Claims
- 1. A hand-held flashlight comprising:
a metal halide arc lamp wherein the lamp produces a point source of light, said lamp producing a white light capable of penetrating dense smoke and fog; a reflector containing said arc lamp and providing a collimated beam of high intensity white light; and, circuit means for providing a high starting voltage to the lamp and a lower operating voltage after sustaining said lamp, said circuit means including a battery, a ballast, and a microprocessor for monitoring said lamp and said battery, said microprocessor providing a discernible output signal indicative of the lamp on-time and battery voltage, said microprocessor controlling the application of the starting voltage from said ballast to said lamp to prevent misstarting of the lamp.
- 2. The flashlight of claim 1 wherein said metal halide arc lamp operates between 8 and 22 watts, an arc gap of between 0.7 and 1.4 mm, and a color temperature at or above 5000° Kelvin.
- 3. The flashlight of claim 1 wherein said lamp includes a fill gas including mercury and indium in percentages that produce a white light capable of penetrating dense smoke and fog.
- 4. A hand-held flashlight comprising:
a metal halide arc lamp, said lamp operating between 8 and 22 watts, said lamp having an arc gap of between 0.7 and 1.4 mm and a color temperature at or above 5000° Kelvin, said lamp containing a fill gas including mercury and indium in percentages wherein said lamp produces a point source of white light capable of penetrating dense smoke and fog; a reflector containing said arc lamp and providing a collimated beam of high intensity white light; and, circuit means for providing a high starting voltage to the lamp and a lower operating voltage after sustaining said lamp, said circuit means including a battery, a ballast, and a microprocessor for monitoring said lamp and said battery, said microprocessor providing a discernible output signal indicative of the lamp on-time and battery voltage, said microprocessor controlling the application of the starting voltage from said ballast to said lamp to prevent misstarting of the lamp.
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION
[0001] This application claims priority from U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/074,606 filed Feb. 13, 1998, the entirety of which is incorporated herein by reference.
Provisional Applications (1)
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Number |
Date |
Country |
|
60074606 |
Feb 1998 |
US |