GB2376519A

GB2376519A - Torch having an auxiliary light which pivots around two axes

Info

Publication number: GB2376519A
Application number: GB0114645A
Authority: GB
Inventors: John Se-Kit Yuen
Original assignee: John Manufacturing Ltd
Current assignee: John Manufacturing Ltd
Priority date: 2001-06-15
Filing date: 2001-06-15
Publication date: 2002-12-18
Anticipated expiration: 2021-06-15
Also published as: GB0114645D0; GB2376519B

Abstract

A torch is able to produce a main light beam from a light source in a main housing 2. An auxiliary housing 3 having an elongate source 31 is pivotally mounted at its rear end by a pivot device 4 to the rear of a rear handle portion 220 of the main housing 2. The pivot device 4 has a first pivot axis 41 and a second pivot axis which are at right angles and enable the auxiliary housing 3 to be moved away from a stowed position running along the main housing 2 to a deployed position within a hemisphere centred on the pivot device 4. This enables the user to select any of a wide range of possible desired positions for producing directional illumination from the fluorescent tube 31.

Description

LANTERN The invention relates to a lantern.

GB-A-2, 324, 854 (John Manufacturing Limited) discloses a lantern having a main housing with several lights. An auxiliary housing is pivoted to the main housing about a single pivot axis and has a fluorescent light.

GB-A-2, 341, 228 (John Manufacturing Limited) discloses a lantern with a main housing having a light. There are two auxiliary housings each containing a fluorescent light. Each auxiliary housing is pivoted about a respective single pivot axis to the main housing. The two auxiliary housings are positioned side by side and may be swung upwards to respective sides of the main housing.

According to the present invention, there is provided a lantern comprising : a main housing having a front portion containing a light and an elongate rear handle portion ; and an elongate auxiliary housing containing a light and having an end pivotally mounted through a pivot device to the rear handle portion ; wherein the elongate auxiliary housing has a stowed position extending forwards towards the front portion of the main housing ; the pivot device has first and second mutually transverse pivot axes which permit the elongate auxiliary housing to pivot away from its stowed position to a deployed position ; and the pivot axes permit the deployed position to be varied within at least part of a hemisphere centred on the pivot device including to positions along at least part of a circumference of the hemisphere and, from these circumferential positions, upwards towards a pole of the hemisphere.

Because of the ability to pivot the auxiliary housing about two axes rather than the single axis of the prior art, it is possible to deploy the auxiliary housing with its light to a greater variety of configurations than is possible with the prior art.

In the preferred embodiment, the light of the auxiliary housing will itself be an elongate light. It will usually be arranged to produce a directional lighting beam, e. g. shining out of one side of the auxiliary housing. With the ability to pivot the auxiliary housing about its two axis, it is possible with the preferred embodiment to arrange for

the light of the auxiliary housing to shine not only towards the front of the lantern in a particular deployed position, but also sideways away from the lantern in another deployed position of the auxiliary housing.

Preferably, the elongate auxiliary housing in its stowed position has its free end releasably secured to the main housing. This helps to ensure that the auxiliary housing will not accidentally deploy away from its stowed position. Instead, the user must apply a slight force to release the auxiliary housing from its stowed position, to move it to one of its deployed positions.

In the preferred embodiment, the free end is a releasable snap fit in a recess in the front portion of the main housing.

In the preferred embodiment, the front portion of the main housing has a front face in the form of a window of the light of the main housing. When not wishing to use the light of the main housing, the user may stand the lantern on its front face so that the auxiliary housing is projecting upwards. Thus the front portion of the main housing effectively serves as a base. The auxiliary housing may then be deployed so that the auxiliary light thereof may be used.

In the preferred embodiment, the rear handle portion of the main housing is a shaft and the front portion of the main housing is a head of greater width than the shaft. This makes the lantern an overall torch-like shape, which is a particularly preferred arrangement. It also helps to improve stability when the front portion is standing face down on a surface, as the lantern is harder to accidentally knock over because of the relatively large width of the front portion.

Preferably, the elongate auxiliary housing is a straight member and the rear handle portion has a longitudinal surface along which the elongate auxiliary housing lies when in its stowed position, and the rear handle portion has side walls along a first length of the longitudinal surface and no side walls along a second length of the longitudinal surface. The side walls therefore protect part of the auxiliary housing when it is stowed, but the second length with no side walls still enables the user to get a good grip on the auxiliary housing to pull it away from its stowed position to a deployed position. The side walls of the first length may be positioned so as to be generally at that part of the lantern that, in use, will be within the palm of the hand of the user when the user is holding the rear handle portion (with the auxiliary housing

stowed) in order to use the light of the main housing. Thus the natural holding action of the user tends to retain the auxiliary housing in its stowed position, with the side walls of the first length providing a comfortable transition for the palm of the hand of the user up over the auxiliary housing when gripping it in this manner.

