WO2001059756A1

WO2001059756A1 - Whistle with flickering lamp

Info

Publication number: WO2001059756A1
Application number: PCT/KR2001/000216
Authority: WO
Inventors: Dong-Woo Kim
Original assignee: Kim Dong Woo
Priority date: 2000-02-14
Filing date: 2001-02-14
Publication date: 2001-08-16
Also published as: KR200188704Y1; AU2001234212A1

Abstract

The object of this invention is to provide a whistle with a flickering lamp. In the whistle, a whistling hole (3) is formed on the sidewall of a barrel (1) to make a whistling sound. A transparent bulb (5) is attached to the end of an extension (4) of the barrel (1). A spring-biased actuation plate (10) is transversely set within the extension (4) at a position inside the junction of the barrel (1) and the bulb (5). A battery (11) is installed within the battery chamber of the barrel (1) at a position outside the actuation plate (10), while a flickering lamp (12) is set in the lamp seat of the barrel (1) outside the battery chamber. The battery (11) selectively turns on the lamp (12) when the actuation plate (10) pneumatically biases the battery (11) toward the lamp (12) in response to air pressure during a whistling action.

Description

WHISTLE WITH FLICKERING LAMP

Technical Field

The present invention relates, in general, to whistles for producing whistling sounds by means of the breath and, more particularly, to a whistle with a flickering lamp, including a transparent cover attached to the end of an extension of the whistle's barrel through a screw-type fitting process, and a guide rod axially extending within the barrel so as to allow a smooth current of forced air within the barrel during a whistling action, the whistle also including a spring-biased actuation plate set within the extension such that the actuation plate is pneumatically biased to come into contact with a battery during a whistling action, thus forming a closed circuit in cooperation with the battery, a lamp and the spring to allow the lamp to emit light, the whistle thus producing light in addition to whistling sounds during a whistling action, and thereby being preferably usable for a variety of purposes, such as amusing oneself, cheering a team, or mountaineering.

Background Art

As well known to those skilled in the art, a whistle is an instrument for producing whistling sounds by means of the breath, with an air chamber containing a small ball that oscillates when air is forced through an opening, producing a high-pitched, warbling tone. Such whistles have been typically used for a variety of purposes, such as amusing oneself, or cheering a team.

A tube-type whistle, consisting of a cylindrical barrel formed at a position spaced apart from the air inlet hole of the mouthpiece, a small ball contained in the barrel, and an air outlet hole formed on the sidewall of the barrel, has been proposed and used. When air is forced through the barrel from the air inlet hole of the mouthpiece by the breath, the small ball oscillates within the barrel to change the opening ratio of the air outlet hole, thus producing a high-pitched, warbling tone

However, such conventional whistles, including a small ball in the cylindrical barrel and producing a high-pitched, warbling tone by changing the opening ratio of the air outlet hole by the oscillating small ball during a whistling action, only produce somewhat tedious whistling sounds, and so they may cause users to easily grow tired of a whistling action Therefore, the conventional whistles are undesirably limited in their utility when used by children or adults to amuse themselves or for accomplishing other purposes

Disclosure of the Invention

Accordingly, the present invention has been made keeping in mmd the above problems occurring in the prior art, and an object of the present invention is to provide a whistle with a flickering lamp, which includes a transparent cover attached to the end of an extension of the whistle's barrel through a screw-type fitting process, and a guide rod axially extending within the barrel so as to allow a smooth current of forced air withm the barrel during a whistling action, and which also includes a spring-biased actuation plate set withm the extension such that the actuation plate is pneumatically biased to come into contact with a battery during a whistling action, thus forming a closed circuit in cooperation with the battery, a lamp and the spring to allow the lamp to emit light, and which thus produces light, in addition to whistling sounds during a whistling action, and is thereby preferably usable for a variety of purposes, such as amusing oneself, cheering a team, or mountaineering

Another object of the present invention is to provide a whistle with a flickering lamp, which has a double-cylinder structure consisting of inner and outer cylinders that are concentrically arranged to form an air chamber, thus allowing air from the air mlet hole of the mouthpiece to primarily pass through the outside channel formed between the inner and outer cylinders and secondarily pass through an elastic membrane so as to be introduced into the inside channel defined inside the inner cylinder, and be finally discharged to the atmosphere through a flaring bell while producing an amplified, high-pitched, elegant tone.

