US2246346A - Illuminating device - Google Patents

Description

June 17, 1941. w CARROLL 2,246,346

ILLUMINAT ING DEVICE Filed May 14, 1940 d TORNEY Patented June 17, 1941 ILLUMINATING DEVICE Wells W. Carroll, Plandome, N. Y., assignor to Columbia Wax Products 00., Ozone Park, N. Y., a corporation of New York Application May 14, 1940, Serial No. 335,060

4 Claims.

This invention relates to improvements in illuminating devices and has particular reference to a type of device generally known as a night light.

Devices of this character are known wherein a wick or taper is supported for partial immersion in a body of illuminating oil and in which said wick is tightly fitted into an opening in a supporting plate which, in turn, freely rests upon a buoyant element adapted to float on the surface of said body. In such devices, the edge of the opening in said supporting plate, through which the wick is extended, is the sole means of maintaining the wick in a vertical position, and, due to slight variations in the diameters of the wicks employed, difliculty is sometimes experienced in tightly fitting the wick in said opening so that it will be held in its perpendicular position relative to the plate.

The present invention is designed to overcome the above difliculty and to provide an improved device of simple and practical construction which will permit of the wick being easily and quickly mounted in an upright position in its support and withdrawn therefrom when it becomes necessary to replace the same.

The inventive idea involved is capable of receiving a variety of mechanical expressions, one of which, for purposes of illustration, is shown in the accompanying drawing, wherein- Figure 1 is a perspective view illustrating the operative position of the device wherein it is floated on the surface of a body of illuminating oil contained within a receptacle;

Figure 2 is an enlarged top plan view of the device constructed in accordance with the invention;

Figure 3 is a bottom plan view thereof;

Figure 4 is a transverse section on the line 4-4 of Figure 2;

Figure 5 is a side elevation of the device; and

Figure 6 is a plan view of the blank from which the support of the present device is made.

Referring more particularly to the accompanying drawing, the numeral l0 indicates a receptacle, such as a glass tumbler or the like, into which there is first poured a quantity of water about to the level indicated at H, after which a body of illuminating oil I2 is then poured into said receptacle.

The device of the present invention comprises a disk-like buoyant base l3 made of cork or any other suitable material and provided therein with acentral opening I 4. This base is adapted to have mounted thereon a wick-support generally indicated by the numeral l5 in which the wick or taper I6 is adapted to be inserted for partial immersion in the body of oil l2.

In its preferred form, the wick support I5 is made from a single blank of suitable material having some degree of resiliency, and said blank is cut and scored to provide a central plate ll having anaperture 18 therein which may be slightly larger than the diameter of the wick At intervals about the edge of the plate, the same has extending radially therefrom a plurality of spaced supporting wings l9 disposed in the plane of the plate and adapted, when the support is in operative position, to rest upon the upper surface of the buoyant base l3.

In order to removably secure the support to said base, each of said wings has struck therefrom aprong 20 which is adapted to be imbedded in the base l3. Between the wings IS, the plate has extending therefrom a plurality of supporting arms 2| and the material of the support I5 is scored as indicated at 22' so that said arms may be bent at an angle to the plate ll. As shown in Figures 3 to 5, said arms 2| are bent downwardly in convergent relation to each other and when so disposed there will be a space between the adjacent arms which will permit the lower end of the wick l6 inserted in the support to be immersed in the body of oil l2. The lower free extremity of each arm 2| terminates in a reducedextension 22 and, when the arms are bent into their operative positions, saidextensions 22 will be disposed in sufiiciently close proximity to each other to act as a support for the wick l6 and prevent passage thereof entirely through the support so that the wick will be maintained in an upright position as shown in Figure 4. If desired, the wick l6 may be forced downwardly a slight distance between theextensions 22, the resiliency of the material of said support permitting the arms 2| to spread slightly under pressure of the wick against theextensions 22, and the latter will then grip the wick to more securely hold the same in position.

What is claimed is:

1. In an illuminating device of the night light type, means for supporting a wick in substantially vertical position, said means comprising an annular float of buoyant material and a member for supporting a wick thereon, said member being constituted by an integral sheet of slightly resilient material and comprising a flat portion having a central part adapted to overlie the opening of said annular float and radial extensions adapted to overlie portions of said annular float,

said extensions having prongs struck out therefrom, said prongs being imbedded in said annular float and serving to secure said member thereto, an aperture in said central part of a size to accommodate all variations in the wick size intended to be used, and means for engaging the lower end of the wick, said means comprising a plurality of armsrconverging downwardly through said opening in said central part and inwardly and having their lower end portions of reduced width and disposed in such adjacency from each other that they will constitute clamping jaws for gripping the lower end of said wick, and said clamping jaws being positioned a relatively substantial distance below the lower portion of said float.

2. In a night light, means for supporting a wick, said means comprising a flat buoyant mem ber having an opening therein, means carried by said buoyant member to afford support to the wick at two spaced points, one of said points being at the upper surface of the buoyant member, and the other of said points being positioned a substantial distance below the buoyant member and below the surface of the liquid in which the buoyant member floats.

3. In a night light, means for supporting a wick, said means comprising a flat buoyant member having an opening therein, means carried by said buoyant member to afford support to the wick at two spaced points, one of said points being at the upper surface of the buoyant member, and the other of said points being positioned a substantial distance below the buoyant member and below the surface of the liquid in which the buoyant member floats, said supporting means at said second point consisting of resilient clamping jaws adapted to grip the lower end of said wick.

4. A blank for a wick support for a night light, said blank being in the form of a sheet of slightly resilient material having a central aperture for the reception of a wick and a plurality of arms radiating therefrom, certain of said arms being provided with portions adapted to secure them to a float, and the remaining arms being provided with end portions of such width that when said last-named arms are bent their end portions may be brought into adjacency close enough to enable them to grip a wick end therebetween.

WELLS W. CARROLL.

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