Lamp life extender

A device mountable about the base end of an incandescent light bulb for movement with the same into and out of a lampholder socket and operable to provide a voltage reducing circuit between the central base contacts of the light bulb and its cooperating lampholder comprising:

• a thin, disc-like laminated contact assembly providing the voltage reducing circuit and comprising first and second coextensively superposed, thin metal contact plates;
• insulator means disposed between and electrically isolating said plates, and a leaderless silicon rectifier chip mounted between and facially connected to registeringly superposed, and oppositely off-set areas formed in corresponding peripheral margins of said plates;
• an annular mounting base of insulator material having a recessed cavity extending inwardly of one face thereof and formed to substantially registeringly mount said contact assembly therewithin;
• an annular, compressible mounting gasket of insulator material disposed registeringly over and connectively secured to said base and contact assembly;
• said gasket having an adhesive coating over an outer end face thereof for bonding the device concentrically about the base of the light bulb so that the central base contact thereof is positioned within the open center of said gasket for operating engagement with said first contact plate.

A device mountable about the base end of an incandescent light bulb for extending the operating life thereof by providing an auxiliary voltage reducing circuit interfaced between the central base contacts of the light bulb and its cooperating lampholder socket, comprising:

• a generally disc-like, open centered mounting base of insulator material formed with an annular cavity recessed inwardly of its upper face, a laminated contact assembly mounted within the confines of said cavity and extending transversely across the central opening of said base, said assembly comprising a pair of identical, parallel spaced, registeringly superposed and substantially planar, electrically conductive plate contacts formed with oppositely off-set areas in corresponding marginal portions thereof and which define an intervening mounting socket in assembly, a sheet insulator extending between and electrically separating said plate contacts, and a silicon rectifier chip mounted in said socket and having upper and lower faces soldered to substantial opposing facial portions of said off-set areas;
• an annular mounting gasket of high temperature thermo-plastic resilient foam material mounted coaxially over and joined to the upper side of said base and contact assembly, and thermal setting adhesive means coating the upper face of said gasket for bonding the device to the base end of the light bulb in surrounding relation with the central base contact thereof whereby the latter operationally extends through the open center of said gasket for engagement with a central area of the uppermost of said plate contacts;
• a central area of the lowermost of said plate contacts being exposed for corresponding operational engagement with the lampholder's central base contact.