Patent Publication Number: US-8123380-B2

Title: Waterproof light-emitting-diode lamp holding structure

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention relates generally to a waterproof light-emitting-diode (LED) lamp holding structure, and more particularly to a waterproof LED lamp holding structure with which a plurality of serially connected LED lamps can be held immovable and straight in through holes formed on an object, which can be a signboard, an LED illuminator, or a decorative lighting fixture. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     Please refer to  FIG. 1  that is an exploded perspective view of a waterproof LED illuminating device disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,244,044 granted to the same applicant of the present invention, and to  FIG. 2  that is a perspective view of an LED lamp for the waterproof LED illuminating device of  FIG. 1 . The waterproof LED illuminating device includes an object  10  and an LED lamp bank composed of a plurality of LED lamps  20  serially connected via an electric wire  21 . The object  10  is provided with a plurality of through holes  11 , and can be a signboard, an LED illuminator or a decorative lighting fixture. 
     Each of the LED lamps  20  is inserted in one of the through holes  11  on the object  10 , and includes an LED  22  and a protective member  23  enclosing a rear part of the LED  22  and the electric wire  21  connected to contact pins of the LED  22 , so that the LED  22  and the electric wire  21  are protected against water and the problem of power failure. 
     Referring to  FIG. 2 , the protective member  23  has a first end  231  and a second end  232 . The LED  22  is forward projected from the first end  231  of the protective member  23 . The first end  231  has an end face area smaller than that of the second end  232 . In addition, the protective member  23  is wasted. That is, the protective member  23  has a radially inward curved peripheral wall  233 , allowing easy insertion of the protective member  23  into the through hole  11  on the object  10 . 
     LED has the advantages of lower cost, less power consumption, and longer usable life compared to the conventional lamps, and can therefore be advantageously used to make signboards, LED illuminators or decorative lighting fixture at low cost. LEDs on the signboard can be arranged to show proper graphic patterns or characters. Moreover, LEDs can be reused when the signboard is changed in design. Therefore, signboards with LEDs are widely adopted among commercial and industrial fields. 
     However, the LED emits straight light in one direction. In the case of having a large number of LED lamps separately inserted in the through holes on the object, light emitted from any biased LED lamp will show different brightness on the object. That is, the LED lamps being correctly mounted in the through holes on the object are brighter while the LED lamps being angularly mounted in the through holes on the object are darker when viewing from outside of the object. While an auxiliary reflective or refractive hood can be added to the LED lamp to achieve improved uniformity of brightness, such hood will also bring increased manufacturing cost and complicated manufacturing process to the LED lamp. 
     It is therefore tried by the inventor to develop an improved waterproof LED lamp holding structure, so that all the LED lamps are held immovable and straight in the through holes on an object. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     A primary object of the present invention is to provide a waterproof LED lamp holding structure that allows easy, quick and waterproof mounting of a plurality of serially connected LED lamps to a signboard, an LED illuminator or a decorative lighting fixture at low cost to show colorful changes. 
     Another object of the present invention is to provide a waterproof LED lamp holding structure with which a plurality of serially connected LED lamps can be separately held immovable and straight in through holes formed on an object without the risk of becoming biased due to external force, so that the LED lamps on the object show uniform brightness. 
     To achieve the above and other objects, the waterproof LED lamp holding structure according to the present invention includes an object having an outer and an inner side, and a plurality of LED lamps serially connected via an electric wire. Each of the LED lamps has a rear part enclosed in a protective member, which shields junctions of contact pins and the electric wire against external environment, and has a first and a second end. Wedge-like keys are provided on an outer face of the protective member near the first end and each have a rearward and outward increasing thickness to define a slant outer surface. Further, anchoring lugs are provided on the outer face of the protective member to outward obliquely extend from the second end toward the first end. When the LED lamps along with the protective members are inserted in the through holes on the object, the wedge-like keys and distal ends of the anchoring lugs respectively abut against the outer and the inner side of the object to thereby hold the LED lamps immovable and straight in the through holes. 
     In an embodiment of the present invention, the protective member has two diametrically opposite and symmetrical anchoring lugs and the distal ends of the anchoring lugs are T-shaped. 
