Flourescent lamp holder mount

A one-piece, molded plastic spring clip, which is substantially inverted U-shape in cross-section, has a bight portion including an opening receiving a screw threaded fastener to attach the clip to the rear surface of a lamp holder so that the screw threaded fastener does not extend from the clip through a headed flange portion of a lamp holder to provide a liquid conduit which could potentially short the lamp. The clip is provided with legs extending from either side of the bight and each leg has a pair of spaced, parallel wing portions extending outwardly from its associated leg to expand when inserted through the mounting plate. The wing portions provide vertical shoulders to seat the lamp holder on a vertical support in conjunction with a compressible coil spring provided on the opposite side of the mounting panel or vertical support between the headed flange and support to exert pressure on the clip shoulders against the rear of the mounting panel. A second non-compressible lamp holder is provided for the opposite end of the lamp on a second mounting panel. A one-piece, molded plastic spring clip is also provided for mounting the second lamp holder in a similar fashion, but is provided with flanges extending outwardly from the bottom of each leg, parallel to the bight portion so that the lamp will exert an axial force on the clip under the spring pressure of the compressible spring associated with the other lamp holder to clamp it to the front surface of the second mounting panel.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
1. Field of the Invention 
This invention relates generally to electrical connectors, and more 
particularly, to a mounting for a pair of spaced lamp holders or 
receptacles for receiving double-ended gaseous discharge lamps of the 
fluorescent type. 
2. Description of the Prior Art 
To facilitate mounting of a fluorescent electrical fixture, it is current 
practice to provide lamp holders (or receptacles) in sets or pairs, with 
one of the lamp holders being stationarily mounted or substantially so, 
and the other being axially compressible to a substantial degree, to 
facilitate the insertion of the lamp ends in the lamp holders. After 
insertion of the lamp ends in the lamp holders, the compressible lamp 
holder exerts an axial pressure upon the lamp, causing it to tightly 
engage at its respective ends in the lamp holders of the set. 
The lamp holders are mounted on spaced mounting plates, usually by means of 
a spring clip. Typical of lamp holder patents illustrating the lamp 
holders and their mountings are Kulka, U.S. Pat. No. 3,116,098 issued Dec. 
21, 1963, and Genovese et al., U.S. Pat. No. 3,681,593 issued Aug. 1, 
1972. In both of these patents, the compressible lamp holder is of the 
snap-in type, that is to say, the lamp holder is equipped with a spring 
clip that permits the lamp holder to be snapped into a mounting panel as a 
labor-saving expedient. Further, such spring clip mountings facilitate the 
release of the lamp holder from the mounting panel from the front of the 
panel, which is desirable, for example, if the lamp holder should 
malfunction or should otherwise become faulty in operation. While the 
metal spring clips of both Kulka and Genovese et al. accomplish these 
functions, they do present other drawbacks. 
Specifically, in Kulka, the metal spring clips for attaching the lamp 
holder to the mounting panel is connected to the lamp holder by means of 
rivets which extend through aligned openings or apertures in the front 
face of a mounting flange of the lamp holder to the rear surface of the 
flange. It has been found that if the lamp holder is mounted outdoors, 
water can accumulate in the aperture housing the rivet and there is a 
substantial chance that an electrical short can develop to ground through 
the face rivet and metal mounting clip. Accordingly, it is necessary to 
eliminate the spring clip mounting wherein it is attached by rivets to the 
face of the lamp holder. Genovese et al. accomplishes this by providing a 
one-piece spring metal mounting clip which is mounted to the rear of the 
lamp holder by a threaded fastener, thus eliminating the need to mount 
separate spring legs by rivets to the face of the lamp holder flange. 
