Illuminated safety guide

• US 5,775,016 A
• Filed: 02/24/1997
• Issued: 07/07/1998
• Est. Priority Date: 07/03/1995
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Tseng-Lu Chien
• Original Assignee: Tseng-Lu Chien
• Inventors: Chien, Tseng-Lu
• Primary Examiner(s): GREEN, BRIAN
• Application Number:
  US08/803,767
• Time in Patent Office: 498 Days
• Field of Search: 40/542, 40/544, 40/570, 362/84, 362/103, 362/310, 362/311, 362/812
• US Class Current: 40/544
• CPC Class Codes: G09F 13/22 electroluminescent electroluminescent light sources per se H05B33/00
• CPC Class Codes: G09F 19/22 Advertising or display means on roads, walls or similar surfaces, e.g. illuminated
• CPC Class Codes: G09F 2013/222 with LEDs
• CPC Class Codes: G09F 2013/227 Electroluminescent displays for vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 362/812 Signs

Abstract

A illuminated safety guide is made up of a fixture including a housing and a super thin lighting element in the form of an electro-luminescent strip, a photo-luminescent panel, or a combination of an electro-luminescent strip and PL panel. When the EL strip and PL panel are combined, the resulting illuminated safety guide can still be seen even when power to the EL strip is cut-off, the patterns formed by the EL and PL strips being negatives of each other.

Claims

1. A safety guide, comprising:

a housing arranged to be mounted on a surface;

a lighting element within the housing, the lighting element including both electro-luminescent elements and photo-luminescent elements;

means for supplying electrical power to the electro-luminescent elements; and

fixing means for fixing the housing to the surface,

wherein the electro-luminescent elements and photo-luminescent elements are flexible to facilitate fixing of the housing to a variety of different shaped surfaces, and wherein the electrical power supply means comprises a power source, means for converting power supplied by the power source into a voltage and frequency capable of triggering said electro-luminescent elements, and a function interface including means for turning the electro-luminescent elements on and off according to a predetermined timing pattern, said power source including at least one battery.

2. A safety guide as claimed in claim 1, wherein the electrical power supply is a self-contained power supply.

3. A safety guide as claimed in claim 2, wherein the electrical power supply includes a battery.

4. A safety guide as claimed in claim 3, wherein the battery is a rechargeable battery.

5. A lighted safety guide as claimed in claim 1, wherein the electro-luminescent elements are electro-luminescent particles and the photo-luminescent elements are photo-luminescent particles, the electro-luminescent particles and the photo-luminescent particles being two types of particles, and wherein the electro-luminescent particles and the photo-luminescent particles are laminated on separate sheets, one of the sheets forming a background panel and the other being cut into strips placed on the background panel to form a message, such that when a first of the two types of particles is activated, a positive image of the message is formed, and when the second type of particle is activated but the first type of particle is not, a negative image of the message is formed.

6. A lighted safety guide as claimed in claim 1, wherein the electro-luminescent elements and the photo-luminescent elements are, respectively, electro-luminescent particles and photo-luminescent particles, and the electro-luminescent particles and photo-luminescent particles are mixed together.

7. A lighted safety guide as claimed in claim 1, wherein the lighting element has a pattern formed therein by a pattern forming technique selected from the group consisting of silkscreening, stencilling and masking.

8. A lighted safety guide as claimed in claim 1, wherein the hook and eye fastening tape, and a mechanical fastener.

9. A lighted safety guide as claimed in claim 1, wherein the fixing means comprise means for fixing the housing to a floor tile, and the housing is arranged to fit within a groove in the floor tile.

10. A lighted safety guide as claimed in claim 1, wherein the fixing means comprises means for fixing the housing to a surface of a passage selected from the group consisting of an aisle, hallway, and stairwell, adjacent a floor of the aisle, hallway, and stairwell.

11. A lighted safety guide as claimed in claim 1, wherein the the fixing means comprises means for fixing the housing to a roadside object selected from the group consisting of a jersey barrier, street barricade, guard rail, and traffic cone set up.

12. A lighted safety guide as claimed in claim 1, wherein the housing forms an optical element.

13. A lighted safety guide as claimed in claim 1, further comprising at least one switch connected between the function interface and the power supply to control the timing pattern according to which the electro-luminescent elements are turned on and off.

14. A compound illumination arrangement, comprising:

a photo-luminescent panel; and

at least one linear electro-luminescent strip attached to the photo-luminescent panel,

wherein the electro-luminescent strip has a predetermined shape and is placed such that the shape is illuminated whether or not power is being supplied to the strip because, when power is not being supplied to the strip, the strip will form a negative image of the predetermined shape as a result of the illumination provided by the photo-luminescent panel,

wherein the electro-luminescent elements and photo-luminescent elements are flexible to facilitate fixing of the housing to a variety of different shaped surfaces, and

wherein the electrical power supply means comprises a power source, means for converting power supplied by the power source into a voltage and frequency capable of triggering said electro-luminescent elements, and a function interface including means for turning the electro-luminescent elements on and off according to a predetermined timing pattern.