Ornamental lamp strings assembly

[0001] 1. Field of the Invention

[0002] The present invention relates to an ornamental lamp strings assembly, and more particularly, its individual light source is slantly sustained on a base plate with a plurality of set blocks disposed in various positions so as to configurate the whole lamp strings assembly into a variety of contours capable of exhibiting a dexterously ornamental effect.

[0003] 2. Description of the Prior Art

[0004] Like the marching for celebration, especially in the evening of Chinese lantern festival day, there has often appeared exhibition of an ornamental lighting effect with many interesting animal styles such as tiger, horse, leopard . . . etc. For this, brilliant light source is required.

[0005] For constructing a stream of ornamental lamp strings in various figure. The individual light source is generally sustained vertically on a base plate in the manner by providing a circular or any other shaped drilled hole for insertion of the lamp socket and fastening the lamp by engaging the flange of the lamp socket with the packing provided around the inner fringe of the drilled hole opened on the base plate.

[0006] In this case, the contour of the lamp strings assembly will be too monotonous because all the lamps are erected vertically on their bases, unless some modifications are made to the bases, a satisfactory ornamental effect can not be realized.

[0007] Alternatively, in a most common prior practice, a plurality of supporting frames are arranged in a predetermined figure so as to allow the lamps fastened on them to exhibit an ornamental effect. However, the lamp strings assembly constructed in this manner is apt to get loose and needs a long time to install, while only applicable for static exhibition.

[0008] For these defects noticeable on the prior art, an improvement is seriously required.

[0009] The inventor has dedicated great efforts for years to studying and improving these defects and come up with a novel ornamental lamp string assembly as provided in this invention to eliminate the defects mentioned above.

[0010] The main object of the present invention is to provide an ornamental lamp strings assembly whose plurality of lamp strings comprise a plurality of electric conductors, lamps and lamp sockets and holders, the individual lamp is slantly fastened on its base plate by inserting the lamp socket into the drilled hole provided on the base pate and engaging the slanted support of the lamp socket with the inner fringe of the drilled hole such that the lamp is fixed to the base plate slantly with an acute angle with respect to the longitudinal direction of the lamp string.

[0011] Another object of the present invention is to provide an ornamental lamp strings assembly in which the lamp socket is slantly fastened to the drilled hole of its base plate by a plurality of set blocks from two opposite directions with respect to the longitudinal direction of the lamp string.

[0012] Still another object of the present invention is to provide an ornamental lamp strings assembly in which the lamp is slantly fastened to its base plate or a specially configurated plate made of a transparent or semi-transparent, similar or different colored material so as to further enhance the ornamental lighting effect.

[0013] The above objects and other advantages of the present invention will become more apparent by describing in detail the preferred embodiments of the present invention with reference to the attached drawings.

[0033] Referring to FIG. 1, a unit of the ornamental lamp strings assembly is composed of a lamp string 1, a slanted support 2, and a base plate 3. The lamp string 1 further includes an electric conductor 11, a lamp socket 12, a lamp holder 13, and a lighting element (lamp) 14. The lighting element 14 may be a tungsten incandescent lamp, or a unit or a group of LEDs. The lamp socket 12 is provided with slanted support 12. A circular or elliptical drilled hole 31 is formed on the base plate 3 to engage the slanted support 2 with its inner fringe such that the lamp socket 12 is slantly erected on the base plate 3 forming an acute angle with respect to the longitudinal direction of the lamp string.

[0034] Referring to FIG. 2 through FIG. 4, the slanted support 2 has a first, second, third and fourth set blocks 21, 22, 23, and 24. The first and second set blocks 21 and 22 are attached to the middle portion of the lamp socket 12 facing with each other, while the third and fourth set blocks 23 and 24 are attached to the front portion of the lamp socket 12 facing with each other. With this arrangement, the first and third set blocks 21 and 23 are located at the same half side with respect to the longitudinal axis of the lamp socket 12 slantly facing with each other; on the other hand, the second and fourth set blocks 22 and 24 are located at the other half side where the first and third set blocks 21, 23 are located and are also slantly facing with each other. Each of the set blocks 21, 22, 23 and 24 is respectively provided with a sloped surface 211, 221, 231 and 241, where the couple of sloped surfaces 211 and 231, 211 and 241 are slantly facing with each other, and the remaining surfaces of all four set blocks 21, 22, 23 and 24 are associated with the sloped surfaces 211, 221, 231 and 241 to assist the function of the set blocks 21, 22, 23 and 24.

[0035] To understand how the lamp socket 12 is fastened to its base plate, please refer to FIGS. 5 and 6. The lamp socket 12 is assembled with its base plate 3 by inserting the lamp socket 12 into the drilled hole 31, and then clogging the first and fourth set blocks 21 and 24 into the drilled hole 31 thus positioned at the rear side of the drilled hole 31, while clogging the second and third set blocks 22 and 23 into the drilled hole 31 and positioned at the front side thereof so that the lamp socket 12 is slantly erected on the base plate, after attaching the lamp holder 13 and the lighting element 14, a slanted ornamental light can be obtained as shown in FIG. 6.

