Patent Grant
7270438
A. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a backpack. More particularly the present invention relates to a backpack with a safety glow.
B. Description of the Prior Art
Adding a light-emitting element to personal articles to make them glow in the dark has increased as more lighting elements are introduced. One recent development can be found in U.S. Pat. No. 6,673,277 to Joseph incorporated herein by reference disclosing making a light guide for fixtures in interior linear accents and signage displays where neon-like effect is desired. Whereas, using individual light emitting diodes as warning spotlights for jogger safety is also known in U.S. Pat. No. 5,456,032. However, when it comes to provide a backpack having wider and thus effective visible faces with illuminated expression of the user's presence to ambience, known prior arts do not suggest a practical solution that can be completely integrated into the manufacturing process of such baggage.
Personal wear illumination for driver awareness prevents accidents. Thus, it is also desirable to have personal wear illumination for higher positioned drivers in vehicles such as trucks and SUVs. So a backpack with an integrated illumination is an improved outdoor safety gear.
In accordance with the present invention, a backpack has a number of compartments each accessible by fasteners. The backpack includes a front panel having padded areas for the comfort of a user, at least one middle panel extending in parallel with the front panel and having an upper lateral extension for joining with the front panel via a first reclosable fastener, a side panel joined with the middle panel at its lower edges, a back panel joined at its top and side edges to the middle panel via a second reclosable fastener and a bottom panel for joining bottom edges of the front and rear panels along a borderline. A pair of shoulder straps is adjustably connected between the top and bottom edges of the front panel.
The borderline extends along a curved bottom end of the back panel and carries a glowing cable along the length thereof. Next, it is optically connected with an LED, which is energized by a driver/controller though wires. The driver/controller is contained in a pocket attached to the inner face of the back panel at its upper right corner. Alternatively, the pocket may be conveniently located on an outer surface of the side extension of the middle panel. A user switch of the driver/controller is exposed via an opening formed in the back panel.
The driver/controller contains a couple of 1.5V batteries and connected at its output to the LED through the wires to energize the same. The switch has three positions of OFF, solid ON and intermittent ON, one of which is selected by the user for a desired one of three different modes of backpack illumination.
The LED has at its flat bottom two electrodes extending in parallel. A first longer lead is anode to which the shorter one of the wires is soldered with a dielectric sleeve thereon while a second shorter lead is cathode to which the longer wire is soldered with another sleeve shielding the otherwise bare conductors.
The main body of the LED is inserted in the connector, which is a flexible tube sized to hold the LED with a tight grip. The remainder of the connector tightly holds a first end of the glowing cable. Along its length the cable may be curved to conform to the borderline of the backpack without impeding its glowing performance. The glowing cable is attached to the back panel and bottom panel at their junction through a transparent sleeve, which is made of an elongated strip of flexible material folded about the cable and onto itself forming an attachment flap. The flap is then placed between the back and bottom panels in the manufacturing step to be stitched together along seam lines as an integral part to the backpack assembly.
The driver/controller comprises a power supply such as two 1.5V batteries; a resister connected to the positive terminal of the thee-volt supply to limit the current though the LED to less than the maximum value permitted by the specifications of the LED used; a motion sensor connected at its one terminal to the cathode terminal of the LED; and a user switch having three terminal positions including OFF to break the line between the supply and the LED, a constant ON that connects the same line directly to the LED and an intermittent ON to for bypassing the circuit through the motion sensor.
Therefore, at the intermittent ON position, the driver/controller starts to supply the LED with an intermittent electric current with varying frequencies depending on the movements of the backpack wearer. When it is inactive, the motion sensor deenergizes the LED and thus the glowing cable when the backpack is laid down whereby a power loss from the batteries is minimized. Even a slight motion of the backpack on the user will move the top of the spring into contact with the post to activate the sensor to complete the LED driver circuit resulting in a highly visible glowing cable in the dark. Continued motions of the user keep the cable blink producing a long vibrating line of glow at the height of the wear's torso. To alert better, two or more sets of the glow cable and LED may be connected to the driver/controller in parallel with appropriate ratings of the components. Such glow cables may be fastened to the bottom panel and back panel in the respective attachment flaps of different heights fastened at the common seam line. The design of the glow cable can be varied for increased attentions by varying the borderlines of the bottom panel and back panel.
Embodiments of the invention will now be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings.
Similar reference numbers denote corresponding features throughout the attached drawings.
With reference to
At the top of the front panel 15 are fastened top ends of a pair of padded shoulder straps 22, the bottom ends of which are connected to adjusting straps 23 fastened in turn to the bottom of the front panel 15.