However, it is still possible to develop an electrical short to ground 
through the spring metal clip, particularly where the lamp holder is 
compressible against the mounting plate through use of a coil spring 
surrounding the lamp holder between the metal plate and the flange of the 
lamp holder. The coil spring is virtually in contact with or slightly 
spaced from the end of the metal mounting clip and provides a spark gap 
which can be crossed to short the lamp to ground. Further, although the 
lamp holder is formed from an electrical insulative material, such as 
molded plastic or the like, it has been found that current can migrate 
through the lamp holder to the metal clip to ground to form an electrical 
short to ground discharging the lamp mounted to the lamp holder. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
In order to eliminate the problems associated with the prior art, but to 
retain their desirable features, the present invention utilizes a 
one-piece spring clip, which is substantially inverted U-shape in 
cross-section. The bight portion or control strap of the clip includes an 
opening receiving a screw threaded fastener to attach the clip to the rear 
surface of the lamp holder so that the screw threaded fastener does not 
extend from the clip through the headed flange portion of the lamp holder 
to provide a liquid conduit which could potentially short the lamp. The 
clip is provided with resilient legs extending from either side of the 
bight and each leg has a pair of spaced, parallel wing portions extending 
outwardly from and diverging with respect to its associated leg to seat 
the lamp holder on a vertical support. The wing portions terminate in an 
abutment shoulder for the clip against the rear surface of a mounting 
panel through which the clip legs are inserted and when a compressible 
coil spring is provided on the opposite side of the mounting panel or 
vertical support between a flange of the lamp holder and front surface of 
the mounting panel, pressure is exerted to seat the abutment shoulders on 
the clip against the rear surface of the mounting panel. 
On the non-compressible side of the mounting panel, the clip is also 
provided with flanges extending outwardly from the bottom of each leg, 
parallel to the bight portion so that the axially biased lamp will exert a 
force on the second lamp holder receiving the opposite end of the lamp to 
clamp the flanges of the clip to the front surface of its associated 
mounting panel. 
The clip is molded from a resilient plastic so that the legs can be moved 
towards each other to clear the wings from the rear of the mounting panel 
enabling removal of the clip and its associated lamp holder from its 
mounting on the mounting panel, but since it is molded from a resilient 
plastic forming an electrical insulation material, the potential for it to 
form an electrical short to ground the lamp is completely eliminated, even 
if it is spaced a small distance from the compressible metal coil spring. 
The mounting clip, being formed from molded plastic, also readily lends 
itself to mass production for greater efficiency of manufacture than 
forming and bending a spring metal clip.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
Referring now to the drawings in detail wherein like numerals indicate like 
elements throughout the several views, a compressible lamp holder 10 
comprising a portion of the present invention includes a body 11 of 
electrical insulation material, such as a molded plastic or the like, 
having a cylindrical body portion 12 integral at its front end with an 
enlarged, flat collar or flange constituting a head portion 14 the 
underside of which comprises an abutment 15. The body portion 12 is formed 
(see FIG. 4) with a flat 16, corresponding to a flat edge 17 of an 
otherwise circular mounting opening 18 formed in a mounting plate 20, 
which may constitute a portion of an electrical fixture in which one end 
of a double-ended gaseous discharge lamp L is supported. 
Formed in the front surface of head portion 14 is a recess 22 for and end 
of lamp L, and provided in the recess is a partition 24 for lamp contacts 
(not shown), which are connected to leads (not shown) which project out of 
the rear end of the body portion 12 through openings 25. Within recess 22, 
the partition 24 is integrally molded in body portion 12 as part thereof. 
Recess 22 has an annular shoulder 27 forming an annular groove in the head 
portion 14 adapted to receive a gasket 26 as a seal between the lamp L and 
holder 10. 
The construction so far described is already known, as may be readily noted 
by reference to Kulka U.S. Pat. No. 3,116,098 and Genovese et al. U.S. 
Pat. No. 3,681,593. Also known to the prior art, as seen from these 
patents, is a compression coil spring 28, the convolutions of which are 
normally widely spaced as shown in FIG. 1, said convolutions being 
progressively increased in diameter in a direction away from the head 
portion 14. At its front end, spring 28 bears against abutment 15. The 
smallest convolution can be formed of a diameter so as to grip the body 
portion 12, to hold the coil spring 28 assembled with the body 11 of the 
lamp holder 10 awaiting use. 
Generally designated at 30 is a retaining or mounting clip. Clip 30 is 
formed from a single piece of molded plastic. 
