US3737647A - Electronic luminous device - Google Patents

Abstract

An electronic luminous device for use with costumes and personal ornaments, in which one or more light emission diodes are turned to ON continuously or turned to ON and OFF periodically for light emission to increase ornamental effect.

Description

United States Patent 1 Gomi 51 June 5, 1973 [54] ELECTRONIC LUMINOUS DEVICE 5 References Cited [75] Inventor: Yoshiyuki Gomi, Tokyo, Japan UNITED STATES PATENTS [73] Assgnea f Kasha 3,384,740 5/1968 Wood ..240/6.4 w 3,254,444 6/1966 Paterson. .....240/6.4w 22 Filed; Sept 1 1971 3,521,049 7/1970 Young ..240/59 X [21] Appl 176394 Primary Examiner-Samuel S. Matthews Assistant Examiner-Richard A. Wintercorn [30] Foreign Application Priority Data Attorney-Wolfe, Hubbard, Leydig, Voit & Ossann,

Ltd. June 25, 1971 Japan ..46/45707 Apr. 16, 1971 Japan 46/23895 [57] ABSTRACT [52] US. Cl. ..240/6.4 W, 240/59 An electronic luminous device for use with costumes [5i] Int. Cl. ..F2lv 33/00 and personal ornaments, in which one or more light [58] Field of Search ..240/6.4 W, 59, 60 emission diodes are turned to ON continuously or turned to ON and OFF periodically for light emission to increase ornamental effect.

4 Claims, 30 Drawing Figures L 7 i 9 l m [fie I I l l I I I n f PATENTEBJUHEms 3,7316 47sum 2 OF 8 PATENTED JUN 51975SHEET 3 OF 8 INVENTOR WWI W17 ffl/l/ PATENTEU 1 5 3,737 647 sum 8 (IF 8 ATTORNEYJ BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to electronic luminous devices used for personal ornamental purposes. The decorative effect of costumes and personal ornaments in general, such as dress, sash, suit, buttons, tiepin, necklace, earrings, cuff links, brooch and ring, depends chiefly upon the light they reflect. The costume and ornament are commonly of light-reflecting material where the more brilliant the material reflects light, the greater will become the ornamental effect. To increase the luminous effect in the art, small lamps or bulbs powered by a small bettery have been used. The small lamp or bulb is conveniently small in size, but produces heat and is short in life due to its filament. This is why the lamp has hardly been practical as an ornamental luminous element.

The present invention is to utilize the recently developed light-emission diode as a luminous element for costumes and ornaments. The light-emission diode has many advantages; for example, it is small in size and light in weight, operable by small power at a low voltage, highly luminous at a small current, and produces only negligibly small amount of heat. Furthermore the light-emission diode is hardly affected by vibration or shock, long in life, and capable of delivering light with various wavelengths depending on the kind of the semiconductor material used. Through experiments, the inventor of this invention has found that the lightemission diode could be used as an ideal ornamental luminous element. Because the light-emission diode, when energized, becomes luminous by itself, its ornamental effect is incomparable to that available with the conventional decorative element which is luminous by external light.

A principal object of this invention is to provide an ornamental luminous device being small in size, operable with least heat production and readily attachable to clothes.

Another object of this invention is to provide an ornamental luminous device capable of having its lightemission element switched on-off either by external input signal or automatically.

Present invention shall now be explained in detail with reference to accompanying drawings, in which:

FIGS. 1A and 1B are circuit diagrams showing luminous devices embodying this invention,

FIGS. 2A 2E show in detail the components used for the purpose of this invention,

FIGS. 3A and 3B schematically show circuit diagrams of another embodiment of this invention and FIG. 3C is a side elevation of a unit used therein,

FIGS. 4 through 6 are schematic diagrams showing how the device of this invention is used,

FIG. 7 is a circuit diagram showing another embodiment of this invention,

FIG. 8 is a circuit diagram showing another embodiment of this invention,

FIG. 9 is a circuit diagram showing the connection between the ring counter and the light-emission element,

FIGS. 10 and 11 are plan views showing an arrangement of light-emission elements in the pattern of butterfly,

FIG. 12 is a schematic diagram showing an example of how the light-emission element is used for costume decoration according to this invention, and

FIG. 13 is a plan view showing decorative patterns formed by the use of light-emission elements according to this invention.

