Device for depicting a linear optical marking

• US 20050237748A1
• Filed: 03/17/2005
• Published: 10/27/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 03/26/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: STABILA Messgeräte Gustav Ullrich GmbH
• Original Assignee: STABILA Messgeräte Gustav Ullrich GmbH
• Inventors: Kallabis, Gabriel, Busam, Daniel
• Granted Patent: US 7,252,411 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 362/327
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 15/004 Reference lines, planes or sectors

Abstract

A device for depicting a linear optical marking (36, 38) in a room, including a housing (11) with a light source (16, 18) that emits the light along an optical axis (15, 17), as well as a lens (28, 30) that both reflects the light and allows it to pass through, that is arranged in front of the light source and through which the optical axis extends. In order to be able to illuminate an area of the room with simple design measures, i.e. depict lines, which cannot be captured with a direct beam path of the light source it is suggested that the lens (28, 30) have a trough-shaped geometry with a longitudinal axis that extends transversely to the optical axis (15, 17) of the light source (16, 18), that the lens have a first section extending on the light source side, and that the first section reflect light in the direction of the light source all the way into an area that extends beneath, to the side of, or above the light source as a function of the course of the longitudinal axis to the lens and into the area of the room facing away from the light source in terms of the light source.

Claims

1. Device for depicting a linear optical marking (36, 38, 40, 42, 60) in a room, comprising a housing (11, 13) with a light source (16, 18, 20, 22, 64) emitting the light along an optical axis (15, 17, 19, 29) as well as a lens (28, 30, 32, 34, 36, 38, 46, 58) that both reflects the light and allows it to pass, that is arranged in front of the light source and through which the optical axis extends, characterized in that the lens (28, 30, 32, 34, 36, 46, 58) has a trough-shaped geometry with a longitudinal axis (37, 49), which extends transversely to the optical axis (15, 17, 19, 29) of the light source (16, 18, 29, 22, 64), that the lens has a first section (38, 48) extending on the light source side and that the first section reflects light in the direction of the light source all the way into an area that extends beneath, to the side of or above the light source as a function of the course of the longitudinal axis to the lens and into the area of the room that faces away from the light source in terms of the light source.

2. Device pursuant to claim 1, wherein the housing (11, 13) is assigned a base (14) such as the floor surface of the room, characterized in that the longitudinal axis (34, 39, 59) of the lens (28, 30, 32, 34, 36, 46) extends along the base (14) and that light is reflected via the first section (38, 48) or its outer surface (44, 54) extending on the light source side onto the base in an area, which in relation to the base coincides with an area extending directly beneath the light source.

3. Device pursuant to claim 1, characterized in that the lens (28, 30, 32, 34, 46, 58) is composed of a first section (38, 48) extending on the light source side and a second section (40, 50) facing away from the light source, and that the first and second sections each run on one side of a plane (42, 52) that extends perpendicular to the optical axis (15, 17, 19, 21, 59) of the light source (16, 18, 20, 22) and have different lengths.

4. Device pursuant to claim 1, characterized in that the lens (28, 30, 32, 34, 46, 58) is composed of the first section (38, 48) that extends on the light source side and a second section (40, 50) that faces away from the light source, and that the first and second sections each run on one side of a plane (42, 52) that extends perpendicular to the optical axis (15, 17, 19, 21, 59) of the light source (16, 18, 20, 22) and have the same lengths.

5. Device pursuant to claim 3, characterized in that the first section (38, 48) of the lens (36, 46) is longer than the second section (40, 50).

6. Device pursuant to claim 1, characterized in that the lens (28, 30, 32, 34, 36, 46, 58) having a trough-shaped geometry is a longitudinal section of a tube having a circular or elliptic geometry in its cross-section.

7. Device pursuant to claim 1, characterized in that the lens (46, 58) having a trough-shaped geometry has a cross-section that corresponds to a section of a parabola.

8. Device pursuant to claim 1, characterized in that at least the first section (38, 48) of the lens (36, 46, 56) extending on the light source side is composed of sections with bending radii that deviate from each other.

9. Device pursuant to claim 3, characterized in that both the first section (38, 48) and the second section (40, 50) of the lens (36, 46, 56) are composed of sections with bending radii that deviate from each other.

10. Device pursuant to claim 3, characterized in that the first section (38) has a first bending radius and the second section (40) of the lens (36) has a second bending radius, and that the first bending radius deviates from the second bending radius.

11. Device pursuant to claim 1, characterized in that the lens comprises areas with different wall thickness levels.

12. Device pursuant to claim 4, characterized in that the first section (38) has a first bending radius and the second section (40) of the lens (36) has a second bending radius, and that the first bending radius deviates from the second bending radius.