Light connectable with a key

• US 4,085,315 A
• Filed: 02/12/1976
• Issued: 04/18/1978
• Est. Priority Date: 06/26/1975
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Heinz Wolter
• Original Assignee: Heinz Wolter
• Inventors: Wolter, Heinz, Wolter, Brigitte
• Primary Examiner(s): Hayes, Monroe H.
• Application Number:
  US05/657,397
• Time in Patent Office: 796 Days
• Field of Search: 240/2.13, 240/6.4 K, 240/6.4 R
• US Class Current: 362/116
• CPC Class Codes: E05B 17/103 on keys E05B17/106 takes precedence; attached to key rings A44B15/005; on key bags or wallets A45C11/32

Abstract

A light which is connectable with a key and which comprises a housing receiving an incandescent bulb and battery, the key handle being braced against one side of the housing by means of a screw or the like which passes through the key handle hole. The light is characterized by clamping the key handle against a self-adhesive layer.

Claims

1. A light and key combination adapted to be connected in a housing together, and receiving an incandescent bulb and battery, comprising

a key having a handle with a surface formed with surface projections and a single hole therein and a key shank joined to said handle,

a housing adapted to receive the battery and the bulb therein, said housing includes,

a base plate and a clamping plate coordinated thereto, the latter defining an outer peripheral thickened edge substantially of the same peripheral size but larger than that of said handle of said key,

at least two pins integral with and extending on opposite sides of said base plate, said thickened edge of said clamping plate is formed with openings in which said pins of said base plate are aligned and inserted in a coordinated condition of said base plate and said clamping plate,

said thickened edge of said clamping plate abutting said base plate in said coordinated condition, said thickened edge defining a recess larger in surface area than that of said handle of said key and defining a slot transferring into and communicating with said recess for passage of said key shank through said slot, said slot formed wider than said key shank,

said clamping plate defining a first planar clamping cheek surface in said recess enlarged in surface area relative to said handle of said key,

said base plate including a second planar clamping cheek surface spaced parallel and opposite to said first planar clamping cheek surface, said key handle being disposed in said recess between said first and second planar clamping cheek surfaces,

said housing further includes a housing cover formed with second openings, said base plate being positioned between said clamping plate and said housing cover, said pins on said base plate extending into said second openings in said housing cover, whereby said housing cover is coordinated to said base plate,

a double-sided sticking self-sealing adhesive layer means disposed in said recess adhered to said first planar clamping cheek surface for releasably adhering said handle of said key thereto,

releasable clamping means for releaseably clampingly pressing together said base plate and said clamping plate and said housing cover, as well as said first clamping cheek surface with said adhesive layer means thereon against said handle of said key, said handle with said surface projections being pressed into said adhesive layer means thereby clamping said key pressingly against said self-sealing adhesive layer means, whereby said key is non-rotatably secured in said housing,

said base plate is formed with an enlarged bore,

said clamping means comprises a single screw having a threaded shank extending through said single hole of said handle of said key and through said enlarged bore of said base plate,

said housing cover is formed with a collar complementarily projecting into said enlarged bore of said base plate terminating therein spaced from said handle of said key and being formed with a threaded opening in said collar, said threaded shank of said screw threadedly engages in said threaded opening,

said base plate and said housing cover are formed with recess means for cooperatively receiving the bulb and the battery therein, and

said housing cover and said clamping plate have substantially the same thickness and outer peripheral shape, and said base plate extends therebetween in a direction opposite than that of said key shank and is formed with a slot therein, said recess of said clamping plate having a thickness smaller than the combined thickness of said handle of said key and the thickness of said self-sealing adhesive layer means.

2. A light adapted to be connected with a key, and receiving an incandescent bulb and battery, the key having a handle with a hole therein, comprising

a housing adapted to receive the battery and bulb therein and including a surface,

a self-sealing adhesive layer disposed on said surface of said housing,

means for clamping a key against said self-sealing adhesive layer on said surface of said housing and for passing through the hole in the handle of the key,

said housing includes a base plate and a housing cover coordinated together,

said base plate is formed with a pot-shaped recess,

a contact plate positively non-rotatably interpositioned in said pot-shaped recess, said contact plate includes a laterally directed wing having an angled-off contact finger adapted to engage a central contact of the bulb,

said base plate is formed with a first recess means adjacent to said pot-shaped recess, said first recess means for partly receiving the bulb therein,

said housing cover is formed with a storage recess means for partly receiving the bulb therein,

a compression spring means disposed on and extending above said contact plate and having a free end for being supported on a width extending surface of the battery, the latter serving as a switch-on contact member, a peripheral line of the battery being tangential to the storage recess means.

3. The light as set forth in claim 2, wherein

said compression spring is conical in shape.

4. The light as set forth in claim 2, wherein

said contact plate has a projection means for holding said compression spring.

5. The light as set forth in claim 2, wherein

said housing cover is formed with a bore communication with said storage recess means,

a button battery cell means having a pole bottom contact surface abutting said compression spring and moveably disposed in said bore against force of said spring, said button battery cell means having a peripheral line pole contact part tangential to said storage recess means for making contact with a base of the bulb upon pressing movement of said button battery cell means.