Other objects and features of this invention will be apparent from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Referring to FIG. 1, there is illustrated an embodiment of this invention. In FIG. 1A, the reference LED denotes a light-emission diode, l is a terminal of said diode LED, 2 is a socket of said diode LED, 3 is an ornamental member (such as clothing) shown in section, and 4 is a power source with an on-off switch 8 and a power source battery PS. This light-emission device can be used as a luminous ornament in many ways. For example, the device is attached to an ornamentally effective place (such as the center of a flower pattern) of a dress by piercing the diode terminal through the cloth. The diode is secured thereto by plugging the diode terminal into thesocket 2 or by sandwiching the cloth between the diode and the socket). The socket lead is connected directly to the power source 4. Then, by closing the switch S, the diode LED emits light. FIG. 1B shows an arrangement wherein four light-emission diodes LED are connected in parallel to the power source 4 by a lead wire 5. In this arrangement, all the diodes are illuminated when closing the power switch S. For example, several pieces of lightemission diodes LED are located at ornamentally effective points on the pattern of a dress. To fix the diodes, the cloth is sandwitched between the diode and the socket in the same manner as described above. Then the socket leads are gathered and connected to the power source 4. The dioes LED are illuminated when closing the switch S. In this embodiment, the decorative effect can be increased by using such lightemission diodes as will be illuminated in different colors (such as green and red) matching the pattern of the dress. It is apparent that the invention is not limited to this example but can be effectively applied to various personal ornaments made of paper, rubber, glass, wood, plastic, metal, etc. In FIG. 1, the device is shown in an enlarged form for explanatory convenience. Practically, the light-emission diode LED is of a diameter of less than 4mm and capable of highly luminous light emission at a power below IOOmW. To illuminate the light-emission diode, a small battery will suffice. For example, one smallest 1.5V dry cell can illuminate l0 light-emission diodes at a high luminance. This makes it possible to minimize the size of said power source with on-off switch. This power source can be attached to the desired place (such as the back of the clothing) or contained in the pocket from which the lead wire is extended to the light-emission diode. The power source can be replaced when desired. I

FIG. 2A shows a single unit of light-emission diode used for the purpose of this invention. The reference LED denotes a light-emission diode, and l and l are lead wires; l being for positive and I for negative side connection. To discriminate between the positive and negative, it is desirable that the outer diameter of the positive lead wire be made larger than that of the negative lead wire or theme lead wires be differentiated from each other by color. FIG. 2B shows the socket thereof in which holes 22 and 22' through which the lead wire of the light-emission diode is inserted are disposed on the top surfaceof an insulative socket plate 21'. The dismeter of thehole 22 through which the positive side lead wire is inserted is' made larger than that of thehole 2 2' through which the negative side;lead wire is inserted. Thereferences 23 and 23' represent lead wires for the socket. FIG. 2C is a plan view showing thesocket 2, and FIG. 2D shows the power source 4, wherein thereference 41 denotes an insulating member, 42 is a cap screwjoined to said insulating member, 43 is a rotary switch knob, and 44 and 44' are lead wires. For the discrimination, the positive side lead wire is made thicker than the negative side lead wire or different colors are used for the two lead wires.

FIG. 2E is a cross sectional view showing the power source, wherein thereferences 45 and 46 denote mercury batteries connected in series to each other, 47 is a contact being in contact wih the positive pole of the mercury battery and connected to the positiveside lead wire 44, and 43 is a knob screw-jointed to thecap 42. The switch is closed by theknob 43. Namely, theend 48 is brought into contact with the negative pole of themercury battery 45. Thus the negative pole is connected to the negative side lead wire 44'. FIG. 2F shows the switch in the OFF state.

FIG. 3 shows another embodiment of this invention. In FIG. 3A, the reference LED represents a lightemission diode, l is a terminal of the light-emission diode LED, 4' is a power source with an ON-OFF switch, and 6 is a transparent member. As illustrated,

the light-emission diode is embedded in the transparent member (for example, glass or plastic), and the terminal 1' is led out to the exterior. The outer surface of the transparentmember 6 is shaped so as to increase the light radiation effect and thus to increase the ornamental effect. FIG. 3C shows a single unit of light-emission diode embedded in the transparent member. The terminal 1 is connected directly to the power source 4 with an ON-OFF switch, or as shown in FIG. 3B, the

light-emission diodes are connected to the power source 4' by lead wires 5. Then, by closing the switch S, the diode emits light. This embodiment is applicable to costume in the same manner as described by referring to FIG. 1.

FIGS. 4, 5 and 6 are schematic diagrams showing how the device of this invention is used. FIG. 4 shows an example wherein the device is used for a hair ornament. The reference LED indicates a light-emission diode. FIG. 5 is another example of the device used for a dress, sash and sash clip. F IG. 6 shows another example wherein the inventionis applied to a dress, button, brooch and earring. Iii-FIG; 6 the references LED and LED denote light-emission diodes.

