Improvements in and appertaining to Adjustable Supporters for Electric Lamps and other Objects or Articles.
Year: 1893

page_text: Date of Application, 26th Sept., 1893-Accepted, 18th Nov., 1893
*COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
[Communicated from abroad by OTIS CONVERSE WHITE, of 65, Beacon Street,
Worcester, Massachusetts, United States of America, Manufacturer.]
Improvements in and appertaining to Adjustable Supporters for
Electric Lamps and other Objects or Articles.
I, WILLIAM ROBERT LAKE, of the Firm of Haseltine, Lake & Co., Patent
Agents, 45 Southampton Buildings, in the County of Middlesex, do hereby declare
the nature of this invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, to
be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement :-
This invention relates to apparatus for supporting objects such as lamps, lenses,
shades, mirrors or display articles, especially incandescent electric lamps in factories,
workshops and other situations, where it is desirable to have the object held in a
variety of different positions, or in any convenient relation to the work; the intent
of this invention being to provide a supporter capable of extensive range and
adjustment; to render the same self-sustaining at position without manipulation of
fastenings, and adapted for protecting the circuit wires.. Also, to provide
attaching and connecting joints, of the construction specified, for sustaining the
rods or tubes supporting the lamp or other object, and affording the various
adjustments hereinafter explained.
In this Specification the supporter is shown and described as employed for
incandescent electric lamps; but it will be understood that the instruments can,
in similar manner, be employed for supporting other kinds of objects or articles,
by substituting such other object or article in place of the electric lamp in attach-
ment with the carrier rod or tube

page_text: a seating flange for attaching it to the support. The other is attached to the first
by bolts I disposed in triangular relation. The flanged plate has an internal
chamber m'and a side opening 4 to accommodate the conductors E. The ball 3
that holds the tube B is preferably formed in sections, and is confined between the
two plates a and a'. Said plates a and a' are each formed with an open center and
an annular bearing-surface or contact-ring 5 that embraces the ball on a circle of
its exterior about half way between its equator and poles, respectively above and
below, as indicated in Fig. 2, thereby confining the ball between said surfaces.
The bolt-holes through the plates a a' are sufficiently large to allowed limited
lateral motion or swinging of the bolts I. The neck of the bolts and the holes in
one plate are square, so that said bolts cannot rotate therein. Bent steel washers J
(see Fig. 34) are arranged on the bolts between the head or nut 6 and the plate,
thus affording a slightly yielding but steady pressure for drawing the plates α άλ
towards each other and forcing the bearings 5 against the ball. The tube or rod B
is retained by the sections of the ball pressing its surface. Adjustment of the
tube B longitudinally through the attaching joint is attained by having an opening
in the ceiling or wall for accommodating the same. (See dotted lines Fig. 2.)
In the operation, the annular bearings 5 hold the ball securely and concentrically,
and the triangular arrangement of the bolts I renders the plate self-adjusting to
give uniformity of pressure at all sides. The yielding washers allow the parts to
accommodate themselves to any slight inequalities of surface or spherical contour of
the ball, so that the supporter can swing in any direction with a smooth and easy
action without cramping, giving away or jerkness; and is self-sustained at any
position of adjustment.
The wrist-joint F, which is another feature of my invention, is composed of two
circular disks 7 and 8, each provided at its side with a tubular hub, as fand f¹;
'to one of which is attached the carrier-tube C, while the other is suitably threaded
at 9 for receiving the lamp socket H. These disks are disposed at one side of the axis
of their hubs ff', and are pivoted together by a clamping screw 10 furnished with
a thumb-nut 11 on the outer end. A thin steel spring-plate K is arranged between
the pivot-head and disk for forcing the hinging-disks together with yielding pressure
and friction that permits flexure of the joint, so that the lamp can be turned to any
position desired without loosening the clamp-screw, and be self-sustained at such
position.
The spring plate K has a projecting tang 12 on its edge, and a nick n at one side
of its center opening, (see Fig. 5A) while the pivot-stud has a lug n' under its head.
When assembled the tang extends into the opening of the hub f, and the lug n
engages the nick n, thus insuring against the screw becoming loosened or tightened
by flexure of the joint. Bushings of insulating material are best provided in the
hubs ff, through which the conductors pass. The portion that bends with the
joint is exposed but is not interfered with by the hinging pivot.
The joint D that connects the main tube and carrier-tube is a compound swiveling,
sliding and clamping joint that affords longitudinal and rotative adjustment of the
tube C in all directions relatively to the tube or rod B; such joint consists of a
swiveling head D' having a spring or yielding grip d for retaining the rod C, and
jaws d' that embrace the rod B.
The swiveling head D' is fitted to rotate on a suitable seat on the main part of
the joint and is axially retained by a pivot d³ that passes through the parts, as
indicated by dotted lines Fig. 7; said pivot having a circular head disposed in a
cavity within the swiveling head. The pivot is non-rotatable in the main part' of
the joint, and a nut or binder 14 is fitted on its opposite end, outside the clamp-
jaw d', substantially as indicated, so that by tightening said nut the several parts
are clamped together with sufficient friction for retaining the carrier-tube C at the
desired position relatively to the main tube B. A yielding washer V is preferably
arranged between the nut and jaw to render the action more efficient and satisfactory
than would rigid clamping of the parts. A set-screw 15 affords means for adjusting
the pressure of grip d on the rod C.

