Abstract:
The present invention provides a luminaire component housing which has at least two upwardly opening pockets substantially equal to the heights of the components to be fitted therein. The component housing has a cover which cinches the components into their respective pockets, thereby eliminating the need for metal straps, screws or other traditional hardware to secure components into place.

Description:
This application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent Ser. No. 08/890,118 filed Jul. 9, 1997 now U.S. Pat. No. 6,059,422 which issued on May 9, 2000, which is a continuation of Ser. No. 08/532,901 filed Sep. 22, 1995, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,662,407 which issued on Sep. 2, 1997. 
    
    
     FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     This invention relates to luminaires. More particularly, this invention relates to a luminaire housing in which a luminaire&#39;s control components are enclosed and held in place without using securing hardware. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     Luminaires that include housings for lighting control components are known in the prior art. One type of luminaire utilizes a high intensity discharge (“HID”) light source that is regulated by control components which may include a transformer alone or in combination with other components such as capacitors, ignitors, or other such equipment. These control components may be mounted within the luminaire&#39;s housing, or separate from the luminaire in a dedicated housing. For outdoor use, the control components are usually fitted inside a weatherproof enclosure, and for indoor use, the control components are often enclosed in the housing for safety purposes. If not integral within the luminaire&#39;s housing itself, the control components may sit outboard of the luminaire, attached to, nearby or remote from the luminaire which they control. 
     Traditionally, a luminaire&#39;s control components have been secured within their housing by screws, rivets, or other fasteners in combination with flanges or clamps integral with the components, and/or metal straps cinched around the components and affixed to the housing with screws. These traditional approaches are simple and worry free until a component needs to be replaced. Malfunctioned control components must be removed from their securing hardware within their housing, and new components must be inserted, often requiring new hardware to secure them properly, in order to prolong the useful life of the housing. 
     In the time consuming task of fitting a new control component with new hardware in an old luminaire that is still in use, one type of traditional luminaire makes use of a separate housing to enclose each separate component. This poses its own set of problems when a user is forced to repair the light. In this luminaire configuration, unless, without opening each component&#39;s housing, one can determine exactly which component has malfunctioned, the repair time to perform the job of replacing a single burned out component will be increased by time wasted exploring each separate component housing to find the problem. 
     Another type of traditional luminaire known in the art uses a single housing for multiple components. This type of housing usually has a constant height throughout its interior. In this approach, each of the control components is secured with traditional screws and metal straps to the housing&#39;s interior surface. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     It is an objective of the present invention to provide a luminaire with a housing which is contoured to suit the heights of the control components fitted therein, that housing having at least two upwardly opening pockets whose heights are substantially equal to the heights of the control components positioned therein in combination with a cover which cinches the components into their respective pockets, thereby eliminating the need for metal straps, screws, or other hardware to secure components into place. 
     It is a further objective of the present invention to eliminate all unnecessary component securing fasteners, thereby reducing the manufacturing time and lowering the cost of the luminaire. 
     These and other objectives of the invention are achieved by providing a luminaire comprised of an upper housing which includes at least two upwardly opening control component pockets. In the preferred embodiment of the invention, a lower housing has an upwardly extending lamp socket which fits into a recess in the upper housing. The lower housing encloses the luminaire&#39;s lamp. The lower and upper housings are aligned so that the upper housing and the lower housing cinch together with an adjustable fastener, e.g., a bolt and nut assembly. This allows the upper and lower housings to sandwich between them a canopy to which the luminaire is mounted with the lower housing extending beneath that canopy to provide light beneath the canopy. 
     The upper housing has a cover which is secured to the upper housing&#39;s base. The cover cinches traditional metal control components into their respective pockets, thus eliminating the need for internal hardware to fasten the components into place. Traditional luminaire control components for HID light sources, such as ballasts and transformers having exposed wire coil windings or oval metal-can oil-filled capacitors with wiring terminals, are required by electrical codes to be secured in place with maintained spacings between these electrical parts. The present invention specifically addresses and solves the code requirements for these traditional control components. By cinching these control components into their respective pockets with an easily removable housing cover, the need for further securing hardware is eliminated, thereby reducing costs of manufacturing as well as the cost of maintenance and hardware needed to service malfunctioned luminaires. 
     Newer luminaire control components for HID light sources that do not need to be clamped in place, but only contained in a housing, also may be used in conjunction with the present invention. Control components such as cylindrical plastic dry-film capacitors or ignitors may not have spacing requirements like their traditional metal counterparts. The height of the plural pockets in the present invention are tailored to specifically suit the larger metal ballasts, capacitors and ignitors, but since the more modern plastic control components are smaller and are only required to be captured in a component housing, they also may be retained, though not clamped tightly, in the housing cavities without the use of screws, straps or other hardware fittings. 