When one light-emission diode is used for the foregoing ornamental purpose, the lead wire from the diode is connected directly to the power source. While, when Y a plurality of light-emission diodes are used, these di-' odes are connected either in parallel or in series and parallel to the powensource. The power source used according to this invention is small enough in size as described above and, hence, the power source itself can ers, it is'possible to pass specific spectra and thus to llbe used as an ornament. v

In the foregoing embodiments,- the electronic luminous device is operatedin a certain constant luminous state. As will be described below, the invention offers corresponding to the spectra of f,, f,,,

a novel use of the luminous device operable in such manner that, for example, a plurality of light-emission elements are attached to the room wall and illuminated in various colors synchronously with music, or illuminated automatically and periodically without depending on external input signal. Thus dynamic decorative effect is obtained.

More specifically, in FIG. 7, there is shown in block diagram a luminous device, in which a plurality oflightemission elements are flashed in various colors synchronizing with the frequency spectrum of stereophonic music or the like. In FIG. 7, thereferences 81, 82, 8m denote light-emission elements such as, for example, GaAs light-emission diodes, turned ON or OFF by a band-pass amplifier 8. Similarly, 91, 92, 9m, nl, n2, nm denote light-emission elements turned ON or OFF by band-pass amplifiers 9 and n, respectively. These light-emission elements are illuminated in different colors; for example, theelements 81, 82, 8m are illuminated in red, 91, 92, 9m in orange, and n1, n2, nm in green. The numbers of the individual elements in each of the color groups should not be always the same and may be arbitrarily determined according to the decoration purpose.

The band-pass amplifier 8, as shown in FIG. 7B, is operated in such manner that the input signal current is amplified by the transistor T13, the frequency of the amplified signal is separated according to band by the filters C,, T and C inserted in the collector circuit of the transistor Tr the resultant output is subjected to Z-phase half-wave rectification and then applied to the transistors Tr and Tr, whereby the light-emission elements 81, 82, 8m are illuminated. The band-pass amplifiers 9, n are operated in the same manner as above, except only that, for example, their band-pass frequencies are divided into a desired number so that audio frequency band of 20 20000 KI-Iz will be sectioned into f j" f,,.

In this embodiment, the luminous device is capable of performing such operation that the light-emission 'wherein the luminous system as in FIG. 7 is adapted to the use of integrated circuit. This embodiment is similar to that in FIG. 7, except that the device in FIG. 8 has additionally band-pass amplifiers 8', 9', n and logical inverters for inverting theoutput 8x, 9x, nx'of said amplifiers 8', 9', n, and selection gates N N Nn.

The band-pass filter used in.this band-pass amplifier is not'the one as in FIG. 7 but is a low-pass filter comprising R,, C,, R and C: as illustrated in FIG. 83. Their cut-off frequencies are determined as f f f,,.

Said amplifiers deliver outputs 2x, 3x, px ,f,,. Therefore, when the logical gate circuits as shown in FIG. 8B-are inserted in the output circuits of the band-pass amplifiluminate'only the light-emission element group corresponding to the passed spectra.

In this embodiment, the transistors Tr Tr Tr and all the capacitors can be constructed in the form of integrated circuit.

While, in the above embodiment, the light-emission element group is referred to so as to be illuminated when an external signal is given to a microphone or an external signal detector, according to another embodiment, an ON-OFF signal can be generated selfcontrollably to illuminate the light-emission elements.

FIG. 9 shows an example of the luminous device in which the light-emission elements are turned ON or OFF self-controllably. In the drawing, the reference 300 is a clock generator, 301, 302, 30n are J-K type flip-flops known per se, 311 and 312 are NAND circuits known per se, and L L L, are lightemission elements illuminated in different colors.

When the J-K type flip-flops are connected in the form of n-stage shift register, and a clock pulse is applied to this shift register, the shift register shifts the given information from the left to right in sequence. By this operation, the light-emission elements are illuminated in sequence from the left to the right.

While an only embodiment of the self-controllable ON-OFF luminous device in which the output of the ring counter is applied sequentially to the lightemission elements is set forth with reference to FIG. 9, the present invention is not limited to this embodiment. For example, the ON-OFF of the light-emission element can be freely controlled by the use of output of a reversible counter, random pulse counter or the like.

FIG. shows another embodiment of this invention, wherein the groups of light-emission elements arranged in the pattern of butterfly are illuminated under on-off control by the use of ring counter.

In FIG. 10, the light-emission element group A corresponds to the lamp group indicated by L in FIG. 9, the light-emission element group B to the lamp group L and the light-emission element group C to the lamp group L Six ring counters (FIG. 9) are connected in the ring form (namely, 30n in FIG. 9 is positioned at 306), and the lamp groups respectively in FIGS. 11A and 11F (namely, the lamp group in FIG. 10A) are illuminated by the outputs of 301 and 306. Similarly, the lamp groups respectively in FIGS. 11B and 11E (namely, the lamp group in FIG. 10B) are illuminated by the outputs of 302 and 305, and the lamp groups respectively in FIGS. 11C and 11D (namely, the lamp group in FIG. 19C) by the outputs of 303 and 304. Thus, these light-emission elements are illuminated dynamically to show the pattern of butterfly as if it flaps the wings. The cycle of the flap can be freely changed by changingthe pulse cycle of the ring counter as in FIG. 9.