     In another embodiment of the present invention, the protective member has two diametrically opposite and symmetrical anchoring lugs and the anchoring lugs each have a width gradually increasing toward the first end of the protective member. 
     In a further embodiment of the present invention, the protective member has two diametrically opposite and symmetrical anchoring lugs and the distal ends of the anchoring lugs are V-shaped. 
     In a still further embodiment of the present invention, the protective member has three equally spaced anchoring lugs to look like having three claws. 
     In a still further embodiment of the waterproof LED lamp holding structure, the anchoring lugs of the protective member are elastic and have a length sufficient for the distal ends of the anchoring lugs to elastically bend and flatly press against the inner side of the object when the wedge-like keys of the protective member have fully passed the through hole to abut on the outer side of the object. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       The structure and the technical means adopted by the present invention to achieve the above and other objects can be best understood by referring to the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments and the accompanying drawings, wherein 
         FIG. 1  is an exploded perspective view of a waterproof LED illuminating device according to an embodiment of U.S. Pat. No. 7,244,044; 
         FIG. 2  is a perspective view of one single LED lamp forming the waterproof LED illuminating device according to U.S. Pat. No. 7,244,044; 
         FIG. 3  is a perspective view showing an LED lamp for the waterproof LED lamp holding structure according to a first embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 4  is a fragmentary sectioned side view of the waterproof LED lamp holding structure according to the first embodiment of the present invention showing the LED lamp of  FIG. 3  is inserted in a through hole provided on an object; 
         FIG. 5  is a fragmentary sectioned side view of a waterproof LED lamp holding structure according to of a second embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 6  is a perspective view showing an LED lamp for the waterproof LED lamp holding structure according to a third embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 7  is a perspective view showing an LED lamp for the waterproof LED lamp holding structure according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention; and 
         FIG. 8  is a perspective view showing an LED lamp for the waterproof LED lamp holding structure according to a fifth embodiment of the present invention. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
     The present invention will now be described with some preferred embodiments and with reference to the accompanying drawings. It is understood the embodiments and the accompanying drawings are provided only for exemplification and not intended in any way to restrict the present invention. 
     The present invention provides a waterproof LED lamp holding structure that has an overall structure generally similar to that shown in  FIG. 1 , and includes an object  10  and a lamp bank composed of a plurality of light-emitting-diode (LED) lamps  20 . The object  10  can be a signboard, an LED illuminator or a decorative lighting fixture having a regular or an irregular configuration, including but not limited to a bar-shaped object, a designed character, a designed pattern, a spherical object, a flat plate and the like. The object  10  has an outer side  31  and an inner side  32  (see  FIGS. 4 and 5 ), and is provided with a plurality of through holes  11 , which can be arranged to show geometrical patterns or characters. The LED lamps  20  are serially connected via an electric wire  21  to form the lamp bank. Each of the LED lamps  20  has a light-emitting section and a contact pin section. A protective member  23  encloses a rear part of the LED lamp  20  to shield a junction of the contact pin section and the electric wire  21 . The LED lamp  20  is inserted into the through hole  11  from the inner side  32  toward the outer side  32  of the object  10  and is held in the through hole  11  via the protective member  23 , such that the light-emitting section of the LED lamp  20  is forward projected from the outer side  31  of the object  10 . 
     The present invention is provided mainly to improve the structure of the protective member  23  for the LED lamp  20 , so that the LED lamp  20  can be held immovable and straight in the through hole  11  via the protective member  23 . Please refer to  FIG. 3 , which is a perspective view of an LED lamp  20  for the waterproof LED lamp holding structure according to a first embodiment of the present invention. In the first embodiment of the present invention, the protective member  23  has a first end  231  closer to the light-emitting section of the LED lamp  20  and a second end  232  opposite to the first end  231 . The light-emitting section of the LED lamp  20  forward projecting from an end face of the first end  231  of the protective member  23  and the electric wire  21  rearward extending out of an end face of the second end  232  of the protective member  23 . 
