Patent ID: 7002285

Claim:
A discharge lamp, comprising: a discharge vessel sealed in a tubular envelope; a lamp base covering an end part of the envelope; and fixing means for providing a substantially rigid fixing of the envelope to the lamp base, the fixing means comprising: a metal clamp ring surrounding a part of the envelope external to an outer surface of the lamp base, an internal surface of the clamp ring and an external surface portion of the envelope defining a surrounding space between the envelope and the clamp ring, the inner diameter of the clamp ring being positively larger than the corresponding outer diameter of the envelope, so that the space between the envelope and the clamp ring substantially completely surrounds the envelope, and a melt plastic lining external to the outer surface of the lamp base between the internal surface of the clamp ring and the external surface portion of the envelope, the melt plastic lining substantially completely filling the space between the envelope and the clamp ring.