Patent Application
20160010844
The present disclosure relates generally to illuminable or illuminated receptacles, such as buckets or containers, and, more particularly, to receptacles that can selectively illuminate contents of the containers.
People often use receptacles such as buckets to collect candy, snacks, and other objects around holiday times and other occasions. One example activity for which such receptacles are used is trick-or-treating, which has for many years been a popular activity enjoyed by children at Halloween. Oftentimes children use the receptacles to collect objects at nighttime when there is little or no light. In such conditions, a child crossing a street may be in danger of not being seen by an oncoming motorist. Likewise, children typically cannot see the contents of the receptacles in which the objects are collected at nighttime. Other examples where people may use such containers include Easter egg hunts, scavenger hunts, bar crawls, and so on. Another drawback of using these receptacles in low-light conditions is that any decorative appearance of the receptacles cannot be seen. Due to these and other considerations, there is a need to improve receptacles used by children for collecting candy, snacks, and other objects.
There have been prior attempts to improve such receptacles, many of which have focused on illuminating portions of the receptacles or illuminating an area beneath the receptacles. At least one such attempt involves an extravagant double-walled container having a plurality of LEDs embedded between the first and second sidewalls, such as in U.S. Pat. No. 8,579,459. Such a container is relatively expensive to manufacture, requires an inordinate amount of material, and is not aesthetically pleasing due to the LEDs disposed haphazardly around the sidewalls of the container. Other attempts have focused on illuminating an area beneath the receptacle, which in many cases does not increase the visibility of the person holding the receptacle, such as in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,698,732; 6,270,233; and 1,183,268. Nor does such structure illuminate the contents of the receptacle. Still other attempts involve positioning a light near a base of the receptacle so as to illuminate a portion of the receptacle, such as in U.S. Pat. No. 6,224,234. Such receptacles, however, do not illuminate the contents of the receptacle, and the visibility of such receptacles is marginal because objects deposited in the receptacle may obstruct a substantial portion of the light emitted upwards from the base of the receptacle. When the receptacle is not loaded or is lightly loaded, these receptacles can interfere with one's eyesight as light from those light sources is typically emitted upwards into the eyes of the holder.
Another known receptacle, such as in U.S. Pat. No. 5,984,751, involves a light source that is configured vertically through a center of the receptacle. One example drawback of this design is that the light source, if tall enough to illuminate the contents of the receptacle, obstructs access into and generally within the receptacle. Conversely, if the light source is short and does not obstruct access into and within the receptacle, the light source will not illuminate the contents of the receptacle. Yet another known receptacle, such as in U.S. Pat. No. 4,802,071, has an opening positioned along a rear sidewall and a light source positioned beneath a top of the receptacle. Some of the problems with this receptacle are that the light source obstructs access into and within the receptacle and that the receptacle can only be partially filled because the opening is positioned along the rear sidewall.
The following description of an example apparatus is not intended to limit the scope to the precise form or forms detailed herein. Instead the following description is intended to be illustrative so that others may follow its teachings.
According to some examples, an illuminable receptacle for carrying candy or other objects may include a container having a single-layered sidewall that extends between upper and lower ends of the container. The container may have a base disposed towards the lower end for supporting objects deposited in the container and an opening and a rim approximate the upper end of the container to enable access to an inside cavity of the container. The illuminable receptacle may further include a handle secured to the upper end of the container, in some cases at one, two, or more attachment points.
The illuminable receptacle may also include at least one light source secured to the sidewall of the container. In some cases, the light source may be located closer to the upper end of the container than to the lower end of the container. Placing the light source relatively high on the sidewall enables the light source to illuminate the inside cavity and the base of the container, as well as any objects deposited within the container and supported by the base. The light source may be configured to emit light primarily inwards towards the inside cavity and downwards towards the base of the container. That said, the light source may sit flush or substantially flush with an inner face of the sidewall so as not to obstruct access to the inside cavity of the container. Moreover, in one example where two light sources are used, the light sources may be positioned across the container from one another.
Furthermore, the illuminable receptacle may also include a power source for supplying power to the light source or a light of the light source. The power source may be electrically and operably coupled to a light of the light source by a conducting wire. The power source may be controlled by a power switch operably coupled to the power source. The power source and power switch may be concealed or substantially concealed by a cover plate that in some cases is integral with and extends downwards from the rim below one of the points of attachment where the handle is secured to the container. Still further, a conducting wire coupling the power source and the light may be positioned within or generally approximate the rim of the container. In some examples, a shield may be positioned within at least a portion of the rim to conceal and protect the conducting wire. Thus, the shield may extend generally between the power source and the light source. If more than one light source is used, more than one shield may also be used.
Those having ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that there are many ways in which the light source may be secured to the sidewall. In one example, the light source may be secured in a perforation in the sidewall. In particular, the light source may include an inner portion and an outer portion. Cross sections of the inner portion and the outer portion may be larger than a cross section of the perforation in the sidewall such that the sidewall must elastically deform when the inner portion is inserted through the perforation. Once in place, the inner portion of the light source may rest against the inner face of the sidewall while the outer portion of the light source may rest against the outer face of the sidewall. In some cases the light source may also include a brim that serves a number of purposes. Amongst other things, the brim may help protect the light in the light source, help direct light from the light in the light source downwards towards the base and the inside cavity of the container, and may help reduce an amount of light that projects upwards from the light so as not to inhibit a user's vision. Still further, the light source may in one example be secured to the sidewall in a way that a portion of the light emitted from the light in the light source illuminates the outer face of the sidewall.