In order to accomplish the above object, an embodiment of the present invention provides a whistle, designed to allow air to be forced into a barrel from the air inlet hole of a mouthpiece and to be partially discharged to the atmosphere through a whistling hole of the barrel while making whistling sounds, the whistle comprising: an extension axially extending from the barrel, with a transparent bulb screwed to the outer end of the extension; a partition wall formed in the mouthpiece to partially close the air inlet hole, with a holding groove formed on the partition wall and used for holding the end of a guide rod axially extending within the barrel; a spring-biased actuation plate set within the barrel at a position around the inside end of the guide rod, and held within the barrel by a stopper, and normally biased in a direction toward the mouthpiece by a spring, the actuation plate also having an activating projection, with a battery installed within the barrel so as to be brought into contact with both the activating projection of the actuation plate at its anode and the contact of a lamp at its cathode; and the spring installed within the barrel such that it is brought into contact with the base of the lamp at one end thereof, and brought into surface contact with the actuation plate at the other end thereof, whereby the actuation plate is pneumatically pushed toward the battery by an air current forced into the barrel from the air inlet hole by the breath during a whistling action, and so the actuation plate, battery, lamp, and spring thus form a closed circuit and turn on the lamp to make the lamp emit light. In the above whistle, the air current, flowing into the battery chamber, is discharged to the atmosphere through an air discharge opening formed on the sidewall of the extension. That is, the whistle of this invention emits light from the lamp, in addition to producing whistling sounds during a whistling action, but does not produce any light or sound when it is not used.

During a whistling action of a whistle according to another embodiment of this invention, air is forced into the barrel by the breath, and so a forced air current primarily passes through an axial channel within the mouthpiece, secondarily passes through a transverse channel formed between the inner and outer cylinders of a double-cylinder structure, and thirdly passes through two elastic membranes while being primarily amplified in tone to create whistling sounds.

In the above whistle, the air current is, thereafter, introduced into the interior of the inner cylinder while being secondarily amplified in the tone of whistling sounds. Thereafter, the air current is finally discharged from the interior of the inner cylinder to the atmosphere through a flaring bell while producing an amplified, high-pitched, elegant tone.

Brief Description of the Drawings

The above and other objects, features and other advantages of the present invention will be more clearly understood from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which: Fig. 1 is a perspective view, showing the appearance of the barrel of a whistle with a flickering lamp in accordance with the primary embodiment of the present invention;

Fig. 2 is a sectional view, showing the construction of the whistle in accordance with the primary embodiment of the present invention; Fig. 3 is a sectional view, showing the construction of a whistle in accordance with the second embodiment of the present invention;

Fig. 4 is an exploded perspective view of a whistle with a flickering lamp in accordance with the third embodiment of the present invention; and

Fig. 5 is a broken perspective view of the whistle in accordance with the third embodiment of the present invention.

Best Mode for Carrying Out the Invention Reference now should be made to the drawings, in which the same reference numerals are used throughout the different drawings to designate the same or similar components.

Figs. 1 and 2 are views, showing the construction of a whistle with a flickering lamp in accordance with the primary embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in the drawing, the whistle of this invention is designed to allow air to be forced into a barrel 1 from the air inlet hole 2 of a mouthpiece provided at the first end of the barrel 1 and to be partially discharged to the atmosphere through a whistling hole 3 of the barrel 1 while making whistling sounds in a conventional manner.

