Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
111~811
The invention relates to a lamp/reflector unit
having a concave reflector member and a lens member
attached thereto, a light bulb being supported in spaced
relation to the reflecting surface of said reflector mem-
ber, said reflector member having near its apex mutuallyelectrically insulated contact members, said light bulb
having a pinch at one end thereof from which current con-
ductors emanate which are in electrical contact with a
filament disposed within said light bulb, said pinch seal
extending through and being secured to a metal support
plate which is borne by a metal support pin attached to
one of said contact members of said reflector member,
said current conductors each being connected to a
respective one of said contact members.
Such a lamp/reflector unit is known from German
Offenlegungsschrift 2400315 by Patent Treuhand Gesellschaft
and which was published on July 17, 1975. The lamp/
reflector unit is destine for use as a headlight for
vehicles, notably motorcars.
The known lamp/reflector unit has a light bulb
in which two filaments are accommodated; one, which is
partly surrounded by a metal screen, for the low, or dipped
beam and one for the high or main beam. Similarly, however,
light bulbs having only one filament may alternatively be
used. In both cases, however, the light bulb should be
mounted with the filament or filaments accurately aligned
" . , ^,
1111811
.c
with respect to the reflecting surface of the reflector
member in order to produce the required beam(s),
In the known unit the metal support plate has
a number of reference points and the correct arrangement
of the ~ilaments relative to the reflecting surface of
the reflector member has been obtained by securing the light
bulb in the metal support plate so as to be aligned rela-
tive to said reference points. After a nurnber of metal
support pins which are connected to the metal support plate
are secured to the contact members of the reflector member,
the light bulb has the correct position relative to the
reflecting surface of the reflector rnember.
In the known unit the light bulb is secured in
the metal support plate by means of cement. The operation
of securing is carried out in the known unit in a mechani-
cal-optical aligning apparatus in which the light bulb is
aligned relative to the reference points of the metal
support plate and is then kept aliglled until the cement
has cured su~`iciently to prevent a change of the pvsition
of the light bulb in the metal support plate. The actual
alignment of the light bulb requires approximately 0.1 sec.
whereas the curing of the cement requires many tens of
seconds. Therefore~ during the rna]luf`acture of the }cnown
unit, the aligning apparatus i5 kep-t occupied by a unit
much longer than is necessary f'or the actuaL alignment.
l't is an object of' the invention to provide a
construction for a lamp/reflector unit which enables the
light bulb to be aligned and secured, in a very rapid
manner.
In a lamplreflector unit of the kind mentioned
in the opening paragraph this o~ject is achieved in that
said me~al support plate is disposed within and attached
to a tubular rnetal support mernber by a joint selectcd
f`rom the group consisting of welded joints and bra~ed
joints~ which member is attached to said metal support pin.
The advantage of the const,ruction of t~le uni,ts
according to the invention is that the light bulb can, be
mounted in the meta- support plate outside the ali,gn:ing
-` 1111811
apparatus. ~urther, the light bulb need not occupy an
accurately de~ined position with respect to the metal
support plate. The metal support pin can also be secured
to the tubular metal support member outside the aligning
apparatus. In the aligning apparatus the light bulb with
its support plate can very rapidly and simply be connected
to the tubular metal support member so as to be aligned.
If a solder is used to connect the tubular
metal support rne)nber to the metal support plate~ the
aligning apparatus is occupied by one lamp only for appro-
ximately 10 seconds. However, when a welded joint is made,
the process of aligning and connecting is reduced to about
one second.
The assembly obtained in the aligning apparatus
is then provided in a reflector member and fixed therein
with the metal support pin secured to a contact member,
for example by means of solder.
The construction may be used in halogen filament
lamps in which a light bulb of quartz glass or hard glass
is filled with an inert gas to which a halogen or a
halogen compound, for example hydrobromide or a brominated
hydrocarbon, fo~ example methylene bromide~ has been
added
Cement may be used to connect the metal support
plate to the pinch seal of the light bulb. However, the
dis~dvantages o~ cement are that it can crumble away and
that at higher temperatures it may give off vapours which
produce stains on the reflecting surface of the reflector
member. The connection of the metal support plate to the
pinch seal o~ the light bulb by means of cement leads to
an additional disadvantage in that cement is a poor heat
conductor and hence dissipates the heat of the light bulb
poorly.
It is therefore recommendable to provide around
the ~nch seal o~ the ligrht bulb a met~l sleeve to which
the metal support plate has been secured by welding or
soldering. A very simple method of connecting :;s one
in which the metal support plate is provided with
~111811
-- 4 --
resilient lugs stamped out of said plate and in which said
lugs frictionally engage said pinch seal. Such a metal
support plate is described in our Canadian Patent 1,061,398
which issued on August 28, 1979.