Referring now to
The illuminable receptacle 100 may be formed from a variety of materials in a variety of ways. In some examples, the illuminable receptacle 100 may be formed of plastic using one or more of the following example techniques: injection molding, extrusion molding, vacuum forming, and/or compression molding. It should be understood, though, that not necessarily all of the components of the illuminable receptacle 100 are formed from the same material through the same technique. Likewise, some of the components of the illuminable receptacle 100 may be assembled in different manufacturing stages.
The example illuminable receptacle 100 may further include a handle 118 that is secured to the upper end 106 at at least two attachment points 120. The handle 118 may be secured to the attachment points 120 by any known technique. For example, the handle 118 may include protrusions that can be pressed into apertures in the attachment points 120. A cross-section of the protrusions may be slightly larger than a cross-section of the apertures so that the apertures retain the protrusions after being slightly elastically deformed when the protrusions are pressed into the apertures. As shown in
Furthermore, the illuminable receptacle 100 may also include a first light source 122 and a second light source 124 that can be turned on and off, either individually or in a combined manner, to illuminate the sidewall 102, the inside cavity 114 generally, the base 108, and/or any contents deposited within the container 101. The light sources 122, 124 may be configured to illuminate the contents of the container 101 by positioning the light sources 122, 124 at locations that are closer to the upper end 106 than to the lower end 104 of the container 101 and by orienting the light sources 122, 124 to project light downwards. In some cases, the light sources 122, 124 may be configured to emit light primarily downwards and inwards towards the inside cavity 114 and the base 108 of the container 101. Likewise, in some cases the first and second light sources 122, 124 may be positioned generally opposite one another in relation to the container 101. In other words, the light sources 122, 124 may in some cases be positioned across from one another along the sidewall 102 of the container 101.
As described below, the light sources 122, 124 may be flush with or substantially flush with an inner face 128 of the sidewall 102 so as not to obstruct access to the inside cavity 114 of the container 101. In one example, light sources may be positioned closer to and/or generally aligned with the attachment points 120 where the handle 118 is secured to the upper end 106 of the container 101. As a result, the light sources may be less likely to obstruct access to the inside cavity 114 of the container 101 because users naturally access the inside cavity 114 of the container 101 at locations where the handle 118 does not obstruct access.
In some instances, the illuminable receptacle 100 may have a different number of light sources, such as one, three, four, or more light sources, for example and without limitation. In some cases, the light sources may be spaced equidistant from one another along the sidewall 102. In other cases, however, it may be advantageous to group two or more of the light sources to cause a desired lighting effect. The light sources 122, 124 may be chosen based at least in part on the color of light emitted. As an example, the light sources 122, 124 may be configured to emit orange light when the illuminable receptacle 100 is used for purposes of trick-or-treating at Halloween. The light sources 122, 124 may also be capable of emitting light in a number of different modes. As merely examples, a first mode may cause the light sources 122, 124 to emit a slow strobe light; a second mode may cause the light sources 122, 124 to emit a fast strobe light; a third mode may cause the light sources 122, 124 to constantly emit light; and a fourth mode may cause the light sources 122, 124 not to emit any light.
Turning now to
As those having ordinary skill in the art will recognize, the light sources 122, 124 may be secured to the sidewall 102 of the container 101 in many different ways.
The conducting wires 158 may be disposed underneath the rim 110 in some examples. And to conceal the conducting wires 158 from view and to protect the conducting wires 158 from disturbance, one or more shields 164 may be used to maintain the conducting wires 158 between the shield 164 and the rim 110. The shields 164 may generally extend between the power source 156 and the light sources 122, 124. In one example, the shields 164 may include a plurality of retaining members 166 that may receive a plurality of protrusions extending downwards within the rim 110. In this example, the protrusions within the rim 110 may be snapped into or glued to the retaining members 166 of the shields 164. In some cases, the shields 164 or an underside of the rim 110 may include hooks or other means for routing the conducting wires 158 to the light sources 122, 124. That said, it should be understood that there are many ways in which to route the conducting wires 158 to the light sources 122, 124, even without the use of shields 164.
With reference to
With respect to
The body 220 of the light source 122 may be configured to mate with the perforation 154 in the sidewall 102, which can be seen in
More specifically, however, channels 244 may exist between the inner portion 234 and the outer portion 236 of the example body 220. In one example, a cross-section of the inner portion 234 may be slightly larger than a cross-section of the perforation 154 such that the inner portion 234 can pass through the perforation 154 only if the sidewall 102 around the perforation 154 slightly elastically deforms as the inner portion 234 passes through the perforation 154. After the inner portion 234 is inserted through the perforation 154, portions of the sidewall 102 adjacent to the perforation 154 may occupy the channels 244 of the body 220, securing the light source 122 in the sidewall 102. In some cases, the body 220 may include alignment features 246 to aid the placement of the light source 122 in relation to corresponding alignment features along the sidewall 102.
In the example shown in
In still another example, the illuminable receptacle 100 may in some cases include a plurality of lights 250 as shown in
With continued reference to
As those having ordinary skill in the art will recognize, these components of the example illuminable receptacle 100 may come in a wide variety of shapes and sizes without departing from the scope of the present disclosure. Likewise, those having ordinary skill in the art will understand that in some examples, an illuminable receptacle will not necessarily have all of these components. Those having ordinary skill in the art will further understand that in other examples, an illuminable receptacle may have additional components. Accordingly, even though certain example apparatuses have been described herein, the scope of coverage of this patent is not limited thereto. On the contrary, this patent covers all methods, apparatus, and articles of manufacture fairly falling within the scope of the appended claims either literally or under the doctrine of equivalents.
