Patent ID: 8105101

Claim:
A lamp socket for defining a mounting position of a lamp to luminaire and fixing the lamp placed at the mounting position, the lamp having lamp pins for power supply, which project from a base, said lamp socket comprising: a mover having therein contacts which can be electrically connected with the lamp pins, respectively; and a supporter supporting the mover so that the mover can be moved between predetermined open and close positions, wherein the supporter supports the mover so that the mover does not prevent the lamp from being moved to or from the mounting position along a specified direction if the mover is at the open position, the specified direction being a direction intersecting with a projection direction of the lamp pins when the lamp is at the mounting position, wherein the supporter supports the mover so that the contacts do not make contact with the lamp pins, respectively, if the mover is at the open position and the lamp is in a posture by which it can be moved from the mounting position along the specified direction, wherein the supporter supports the mover so that the mover prevents the lamp from being moved from or to the mounting position along the specified direction if the mover is at the close position, wherein the supporter supports the mover so that the contacts make contact with the lamp pins, respectively, if the mover is at the close position and a posture of the lamp is the same as said posture of the open position, wherein the lamp has two lamp pins as said lamp pins, wherein the mover comprises two contacts as said contacts and a hollow inner body, the two contacts being put in the inner body to be arranged opposite to each other, the inner body being formed into a shape having a rotation axis, the inner body being formed with an operational lever and a lead-in mouth for inserting the two lamp pins between the two contacts, wherein the supporter comprises a cylindrical surface and a facing surface and supports the inner body so that the inner body can be rotated around the rotation axis inside the cylindrical surface, wherein the cylindrical surface has an opening from which the operational lever is projected, wherein the facing surface faces the end face of the base when the lamp is placed at the mounting position, the facing surface being formed with a guide slit which is in shape of a straight line and joined to the opening of the cylindrical surface, the guide slit having the depth longer than the interval of the lamp pins and the width narrower than the interval, wherein the specified direction corresponds to the direction passing through a top and a bottom of the guide slit when the mover is at the open position, and wherein the direction from the lead-in mouth to the space between the contacts corresponds to the depth direction of the guide slit when the mover is at the open position, and also intersects with the depth direction when the mover is at the close position.