at which said long lead-in 'wire extends laterally, said extra short wire extending laterally and having a hook formed on the other end thereof, said hook being substantially in register with the other of the said hooks formed on the ends of said short lead-in wires;

a filament disposed substantially vertically, extending between and supported by each of said two pairs of regis- G5 a the ends thereof, each of said laterally extending portions terminating in a loop about one of said filaments.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,007,933 Braselton July 9, 1935 2,022,219 Ruben Nov. 26, 1935 2,227,324 Severin Dec. 31, 1940 2,519,445 Drieschman Aug. 22, 1950 2,733,377 Bohme Jan. 31, 1956 2,845,691 Atherton et al. Aug. 5, 1958 2,877,375 Pearson Mar. 10, 1959 2,910,611 Jordan et al. Oct. 27, 1959 2,973,451 Plishker Feb. 28, 1961 2,997,616 Edwards Aug. 22, 1961

Claims

1. A LAMP COMPRISING: AN HERMETICALLY SEALED ENVELOPE HAVING A LONGITUDINAL AXIS; A STEM DISPOSED IN SAID ENVELOPE AT AN END THEREOF, THE LONGITUDINAL AXIS OF SAID STEM BEING SUBSTANTIALLY COINCIDENT WITH THE LONGITUDINAL AXIS OF SAID ENVELOPE, AND SAID STEM HAVING A PRESS FORMED ON THE INNER END THEREOF; A PAIR OF SHORT LEAD-IN WIRES OF SUBSTANTIALLY THE SAME LENGTH SECURED IN SAID STEM PRESS AND EXTENDING GENERALLY LONGITUDINALLY WITHIN SAID ENVELOPE AND FURTHER EXTENDING LATERALLY TOWARD ONE ANOTHER AND SUBSTANTIALLY NORMAL TO THE LONGITUDINAL AXIS OF SAID ENVELOPE AND TERMINATING SHORT OF SAID AXIS AND HAVING HOOKS FORMED IN THE ENDS THEREOF; A LONG LEAD-IN WIRE SECURED IN SAID STEM PRESS AND EXTENDING GENERALLY LONGITUDINALLY WITHIN SAID ENVELOPE AND SUBSTANTIALLY FURTHER THAN SAID PAIR OF SHORT LEAD-IN WIRES, SAID LONG LEAD-IN WIRE FURTHER EXTENDING LATERALLY AND HAVING A HOOK FORMED AT THE END OF SAID LATERALLY EXTENDING PORTION, SAID HOOK BEING SUBSTANTIALLY IN REGISTER WITH ONE OF SAID HOOKS FORMED ON THE ENDS OF SAID SHORT LEAD-IN WIRES; AN EXTRA SHORT WIRE SECURED ADJACENT ONE END THEREOF TO SAID LONG LEAD-IN WIRE AT A POINT BELOW THE POINT AT WHICH SAID LONG LEAD-IN WIRE EXTENDS LATERALLY, SAID EXTRA SHORT WIRE EXTENDING LATERALLY AND HAVING A HOOK FORMED ON THE OTHER END THEREOF, SAID HOOK BEING SUBSTANTIALLY IN REGISTER WITH THE OTHER OF THE SAID HOOKS FORMED ON THE ENDS OF SAID SHORT LEAD-IN WIRES; AND A FILAMENT DISPOSED SUBSTANTIALLY VERTICALLY, EXTENDING BETWEEN AND SUPPORTED BY EACH OF SAID TWO PAIRS OF REGISTERED HOOKS.