Retroreflector units with three mutually perpendicular surfaces defining a trihedral angle of a rectangular parallelepiped
First Claim
1. A retroreflector comprising a light-transmitting sheet adapted in use to be disposed in an angled position such that a normal to the sheet is at an angle of about 5°
- to about 85°
from an incident beam of light, said sheet having front and back, opposed, substantially parallel faces, the front face being substantially smooth and defining a light-refracting surface, the back face having a plurality of light-reflecting units, at least some reflecting units comprising three mutually perpendicular surfaces defining a trihedral angle of a rectangular parallelepiped and positioned with respect to said front face that the body diagonal of the rectangular parallelepiped is within an angle of about 15°
to incident light refracted by said front face, at least two of said three mutually perpendicular surfaces being rectangular and said two surfaces being vertically disposed.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A retroreflector of improved efficiency is disclosed comprising, in one form, a light-transmitting sheet adapted in use to be disposed in an angled position such that a normal to the sheet is at an angle of about 5° to about 85° from an incident beam of light. The sheet has front and back opposed, substantially parallel faces. The front face is substantially smooth and defines a light-refracting surface. The back face has a plurality of light-reflecting units. Each unit comprises three mutually perpendicular surfaces defining a trihedral angle of a rectangular parallelepiped and positioned with respect to the front face that the body diagonal of the rectangular parallelepiped is within an angle of 15° of incident light refracted by the front face.
28 Citations
19 Claims
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1. A retroreflector comprising a light-transmitting sheet adapted in use to be disposed in an angled position such that a normal to the sheet is at an angle of about 5°
- to about 85°
from an incident beam of light, said sheet having front and back, opposed, substantially parallel faces, the front face being substantially smooth and defining a light-refracting surface, the back face having a plurality of light-reflecting units, at least some reflecting units comprising three mutually perpendicular surfaces defining a trihedral angle of a rectangular parallelepiped and positioned with respect to said front face that the body diagonal of the rectangular parallelepiped is within an angle of about 15°
to incident light refracted by said front face, at least two of said three mutually perpendicular surfaces being rectangular and said two surfaces being vertically disposed. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
- to about 85°
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13. A retroreflector comprising a light-transmitting sheet adapted in use to be disposed in an angled position such that a normal to the sheet is at an angle of about 30°
- to about 85°
from an incident beam of light, said sheet having front and back opposed, substantially parallel faces, the front face being substantially smooth and defining a light-refracting surface, the back face having a plurality of light-reflecting units formed into that face, the outer corners of said units being substantially coplanar with said back face, at least some reflecting units comprising three mutually perpendicular surfaces defining adjacent sides of a rectangular parallelepiped, one of said surfaces of each unit being horizontally disposed when the retroreflector is in said angled position, and the other two of said surfaces being rectangular and vertically disposed, at least some of said units being positioned with respect to said front face that a body diagonal of a rectangular parallelepiped serves as the optical axis of that unit and is substantially parallel to incident light refracted by said front face. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
- to about 85°
Specification