The borderline 21 extends along a curved bottom end of the back panel 20 and carries a glowing cable 24 along the length thereof. The glowing cable 24 can be obtained from Poly Optics Australia Pty, Ltd sold under the product name of “super side light fiber optic cable”. It is a clear flexible fiber that refracts an end light with omnidirectional radiations. For the purpose of the present invention, the preferred diameter of the cable 24 is 4.5 mm. The cable 24 may be prepared to the length of 28 cm (11″) or so as determined proportionally to the size of the backpack 10. Next, it is optically connected with an LED at a connector 25, which is energized by a driver/controller 26 though wires 27. In this embodiment, the driver/controller 26 is contained in a pocket 28 attached to the inner face of the back panel 20 at its upper right corner. A user switch 29 of the driver/controller is exposed via an opening formed in the back panel 20.
Referring to
The LED 30 has at its flat bottom two electrodes extending in parallel. A first longer lead 31 is anode to which the shorter one of the wires 27 is soldered at a junction 27a with a dielectric sleeve 32 thereon while a second shorter lead 33 is cathode to which the longer wire 27 is soldered at a junction 27b with another sleeve 34 shielding the otherwise bare conductors.
The main body of the LED 30 is inserted in the connector 25, which is a flexible tube sized to hold the LED 30 with a tight grip. The remainder of the connector 25 tightly holds a first end 35 of the glowing cable 24. For added security, a tie 36 may be used to fasten the connector 25 and cable 24 together. The end 35 is preferably a flat surface perpendicular to the axis of the cable 24 and positioned close to the opposing end of the LED 30. Along its length the cable 24 may be curved to conform to the borderline 21 of the backpack 10 without impeding its glowing performance. The cable 24 is terminated at its other end by a free distal end 37, which is also preferred to have a flat surface perpendicular to the axis of the cable 24 to ensure proper refractions of light within the cable 24 and thus more effective light output thereof.
In
Now turning to
The resistor value, R is given by R=(Vs−VL)/I, wherein Vs is supply voltage, VL is LED specification voltage and I is LED maximum current permitted. So if a 2V-20 mA LED is used, the register of 50 Ω may be chosen.
Therefore, when the switch SW is positioned at terminal S1, the supply voltage Vs energizes the LED 30 constantly. At position S2, the driver/controller 26 starts to supply the LED 30 with an intermittent electric current with varying frequencies depending on the movements of the backpack wearer. The detail of the motion-switching sensor 50 is illustrated in
In an annular space formed between the housing 52 and post 53 a small conductive coil spring 55 is disposed. The lower end of the spring 55 abuts the inner walls of the housing 52 and the top surface of the base 51 and is wedged therebetween. A second wire 56 extends through the base 51 from under the same and is joined to the spring 55 by crimping or soldering. On the other hand, the top end of the spring 55 is positioned in proximity to the post 53 without touching it at a stand still. One of the wires 54 and 56 is connected to the terminal S2 and the other is connected to the junction 27a.
The inactive motion sensor 50 deenergizes the LED 30 and thus the glowing cable 24 when the backpack 10 is laid down whereby a power loss from the batteries Vs is minimized. Even a slight motion of the backpack on the user will move the top of the spring 55 into contact with the post 53 to activate the sensor 50 to complete the LED driver circuit resulting in a highly visible glowing cable 24 in the dark. Continued motions of the user keep the cable 24 blink producing a long vibrating line of glow at the height of the wear's torso.
Therefore, while the presently preferred form of the backlit backpack has been shown and described, and several modifications thereof discussed, persons skilled in this art will readily appreciate that various additional changes and modifications may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention, as defined and differentiated by the following claims. For example, although the above embodiments illustrate the slide-type controller switch 29 a conveniently located pull-cord switch may be used instead. In addition, two or more sets of the glow cable 24 and LED 30 may be connected to the driver/controller 26 in parallel with appropriate ratings of the components described above. Such glow cables may be fastened to the bottom panel 18 and back panel 20 in the respective attachment flaps 39 of different heights fastened at the common seam line 40. The design of the glow cable 24 can be varied for increased attentions by varying the border lines of the bottom panel 18 and back panel 20.
The best mode is to include the rubberized push button on off switch or an equivalent thereof in the shoulder strap. A user may control the light using the shoulder strap control unit. The batteries may also be located in the shoulder strap control unit.
| Number | Name | Date | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5070436 | Alexander et al. | Dec 1991 | A |
| 6824291 | Vautrin et al. | Nov 2004 | B2 |
| 7055978 | Worthington | Jun 2006 | B2 |
| 20040076000 | Thorp | Apr 2004 | A1 |
| 20060002134 | Capriola | Jan 2006 | A1 |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20070159808 A1 | Jul 2007 | US |
