US1957404A

US1957404A - Lighting

Info

Publication number: US1957404A
Application number: US477970A
Authority: US
Inventors: Leo L Beck
Original assignee: CLAUDE NEON LIGHTS Inc
Current assignee: CLAUDE NEON LIGHTS Inc
Priority date: 1930-08-26
Filing date: 1930-08-26
Publication date: 1934-05-01
Anticipated expiration: 1951-05-01

Description

May 1, 1934. BECK 7 1,957,404

A LIGHTING Filed Aug. 26, 1930 3 Sheets-Sheet l i E Q \l a Q k 2, U

0 In m N. Al/QVJJ/V/ smut 73a v, INVENTOR BY ATTORNEY fl i L. 'L. BECK May 1, 1934.

LIGHTING 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Aug. 26 1930 L. L. BECK May 1, 1934.

LIGHTING 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 g xd qgfli/ r Filed Aug. 26. 1950 Suva/"07, Leo LBecK Patented May 1, 1934 UNITED STATES 1,957,404 momma Leo L. Beck, Westfield, N. J., assignor to Claude 'Neon Lights, Inc., New York, N. Y., a corporation of New York Application August 26, 1930, Serial No. 477,970

1 Claim. (Cl. 240-5) This invention relates to devices for displaying articles, such as show windows, show cases and the like.

It provides a new and improved display device,

a particularly a new and improved show case.

The invention provides a new and improved display device including a show case in which articles, particularly colored articles, may be displayed and viewed by artificial light to substantially the same advantage with respect to the color relationship of the colors of the articles displayed as would be the case if such articles were viewed in natural daylight.

The invention furthermore provides a highly economical and eflicient device for displaying articles in lights of various colors.

In its broader aspects, the invention comprises a combination of a casing adapted to contain articles for display purposes and a gas discharge luminescent tube light, which may comprise a plurality of gas discharge tubes, preferably so designed and arranged in combination with the display device and parts thereof as to form a highly useful and utilizable display device.

The invention will be described in greater detail, and the close inter-relationship and cooperation of the various parts thereof will be more fully pointed out in the following detailed description, taken in conjunction with the drawin'gs which illustrate certain preferred embodiments of the invention. {It is intended and will be understood that the invention is illustrated by and not limited to the preferred embodiments specifically shownand described.

' intensity of the various wave lengths contained in the light from neon, mercury and neon, and neon light blended with mercury-neon light in accordance with the present invention.

40 Figure 2 is intended to illustrate a show window comprising a casing adapted to contain ar- Figure 3 is a se'ctionof a portion of Figure 1" taken on the line 3-3 thereof. Figure 4 illustrates a form of the electric circuit which may be used for the tubes shown in Figures 2 and 3.

Figure 5 illustrates one form of the new and improved show case provided by the present invention.- This comprises a casing provided with transparent top and sides, and a group of gas Figure 1 illustrates graphically the relative discharge tubes provided with means for blending and reflecting the light emitted thereby.

Figure 6 is a section on the line 66 of Figure 5.

Figure '7 is a form of electric circuit which may be employed in the device shown in Figures 5 co and 6.

Referring now more particularly to Figures 2, 3 and 4 which illustrate a form of the new and improved show window provided by the present invention, this comprises top and bottom members 1, end members or walls 2 and a rear portion 3. Thefront portion comprises a sheet of plate glass 4 retained by the shoulders or retaining members 6 and also comprises a moulding element. 5

Located interiorly of the casing and at the junction of the top member and the front member is a blending and reflecting device which includes the reflecting member 10, a group of gas discharge luminescent tubes and a diffusing screen 14. The latter is held in position by means of the retaining members 16 and bracket 18. A similar grouping of discharge tubes with a reflecting and blending device is located in the lower front corner of the display device, as indicated at 20. The lamp or illuminating device indicated generally at 20 is preferably placed in a recess at the junction of the floor or bottom member and its adjacent front member, and, as will be more fully hereinafter explained, this, recess may be of relatively very small dimensions. By means of the said recess the illuminating lamp may be arranged so as to be substantially concealed and also out of the path of moving objects, so that little or no space in the display deviceis occupied by the discharge tubes and the latter are amply protected against breakage. Similar illuminating means may be placed in the perpendicular front corners of the display device, as indicated generally at 22 and 24. 5