A non-limiting preferred embodiment of the present invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which :- Fig. 1 is a side view of the lantern of the preferred embodiment; Fig. 2 is a top view of the lantern; Fig. 3 is a view of the other side of the lantern ; Fig. 4 is an underneath view of the lantern ; Fig. 5 is a rear view of the lantern ; Fig. 6 is a front view of the lantern ; Fig. 7 is a top view of the lantern showing, in dotted line, various deployed positions of the auxiliary housing when pivoted about one of the two axes of the pivot device of the lantern ; and Fig. 8 is a side view of the lantern showing in solid line and dotted line the stowed position and deployed positions of the auxiliary housing when the auxiliary housing is pivoted around the other one of the two axes of the pivot device.

The lantern 1 is in the form of a torch and comprises a main housing 2, an elongate auxiliary housing 3 and a pivot device 4 which pivotably connects the two housings together.

The main housing 2 has a bulbous front portion 210 which defines the maximum width or diameter of the main housing and of the lantern (see Fig. 5). It has at its front face a transparent window 211 behind which is an incandescent bulb 212.

The main housing 2 also comprises a rear shaft-like handle portion 220 which includes at its rear end a cover 221 to a battery compartment for containing batteries to power the lantern. The lantern may also have an input socket (not shown) for receiving external power. Towards the front of the rear handle portion 220, there is on one side a switch 222 for controlling the lights of the lantern.

At the rear end of the lantern is the pivot device 4, which has two pivot axes which are generally at right angles. A first pivot axis 41 (Fig. 8) is provided by a

fastener 42 which pivotably connects a body 43 of the pivot device to the rear end of the handle portion 220.

In Fig. 7, it may be seen that the front end of the body 43 has two arms 44 between which is pivotably received a rearmost lug of the auxiliary housing 3, so as to pivotably connect the rear end of the auxiliary housing 3 to the pivot device 4 for rotation about a second pivot axis 45.

The first pivot axis 41 and second pivot axis 45 provide two degrees of freedom of movement for the auxiliary housing 3 relative to the main housing 2.

The auxiliary housing 3 is elongate and thin and contains a light 31 in the form of a thin fluorescent tube extending substantially the full length of the auxiliary housing 3. A concave reflector (not shown) is positioned behind the fluorescent tube 31 (as viewed in Fig. 7) so that the light beam emitted by the fluorescent tube 31 will be focused and directed out of the side of the auxiliary housing visible in Fig. 7.

The auxiliary housing 3 has a free end 32 which is a releasable snap fit in a recess 213 of the front portion 210, when the auxiliary housing 3 is in its stowed position as shown in Figs. 1-3. A small force is sufficient to pull the free end 32 out of the recess 213 as part of a pivoting movement away from the stowed position and in which the auxiliary housing 3 pivots about the second pivot axis 45.

The battery compartment cover 221 may be removed to insert batteries into the battery compartment. These batteries are then used to power the incandescent bulb 212 and the fluorescent tube 31. The switch 222 is an electronic touch sensor switch.

It may be pushed a first time to turn on the incandescent bulb 212. It may be pushed a second time to turn off the incandescent bulb 212, and turn on the fluorescent tube 31.

Pushing the switch a third time completes the cycle by switching off the fluorescent tube 31. Pushing the switch again will recommence the cycle of operation.

As an alternative to powering the lights from the batteries, the lantern 1 may be plugged into an external power source (e. g. the cigarette lighter in a motor vehicle) by means of a socket (not shown) in the main housing 2. The user would simply run a power lead from the cigarette lighter to the socket. The socket could also be used to recharge the batteries from an AC battery charger unit, if the batteries are of the rechargeable type.

The primary function mode of the lantern 1 is as a hand-held flashlight. The user grips the rear handle portion 220 (with the auxiliary housing 3 in its stowed position) and switches on the incandescent bulb 212, which produces a forwardlyprojecting light beam by means of a reflector (not shown) which is positioned behind the incandescent bulb 212 in the front portion 210.

The auxiliary mode of operation involves using the fluorescent tube 31. The front portion 210 may be positioned face down on a surface such as a table. The width of the front portion 210 provides stability in that it makes it less likely that the lantern 1 will be accidentally knocked over when operating in the auxiliary mode. The rear handle portion 220 is therefore positioned projecting upwards so that the pivot device 4 is at the top end of the lantern.

