Light source having automatically variable hue, saturation and beam divergence
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A light assembly comprising:
- means for projecting a light beam;
a filter set including at least two filters, said set having each filter mounted on a means for pivoting, each said means for pivoting being rotatable about respective axes which are disposed perpendicular to said light beam and are in a common plane which is generally transverse to said light beam; and
said means for pivoting including means for concurrently pivoting said filters to selectively vary the angle of incidence of said light beam upon said filters to vary the resulting saturation and hue of said light beam.
12 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A variable light source includes a light (14) which projects a white light beam. Three filters sets (60, 62 and 64) each include three pivotable dichroic filter elements. Each element is rotatable around an axis perpendicular to the light beam in order to vary the angle of incidence to vary the hue of the light beam. Rotation of the filter elements also varies the white light transmitted past the filter elements in order to vary the saturation of the light. The distance between the light source (26) and the reflector (28) may be varied to change the divergence of the light beam.
161 Citations
47 Claims
-
1. A light assembly comprising:
-
means for projecting a light beam; a filter set including at least two filters, said set having each filter mounted on a means for pivoting, each said means for pivoting being rotatable about respective axes which are disposed perpendicular to said light beam and are in a common plane which is generally transverse to said light beam; and said means for pivoting including means for concurrently pivoting said filters to selectively vary the angle of incidence of said light beam upon said filters to vary the resulting saturation and hue of said light beam. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
-
-
10. A light assembly comprising:
-
means for projecting a light beam;
at least two filter elements, each filter element mounted on a means for pivoting, each said means for pivoting being rotatable, about spaced apart axes disposed perpendicular to said light beam, said filter elements concomitantly pivotal between first and second positions, said filter elements in said first position oriented in a side-by-side relationship such that said filter elements are generally perpendicular to said light beam, said filter elements in said second position being oriented generally parallel to the light beam;a second set of three filter elements, said second set having each filter mounted on a means for pivoting, each said means for pivoting being rotatable about an axis disposed perpendicular to said light beam, said second set spaced apart from said at least two filter elements; a third set of pivotal filter elements spaced apart from and parallel to said at least two filter elements; and means for pivoting said second set of filter elements to any position between said first and second positions in order to selectively vary the angle of incidence of said light beam upon said filter elements to vary the resulting saturation and hue of said light beam. - View Dependent Claims (11)
-
-
12. A light assembly comprising:
-
means for projecting a light beam; a plurality of dichroic filters disposed transversely across a path of said light beam; each of said filters being mounted on a means for pivoting, each said means for pivoting being rotatable about respective axes which are perpendicular to said light beam and are spaced transversely across the path of said light beam; and said means for pivoting including means for concomitantly rotating said filters about said axes such that the angles of incidence of said filters to said light beam are varied equally for each said filter, said filters being rotatable from positions which totally intercept said light beam to positions which permit portions of said light beam to pass unintercepted between said filters. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
-
-
21. A light assembly comprising:
-
means for projecting a light beam; a plurality of dichroic filters disposed across said light beam; each of said filters being mounted on a means for pivoting, each said means for pivoting being rotatable about spaced apart axes perpendicular to said light beams; said means for pivoting including means for concomitantly rotating said filters about said axes such that the angles of incidence of said filters to said light beam are varied equally for each said filter; and one of said filters is disposed centrally of said light beam and others of said filters are disposed on opposite sides of said one filter, edge portions of said one filter and said other filters overlapping one another when said one filter and said other filters are rotated to a position perpendicular to said light beam. - View Dependent Claims (22)
-
-
23. A light assembly comprising:
-
means for projecting a light beam; a first plurality of dichroic filters disposed across said light beam; said filters being mounted on a means for pivoting, each said means for pivoting being rotatable about spaced apart axes perpendicular to said light beam; said means for pivoting including means for concomitantly rotating said first plurality of dichroic filters such that the angles of incidence of said filters to said light beam are varied equally for each said filter; a second plurality of dichroic filters spaced apart from said first plurality of dichroic filters in said light beam; means for concomitantly rotating said second plurality of dichroic filters to vary the angle of incidence of said filters to said light beam; a third plurality of dichroic filters spaced apart from said second plurality of dichroic filters in said light beam; and means for concomitantly rotating said third plurality of dichroic filters to vary the angle of incidence of said filters to said light beam. - View Dependent Claims (24)
-
-
25. A light assembly having variable color comprising:
-
means for projecting a light beam; a plurality of dichroic filters disposed side by side across said light beam; means for pivoting each of said filters in order to vary the angle of incidence of said filters to said light beam; and edge portions of said filters overlapping one another when said filters are pivoted perpendicular to said light beam to form a continuous filter across said light beam. - View Dependent Claims (26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35)
-
-
36. A method of varying the hue and saturation of a beam of light, comprising the steps of:
-
projecting a light beam; disposing a plurality of dichroic filters across said light beam, said filters being mounted on a means for pivoting, each said means for pivoting being rotatable about spaced apart axes perpendicular to said light beam, said axes positioned in a plane essentially transverse to the path of said light beam; and concomitantly rotating said filters about said axes such that the angles of incidence of said filters to said light beam are varied equally for each said filter. - View Dependent Claims (37, 38, 39)
-
-
40. A method of varying the hue and saturation of a beam of light comprising:
-
projecting a light beam; disposing a plurality of dichroic filters side by side across said light beam, said filters being mounted on a means for pivoting, each said means for pivoting being rotatable about spaced apart axes perpendicular to said light beam; concomitantly rotating said filters about said axes such that the angles of incidence of said filters to said light beam are varied equally for each said filters, and disposing one of said filters centrally in said light beam and others of said filters on opposite sides of said one filter, the edge portions of said filters overlapping one another when said filters are rotated to a position perpendicular to said light beam. - View Dependent Claims (41, 42, 43)
-
-
44. The method of varying the hue and saturation of a beam of light, comprising the steps of:
-
projecting a white light beam; varying the angle of incidence of a plurality of filters in said light beam, said filters being mounted on a means for pivoting, each said means for pivoting being rotatably positioned along a line generally transverse to said light beam, in order to vary the hue of the resulting light beam; and varying the amount of white light passed between said filters and outside said filters in order to vary the saturation of the resulting light beam while maintaining the homogenization of the resulting light beam. - View Dependent Claims (45)
-
-
46. A light assembly comprising:
-
means for projecting a light beam; at least two filter elements, each filter element mounted on a means for pivoting, each said means for pivoting being rotatable, about spaced apart axes disposed perpendicular to said light beam, said filter elements concomitantly pivotal between first and second positions, said filter elements in said first position oriented in a side-by-side relationship such that said filter elements are generally perpendicular to said light beam, said filter elements in said second position being oriented generally parallel to the light beam; a second set of at least two filter elements, said second set having each filter mounted on a means for pivoting, each said means for pivoting being rotatable about an axis disposed perpendicular to said light beam, said second set spaced apart from said at least two filter elements; a third set of pivotal filter elements spaced apart from and parallel to said at least two filter elements; and means for pivoting said second set of filter elements to any position between said first and second positions in order to selectively vary the angle of incidence of said light beam upon said filter elements to vary the resulting saturation and hue of said light beam.
-
-
47. A light assembly, comprising:
-
means for projecting a light beam along an axis; a filter set including at least two filters, said filters lying within respective planes and positioned in said light beam to intercept a different portion of said light beam;
wherein the portion of said light beam which passes through one of said filters does not pass through the others of said filters; andmeans for pivoting said filters to selectively vary an inclusive angle between each said respective plane and said light beam axis to change the resulting saturation and hue of said light beam.
-
Specification