     Other advantages of the invention will become more apparent to those of ordinary skill upon review of the following detailed description of the preferred embodiment taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a luminaire in accord with the principles of this invention, the luminaire being mounted to a canopy; 
     FIG. 2 is a side view partially broken away of a canopy cinched between the luminaire&#39;s upper housing with control components secured therein and lower housing; 
     FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the luminaire&#39;s upper housing base disassembled from the upper housing cover in combination with the lower housing&#39;s lamp socket housing; and 
     FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view taken on line  4 — 4  of FIG. 2 of the lamp socket housing received in the upper housing&#39;s base. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
     Referring first to FIG. 1, a lower housing  10  of a luminaire  2  descends from a canopy  4 . The luminaire  2  is of the type seen in U.S. Pat. No. 5,662,407. The lower housing  10  includes a socket housing  14  having a base  14   b  and a lens frame  14   c  to which a lens  12  is attached in any desired manner, (as seen in FIGS.  2  and  4 ), such as described in U.S. Pat. 5,662,407, owned by the assignee of the present application. The disclosure of U.S. Pat. 5,662,407 is incorporated herein in its entirety by reference. The socket housing  14  contains a socket  14   a.  A lamp  15  having a lamp base  15   a  threadedly received in socket  14   a,  extends downwardly into the interior of the lens  12 . The socket housing  14  is received through an opening  8  defined in the canopy  4 , as seen in FIGS. 3 and 4. 
     The luminaire  2  has an upper housing  20 , as seen in FIGS. 2 and 3. The upper housing  20  has a base  22  which defines three upwardly opening pockets  28 ,  30 , and  32 . As seen in FIG. 2, pockets  28 ,  30 ,  32  have respective first, second and third heights  5   34 ,  36 ,  38 . Luminaire components  42 ,  44 ,  46 , such as a transformer (schematically depicted in phantom lines in FIG.  3 ), a capacitor, and an ignitor, respectively, have respective heights  48 ,  50 ,  52 . The component heights  48 ,  50 ,  52  are substantially equal to the heights of their respective pockets  34 ,  36 ,  38  in which they sit, as seen in FIGS. 2 and 3. A cover  54  dimensioned to have its marginal region seat atop the upper edge  22   a  of the base  22 , encloses the pockets  28 ,  30  and  32 . Because the heights  34 ,  36 ,  38  of respective pockets  28 ,  30 ,  32  are substantially equal to the heights  48 ,  50 ,  52  of respective components  42 ,  44 ,  46  to be placed therein, the cover  54 , when secured to base  22 , seals the components  42 ,  44 ,  46  into their respective pockets  28 ,  30 ,  32  and cinches them into place. Screws  62  are received through holes  64  defined in flange  56   a  and  56   b  extending from the opposite sides of the cover  54  to be received in lug holes  68  defined in lugs  66  extending from the base  22 , as seen in FIGS. 2 and 3. The present invention may also be used in applications in which pockets  28 ,  30 ,  32  are configured and sized to clamp or retain two or more components stacked in tandem instead of being dedicated to a singular component or to receive components stacked horizontally instead of vertically. 
     Generally planar support legs  24 ,  26  descend from the base  22  to support the upper housing  20  upon the canopy surface  6 . The present invention may also be used for applications in which the luminaire  2  is supported upon the canopy  4  by a frustoconical, or other shaped clamp described in U.S. Pat. 5,662,407, instead of support legs  24 ,  26 . 
     As seen in FIGS. 2,  3 ,  4 , a stud  58  has lower end  58   a  threadedly engaged into a threaded bore  16  defined in a boss  74 . The socket housing  14  is received through the canopy opening  8  and the stud  58  is received through an opening  25  defined in the upper housing&#39;s base  22 . A socket seat  27  is sized to receive a top portion  76  of socket housing  14  and align the opening  25  and socket housing  14  coaxially. 
     A bore  29   a  defined in a channel bar  29  has a diameter slightly larger than the diameter of stud  58 . The bar  29  has flanges  29   b,    29   c  which are received upon the top edge  25   a  of the opening  25 . The stud  58  is received through the bore  29   a  and a lock washer  21  and nut  60  assembly is received upon the stud  58  and when tightened, cinch canopy  4  between the upper housing  20  and the lower housing  14 . A ring gasket  82  located upon the top wall  76  of the socket housing  14  creates a seal between the upper housing  20  and the socket housing  14  when the nut  60  is tightened. 
     So that one person may assemble the luminaire  2  without assistance, in the preferred embodiment, a rope bracket  70  is secured to the stud  58  with the lock washer  21  and nut  60  assembly. A rope (not shown) is tied to an aperture  80  defined in the rope bracket  70 . The lower housing  10  is raised up and the socket housing  14  fits through the opening  8  in the canopy  4 , as seen in FIG.  3 . The nut  60  and lock washer  21  are then removed from the  10  stud  58  and the stud  58  is received through the bore  29   a  in the bar  29 . The canopy  4  is then cinched between the lower housing  10  and the upper housing  20  by tightening the lock washer  21  and nut  60  assembly back upon the stud  58 . 
     The present invention may also be used for applications in which no canopy  4  is sandwiched between upper and lower housings  20 ,  10 . This alternative embodiment contemplates that the upper housing  20  be used for high-bay luminaires, such as auditorium and gymnasium applications, which simply have the lower housing  10  secured to and located below the base  22  of the upper housing  20 , with the bottoms  24   a,    26   a  of support legs  26  in direct contact with the upper surface  14   d  (FIG. 2) of the base  14   b.    
     Additional advantages and modifications will readily appear to those skilled in the art. The invention in its broader aspects is therefore not limited to the specific detail, representative apparatus and illustrative example shown and described. This has been a description as the present invention as currently known. However, the invention itself should only be defined by the appended claims,