' The gas discharge tubes shown in Figures 2, 3 and 4 comprise the tube 26 having a filling of neon and the tubes .28 containing mercury and any suitable rare gas such as helium, neon, argon, krypton, Xenon or mixtures thereof. The 100 tube 26 is therefore adapted to emit neon light and the tubes 28 are adapted to emit the light of luminescent mercury vapor slightly modified by the particular rare gas employed to carry the said vapor. The grouplngof the tubes shown in Figures 2, 3 and .4. is intended to represent a specific embodimentof means to blend neon and mercury light respectively so as to obtain a suitable composite light, particularly one which is adapted to 1 produce artificial daylight in which colors and the relationship between colorsmay be seen in substantially thesame manner and with the same effect as if those colors were viewed in natural daylight. As shown, two tubes are bent in the shape of a narrow U to form the four tubes 28, in effect, and are so positioned with respect to the single tube 26 that, in effect, tubes 26 and 28 having substantially the same length and diameter are grouped together. Each U tube and the single tube 26 are provided with a pair of electrodes respectively. The electrodes are connected to respective terminals of the secondary 30 of a Y transformer, the primary coil 32 of which is connected to supply terminals 34 which supply alternating current at 110 volts. The discharge tubes are thus connected in series and since the tubes have equal diameters they are supplied with discharge current of the same density. It will be observed, however, that the length of the tubes 28 containing mercury is substantially four times that of the tube 26 containing neon. Consequently, the amount of mercury light generated is substantially four times the amount of neon light produced. The envelope material of which the mercury tubes are made is preferably a standard, commercial uranium yellow glass made by the Corning Glass Works and designated as Soft canary; By blending one part of neon light with four parts of mercury light 'filtered through the said envelope material, a composite resulting light is obtained having an intensitywave length characteristicwhich, graphically expressed as a curve, has a maximum intensity in the neighborhood of 550 mu. and a general contour similar to that which is characteristic of natural daylight.

The character 'of the light obtained will be more fully understood by reference to Figure 1 of the accompanying drawings, which shows graphically the relative intensity of the various wave lengths contained in the light from neon, mercury and neon, and neon light blended with mercury-neon light as herein described. The curve designated No. 1 shows the intensity-wave length characteristic of neon light, that designated 2 the corresponding intensity-wave length characteristic of the light emanating from a. tube made of the usual glass commonly employed for luminous tubes containing neon and mercury. The curve designated No. 3 illustrates the intensity-wave length characteristic of the same vapor gas composition corresponding to curve No. 2 contained in an envelope made of a uranium glass known by its trade name as Corning Soft canary. It will be noted that the efiect of the uranium glass screen is to shift the maximum intensity-wave length from about 512 to about 543 mu. The curve designated as No. 5 represents the intensity-wave length characteristic of a light produced by blending one part of neon light with four times the quantity of neon-mercury light filtered through a yellow screen as described and it will be noted that this blend has an intensity-wave length characteristic with a.

maximum intensity at about 550 mu. The heavy black line represents the intensity-wave length characteristic of the daylight standard adopted by the Illuminating Engineering Society, and it will be observed that this curve has a maximum intensity at about 555 mu. and a contour generally similar to that of curve No. 5, particularly in the red orange and green portions of the spectrum. One of the results of the blend is therefore, as will be noted, to reduce the intensity of the blue portion of the spectrum and to exalt the intensity greater than the inside diameter of the tubes and may be constructed of material such as copper, nickel, iron and the like, coated or otherwise provided with suitable emissive substances such as cazsium, potassium, sodium, lithium, calcium, barium, strontium, or compounds of such elements as for example, oxides or suboxides of barium, calcium, strontium and the like. By providing the electrodes with emissive substances as described, the size of the electrodes may be greatly reduced below that which would be permissible otherwise and the said electrodes may, as already described, be small enough to be capable of insertion into the said tubes without any enlargement thereof. This facilitates considerably the close grouping of the tubes and the provision of a compact arrangement thereof which enhances the practicability and desirability of the invention herewith disclosed, which includes the combination of tubes grouped as described in a blending and reflecting device and in a suitable display casing or showcase.

In order to produce suitable blending and to avoid the development of the phenomenon known as a color fringe, the neon tube 26 may be placed behind the mercury tubes, as more clearly shown in Figures 2 and 3, so that the light from the neon tube is compelled to traverse or blend with the light from the mercury tubes 28. Moreover, to secure further blending, the combined light from the neon and from the mercury tubes is reflected from the surface of the reflector l0 and passed througha blending and diffusing screen 14, as more clearly shown in Figure 2. The result is that the interior of the display device or casing shown in Figure 2 is filled with light having substantially the same properties as natural daylight and colored articles therein may be displayed with the same advantage that would exist if they were viewed 1 natural daylight:

The invention thereforfxp'rovides a great advantage to the clothing and other trades and arts in which it is necessary to view colored articles by artificial light. The value of such articles,

particularly clothing, furniture and the like, de-

pends in many cases, upon the true relationship of the colors thereof as viewed'by the human eye, Natural daylight is the standard which the eye unconsciously uses in judging color values and the present invention provides'a new and improved device in which ,the true relationship of colored articles may be seen by an artificial light. In the preferred form of the invention the reflecting device described in connection with Figures 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 is recessed in the corners of the display device instead of projecting out into the available space of the device as shown.

