JP2005071884A - Lighting system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To solve a problem which occurs when a clamping position to clothes is separated from a center-of-mass position in attaching a lighting system to the clothes, and by which a desired lighting direction cannot be obtained because of the falling of the lighting system. <P>SOLUTION: The desired lighting direction is obtained by stabilizing the lighting direction by disposing a member related to the illumination of this lighting system in the vicinity of a clamp, and by deflecting a light ray at a rotatable reflecting surface. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a lighting device.

  When working in a dark place without lighting equipment, a flashlight or lantern is used. However, flashlights are not suitable for work with both hands because they must be held in hand. Also, with self-supporting lighting such as lanterns, the user must focus on the lighting to illuminate the desired location. In general, self-supporting illumination is large and not portable. As a solution to such a problem, a portable illumination device having a clip called a clip light is known. A portable clip light is a small light that can be fixed to a heel of a hat with a clip. Since the clip and the illumination main body are coupled by a ball joint or the like as disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 07-021826, the illumination direction can be freely changed to obtain a desired illumination direction. It is suitable for applications in which a desired direction can be illuminated without blocking both hands during lighting, and portability is required.

JP 07-021826

  However, in many clip lights, the entire illumination unit body including a large power source is made movable by a ball joint, so the movable part is heavy, and the center of gravity of the illumination unit body is far from the clip surface. The position fluctuates. When a clip light is attached with a clip, a moment of force acts and the clip light tends to fall. When attached to a hat with a hard heel, the heel material resists rotation against the rotation of the clip light, but if the luminaire is attached to a supple material such as clothing, such as the chest, This material has a problem that the illumination unit main body faces down without resisting rotation, and a desired illumination direction cannot be obtained.

  The present invention has been made in view of conventional problems, and has a power source, a light source that emits light from the power source, an opening for storing the power source and the light source and not blocking light, and the same optical axis as the light source. A housing provided with a rotating shaft that forms an axis, a reflecting surface that reflects light emitted from the light source, a rotating sliding surface that is rotatably joined to the rotating shaft of the housing, and the rotating sliding surface; A lighting apparatus having a support member that couples the reflecting surfaces and a fixing means that holds the posture of the housing is a first gist, and a second gist is that a prism is used as the light reflecting means. The third gist is to use a mirror as the reflecting means, and the fourth gist is to have a lens as a means to reduce the loss of the reflected light amount. The housing fixing means is elastically attached to the shaft of the writing instrument. A lighting device having a mounting means for It is an gist.

  According to the present invention, since the center of gravity of the lighting device holding means and the lighting unit is close and stable, the lighting unit body can be stably held even when attached to a supple material such as clothes regardless of the lighting direction. You can work with both hands.

  The present invention deflects a light beam emitted from a light source by a reflecting surface formed of a prism or a mirror rotatably attached to a housing. Even if the illuminating device main body is arranged integrally with the fixing means of the device, the illumination is performed. Because the direction can be changed, the center of gravity of the device relative to the fixed position is low, the variation of the center of gravity position is small even when the lighting direction is changed, and the weight moment with respect to the fixing means is small, so the lighting device is attached to a supple material like clothing However, the illumination unit main body can be stably held, and the illumination direction is thus stabilized.

Hereinafter, details of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. The illuminating device of the present embodiment shown in FIG. 1 includes a housing 1 that houses a battery (not shown), an LED 3 that emits light from the battery, protrudes from the opening 2 and is stored in the housing 1, and a light beam emitted from the LED 3. And a sandwiching member 7 that constitutes a clip by being rotatably attached by a hinge 5 and biased by a spring (not shown). A cylindrical surface 8 made of the same axis as the optical axis of the LED 3 is provided on the outer surface of the housing where the LED 3 protrudes. On the other hand, the right-angle prism 4 is formed with a cylindrical surface 9 that is rotatably fitted to the cylindrical surface 8 of the casing, and the right-angle prism 4 is rotatably fitted to the casing 1. The holding member 7 is rotated about the hinge 5 and is biased so as to close the mouth 10 by a spring (not shown). Although not shown, it is assumed that the device has a switch that keeps lighting, such as a slide switch.

