The present invention relates to a tell-tale for indicating the airflow over a sailboat sail, and more particularly to a self-illuminating tell-tale.
It is known in sail boats to attach a light weight strip of fabric to a sail boat sail to form a tell-tale that will flutter in the wind and thereby provide the crew with an indication of the airflow over the sail so that sail can be trimmed to maximize the performance of the boat. However, at night or in low light conditions these tell-tales are difficult to see. Therefore it is known to use a flashlight to view the tell-tale, or to mount a light source on the mast to shine on the tell-tale. Furthermore, U.S. Pat. No. 5,477,424 proposes fashioning a tell-tale of an optical fiber ribbon that is housed between transparent or translucent plastic straps and receives light from an LED communicating with the end of the optical fiber ribbon so that light emits along its length to make the tell-tale visible at night.
The present invention is a new and improved tell-tale comprised of a flexible array of light emitting diodes (LED's) that is integrated into a fabric tell-tale strip. Electricity is conducted to the tell-tale strips by foil conductors that are embedded within adhesive backed plastic strips which adhere to the sail. The LED's may be colored, for example, on a jib, a port side tell-tale may include a flexible array of red color emitting LED's and a starboard side tell-tale may include a flexible array or green colored LED's. A transparent window may be provided in the jib so that the crew can view both of the tell-tales from either side of the sail. The LED's on the main sail may be orange or any other color, as desired.
Further areas of applicability of the present invention will become apparent from the detailed description provided hereinafter. It should be understood that the detailed description and specific examples, while indicating exemplary embodiments of the invention, are intended for purposes of illustration only and are not intended to limit the scope of the invention.
The present invention will become more fully understood from the detailed description and the accompanying drawings, wherein:
The following description of certain exemplary embodiments is exemplary in nature and is not intended to limit the invention, its application, or uses.
As best seen in
The tell-tale 18 is comprised of a waterproof fabric strip 34, such as nylon, that has a flexible array of light emitting diodes (LED's) integrated into the fabric. In particular, it is seen that the array includes LED's 36, 38, 40, 42, and 44 that are arrayed in a single row along the length of the fabric strip. The fabric strip 34, with the integrated LED's is available from Royal Philips Electronics, N.V., of the Netherlands as a “photonic textile”. The LED's are miniature light sources, available in many colors, and the fabric material covering the LED's naturally diffuses light emitting from the LED's so that the visual effect is to provide a well lighted fabric material which nonetheless retains the soft look and feel of fabric.
Electricity is conducted to the tell-tale strips by foil conductors that are embedded within adhesive backed plastic strips which adhere to the jib 12. In particular, a main conductor 48 extends along the leading edge of the jib 12, and includes a copper or aluminum foil strip 52 and a foil strip 54 that run parallel with one another and are encapsulated within a polyester jacket having an acrylic adhesive coating one side thereof so that the main conductor 48 may be readily attached to the jib 12 by adhesive bonding. Conductor 48 is commercially available in clear, black, and white colors from Fuller Manufacturing, Inc, Burbank, Calif. 91506 and sold under the trade name Taperwire, and is available with either flat strip or round wire conductors.
As seen in
Referring to
If desired, the port side tell-tale 18 includes a flexible array of red color emitting LED's and the starboard side tell-tale 30 includes a flexible array of green colored LED's. Accordingly, the observer may readily distinguish between the port and starboard side tell-tales when observing from one side of the sail as enabled by the transparent window 28. During the day light hours the tell-tales will not be illuminated and will appear as conventional flexible fabric tell-tales.
Referring again to
The foregoing description of the invention is merely exemplary in nature and, thus, variations thereof are intended to be within the scope of the invention. For example, the tell tales may have an array of LED's in any pattern or arrangement or number that provides the desired level of illumination. Thus depending upon the size and lighted intensity of the LED's, and the desired size of the tell-tales, the LED's may be arranged in an array that has a single row or double row of LED's. The LED's may be colored as desired by the boat owner to personalize the boat. If desired, the tell-tales 18 and 30 can be offset in height on the jib 10, and each will be connected to the conductor 48 by separate rivets. In addition, other style electrical connectors available in the industry may be employed as an alternative to the rivets shown in the drawings.
Number | Name | Date | Kind |
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3371529 | Tillman | Mar 1968 | A |
3763307 | Wolf | Oct 1973 | A |
3799106 | Lamport | Mar 1974 | A |
4481505 | Thompson | Nov 1984 | A |
4886007 | Wheeler | Dec 1989 | A |
5477424 | Mocha | Dec 1995 | A |
5877415 | Kruse | Mar 1999 | A |
6802633 | VandenBossche | Oct 2004 | B1 |
Number | Date | Country |
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299 03 010 | May 1999 | DE |
1 403 371 | Aug 1975 | GB |
WO 03042035 | May 2003 | WO |
Number | Date | Country | |
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20070289374 A1 | Dec 2007 | US |