Guard for electric light bulbs

Claim 1

A guard for portable electric lamps wherein an electric light bulb is received in a socket element, said guard consisting of an approximately bell-shaped integral member made of rigid, lighttransmitting material, said guard member being a continuous body of revolution and having an enlarged cylindrical forward portion which encompasses a light bulb positioned in the socket element, and including an open-ended cylindrical rearward portion of smaller internal diameter than the forward portion, said smaller internal diameter being substantially equal to the external diameter of the socket element, the said rearward portion fitting snugly about the socket element on assembly thereof and being substantially free of wobbling relative to the socket element, the rear edge of the guard member being provided with an inwardly extending bead having an internal diameter less than the external diameter of the socket element, the reArward portion of said guard member being provided with a plurality of open-ended slots forming spaced fingers and extending for a sufficient distance to impart a limited degree of flexibility to such fingers to enable the bead sections at the free ends of the fingers to ride over the outer surface of the socket under flexure and then snap into locking position over the rear edge of the socket element upon assembly of the guard member with the socket element, said guard member flaring outwardly gradually from the smaller to the larger cylindrical portion thereof, such flaring intermediate portion being provided with transverse circumferential through slots serving for ventilation of the interior of the guard member, the upper edge portions defining these slots being extended outwardly in a radial direction so as to overhang the bottom outer edges of the slots to block the entry of rain water to within the slots when the guard member is in the upright position.