# US 4,398,237 A · Miniature battery-operated light

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- Number: US 4,398,237 A
- Document ID: US4398237A
- Status: Granted
- Kind: A
- Application number: 06/341,203
- Filed: 1982-01-21
- Granted: 1983-08-09
- Earliest claimed: 1982-01-21
- Inventors: John S. Doyel
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US4398237A

## CPC

- F21L 2/00: Systems of electric lighting devices (systems employing both electric and non-electric light sources or exchangeable light sources F21L27/00)
- F21L: LIGHTING DEVICES OR SYSTEMS THEREOF, BEING PORTABLE OR SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR TRANSPORTATION

## Abstract

Disclosed is a miniature battery-operated light which, except for the necessary batteries, bulb and electrical contacts, is entirely made of molded pieces of thermoplastic material assembled manually by snap-fit or friction-fit. The same housing can be used either with a lid assembly having a flashlight reflector or with a smaller lid assembly without a reflector.

## Claims

### Claim 1

A light comprising:
a shallow, open-top, can-shaped housing having a bottom wall, a circumferential sidewall, a centrally located, open-top bulb socket having a generally smooth interior except for a single, boss-shaped, radially inwardly extending projection serving the function of a thread for a threaded bulb having a bottom contact and a side contact, a pair of open-top battery channels flanking the socket, a retainer for a back contact, a retainer for an underlying contact and a retainer for a guide for a moving contact, wherein the entire housing, together with its bulb socket, battery channels and retainers, is made of a thermoplastic material integrally molded into a single piece;
a back contact retained in the housing retainer therefor adjacent a back end of said channels to make electrical contact with the rearwardly facing ends of batteries inserted in the channels, an underlying contact retained in the housing retainer therefor and having a battery end disposed at the front end of one of said channels to make electrical contact with the forwardly facing end of a battery inserted therein and a bulb end disposed at the bottom of said socket to make electrical contact with the bottom contact of a bulb inserted therein, and a guide for a moving contact retained in the housing retainer therefor and a moving contact guided by said guide and having a battery end disposed adjacent the front end of the other one of said battery channels to make electrical contact with the forwardly facing end of a battery inserted therein and a bulb end facing but biased away from the side contact of a bulb inserted in said bulb socket;
a manual switch mounted on said housing for movement between an ON position in which it deforms said moving contact against the bias thereof to force its bulb end into electrical contact with the side contact of a bulb inserted in said socket and to thereby complete an electrical circuit comprising said batteries, back, underlying and moving contacts and said bulb to thereby energize the bulb, and an OFF position in which it allows the bias of said moving contact to break electrical contact with the side contact of a bulb inserted in said socket and thereby de-energize the bulb; and
a lid closing the open-top housing to thereby enclose said contacts, batteries inserted in said channels and bulb inserted in said socket but to allow manual access to said switch, said lid having a transparent bulb cap allowing illumination of the ambient by said bulb;
all of said light, except for the contacts and for the batteries and bulb inserted therein, being made of molded thermoplastic material components manually fitted together by snap- and/or friction-fit to form the assembled light.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

A light as in claim 1 including a flashlight reflector enclosed within said light and having a concave reflective surface which is within said transparent bulb cap and is coaxial with said bulb socket and surrounds a bulb inserted therein.

### Claim 3 (depends on 1)

A light as in claim 1 in which the guide for the moving contact is secured to said housing by a snap-fit thereto and guides said moving contact in its movement between its OFF and ON positions.

### Claim 4 (depends on 3)

A light as in claim 3 in which said socket includes a radially inwardly extending projection serving as thread for screwing a threaded bulb therein and wherein said housing comprises the bottom wall, sidewall, bulb socket, battery channels, a back contact retainer, and underlying contact retainer and a moving contact guide retainer and is integrally formed of a single piece of molded thermoplastic material.

### Claim 5 (depends on 1)

A light as in claim 1 including an opaque bulb hood friction-fitted over said transparent bulb cap to rotate about the axis of said reflector and having an opening allowing escape of light through said cap only in a selected direction which is generally transverse to said axis.