Flashlight With Illumination and Alerting Effect

(a) Field of the Invention

The present invention provides a flashlight with illumination and alerting effect, and particularly a flashing which can be used for both illumination purpose and providing an alerting light signal of different colors.

(b) Description of the Prior Art

Conventionally a flashlight is a convenient light source during nighttime or upon power failure. To provide other functions there are some flashlight designs on the market which provide both illumination and alerting effects. However, such kind of flashlights are either (1) of the type using a retractile lamp hood to locate a bulb within the lamp hood in order to give an alerting signal but can also provide illumination and alerting effect simultaneously, can emit only a certain color light due to the color of the lamp hood used, requires change of lamp hood if another color light is desired; or (2) of the type using the front section of the flashlight as an alerting device to emit twinkling color light, and can only provide a certain color of light according to the color of the lamp hood used.

The main objective of the present invention is to provide a flashlight with both illumination and alerting effect in a simple, convenient and easy-to-use design which can select a color light from a number of choices simply by pushing a button.

Another objective of the present invention is to provide a flashlight with both illumination and alerting effect to meet different circumstances by providing a plurality of color lights, such as yellow light for heavy fogging, red light for emergency condition, and green light for traffic control so that its use is convenient and practical.

Another objective of the present invention is to provide a flashlight with both illumination and alerting effect which uses bulb and color hood for the alerting so that light intensity is greatly improved and a combination of color hoods can be used to meet different requirements.

The invention, as well as its many advantages, may be further understood by the following detailed description and drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the flashlight according to the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a fragmented perspective view of the flashlight according to the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a fragmented perspective view of an illumination and alerting device according to the present invention; and

FIG. 4 is a sectional view illustrating assembly of the flashlight according to the present invention.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the flashlight with illumination and alerting effect according to the present invention comprises a handle body (1), a lamp hood (2), control circuit (3), and an illumination and alerting device.

The handle body (1) is a hollow tubular structure with an outer thread (11) at its front end for positioning and retention of a locking ring (12). The locking ring (12) is designed with two stepped inner threads (121, 122) on its inner surface. The handle body (1) is formed with two button holes (13, 13') on its wall at appropriate positions. The interior of the handle body (1) is in the form of a hole with two steps (14, 15), and the rear end of the handle body (1) is incorporated with a battery chamber cover (16).

The lamp hood (2) is a transparent hood body formed by two half-shell elements (21, 22). An outer thread (211) is formed on the front end of the lamp hood (2) and another outer thread (221) is formed on the rear end of it. A convergent hood (23) is incorporated at the front end of the lamp hood (2). A hole (231) is formed at the center of the convergent hood (23), and a plurality of bulb holders (232) are formed on the back of the convergent hood (23). The convergent hood (23) is incorporated with a hood (24) and a transparent plate (241) which are locked and positioned on the outer thread (211) at the front end of the lamp hood (2), while the outer thread (221) at the rear end of the lamp hood (2) is retained by the stepped inner thread (121) at the locking ring (12) of the handle body (1).

The control circuit (3) is retained within the large step (14) of the handle body (1). It comprises mainly a printed circuit board holder (31), a printed circuit board (32), an elastic push button (33) and a connecting element (34). The printed circuit board holder (31) is a cylindrical structure consisting of a sleeve (311), a sectional element (312) and a slant element (313). The sleeve (311) is formed with an inner screw hole (3111) on the wall of its front end. The inner screw hole (3111) connects to a hollow chamber (3112) within the sleeve (311). On the top surface of the sleeve (311) a slot (3113) is formed. In the slot (3113) are provided two passing holes (3114, 3114') at predetermined locations. At each corner of the slot (3113) a screw hole (3115) is formed. A through hole (3116) is formed on the wall of the rear end of the sleeve (311). The sectional element (312) is designed so as to keep flush with the bottom of the sleeve (311), and has a slant plane at its the bottom surface, and a longitudinal hole (3121) along its longitudinal central line. The slant element (313) is designed so as to keep flush with the slant plane on the bottom of the sectional element (312), and has a longitudinal hole (3131) along its longitudinal central line. A nut (3132) is fixed at the opening of an end of the longitudinal hole (3131), a screw (3133) is inserted through the longitudinal hole (3121) of the sectional element (312) and the longitudinal hole (3131) of the slant element (313) and secured thereto by the nut (3132). The printed circuit board (32) is secured within the hollow chamber (3112) of the sleeve (311). The printed circuit board (32) is provided with two elastic switches (322, 322') at positions corresponding to the passing holes (3114, 3114') respectively, and incorporated with a cable connector (323) at its front end, a conductive wire at the rear end. The conductive wire is soldered to a conductive copper plate (324) which is riveted to the through hole (3116) on the rear wall of the sleeve (311) and connected to the positive pole of a battery (6). The elastic push button (33) is positioned in the slot (3113) on the sleeve (311). On the push button (33) there are two dots (331, 331') each covering a T-shaped pin (332) incorporated with a spring (333). The pins (332) extend into the passing holes (3114, 3114') of the sleeve (311), and bottom ends maintained in contact with the elastic switches (322, 322') of the printed circuit board (32). The connecting element (34) is made of transparent material with a conductive wire incorporated therewith. An end of the conductive wire is connected to a plug (341) for connecting to the cable connector (323) of the printed circuit board (32). Pins (342) are provided on the connecting element (34) at predetermined intervals for connecting to a plurality of metal conductive plates (45, 46, 55) on the alerting and illumination device as shown in FIG. 3.

