Patent ID: 7658534

Claim:
A backlight lamp holding apparatus for mounting a plurality of lamps to a base member, said backlight lamp holding apparatus comprising: a resilient planar mounting plate that is to be mounted to said base member at a first surface of said mounting plate and that includes a plurality of abutting portions protruding from said first surface of said mounting plate; a locking portion including a base portion protruding from said first surface of said mounting plate, and an elastic locking piece extending from a tip end of said base portion; and a plurality of lamp holding portions that protrude from a second surface of said mounting plate and are adapted for holding said plurality of lamps, respectively; wherein said locking portion is arranged at substantially a center between adjacent abutting portions and at substantially a center between adjacent lamp holding portions; said elastic locking piece includes a locking surface that is locked to a peripheral edge of a mounting hole formed through said base member when said locking portion is inserted into said mounting hole from a top side of said base member so that said locking surface reaches a back side of said base member; said plurality of abutting portions are arranged to abut against a top surface of said base member, without extending through said base member, to prevent rattling between said base member and said mounting plate, when said mounting plate is mounted to said base member; and a protruding amount of each of said adjacent abutting portions is such that said locking surface is located within said mounting hole when said adjacent abutting portions first abut against said top surface of said base member during insertion of said locking portion into said mounting hole, and thereafter said locking surface is locked to the peripheral edge of said mounting hole when said locking portion is further pushed into said mounting hole with elastic deformation of at least portions of said mounting plate occurring between said locking portion and said adjacent abutting portions.