In its stowed position, the auxiliary housing 3 extends forwards from the pivot device 4 resting against a longitudinal surface or bed running along the rear handle portion 220 and into the recess 213 in the front portion 210. The rear handle portion 220 is shaped to provide side walls 223 shielding part of the length of the longitudinal surface. The part of the longitudinal surface forwards of this position, in the direction running to the front portion 210, is not shielded by any side walls and is thus exposed.

Thus the user may insert a finger and thumb under respective sides of the auxiliary housing 3 in order to release the free end 32 from the recess 213 and to commence pivoting upwards of the auxiliary housing 3 with its fluorescent tube 31 about the second pivot axis 45. This pivoting movement is shown in Fig. 8.

Both axes of rotation of the pivot device 4 are able to hold a particular deployed position of the auxiliary housing 3. For example, each pivot axis 41,45 may be provided with internal detent means which hold particular angular positions whilst permitting free pivoting movement between those angular positions.

Fig. 8 shows that 90 of upward pivoting movement about the second pivot axis 45 is envisaged for the illustrated embodiment. The range of movement could be limited to a smaller value, such as at least 60 , or 70 , or 80 . With the illustrated embodiment, the pivoting movement can actually occur through more than 90 , up to

0 100 . When pivoting movement about the second pivot axis 45 is followed by pivoting movement about the first pivot axis 41 through about 1800, the auxiliary housing 3 is left in a generally horizontal position and is also positioned above the

pivot device 4, so that the auxiliary housing 3 is securely held in its generally horizontal position and will not droop down. Furthermore, the fluorescent tube 31 in combination with its reflector will, in this configuration, be left producing a downwardly-projecting beam of light that may be used to illuminate the table on which the lantern 1 is positioned, or any object such as a book positioned on the table beneath the tube 31. By adjusting the rotation about the first pivot axis 41, the downwardlyprojecting beam from the fluorescent tube 31 may be diverted from shining directly downwards to shining slightly to either side of the lantern.

The pivoting movement about the first pivot axis 41 is illustrated in Fig. 7 as being through about 1800. This pivoting movement occurs, of course, after the free end 32 of the auxiliary housing 3 has been released from the recess 213. The rotation about the first pivot axis 41 is, in the illustrated embodiment, actually permitted to occur through the full 360 . Further possible extents of rotation are 200 , 220 , 240 or 260 , depending on the extent of variation of the deployed position that is required.

When released from its stowed position to a deployed position, the auxiliary housing 3 is able to sweep through substantially all of the hemisphere centred on the pivot device 4. Thus, the user is able to move the auxiliary housing 3 to practically any position within the hemisphere and to hold that position, so that use may be made of the light beam emitted by the fluorescent tube 31. In fact, with the illustrated embodiment, it is possible to swing the auxiliary housing 3 into some of the second of the two hemispheres centred on the pivot device 4.

Claims

CLAIMS 1. A lantern comprising: a main housing having a front portion containing a light and an elongate rear handle portion ; and an elongate auxiliary housing containing a light and having an end pivotally mounted through a pivot device to the rear handle portion ; wherein the elongate auxiliary housing has a stowed position extending forwards towards the front portion of the main housing; the pivot device has first and second mutually transverse pivot axes which permit the elongate auxiliary housing to pivot away from its stowed position to a deployed position; and the pivot axes permit the deployed position to be varied within at least part of a hemisphere centred on the pivot device including to positions along at least part of a circumference of the hemisphere and, from these circumferential positions, upwards towards a pole of the hemisphere.
2. A lantern according to Claim 1, wherein the elongate auxiliary housing in its stowed position has its free end releasably secured to the main housing.
3. A lantern according to Claim 2, wherein the free end is a releasable snap fit in a recess in the front portion of the main housing.
4. A lantern according to any preceding claim, wherein the front portion of the main housing has a front face in the form of a window of the light of the main housing.
5. A lantern according to any preceding claim, wherein the rear handle portion of the main housing is a shaft and the front portion of the main housing is a head of greater width than the shaft.
6. A lantern according to any preceding claim, wherein the elongate auxiliary housing is a straight member and the rear handle portion has a longitudinal surface

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along which the elongate auxiliary housing lies when in its stowed position, and the rear handle portion has side walls along a first length of the longitudinal surface and no side walls along a second length of the longitudinal surface
7. A lantern substantially as herein described with reference to, or with reference to and as illustrated in, the accompanying drawings.