In the above whistle, an extension 4 axially extends from the second end of the barrel 1, with a transparent bulb 5 screwed to the outer end of the extension 4. A partition wall 6 is formed in the mouthpiece of the barrel 1 to partially close the air inlet hole 2, with a holding groove 6a formed on the partition wall 6 and holding an outside end of a guide rod 7 axially extending within the barrel 1 from the groove 6a to a predetermined length. A spring-biased actuation plate 10 is set within the barrel 1 at a position around the inside end of the guide rod 7, and is held within the barrel 1 by a stopper 8. This actuation plate 10 is normally biased in a direction toward the mouthpiece by a spring 9.

The above actuation plate 10 also has an activating projection 10a, while a battery 11 is installed within a battery chamber inside the barrel 1 to be selectively brought into contact with the activating projection 10a of the actuation plate 10 at its anode, and always come into contact with the contact of a flickering lamp 12 at its cathode.

The spring 9 is installed within the barrel 1 such that it is brought into contact with the base of the flickering lamp 12 at one end thereof, and is brought into surface contact with the actuation plate 10 at the other end thereof. Therefore, the actuation plate 10 is pneumatically pushed toward the battery 11 by an air current forced into the barrel 1 from the air inlet hole 2 by the breath during a whistling action. The actuation plate 10, battery 1 1, lamp 12, and spring 9 thus form a closed circuit, and so the lamp 12 is turned on to emit light. In such a case, the air current, flowing into the battery chamber, is discharged to the atmosphere through an air discharge opening 13 formed on the sidewall of the extension 4.

In a brief description, when air is forced into the barrel 1 from the air inlet hole 2 of the mouthpiece by the breath during a whistling action, the forced air produces whistling sounds while being partially discharged to the atmosphere through the whistling hole 3 of the barrel 1. During such a whistling action, the lamp 12 of the whistle is turned on to emit light, and so the whistle accomplishes visual effect, in addition to acoustic effect.

When a person forces air into the barrel 1 of the whistle from the air inlet hole 2 by the breath, the forced air produces whistling sounds while being partially discharged to the atmosphere through the whistling hole 3 of the barrel 1.

In such a case, the forced air flows to the actuation plate 10 along the guide rod 7 that axially extends within the barrel 1 while being held by the holding groove 6a of the partition wall 6 formed at the air inlet hole 2. The forced air thus pneumatically biases the actuation plate 10 toward the battery 11. The stopper 8 holds the actuation plate 10 within the barrel 1, and so the plate 10 is prevented from an undesired removal from its place within the barrel 1. This actuation plate 10 is also normally biased toward the mouthpiece by the compression coil spring 9. The actuation plate 10 is thus normally spaced apart from the anode of the battery 11 due to the biasing force of the spring 9, and so the lamp 12 is normally turned off. However, when the forced air acts on the actuation plate 10 during a whistling action, the actuation plate 10 is brought into contact with the anode of the battery 1 1 while compressing the spring 9, thus electrically activating the lamp 12 so as to allow the lamp 12 to emit light.

That is, when air is forced into the barrel 1 by the breath during whistling action, the forced air biases the actuation plate 10 toward the battery 11 while compressing the spring 9, and brings the activating projection 10a of the actuation plate 10 into contact with the anode of the battery 11.

Since the cathode of the battery 1 1 is always brought into contact with the contact of the lamp 12, with the spring 9 always coming into contact with the base of the lamp 12 at one end thereof, and into surface contact with the actuation plate

10 at the other end thereof. Therefore, when the activating projection 10a of the actuation plate 10 is pneumatically brought into contact with the anode of the battery 11 by the forced air during a whistling action as described above, the actuation plate 10, battery 1 1, lamp 12, and spring 9 form a closed circuit, thus turning on the lamp 12 to make the lamp 12 emit light.

In such a case, the forced air current, flowing into the battery chamber after biasing the actuation plate 10, is discharged to the atmosphere through the air discharge opening 13 of the extension 4. It is thus possible to repeatedly force air into the barrel 1 of the whistle by the breath to emit light from the lamp 12, in addition to producing whistling sounds.

