Background and Field of the Invention

This invention relates to an electric light, more particularly but not exclusive Iy, to a fluorescent lamp.

A fluorescent lamp is often preferred over an incandescent lamp because a fluorescent lamp consumes less electricity and thus saves energy. Conventionally, a fluorescent lamp comprises two opposing electrodes disposed within and at respective ends of an elongate sealed glass tube containing gas and works on the principle of passing electrons between the electrodes through the gas from one end to the other end of the tube to produce light. However, the brightness of a fluorescent lamp is dependent on the length of the tube and thus a fluorescent lamp is usually larger than an incandescent light bulb.

In recent years, improvements have been made to reduce the size of the fluorescent lamp and Compact Fluorescent (CFL) tubes were developed. Such a tube come in various shapes such as spiral shape or U-shape etc, so as to be as compact as possible while maintaining a certain level of brightness since the length of the tube may not reduced but oriented in a different manner. Also, the fluorescent lamp includes a base comprising a tube holder to support ends of the fluorescent tube and for receiving an electronic ballast to ignite the tube. It is normal to include a glass housing, which may be similar in shape to an incandescent light bulb, to enclose the fluorescent tube,. However, the conventional arrangement of the tube and tube holder leads to higher manufacturing costs. Further, since the holder is disposed at the base, some of the light from the fluorescent tube is blocked.

It is an object of the present invention to provide an electric light which alleviates the disadvantage of the prior art and/or to provide the public with a useful choice.

Summary of the Invention

In general terms, the present invention relates to an electric light comprising an arc lamp, a lamp housing receiving the arc lamp, and a support member connected to the lamp housing and being arranged to support the arc lamp from the lamp housing.

In a first aspect of the invention, there is provided an electric light comprising an arc lamp having a light emitting element; a light transmissible housing receiving the light emitting element; a base connected to the arc lamp and being arranged to connect a power source to the light emitting element; and a support member connected to a part of the housing which is spaced from the base and being arranged to support the light emitting element of the arc lamp from the housing. An arc lamp (or a discharge lamp) produces light by using an electrical arc running through a gas plasma and the terms are used broadly in this application to include high pressure arc lamps such as mercury vapour lamps, high pressure sodium arc lamps and metal halide arc lamps etc, and low pressure arc lamps such as fluorescent lamps etc.

As described in the preferred embodiment, the present invention has an advantage of using the support member to support the light emitting element in a desired position, preferably upright, from the light transmissible housing thus obviating a need for a conventional lamp holder disposed at the base. This helps to reduce the manufacturing cost of the electric light. Also without the lamp holder, which is normally made of opaque plastic, the light emitted from the lamp can thus be projected over a greater area than in a conventional arrangement.

Preferably, the support member is elongated. The support member may comprise a single length of resilient wire, and which may form a substantially U- shape configuration.

Advantageously, the support member is conductive and if so, the support member is electrically connected to an electrical circuit arranged to supply electric current through the support member. When current is passed through the conductive support member, this aids ignition of the arc lamp (particularly fluorescent types), especially under hot conditions. Specifically, the arc lamp may be in the form of a tubular fluorescent lamp. If so, the electric light may further comprise an ignition circuit arranged to ignite the fluorescent lamp. The ignition circuit may include an electronic ballast and/or a starter. Preferably, the ignition circuit is disposed at the base. The electric light may include legs connected to the fluorescent lamp which is arranged to electrically connect the fluorescent lamp to the ignition circuit. The support member may be connected to the ignition circuit via two leg elements.

Advantageously, the leg elements of the support member are resiliently displaceable towards each other to facilitate connecting the support member to the fluorescent lamp. Each leg element may have a portion adapted to match the shape of part of the fluorescent lamp. When assembled, this allows the support member to hold the lamp fixedly in place.

Preferably, the electric light includes means for coupling the support member to the housing and the coupling means may be formed on the housing. The coupling means may include a catch.

Also, it is envisaged that the support member may be connected to more than one part of the housing.

