This invention relates to a safety belt worn by an individual to provide path lighting in darkness and also to signal the wearer's presence to approaching traffic.
Safety belts have been used to reduce risks of injury during a variety of activities, such as bicycling, jogging, traffic directing, construction, road working, or any other activity where increased visibility is desired. Children and pets often use such belts for added visibility.
The present invention aims to further improve the aim of safety belts by providing self-contained source of light, for both path lighting of forward direction of travel and to signal a person's presence to traffic approaching from the rear or front.
According to the invention, there is provided a lighted safety belt to provide path lighting for the wearer and to signal presence of the wearer on approaching traffic. The safety belt comprises a band of flexible material having a front segment and a rear segment, a series of light emitting diodes in the front segment to provide path lighting in a direction of movement of the wearer, a light diffusing strip coextensive with a portion of the rear segment of the band to scatter light emitted from a series of light-emitting diodes associated therewith, a battery, a wiring harness to provide electrical power to path-lighting diodes and the diffusing strip, and a controller to control on-off switching of power to or blinking pattern for the path-lighting diodes and the diffusing strip.
Further aspects of the invention include the controller providing pre-defined blinking patterns for the diffusing strip LEDs; the path lighting diodes including lenses to focus emitted light in a forward direction of movement of the wearer; a wiring harness comprising intrinsically conductive flexible polymers as conductors; the controller being encapsulated with a moisture-impermeable layer of material to provide moisture-proofing or water-proofing; the controller providing selectable blinking patterns for either of both the path lighting diodes and the light diffusing strip; the diffusing strip comprising respective banks of different color diodes wherein the controller controls on-off switching or blinking patterns for each respective group of different color diodes; and a compartment in the waist band or shoulder strap to house the controller and battery.
Other features of the invention will become apparent upon review of the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings. The invention, though, is pointed out with particularity by the appended claims.
Referring to
On the rear of belt 10, a panel in the form of a red diffuser strip 14 is capable of signaling the presence of the wearer up to one thousand feet away when activated by LEDs. This drastically increases visibility to motorists approaching from the rear. Diffuser strip 14 includes a series of LEDs over which a light diffusing or light scattering strip of material is placed, as known in the art. Red, yellow, or orange colors may be preferred to alert approaching traffic. Different colors may be achieved by the color of the diffuser material using white-light emitting diodes, or even by the native color of LED emissions, such as red or a combination of LED emissions to obtain a yellow or orange color. Red-emitting LEDs are readily available. LEDs underneath or embedded within the light-diffusing material of strip 14 may have an arrangement similar to LED arrangement of the front portion of belt 10. Fewer diodes may be employed for the diffuser strip 14 according to the desired luminosity needed for distance signaling. Also, diffuser strip 14 may be augmented with reflective material to provide added visibility from headlamps of approaching vehicles. Alternatively, diffuser strip 14 may be replaced by a series of closely spaced red-emitting and/or other LEDs to establish a solid strip when viewed from a distance.
A lighting control circuit and power source, e.g., a battery, may but need not reside in a housing 13 of the buckle mechanism 11 or other compartment formed in or with belt 10. A flexible wiring harness (not shown) runs coextensively along and within the material of belt 10 to supply power from the battery of housing 13 to the LEDs. The wiring harness comprises respective bundles of conductors separately for the path-lighting and diffuser strip LEDs. Control may include on-off switching and blinking pattern control for each of the path-lighting and diffuser strip LEDs.
In addition, a plurality of belts 10 may be daisy-chained together to provide a longer lighting source. This may be desired for added lighting, e.g., for such uses as camping, tailgating, boating, and other uses.
Different belt configurations may be arranged for pets (e.g., dogs and cats) according to their corporal structure. The safety belts described herein only illustrate their use on human subjects, but is not limited thereto. The safety belt may also include an attachment for a bottle holder or other implement, which may be desired by campers, runners and joggers.
Mode switch 36, depressed by the user, is provided to cycle between control of on-off status (steady state on) and/or various blinking patterns of the diffuser strip. Blinking patterns, established by conventional timing circuits of controller 30, may include one second on-off blinking, rapid blinking multiple times (e.g., five to ten) per second, or other sequence of blinking, such as, for example, a blinking SOS Morse Code signal. The controller may apply blinking control to either or both the path-lighting diodes and the diffuser strip diodes. Controller 30 may include an on-off switch 34 to disconnect battery 32 from the path-lighting diodes. In the case where the belt 10 or 20 includes separate banks or groups of LEDs for multiple colors (e.g., red, yellow, orange), the controller 30 may include a wiring harness and/or mode switch for each such LED bank or group for separate and individual control on-off or blinking patterns of the respective groups of LEDs.
The foregoing description and accompanying drawings are intended to illustrate but not limit the invention, which is defined by the appended claims. Based on the teachings herein, the invention includes various modifications and adaptations as may come to those skilled in the art.