page_text: To prevent the joint D from passing off the end of the tube B a stop or
screw-caps is fixed thereon, as shown. The conductor E passes into the tube B,
above or through the joint A, and is brought out through an insulating bushing set
in the side, as at t, it then leads into the end of the tube C and through the same
to the wrist-joint F; thence into the lamp-socket, as illustrated. The conductor is
thus protected so that the lamp can be supported among moving parts of machinery
without liability of the conductor becoming entangled therewith.
The ends of the tubes are fitted with bushings of insulating material, as
at m', b, t, c, r and r¹.
In the operation, the tube B has lateral swing adjustment in all directions; also
endwise adjustment through the joint A. The tube or carrier C has longitudinal
and rotative adjustment within the joint D, swiveling about the axis of the joint,
(see dotted lines Fig. 1) rotation of the joint about the axis of the main-tube, and
adjustment of the joint D with the tube C longitudinally along the tube B, while
the wrist-joint permits the lamp to be turned to either side, thus affording capacity
for holding a light in any position within the range of the supporter.
If it is desired to support a gas-burner instead of an incandescent lamp, then a
flexible pipe or tubular conductor for supplying gas to such burner can be
substituted in place of the covered wire conductor herein shown.
In some instances, in lieu of attaching the main tube B directly to the wall or
ceiling by the joint A, it may be attached by said joint to one end of a standard or
tube; the other end of such standard or second tube being attached to the wall
or ceiling by a similar joint A, thus giving greater extension where required.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said invention,
and in what manner the same is to be performed as communicated to me by my
foreign correspondent, I declare that what I claim is―
1. A supporter comprising the main rod or tube, the attaching-joint for adjustably
sustaining the end of said rod, the carrier-rod or tube having means for connecting
a lamp or object thereto, and the compound swiveling and clamping joint connecting
said rods or tubes one with the other, said mechanism being organized for operation
substantially as set forth.
2. In an adjustable supporter, having a main rod or tube, and the carrier rod or
tube, the compound swiveling, sliding and clamping joint connecting said tubes
one to the other, in the manner set forth; whereby longitudinal and rotative
adjustment on both tubes and swiveling adjustment of the carrier-tube is effected,
as described.
3. In a supporter for the purposes described, the attaching-joint mechanism
comprising, in combination, two plates a a' having interior annular bearing surfaces 5,
one of said plates provided with means for its attachment to a support, the open-
centered sectional ball 3 disposed between said plates and oppositely embraced by
said bearing surfaces, bolts I connecting said plates, bent washers J on said bolts,
and the rod or tube B adjustably supported within said ball, substantially as set
forth.
4. In an adjustable supporter for lamps, the attaching-joint composed of the two
open centered plates, one provided with a seating flange, and having an interior
chamber and an opening through the side thereof, conuecting-bolts passing through
said plates joining one with the other, the ball supported by annular bearing
surfaces between the plates, the main tube having its end confined within said ball,
and insulating bushings in the side-opening and tube end, in combination with the
conductors entering said chamber through its side opening and passing into said
tube at its upper end, the swiveling connecting joint joining said main tube and the
carrier-tubes, the lamp-attaching joint fixed to said carrier tube and the lamp,
substantially as set forth.
5. In an adjustable supporter, the wrist-joint composed of the centrally-pivoted
frictionally-matched disks, each provided at one edge with a tubular threaded hub
axially offset from the plane of the disk, a cupped spring-plate bearing against the

page_text: inner disk and having a notched center opening and a projecting tang that enters one
of said hubs, the pivoting screw having a lug that engages the nick in said spring-
plate, and the adjusting nut fitted on the threaded end of said pivot screw at the
outer side of said disks, for the purposes set forth.
6. In a supporter for electric lamps, the main tube adapted for receiving the
conductor at its upper end, and having a side opening at an intermediate position
in its length, for the issuance of the conductor, and an attaching-joint in which said
tube is adjustably sustained, said attaching-joint having a hollow center through
which the conductor passes to said main tube, in combination with a lamp-carrier-
tube externally connected with said main tube, and the conductor wires arranged
therethrough, as set forth.
Dated this 26th day of September 1893.
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
45, Southampton Buildings, London, W.C., Agents for the Applicant.