Advantageously, the light transmissible housing is formed from two housing halves, and the base may include a conductive screw cap. Preferably, the electric light further comprises means to connect the screw cap directly to respective parts of each housing half. Specifically, each housing half may include a flange having screw threads which corresponds to threads formed on the screw cap. The screw cap may be arranged to be secured to a standard light bulb socket.

Preferably, the housing encloses the light emitting element.

The present invention also extends to a method of assembling the electric light comprising the steps of: connecting the support member to the light emitting element of the arc lamp, and connecting the support member to that part of the housing which is spaced from the base, whereby the light emitting element is being supported from the housing.

It is envisaged that the light emitting element may come in various shapes and sizes, such as spiral shape, so that the lamp can be as compact as possible. Similarly, the housing can be in any desired shape, such as bulb or bullet shape.

In a second aspect of the invention, there is provided an electric light comprising an arc lamp having a light emitting element; a base connected to the arc lamp and being arranged to connect a power source to the light emitting element; two housing halves being connected together to form a light transmissible housing which receives the light emitting element, each housing half being arranged to be connected directly to respective parts of the base.

Preferably, the arc lamp is in the form of a tubular fluorescent lamp. Advantageously, the base includes a conductive screw cap and each housing half may include a flange having screw threads which corresponds to threads formed on the screw cap.

Brief Description of the Drawings

An embodiment of the invention will now be described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings in which,

Figure 1 is a perspective view of an electric light comprising a fluorescent lamp and a support member according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention; Figure 2 is a cross section view of the electric light of Figure 1 without the fluorescent lamp to illustrate the support member more clearly; Figures 3 to 5 illustrate the other parts of the electric light of Figure 1 ; and Figure 6 show the support member of Figure 2 by itself.

Detailed Description of the Preferred Embodiment

Figure 1 illustrates a perspective view of an electric bulb 10 according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention. The electric bulb 10 comprises an arc lamp which in this embodiment is in the form of a spiral fluorescent lamp 12 having two ends 12a, 12b and a base 13 connected to the two ends 12a, 12b. The base 13 includes an ignition circuit 14 that is arranged to ignite the fluorescent lamp 12. The ignition circuit 14 has a printed circuit board (PCB) 14a connected to the two ends 12a, 12b of the fluorescent lamp 12 via conductive legs 16,18. The base 13 further includes a conductive screw cap 20 arranged to connect a power source electrically to the fluorescent lamp 12 via the ignition circuit 14. The screw cap 20 has a cavity 19 which receives the rest of the ignition circuit 14 (see Figure 3). The screw cap 20 also has a threaded body 22 and a contact base 24, and is arranged to be secured to a standard light bulb socket without modification.

It would be apparent that the configuration of the lamp 12 which includes a light emitting element 12c is well known and thus no further description is needed. Also, the ignition circuit 14 used to ignite the lamp 12 is conventional and thus the details are not described here. However, it would be appropriate to add that the ignition circuit 14 may include a starter, an electronic ballast (in the case of a "self-ballasted" fluorescent lamp) and other components necessary to ignite the lamp 12. As mentioned above, these components are received in the cavity 19 of the screw cap 20.

Further, the light 10 includes a light transmissible lamp housing 26 which receives or preferably encloses the light emitting element 12c of the fluorescent lamp 12 and Figure 1 shows the housing 26 in part to show the internal components. In this embodiment, the housing 26 is in a standard bulb shape and may be made of glass or acrylic depending on the application. It is also envisaged that the housing 26 may be in other shapes, for example globe or bullet shape, and this is normally dependent on the shape of the fluorescent lamp 12 as well.

In a conventional arrangement, the fluorescent lamp 12 is supported on its two ends 12a, 12b by a plastic lamp holder (not shown) disposed at and supported from the base 13 since the legs 16,18 are not sufficient to support the lamp 12 at an upright position. However, having the lamp holder adds to the costs of making the electric light 10.

In the preferred embodiment of the present invention, the plastic holder is replaced by a support member 28 that is depicted more clearly in Figure 2, which illustrates a cross-sectional view of the light 10 but without the fluorescent lamp 12.