Next, the deflection of the light beam emitted from the LED 3 will be described with reference to FIG. The light beam 11 emitted from the LED 3 is incident on the first surface 12 of the right-angle prism. Here, the light beam is refracted according to the incident angle and the refractive index of the material of the right-angle prism 4 and travels through the prism. Further, the light beam enters the inclined surface 13 of the right-angle prism 4, and the light beam incident at an angle greater than the critical angle is totally reflected (14). The totally reflected light beam 14 enters the second surface 16 of the right-angle prism and is refracted and transmitted and deflected. In order to increase the amount of light incident on the right-angle prism 4, it is desirable that the directivity characteristics of the LED 3 be narrow. Further, in order to reduce the amount of light that passes through the inclined surface 13 of the right-angle prism, a coating such as aluminum or silver that compensates for total reflection may be applied to the inclined surface 13. Since the right-angle prism 4 can rotate coaxially with the optical axis of the LED 3, the illumination direction can be changed while maintaining the light reflection state as illumination. Even if the lighting direction is changed, there is little movement of the center of gravity with respect to the clip clamping surface, and the center of gravity is located close to the clamping surface, so the lighting unit itself is stable even when attached to a supple material such as clothing. Can be held. In this embodiment, total reflection by a right-angle prism is used as the reflecting surface, but a mirror 17 coated with aluminum or silver as shown in FIG. 3 may be used.

  Next, a second embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. An example in which a convex lens 18 is inserted between the LED 3 and the right-angle prism 4 in the above embodiment will be described. In the embodiment, part of the light is not totally reflected due to the directivity characteristics of the LED 3. Reflection by the coating material has a lower reflection efficiency than total reflection. Therefore, by increasing the amount of light incident perpendicularly to the first surface of the right-angle prism, the amount of light totally reflected is increased. The convex lens 18 is a lens for that purpose. The lens 18 is selected so that the light emitting position of the LED 3 and the rear focal point of the convex lens 18 are close to each other and all the light emitted from the LED 3 is incident on the lens surface. When the lens is used, the amount of light incident on the inclined surface 13 of the right-angle prism at 45 degrees increases, so that the light emitted from the second surface 16 of the right-angle prism is also less diffused.

  Next, a third embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. As the holding means of the illumination unit, a clamping unit that elastically clamps the axis of the writing instrument is used. In the embodiment, the cylindrical part 20 that has elasticity in the radial direction is formed by the notch 19 provided on the lower surface of the casing of the illumination unit. It is fitted to the rear end. Generally, a writing instrument is provided with a clip 21 for holding it in a breast pocket or the like. By using this, the lighting device does not have a means for increasing the number of parts such as a clip, and can be easily used as a writing instrument. An inexpensive lighting device is provided by mounting. Also in this case, since the gravity center position of the holding means for the writing instrument and the illumination unit is close and stable, even when writing with the illumination device attached, the sense of incongruity of the gravity center can be reduced and the writing surface can be illuminated.

Explanatory drawing of 1st Example. Explanatory drawing of 1st Example. Explanatory drawing of 2nd Example. The enlarged view of the movable contact part of 2nd Example. Explanatory drawing of 3rd Example.

Explanation of symbols

1 Housing 2 Opening 3 LCD
4 Right-angle prism 5 Hinge 6 Lower surface of housing 7 Clamping member 8 Cylindrical surface 9 Cylindrical surface 10 Clip mouth 11 Ray emitted from LED 12 First surface of right-angle prism 13 Slope of right-angle prism 14 Totally reflected light beam 15 Transmitted Ray 16 Second surface of right-angle prism 17 Mirror 18 Convex lens 19 Notch 20 Cylindrical portion

Claims (5)

A power source, a light source that emits light from the power source, a housing having an opening for storing the power source and the light source so as not to block light and having a rotation axis that is the same axis as the optical axis of the light source; A reflective surface that reflects light emitted from the light source, a rotational sliding surface that is rotatably coupled to the rotational axis of the housing, a support member that couples the rotational sliding surface and the reflective surface, and a housing An illuminating device having a fixing means for holding a posture. The illumination device according to claim 1, wherein a prism is used as the light reflecting means. 3. A lighting device according to claim 1, wherein a mirror is used as the light reflecting means. The illuminating device according to any one of claims 1 to 3, further comprising a lens as means for reducing the loss of the reflected light amount. The lighting device according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the housing fixing means includes attachment means that elastically attaches to a writing instrument shaft.

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