On the other hand, when the whistle is not used, there is no air forced through the barrel 1 from the air inlet hole 2 of the mouthpiece by the breath. Therefore, the interior of the barrel 1 is free from any forced air current flowing along the guide rod 7 toward the actuation plate 10, and so the actuation plate 10 is fully biased toward the mouthpiece by the restoring force of the spring 9.

Therefore, the circuit, consisting of the actuation plate 10, battery 1 1, lamp 12 and spring 9, is opened to turn off the lamp 12.

Fig. 3 is a sectional view, showing the construction of a whistle in accordance with the second embodiment of the present invention. In the second embodiment, the general shape of the whistle remains the same as that described for the primary embodiment, but the whistle of this second embodiment does not have any guide rod 7 different from the primary embodiment. Even thought the whistle of this second embodiment does not have any guide rod 7, a forced air current effectively flows toward the actuation plate 10 within the barrel 1 during a whistling action. The whistle thus emits light from the activated lamp 12, in addition to producing whistling sounds.

Figs. 4 and 5 are views of a whistle with a flickering lamp in accordance with the third embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in the drawings, the whistle of this third embodiment includes a central air tube 23 axially extending through the barrel 21 from an air inlet hole 22 of the mouthpiece to a predetermined length, with a transparent extension 24 formed at the outer end of the air tube 23, and an axial air channel 30 defined between an outer case of the mouthpiece and the air tube 23.

An actuation plate 10 is set in the transparent extension 24, and is normally biased by a compression coil spring 26 in a direction toward the mouthpiece. This actuation plate 25 has an activating projection 25a. A battery 27 is installed within the extension 24 such that the battery 27 selectively comes into contact with the activating projection 25a of the actuation plate 25 at its anode 27a, and is normally brought into contact with the contact of a flickering lamp 28 at its cathode 27b.

The spring 26 is brought into contact with the base of the lamp 28 at one end thereof, and comes into surface contact with the actuation plate 25 at the other end thereof. Therefore, when air is forced into the barrel 21 from the air inlet hole 22 of the mouthpiece by the breath to bias the actuation plate 25 toward the battery 11, a closed circuit is formed by the actuation plate 25, battery 27, lamp 28, and spring 26. The lamp 28 is thus turned on to emit light during such a whistling action. This whistle also has an air discharge opening 29 provided at the sidewall of the extension 24 for discharging the forced air from the extension 24 to the atmosphere. This whistle also includes a double-cylinder body, which is transversely formed on the barrel 21 and consists of an inner cylinder 33 and an outer cylinder 31. The outer cylinder 31 communicates with the air channel 30 through an opening 32, with two spacers 34 formed on the inner cylinder 33 to define a transverse air channel 35 between the inner and outer cylinders 33 and 31. In addition, an elastic membrane 36 commonly covers the inner and outer cylinders 33 and 31 at each side end of the double-cylinder body, with a cover 37 covering the double-cylinder body at a position outside the elastic membrane 36. A flared bell 38 is assembled with the double-cylinder body so as to communicate with the interior of the inner cylinder 33. When air is forced into the barrel 21 from the air inlet hole 22 by the breath during a whistling action, the forced air current primarily passes through the axial channel 30, secondarily passes through the transverse channel 35 formed between the inner and outer cylinders 33 and 31, and thirdly passes through the elastic membranes 36 while being primarily amplified in tone to create whistling sounds. The air current is, thereafter, introduced into the interior of the inner cylinder 33 while being secondarily amplified in tone to produce whistling sounds. Thereafter, the air current is finally discharged from the interior of the inner cylinder 33 to the atmosphere through the flaring bell 38 while producing an amplified, high-pitched, elegant tone.