[0036] In the second embodiment of the present invention shown in FIG. 7 through FIG. 9, the three points supporting principle is applied to support the lamp socket 12 with set blocks 41, 42, 43, 44, 45 and 46. The set blocks 41 and 43, 43, 44 and 46 are slantly facing with each other with respect to the longitudinal axis of the lamp socket 12. Further to this, the set blocks 42 and 45 are respectively interposed between the midways of the set blocks 41 and 43, 44 and 46, wherein 42 and 41 are located on the same side with respect to the longitudinal axis of the lamp socket 12, while the 44 and 45 are located on the other side of 41 and 43. In this way, a slanted ornamental light can be easily assembled on the base plate or other styled plate as shown in FIG. 10.

[0037] In the third embodiment of the present invention shown in FIG. 11A and FIG. 11B, the slanted ornamental light can be realized by a slanted support 5 associated with a slanted sleeve 51 having an outer flange formed parallel to the base plate 3 such that the lamp socket 12 is fastened to its base plate 3 by engaging the outer flange of the slanted sleeve 51 with drilled hole. After the lamp holder 13 and the lighting element 14 are installed in order, the slanted ornamental light assembly is completed.

[0038] In the fourth embodiment of the present invention shown in FIG. 12 a diffused reflector surface 61 is formed on the base plate 3 to serve as a multi-directional reflecting zone apart from a certain distance from the drilled hole 31 and reflect the light beam to various directions.

[0039] The same reflector zone reflects light beam in the same direction, the same reflector zone reflects the light beam in unsimilar directions, the different reflector zones reflect the light beam in the same direction, or the different reflector zones reflect the light beam in different directions.

[0040] In the fifth embodiment of the present invention shown in FIG. 13, the base plate is made of a plurality of sub-plates jointed along a curved route each being equipped with a light source. On the first slanted base plate 71, a multi-layered reflector surface 62 including an upper and lower reflector surfaces 63 and 64 with a clearance sandwiched therebetween is provide. By so the light beam emitted from the light source can make reflection or refraction from the multi-layered reflection surface 62. On the second slanted base plate 72, a single layered reflector surface 65 is provided on a planar reflector surface 66, while a granulated reflector surface 67 is formed on a horizontal base plate 73 located between the first and second slanted base plates 71 and 72 so as to make random reflection of the light beam. All the reflected light beams from the multi-layered and single layered reflection surfaces 62, 65 and the granulated reflector surface 67 are mixed up to enhance the dexterous lighting effect of the ornamental lamp strings assembly.

[0041] In the sixth and seventh embodiments of the present invention shown in FIG. 14 and FIG. 15, the numbers of lamp strings may be configurated into various pictures, characters, or other desired appearances. All the lamp sockets 12, and lamp holders 13 connected in series, parallel, or series-parallel with electric conductors 14 are plugged into the power source with a plug 15. An extra function controller 7 can be added to enrich the lighting mode and effect. The base plate may be formed of various colored materials and its reflector surface may be formed by printing, coating, sputtering, or adhesion.

[0042] Besides, as shown in FIG. 16 through FIG. 18, two slanted set blocks 81, 82 forming an acute angle with respect to the longitudinal direction of the lamp socket are provided respectively on the upper and lower ends of the lamp base 8 so as to insert a lamp socket 83 and a lighting element 84 into the lamp base 8 orderly after assembling the lamp base 8 and the base plate 9 with a drilled hole 91 thereby forming another type of slanted illumination style.

[0043] The aforementioned set blocks may be formed into various shapes. The styles of lamp socket will be varied even only changing inclination angle of the slanted surface of one of the blocks that leads to enrich the ornamental effect of the lamp string assembly. Besides, selective use of transparent, semi-transparent, and various colored base plates can further enrich the ornamental effect.

[0044] The drilled hole prepared on the base plate may be a circular, elliptical or long narrow strip shaped hole, among which the long narrow strip shape is preferable because it remains a clearance allowing lenient selection for the set blocks to clog the lamp sockets in desired styles.

[0045] It emerges from the above description that the ornamental lamp strings assembly of the present invention has following advantages:

[0046] 1. The lamp socket can be slantly fastened to the drilled hole on its base plate in various styles by means of several manipulatively designed set blocks so as to exhibit various lighting effects.

[0047] 2. Use of specially configurated base plate made of transparent, or semi-transparent, similar or different colored material enables the light strings assembly to further enhance the ornamental lighting effect.

[0048] Although the invention has been described in terms of preferred embodiments, it is apparent that numerous variations and modifications may be made without departing from the true spirit and scope thereof, as set forth in the following claims.