FIG. 12 shows another embodiment of the invention, wherein the light-emission elements are attached to a dress. The light-emission elements LED,, LED,, LED, attached to an evening dress can be illuminated in sequence by the output of a logical circuit such as ring counter as in FIG. 9. The light-emission diodes LED,, LED ,LED, attached to a necklace can be illuminated in the same manner as above.

FIGS. 13A 13C show another embodiment of the invention, wherein the light-emission elements are used for costume ornament or interior decoration. FIG. 13A represents the first control group for controlling lightemission elements. For example, the light-emission elements are controlled by the ring counter so that the elements are illuminated in sequence on the circumference of a pattern. This ON-OFF shift control makes the illumination look like a moving pattern.

FIG. 138 shows an arrangement wherein another light-emission element group controlled by another counter is used in addition to said first group in FIG. 13A. The decorative effect can be increased by varying the colors of illumination between the first and second groups, but a single color may of course suffice the purpose.

FIG. 13C shows another arrangement wherein the third light-emission element group is added to the arrangement in FIG. 13B. The colors and luminance of the individual groups may be selectively varied for better decorative effect.

Thus, by using in various combinations the logical counter and light-emission elements in the above manner, a variety of luminous interior decorations can easily be realized.

According to this invention, as has been described above, the luminous element is illuminated depending not upon external light but upon its electron light emission function. Thus, as described, the invention makes numerous decorative effects available.

Furthermore, the luminous device of this invention is capable of having stationary costume ornament or interior decoration activated to display dynamic decorative effects. Therefore, the invention can be highly effectively utilized for various industrial purposes where decoration is desired.

While certain specific embodiments of the invention have been described in detail with reference to the drawings, it is particularly understood that the invention is not limited thereto.

What is claimed is:

1. An electronic luminous ornamental device comprising the combination of an array of light-emission diodes for illuminating selected portions of at least one decorative member, a power source for energizing said light-emission diodes, means for generating a plurality of electrical control signals representing a desired order for energizing different portions of said array of light-emission diodes, a plurality of switching means for connecting different ones of said light-emission diodes to said power source in response to different ones of said electrical control signals whereby said different portions of said array are energized in accordance with the desired order represented by said control signals.

2. An electronic luminous ornamental device as set forth in claim 1 which inlcudes electronic gating means responsive to different combinations of said control signals for energizing combinations of said different portions of said array in accordance with the order of said control signals.

3. An electronic luminous ornamental device as set forth in claim 1 wherein said means for generating said control signals includes transducer means responsive to an acoustic input for generating an electrical output signal having an electrical frequency spectrum corresponding to the acoustic frequency spectrum of said input, and electrical filtering means responsive to said output signal for producing a plurality of electrical control signals representing different bands of said frequency spectrum whereby varying portions of said array of light-emission diodes are energized in accordance with variations in the frequency spectrum of said acoustic input.

4. An electronic luminous ornamental device as set array of light-emission diodes in response to various forth inclaim 3, which includes electronic gating combinations of the different bands of said frequency means responsive to different combinations of said spectrum. control signals for energizing different portions of said

Claims (4)

1. An electronic luminous ornamental device comprising the combination of an array of light-emission diodes for illuminating selected portions of at least one decorative member, a power source for energizing said light-emission diodes, means for generating a plurality of electrical control signals representing a desired order for energizing different portions of said array of light-emission diodes, a plurality of switching means for connecting different ones of said light-emission diodes to said power source in response to different ones of said electrical control signals whereby said different portions of said array are energized in accordance with the desired order represented by said control signals.

2. An electronic luminous ornamental device as set forth in claim 1 which inlcudes electronic gating means responsive to different combinations of said control signals for energizing combinations of said different portions of said array in accordance with the order of said control signals.

3. An electronic luminous ornamental device as set forth in claim 1 wherein said means for generating said control signals includes transducer means responsive to an acoustic input for generating an electrical output signal having an electrical frequency spectrum corresponding to the acoustic frequency spectrum of said input, and electrical filtering means responsive to said output signal for producing a plurality of electrical control signals representing different bands of said frequency spectrum whereby varying portions of said array of light-emission diodes are energized in accordance with variations in the frequency spectrum of said acoustic input.

4. An electronic luminous ornamental device as set forth in claim 3, which includes electronic gating means responsive to different combinations of said control signals for energizing different portions of said array of light-emission diodes in response to various combinations of the different bands of said frequency spectrum.

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