Referring to FIG. 4, clip 30 extends diametrically across the rear end of 
the body 11, which is formed with a diametrically extended recess 32 
receiving the clip 30 and defining opposed walls or abutments 34 to 
prevent relative rotational movement of the clip 30 and body 11. At the 
opposite ends of the clip, the recess 32 is formed with end portions or 
extensions of greater depth in a direction axially of body portion 12. 
Clip 30, which is substantially inverted U-shape in cross-section, as shown 
to best advantage in FIGS. 5 and 6, is formed having a bight portion 38 
provided with a linear, elongated embossed or depressed intermediate or 
central portion 39, having medially between its ends an aperture 40 
through which extends a screw 42 or equivalent fastening means, engaged in 
the rear of body portion 12 for the purpose of fixedly securing the clip 
30 to the body portion 12. The embossed central portion 39 of bight 38 
strengthens the clip 30 and merges at its opposite ends into leg portions 
43 of the clip. Each leg 43 has a pair of spaced, parallel forwardly 
extending wing members 48, which are inclined so as to converge in a 
direction extending rearwardly from the head portion 14 of the body 11. 
At their forward ends, the wing members 48 merge into inwardly extending 
shoulders 50, which are substantially parallel with the bight portion 38. 
Shoulders 50, at their inner ends, in turn merge into forwardly projecting 
leg members 43, which are received within the recess 32 of body portion 
12. 
The leg portions 43 of the clip 30 being resilient, can be moved towards 
each other against the inherent tension of the material thereof in recess 
32, passed through mounting opening 18 in mounting plate 20, and allowed 
to expand so that shoulders 50 of wing portions 48 abut the rear surface 
of plate 20. If necessary, a selected one or both of the spring legs 43 
can be pressed inwardly by a tool or instrument held by the user, when the 
holder 10 is to be removed. 
In use, one mounts the compressible lamp holder 10 merely by inserting it 
through the mounting holder opening 18 in a direction toward the left in 
FIG. 2. As a result, the opposite edges of the mounting holder opening 18 
bear against the inclined wing members 48, camming them radially inwardly 
until the members 48 clear the edges of the mounting hole 18, into 
snapping engagement with the back surface of the mounting plate. Then, the 
lamp holder 10 can be considered as mounted, by reason of the fact that 
the act of inserting the body through the mounting hole 18 compresses the 
coil spring 28 between mounting panel 20 and abutment 15. Spring 28, 
tending to expand, causes shoulders 50 to bear firmly against the back 
surface of the mounting panel 20 to clamp the lamp holder 10 to the 
mounting panel 20. 
The opposite end of lamp L is received first in a substantially identical, 
although non-compressible, lamp holder 60 (FIG. 7) wherein like elements 
corresponding to lamp holder 10 are indicated by identical elements. While 
body portion 12 of lamp holder 60 is shorter because of the absence of 
coil spring 28, the remaining elements are identical to those of lamp 
holder 10 except for mounting clip 30'. Clip 30' has all the elements of 
clip 30 and is mounted in holder opening 18 of a mounting plate 20 in the 
same fashion as clip 30. In addition, the ends of leg members 43 of clip 
30' are provided with oppositely extending, lateral flanges 52 parallel to 
a flat bight portion 38. After insertion of clip 30' and clip 30 in 
opposed mounting plates 20, the axial force of spring 28 exerted on lamp L 
clamps the flanges 52 against the front surface of its associated mounting 
plate 20. 
The device is now ready for use, and can be temporarily compressed whenever 
a lamp L is to be engaged by the lamp holder 10. 
To remove either lamp holder, as for example when the lamp holder needs 
replacement, one may insert a screwdriver bit between shoulder 50 and the 
end of the elongated portion of the leg member 43. With the screwdriver 
bit so positioned one simply presses inwardly against the leg, temporarily 
causing shoulder 50 thereof to clear the edge of the mounting hole 18. The 
other side can be similarly pressed inwardly, until the lamp holder is 
sufficiently clear of the mounting hole to permit it to be removed. This 
is accomplished with maximum speed and ease.