The invention also relates to an assembly of a
light bulb, a metal support plate, a tubular metal support
member and a support pin for use in a lamp/reflector unit.
Embodiments of the lamp/reflector unit according
to the invention will now be described with reference to
the drawing, in which
Fig. 1 is an elevation, partly broken away, of a
lamp/reflector unit.
Fig. 2 is a sectional view taken on the line II-II
of Fig. 1.
Fig. 3 is an elevation, partly in cross section,
of a reflector member, a light bulb having a metal support
plate, and a tubular metal support member having a metal
support pin prior to assembly.
The halogen light bulb 1 shown in Fig. 1 has an
envelope 2 consisting of quartz glass which has a pinch
seal 3 which in cross-section is substantially rectangular
and which envelope is filled with a halogen-containing
inert gas. A lowbeam filament 4 and a high-beam filament
5 are arranged in the envelope 1. The filament 4 cooperates
with a screening cap 6, 7 denotes current conductors which
pass-through the pinch seal 3.
The light bulb 1 is connected with its pinch seal
3 in a round metal support plate 9 of resilient metal sheet.
The light bulb 1 with its metal support plate 9
is inserted in a tubular metal support member 15. Via a
small cylindrical lip 17 of the metal support plate 9, this
is connected in, for example, three points 1~ (seen in fig.
2) to the tubular metal support member 15 by spot welding.
Metal support pin 19 to which one of the current conduc-
tors 7 is attached, for example by welding is connectedto said support member 15, for example by welding.
, ,
~, ~
811
The support pin 19 is, together with the remaining current
conductors 7, provided in a respective one of contact
members 20 of a concave, preferably parabolic, reflector
member 21 and is soldered there. Reflector member 21 has
a reflecti~g surface 25 and a lens member 26.
, The tubular metal support member 15 has two
incisions 22 serving as referenccs for the position of ,
the light bulb 1. A light bulb having a correct position
with respect to said references, obtains a correct position
with respect to the reflecting member 21, when it is pro-
vided therein. This will become apparent hereinafter.
In Fig. 2 the metal support plate 9 has two
concave curved lugs 10 which are stamped out of the metal
support plate 9 and bound a rectangular recess 1 on the
narrow sides ~f which small triangular prestressed lugs 12
are formed by angular incisions and which are also stamped
out of the metal support plate 9.
' The metal support plate 9 is slid on the pinch
seal 3 of the light bulb 1, the two lugs 10 ~olding the
pinch seal 3 on its major sides and the small tr,iangu~ar-
lugs 12 holding the pinch scal 3 on its narrow ~sides. The
,, metal support plate 9 hence is force-locked to the pinch
seal 3 only by the two pairs of resilient lugs 10 and 12.
For a better holding of the metal support plate 9 on the
pinch seal 3, the latter has stepped projections 13 on its
major sides behind which the lugs 10 snap into engagement.
It will now be described with reference to
Fig, 3 how the light bulb 1 is provided and aligned with
respect to the reflector member 21. ~irst the tubular
metal support ~ember 15 with its metal support pin 19 is
clamped i~ a given position with respect to the reflector
member 21 at i,ts references 22. The light bulb 1 with its
mounted metal support plate 9 is then inserted into the
aperture 16 of the tubular metal support member 15. B~
mo-ving a device which holds the l,i~ht bulb 1, the filament
4 is then moved to within the tolerance field destined
for it so that afterwards the foc1ls of the ref`lector rnem-
ber 21 becomes :locatcd between the f'ilaments 4 and 5 on
1~1811
the centre axis of the filament 1. The metal support plate
9 is then fixéfl.-~t~ the tubular metal support member by
soldering.
.The assembly thus obtained and the reflector
member ?1 are then assembled, the free ends of the metal
support pin 19 as well as of the free current conductors 7
sliding into a respective one of the reflector contact -
members 20 and being secured thereto by means of hard
solder 23.
A transparent lens member is then sealed in a
gas-tight manner on the reflector member 21 and the inte-
rior of the resulting outer envelope is filled with an
inert gas, for example nitrogen.
It is to be noted that the metal support pin
does not have to be deformed in order to be able to mount
the light bulb in an aligned manner. As a result of this
one is.entirely free to choose the shape and dimensions
of the metal support pin i~ agreemen.t with re~uirements to
be imposed upon the rigidity of the construction.