The support member 28 is preferably formed from a single piece of conductive material, such as steel wire and is arranged substantially as an inverted-U, thus forming two leg elements 30,32 which are connected to the PCB 14a. The leg elements 30,32 are resilient in that both legs can be urged towards each other and displaceable back to their initial positions. About midway between the two elements 30,32, the support member 28 has an apex portion 34 which is connected to the lamp housing 26 by a coupling means which includes a catch 36. Preferably, the catch 36 is formed together with the lamp housing 26.

Further, the support member 28 has ridges 38 formed along the length of its leg elements 30,34 to produce curved arcs 40 with radius of curvatures adapted to match the shape of the light emitting element 12c of the fluorescent lamp 12. A detailed view of the support member by itself is shown in Figure 6 whereas the assembled arrangement of the support member 28 supporting the fluorescent lamp 12 is shown in Figure 1.

With the above arrangement, the support member 28 grasps the light emitting element 12c and supports the fluorescent lamp 12 from the housing 26 in a desired position thus alleviating the light emitting element 12c from coming into contact with the housing 26 or from bending the legs 16,18. Further, since the support member 28 is conductive and electrically connected to the ignition circuit 14, it is envisaged that current may be passed through the support member 28 which is advantageous in aiding the ignition and re-ignition of the fluorescent tube 12 under hot conditions. Of course, the support member 28 may be separately connected to an electrical circuit (not shown) to supply electric current therethrough.

In the preferred embodiment, the housing 26 comprises two halves 26a ,26b as shown in Figure 3 which facilitate easier assembly of the electric light 10. The catch 36 is then formed on one of the halves 26a. The housing 26 further comprises flanges 42,44 extending from the two halves 26a,26b.

To facilitate even easier assembly, each flange 42,44 has screw threads 46,48 formed thereon so that after the two halves 26a,26b are joined to form the housing 26, the screw cap 20 is secured to the housing 26 by engaging the screw threads 46,48 formed on each flange 42,44. In this way, a compact electric light 10 can be formed which alleviates a separate means for connecting the housing 26 and the screw cap 20 to the electric light 10.

Figures 4 illustrate the arrangement of Figure 3 without the ignition circuit 14 to show more clearly how the screw cap 20 is secured to the housing 26, which is formed by two housing halves 26a,26b as shown in Figure 5.

To assemble the fluorescent lamp 12 and the support member 28, the leg elements 30,32 of the support member 28 are first compressed towards each other and inserted through the spiral shaped light emitting element 12c of the lamp 12. The leg elements 30,32 are then released slowly so that the curved arcs 40 of the leg elements 30,32 engage respective parts of the tube 12a. The assembly is then arranged on the PCB 14a with the legs 16,18 of the fluorescent lamp 12 and the leg elements 30,32 received in respective holes on the PCB 14a. The legs 16,18 and the leg elements 30,32 are preferably soldered to the PCB. The assembly of the other parts of the light 10 proceeds in a conventional manner with the apex portion 34 of the support member 28 connected to the catch 36 to support the lamp 12 in a desired position.

The described embodiments should not be construed as limitative. For example, it should be apparent that the present invention also extends to other types of arc lamps for example, mercury vapour arc lamps and high pressure arc lamps, not just to a fluorescent lamp 12. Further, the fluorescent lamp 12 may be in other shapes and sizes and not necessary spiral. Also, the support member 28 may not be necessary conductive since its primary function is to Ll support the tube 12 from the housing 26 (although preferred to be conductive so that it is possible to pass current through as described earlier). Thus, it is also envisaged that the support member 28 may not be connected to the PCB 14a but instead, the two ends 30,32 can be secured to the housing 26 to support the lamp 12.

Further, it would be apparent that the threaded flange 42,44 of the housing 26 and the screw cap 20 may not be restricted to a fluorescent lamp 12 but can also be applied to an the other types of arc lamps. Of course, the base 13 can be in other shapes and sizes with the screw cap 20 replaced by other electrical connection means adapted to connect the electric light 10 to other types of light sockets (eg. pin types).

Although it is described that the housing 26 is formed from two housing halves 26a,26b, this may not be necessary so.

Having now fully described the invention, it should be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art that many modifications can be made hereto without departing from the scope as claimed.