Fluorescent light ballast lamp mounting socket construction

For a fluorescent lamp having a fluorescent discharge tube substantially defining a planar space and delineating a substantially open area lying within said planar space, and having a lamp support housing into which the ends of said discharge tube enter and are fixedly mounted, one end of said discharge tube having an exhaust tube extending therefrom inside said lamp support housing, said housing also defining a mechanical and electrical coupling, a space-saving ballast-housing base assembly comprising:

• (a) a socket for engaging said coupling and electrically coupling with same;
• (b) a ballast housing housing a ballast electrically connected to said socket and lying adjacent to said socket in relation thereto such that when said lamp is mounted in said socket, said ballast housing lies substantially entirely within said substantially open area within said planar space,
• whereby said ballast is substantially confined to within said planar space defined by said lamp, and is separate from the lamp support housing to avoid the heating of the ballast by the exhaust tube;
• (c) said discharge tube ends being inserted and fixed into one side of said lamp support housing and said ballast housing being disposed on a side of said lamp support housing opposite said one side to isolate said ballast from the heat of said ends of said discharge tube;
• (d) said discharge tube of said fluorescent lamp extending from said one side of said lamp support housing and looping around same in spaced relation thereto to define a generally straight central segment spaced on the opposite side of said lamp support housing from said tube ends;
• (e) said fluorescent lamp having a pair of tube support arms extending from said lamp support housing to said central segment and supportively engaging same;
• and,
• (f) said ballast housing defining two spaced slots to receive said arms such that said ballast housing nestles around said arms in said planar space.