1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a device for mounting a lamp such as a front lamp for an automotive vehicle or the like on a lamp mount.
2. Description of the Related Art
To facilitate understanding of the present invention, a typical conventional device of the foregoing type will briefly be described below with reference to FIG. 3 and FIG. 4 which illustrate the prior art. As is best seen in FIG. 3, the conventional device is constructed such that a lamp socket 21 is first inserted into the socket insert hole 81 formed through a lamp mount 80 and an engagement spring 91 is brought in engagement with the lamp socket 21 to resiliently depress the same. The engagement spring 91 made of a material having excellent elasticity such as a spring steel wire is contoured in a substantially U-shaped configuration including an engagement portion 91a, a shank portion 91b and a depressing portion 91c, and the shank portion 91b is turnably mounted to turn about a hinge portion 82. With such construction, after the lamp socket 21 is inserted into the socket insert hole 81, the foremost end of the engagement portion 91a is engaged with a hook 83 on the lamp mount 80, whereby the lamp socket 21 is depressed from the rear side thereof under the effect of a resilient force derived from the engagement portion 91a and the depressing portion 91c so as to firmly hold the lamp socket 21 in the socket insert hole 81.
However, with respect to the conventional device constructed in the above-described manner, since a waterproofing packing 22 is fitted around the lamp socket 21 as shown in FIG. 4, the lamp socket 21 can not smoothly be inserted into the socket insert hole 81. In addition, since the engagement portion 91a and the depressing portion 91c are different from each other in structure, there is a tendency that a uniform depressing force is not imparted to the lamp socket 21. For this reason, there arises a malfunction that a lamp 20 is mounted on the lamp mount 80 in such an inclined state as shown in FIG. 4, resulting in light illuminating properties of the lamp 20 being degraded due to defocussing.
USPTO Backgrounds
USPTO Backgrounds