Luminaire with reduced height for packaging purposes

A luminaire comprising a half shell (1) or roof, a transparent half shell (2) or cover, and a plate (4) which supports inter alia holders (9) for a fluorescent tube. The plate comprises openings through which the holders are passed, and the holders (9) each have two elastic means (11, 12) for snapping them home in the plate at two different levels on the holder, so that the holders can be fixed to the plate with two different heights.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The invention relates to a luminaire comprising inter alia a housing and a plate, said housing comprising at least a first half shell referred to as roof and a transparent second half shell referred to as cover , said plate supporting inter alia holders for a fluorescent tube.

A luminaire comprising a plate which supports holders for a fluorescent tube is known from the document FR 1.251.789. In this document, the holders are articulated and can be collapsed against the plate.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is an object of the invention to obtain a luminaire which can be given a reduced height so as to be placed in a packaging, which can be tested electrically in this state, and which does not give rise to mistakes in its subsequent installation.

To achieve this, the plate comprises openings through which the holders are passed, and the holders each comprise two elastic means for snapping home in the plate at two different levels on the holder so that they can be fixed to the plate with two different heights.

Special embodiments of the invention will become apparent from the dependent claims 2 to 5 .

These as well as other, more detailed aspects of the invention will become clear from the following description of an embodiment which is given by way of non-limitative example.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The luminaire of FIG. 1 comprises inter alia

a housing comprising a half shell 1 or roof,

a transparent cover 2 ,

a plate 4 made from profiled metal sheeting and carrying internal functional elements of the luminaire: among them a ballast 7 and holders 9 for fluorescent tubes.

The plate 4 comprises openings through which the holders 9 are passed. In their operational position, shown in continuous lines here, the holders are completely lowered. They are prevented from sinking any further by a portion 13 whose width is greater than that of the opening in the plate in which they are snapped home by means of bosses 12 . They can also be pushed up into a position shown in broken lines. For this purpose, the holders each comprise two elastic means for snapping home in the plate, the bosses 11 and 12 here, at two different levels on the holder so that the holders can be fixed to the plate with two different heights. If the component parts of the holders are obtained, for example, by molding, the bosses are made in the molding process: they are an integrated part of with one of the component parts. They may have, for example, a smaller thickness than that of the walls of the element of which they form part so as to present a certain elasticity.

In FIG. 2 , the cover 2 has been turned upside down and is laid in this position on the housing 1 , and the holders 9 are pushed into the plate and held by the bosses 11 . The assembly is thus less high and can be packaged in a smaller carton, which renders the transport and storage less expensive. The electric wiring of the holders may be realized in advance, because it is not changed by any displacement of the holders in upward or downward direction; accordingly, an electrical test may be carried out on the devices in the packaging position, immediately before packaging, while in addition there is no risk of a fitter making mistakes in mounting, which may happen if the holders are supplied in the non-mounted state.

It should be noted that the verb comprise does not exclude the presence of other elements or steps besides those listed in any claim.