Patent ID: 6094124
Filing Date: 2000-07-25
Classification: H01F,Y10T

Abstract:
A ballast for a discharge lamp, comprising:a core assembly with one pair of stacks of a plurality of cores symmetrically inserted into a bobbin wound with copper wire, the core assembly having a plurality of outer surfaces intersecting one another at convex corners such that said outer surfaces are substantially free of recesses, said outer surfaces comprising a bottom surface defining a width; anda retainer for accommodating the entire core assembly, the retainer being formed from a single sheet of plate material and including a bottom plate having a pair of opposed sides defining a width for the bottom plate that is substantially equal to the width of the bottom surface of the core assembly, a pair of side walls upwardly bent respectively from the respective sides of the bottom plate, each side wall having a top end at a location thereon remote from the bottom plate and a pair of coplanar top plates inwardly bent respectively from the top ends of the respective side walls, the top plates defining a combined width substantially equal to the width of the bottom plate, edges of the top plates remote from the side walls being welded into edge to edge relationship such that the retainer tightly surrounds and fixes the core assembly without overlapping the top plates.