Lighted reading glasses

• US 20030206269A1
• Filed: 04/29/2003
• Published: 11/06/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 11/07/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Waters Industries Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Michael Waters
• Inventors: Waters, Michael
• Granted Patent: US 6,863,416 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 351/158
• CPC Class Codes: F21V 21/084 Head fittings
• CPC Class Codes: F21V 21/0885 for portable lighting devices
• CPC Class Codes: G02C 11/04 Illuminating means
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 362/80 Light emitting diode

Abstract

Lighted reading glasses are provided to enable clear reading of normal sized text to occur when the reading material is held at usual distances from the reader in dimly lit or dark locations. The lighted glasses have high intensity lights, such as in the form of LEDs that generate narrow light beam cones and which are oriented via light mounts as by inward canting of the light beam cones to meet and overlap so high brightness light is generated in a conical overlap area of light which is maximized in size in the range of normal reading distances. The light mounts include housings that are very compactly sized via the use of small coin cell batteries for powering the LEDs they hold. The housings are tapered from their maximum width sized to be slightly larger than the diameter of the disc-shaped cell batteries to either end thereof along their length, and have a depth sized to accommodate two of the stacked very thin, e.g., one-eighth of an inch each, coin cell batteries. In this manner, a very small and compact light module is provided that, while especially well-suited for reading glasses due to the preferred inward cant provided by light mounting surfaces of the housing to tailor the location of the overlap lighted area to the reading area, can also be used with other types of head gear, such as caps or other types of hats.

Claims

1. A compactly sized, self-contained lighting module comprising:

a small solid-state light source of a predetermined material for generating a high intensity light beam therewith;

a power source having a small, thin configuration for providing electrical power to the light source;

a switch that selectively electrically connects the power source to the light source and includes an actuator portion for being shifted by a user to generate the high intensity light from the light source; and

a housing having a predetermined compact configuration that contains the light source and the power source, and has an opening through which the switch actuator portion extends.

2. The lighting module of claim 1 wherein the predetermined compact configuration of the housing includes a length of less than approximately one and one-half inches, a width of less than approximately one-inch, and a depth of less than approximately one-half an inch.

3. The lighting module of claim 1 wherein the power source comprises at least one small, thin disc-shaped battery having a predetermined small diameter and a predetermined thickness several times smaller than the diameter, and the housing predetermined compact configuration includes a maximum width slightly larger than the disc battery diameter, and

ends of the housing spaced from each other along a lengthwise dimension of the housing with the housing configured along the lengthwise dimension to decrease in width from the housing maximum width toward both ends of the housing.

4. The lighting module of claim 3 wherein the at least one disc-shaped battery comprises two identical disc-shaped batteries, and the housing predetermined compact configuration includes a depth slightly larger than twice the thickness of one of the batteries to allow two stacked batteries to be disposed in the housing.

5. The lighting module of claim 4 wherein the predetermined small diameter of the battery is less than approximately one-inch to allow the maximum width of the housing to be less than approximately one-inch and the depth of the housing to be less than approximately one-half an inch.

6. The lighting module of claim 1 wherein the switch comprises a slide switch with the user pushing or pulling on the switch actuator portion for sliding thereof.

7. The lighting module of claim 1 wherein the light beam has a predetermined narrow conical shape with an axis extending from the light source centrally within the conical beam, and the housing having a longitudinal axis and mounting surfaces for the light source arranged to direct the light beam so that the central axis of the beam is canted from the housing axis.

8. The lighting module of claim 1 including means for attaching the module to glasses.