The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Mar. 03, 1998
Filed:
Apr. 22, 1996
Kenneth A Eklov, Farmington Hills, MI (US);
William M Brown, Brighton, MI (US);
James N Jorgensen, Warren, MI (US);
Micro Craft, Inc., Novi, MI (US);
Abstract
A lamp assembly having a gravity-actuated switch which is adapted to be mounted to the underside of a hinged cover member of a vehicle to illuminate a compartment of the vehicle when the hinged member is opened to a predetermined extent. The lamp assembly has a housing, a lamp disposed in the housing, first conductor means for electrically interconnecting a first electrical terminal with one terminal of the lamp, second conductor means for electrically interconnecting a second electrical terminal with a first contact point, and third conductor means for electrically interconnecting the other terminal of the lamp with a second contact point. The assembly has a switch for automatically turning on the lamp when the housing is moved to a first angular orientation and turning off the lamp when the housing is moved to a second angular orientation. The switch has a slidable member with a conductive portion, the slidable member being movable between a first position in which the conductive portion of the slidable member electrically interconnects the first and second contact points and a second position in which the first and second contact points are electrically isolated. The assembly may have an inverted pivot member, movable under the influence of gravity, for causing the slidable member to occupy the first position when the housing is in the first angular orientation and for causing the slidable member to occupy the second position when the housing is in the second angular orientation.