Industrial Applicability

As described above, the present invention provides a whistle with a flickering lamp. This whistle includes a transparent cover attached to the end of an extension of the whistle's barrel through a screw-type fitting process. A guide rod axially extends within the barrel so as to allow a smooth current of forced air within the barrel during a whistling action. This whistle also includes a spring- biased actuation plate set within the extension such that the actuation plate is pneumatically biased by a forced air current during a whistling action to come into contact with a battery, thus forming a closed circuit in cooperation with the battery, a lamp and the spring to allow the lamp to emit light. The whistle of this invention thus produces light, in addition to whistling sounds during a whistling action, and is thereby preferably usable for a variety of purposes, such as amusing oneself, cheering a team, or mountaineering.

Claims

1. A whistle, designed to allow air to be forced into a barrel (1) from an air inlet hole (2) of a mouthpiece provided at a first end of the barrel (1) and to be partially discharged to the atmosphere through a whistling hole (3) of said barrel (1) while making whistling sounds, comprising: a transparent bulb (5) screwed to an outer end of an extension (4) axially extending from a second end of said barrel (1); and a spring-biased actuation plate (10) set within said barrel (1) at a position inside the junction of the barrel (1) and the bulb (5) so as to turn on a flickering lamp (12) in response to a forced air current flowing within the barrel (1) during a whistling action, thus allowing the lamp (12) to emit light.

2. The whistle according to claim 1, wherein said actuation plate (10) is held within said barrel (1) by a stopper (8) provided on an internal surface of the barrel (1), and is normally biased in a direction toward the mouthpiece by a spring (9), said actuation plate (10) also having an activating projection (10a), with a battery (11) installed within said barrel (1) to be brought into contact with both the activating projection (10a) at its anode and a contact of the flickering lamp (12) at its cathode, said spring (9) being brought into contact with both a base of said flickering lamp (12) and the actuation plate (10) at opposite ends thereof, and an air discharge opening (13) provided at a sidewall of the extension (4) for discharging forced air from the extension (4) to the atmosphere.

3. The whistle according to claim 1, wherein said barrel (1) has a partition wall (6) partially closing the air inlet hole (2) of the mouthpiece, with a holding groove (6a) formed on said partition wall (6) and holding an inside end of a guide rod (7) axially extending within the barrel (1) from the groove (6a) to a predetermined length, said guide rod (7) guiding a current of forced air within the barrel (1) during a whistling action, thus allowing the forced air current to smoothly actuate the actuation plate (10) installed at a position around an inside end of said guide rod (7).

4. A whistle with a flickering lamp, comprising: a central air tube (23) axially extending through a barrel (21) of the whistle from an air inlet hole (22) of a mouthpiece to a predetermined length, with a transparent extension (24) formed at an outer end of said air tube (23), and an axial air channel (30) defined between an outer case of the mouthpiece and the air tube (23); an actuation plate (25) set in said transparent extension (24) and normally biased by a spring (26) in a direction toward the mouthpiece, said actuation plate

(25) having an activating projection (25a), with a battery (27) installed within said extension (24) to be brought into contact with both the activating projection (25a) at its anode (27a) and a contact of a flickering lamp (28) at its cathode (27b), and said spring (26) being brought into contact with both a base of said flickering lamp (28) and the actuation plate (25) at opposite ends thereof; an air discharge opening (29) provided at a sidewall of said extension (24) for discharging forced air from the extension (24) to the atmosphere; a double-cylinder body transversely formed on said barrel (21) and consisting of an inner cylinder (33) and an outer cylinder (31), said outer cylinder (31) communicating with said air channel (30) through an opening (32), with a spacer (34) formed on said inner cylinder (33) to define a transverse air channel

(35) between the inner and outer cylinders (33) and (31); and an elastic membrane (36) commonly covering the inner and outer cylinders (33) and (31) at each side end of the double-cylinder body, with a cover (37) covering the double-cylinder body at a position outside the elastic membrane

(36), and a flared bell (38) assembled with said double-cylinder body so as to communicate with the interior of the inner cylinder (33).