While in the preferred form of the invention the tubes as shown in Figures 2 to 7 are glow discharge tubes operated with'low currents and a high voltages, the tubesmay, in order to secure increased intensity, be operated as arc discharge tubes at relatively low voltages and at relatively high currents, as for example, at voltages of 110 to 220 volts and at currents from one-half to memos three amperes, and for this purpose the electrodes or cathodes may be provided with a thermoemissive substance and operated in a condition of incandescence.

Figures 5, 6 and '7 show a combination of daylight lamp, reflector and showcase in which the blending of neon and mercury light is brought about in a somewhat different manner.

Referring more particularly to Figures 5 and 6, the showcase 50 is provided with two rare gas discharge lamps comprising respectively neon tube 40 and mercury tube 42, and neon tube 41 and mercury tube 43, each pair of tubes being housed in

respective housings

46 and 47 located in the top and bottom corners of the showcase 50$ The tubes .40, 42, 43 and 41 have internal electrodes 52 and are connected in series in the order named as shown in the diagram of Figure 7Q The tubes have substantially the same-diameter and length and are supplied with current (e. g. 25 milliamperes for tubes of 8 mm. internal diameter), from a. transformer having a secondary coil 54 and primary coil 55 and connected to 110 volt alternating current supply terminals 56 and 57. The transformer is located at the bottom of the showcase and secured to the base 60 thereof. Each lamp has essentially the same structure and therefore only one will be described in detail, i. e., the one comprising neon tube '40 and mercury tube 42 and located in the upper portion of the showcase.

The reflector 62 is parabolic in transverse section, as shown, and has an arcuate depression 63 or.trough so designed that when the mercury tube 40 rests therein the said tube is substantially at the focus of the reflector. Appropriate retaining bands or strips (not shown) hold the tube 40 in position. A cylindrical housing 65 communicates at intervals with the reflector 62 through slits in the trough 63 so that light from the neon tube 40 may blend .with the mercury light. The n on tube 40 rests in the housing 65 and by the a angement shown substantially all the neon light that is available for illumination is forced to blend with mercury light. Thus, a mercury-neon light with no red fringe around I it, is obtained. The mercury tube is made of mamitted. Consequently the neon light is blended with about four'times the quantity of mercury light, the latter being filtered as described. The

result is the production of a blend of light having an intensity-wave length characteristic as graphically represented in curve No. 5 of Figure 1. This graph has a maximum intensity at about 550 mu. and in general is a fairly close approximation to daylight as represented by curve No. 4 in Figure 1.

In connection with Figures 2, 3 and 4, a different method of blending neon light with mercury light in a 1 to 4 quantity ratio was shown and still other methods are possible, such as controlling the current density in the neon tube tobe about one fourth that in the mercury tube. The methods specifically described have the advantage that only one transformer is necessary, and that can be located in an inconspicuous place beneath the showcase or show window, as indicated at 66 in FigureZ and 67 in Figure 5.

Although in the preferred form of the invention, in order to secure suitable'true color effects the neon and mercury lights are blended in substantially a one to four ratio, as described, other color effects may at times be desired and the neon-mercury lights may therefore be blended in other ratios. For this purpose, the neon and mercury lights may-ibe'respectively connected in series with current varying means and the respective intensities and quantities of the neon and mercury lights may be varied to secure the particular blend of colors desired, which blend may varyfrom the blue of a mercury tube or the green era mercury tube having a yellow screen to the orange yellow neon color.

What is claimed is: V

A device for illuminating a display case comprising a-jpair of substantially coextensive and parallel closely adjacent elongated positive column gas discharge tubes eachtube having an electrode at each ehd thereof, said electrode comprising a highly emissive substance, each electrode chamber having a diameter of the same order as the diameter offihe positive column portion of the tube, one of the said tubes containing mercury and a rare gas and having an envelope region of maximum intensity of the mercury spectrum from the blue toward the green portion of the spectrum, the other tube containing neon which tube emits the characteristic orange red neon color when operated, said tubes being positioned in reflecting means comprising an elongated trough, the neon tube being situated between the tube containing mercury and the bottom'of the trough, whereby when both tubes are operated the neon light traverses the mercury tube so that the light from each source will fall upon the same surfaces and illuminate them independently in the same way.

' LE0 L. BECK.

'which during operation of the tube shifts the