     Preferably, the protective member  23  is made of an elastic PVC material and in the form of a substantially cylindrical body. The first end  231  has a cross-sectional area smaller than that of the second end  232 , making the protective member  23  looked like a truncated cone. The through hole  11  of the object  10  has a size larger than the cross-sectional area of the first end  231  but smaller than the cross-sectional area of the second end  232  of the protective member  23 , advantageously allowing the protective member  23  and the LED lamp  20  to move through the through holes  11  from the inner side  32  toward the outer side  31  of the object  10  and be finally held in the through hole  11  with the light-emitting section of the LED lamp  20  forward projected from the outer side  31  of the object  10 . 
       FIG. 4  is a fragmentary sectioned side view showing the LED lamp  20  of  FIG. 3  is held in the through hole  11  on the object  10  via the protective member  23 . Please refer to  FIGS. 3 and 4  at the same time. The protective member  23  is provided on an outer face near the first end  231  with a plurality of wedge-like keys  33 , each of which is extended from near the first end  231  toward the second end  232  with the thickness of the wedge-like key  33  gradually increasing toward the second end  232  to define a slant outer surface for smoothly guiding the protective member  23  and accordingly the LED lamp  20  into and through the through hole  11  on the object  10 . After having completely passed through the through hole  11  on the object  10 , the wedge-like keys  33  will abut against the outer side  31  of the object  10  to stop the protective member  23  from rearward moving out of the through hole  11 . 
     The protective member  23  is further provided on the outer face near the second end  232  with a plurality of anchoring lugs  34 . The anchoring lugs  34  are outwardly obliquely extended from near the second end  232  toward the first end  231 , making the protective member  23  looked like an anchor for ships. When the protective member  23  is held in the through hole  11  by the wedge-like keys  33  abutted on the outer side  31  of the object  10 , distal ends  341  of the anchoring lugs  34  are also abutted against the inner side  32  of the object  10 . With the wedge-like keys  33  and the anchoring lugs  34  abutted against the outer and the inner side  31 ,  32  of the object  10 , respectively, the LED lamp  20  along with the protective member  23  can be held immovable and straight in the through hole  11  on the object  10  without the risk of becoming biased due to an external force. 
     Preferably, the protective member  23  has two diametrically opposite and symmetric anchoring lugs  34 , as shown in  FIGS. 3 and 4 . In the first embodiment of the present invention, the distal ends  341  of the anchoring lugs  34  are T-shaped, and the anchoring lugs  34  each have an overall length that allows the distal ends  341  of the anchoring lugs  34  to fitly touch and abut on the inner side  32  of the object  10 . 
     Since the protective member  23  is made of an elastic PVC material, the anchoring lugs  34  integrally provided on the protective member  23  are also elastic. Therefore, in a second embodiment of the present invention as shown in  FIG. 5 , the anchoring lugs  34  are designed to have an increased length compared to the first embodiment. As can be seen in  FIG. 5 , which is a fragmentary sectioned side view, the distal ends of the length increased anchoring lugs  34  are elastically bent to flatly press against the inner side  32  of the object  10  when the wedge-like keys  33  of the protective member  23  have fully passed the through hole  11  to abut on the outer side  31  of the object  10 . In this manner, the LED lamp  20  is more firmly held in the through hole  11  on the object  10 . 
     Alternatively, the protective member  23  in a third embodiment of the present invention, as shown in  FIG. 6 , has two diametrically opposite and symmetrical anchoring lugs  34  that have a width gradually increased toward the distal end thereof. Or, in a fourth embodiment of the present invention, the protective member  23  has two diametrically opposite and symmetrical anchoring lugs  34 , each of which has a V-shaped distal end as shown in  FIG. 7 , so as to provide increased contact area between the anchoring lugs  34  and the inner side  32  of the object  10  to ensure immovable and straight holding of the LED lamp  20  in the through hole  11  on the object  10 . According to a fifth embodiment of the present invention, as shown in  FIG. 8 , the protective member  23  is provided on the outer face with three equally spaced anchoring lugs  34  to look like having three claws, which also ensures the LED lamp  20  to be held immovable and straight in the through hole  11  on the object  10 . 
     The present invention has been described with some preferred embodiments thereof and it is understood that many changes and modifications in the described embodiments can be carried out without departing from the scope and the spirit of the invention that is intended to be limited only by the appended claims.