The alerting and illumination device, consists of an illumination lamp set (4) and at least one alerting lamp set (5) located within the lamp hood (2).

The illumination lamp set (4) as seen in FIG. 3 comprises a bulb holder (41), a connection element (42), a bulb (43), and a locking element (44). The bulb holder (41) is formed with an outer screw post (411) at its front end. The outer screw post (411) has a longitudinal hole (412) along its central line. On the wall of the longitudinal hole (412) an L-shaped key slot (413) is formed and extended to its bottom end. An L-shaped metal conductor strip (45) is retained within the L-shaped key slot (413). On the surface of the bottom of the bulb holder (41) a key slot (414) is formed to hold a metal conductor strip (46), while the circumference of the bottom surface is provided with a plurality of pins (415). The surface at the front end of the connection element (42) is provided with a plurality of pin holes (421) corresponding to the number and position of the respective pins (415) while a cylindrical post (422) is provided at the center of its bottom surface. Around the outer circumference of the cylindrical post (422) are provided a plurality of posts (423). The bulb (43) is disposed in the longitudinal hole (412) of the bulb holder (41) with its bottom maintaining contact with the metal conductor strip (46) and its side edge maintaining contact with the metal conductor strip (45), and is fixed to the bulb holder (41) by the locking element (44) which includes an inner threaded hole (441) that engages with the screw post (411).

Each alerting lamp set (5) comprises an alerting lamp holder (51), a connecting element (52), an alerting bulb (53), and a color hood (54). The surface of the front end of the alerting lamp holder (51) is formed with a cylindrical post (511) of relatively small diameter and having two L-shaped key slots (512) extending to the bottom of the alerting lamp holder (51). In each of the L-like key slots (512) an L-like metal conductor strip (55) is fixed. A plurality of pin holes (513) are provided around the outer circumference of the cylindrical post (511) at the front end of the alerting lamp holder (51), while a plurality of pins (514) are provided around the circumference of its bottom. The connecting element (52) is designed with a plurality of pin holes (521) around the circumference of its front end corresponding to the number and position of the respective pins (514), and formed with a cylindrical post (522) at the center of its bottom surface. The cylindrical post (522) is provided with a plurality of pins (523) around its outer circumference. The alerting bulb (53) is fixed to the key slots (512) of the alerting lamp holder (51) with two pins (531) extending from its bottom. The color hood (54) is a transparent structure of any designated color, and has a plurality of pin holes (541) at the wall of its front end corresponding to the number of pins (423 or 523) provided at the connecting element (42 or 52), while a plurality of pins (542) are provided at the wall of its bottom end corresponding to the number of pin holes (513) provided at the alerting lamp holder (51). While the aforesaid connecting element (52) is used as a component of the last alerting lamp set (5), the other connecting element (52') is formed with a passing hole (524') at its center, and has a plurality of pin holes (521') at its front end corresponding to the number and position of the pins (514) provided at the alerting lamp holder (51), a cable passage (525') on its wall, and a screw post (522') at the center of its bottom surface.

With the aforesaid characteristics, these components are assembled in the manner described below. The printed circuit board (32) is first placed in the hollow chamber (3112) of the sleeve (311) and fixed thereto by engaging a plurality of screws (321) in the screw holes (3115), while the cable connector (323) is led to pass through the inner screw hole (3111). The conductive copper plate (324) of the printed circuit board (32) is riveted to the through hole (3116) of the sleeve (311). The bottom of the sleeve (311) is adhered to the sectional element (312) and the slant element (313) to become a cylindrical printed circuit board holder (31). Then, screw (3133) is inserted through the longitudinal holes (3121 and 3131) respectively and tightened thereto to provide an adequate locking effect. On the sleeve (311) the dots (331, 331') are fixed to the elastic push button (33) by means of the two respective pins (331) and then each of the dots (331, 331') is surrounded by a spring (333) before they are placed into the passing holes (3114, 3114') of the sleeve (311). The control circuit (3) produced from the above assembly procedure is inserted into the large stepped hole (14) of the handle body (1) in a manner that the dots (331, 331') of the elastic push button (33) are exposed outside the push button elements (13, 13') of the handle body (1). The screw (3133) is then tightened so that the sectional element (312) and the slant element (313) are displaced along a straight line to expand the diameter of the printed circuit board holder (31) and cause the printed circuit board holder (31) be firmly retained at the large stepped hole (14). Thereafter, the illumination lamp set (4) is assembled. The key slot (413) and the key slot (414) of the bulb holder (41) are first provided with the metal conductor strip (45) and the metal conductor strip (46) respectively, and then the pins (415) are engaged with the pin holes (421) of the connecting element (42) to fix the bulb holder (41) to the connecting element (42). The bulb (43) is then inserted in the longitudinal hole (412) of the bulb holder (41) and fixed therein by threading the locking element (44) which with the outer screw post (411) of the bulb holder (41). As for assembly of the alerting lamp sets (5), for each alerting lamp set (5) the a metal conductor strip (55) is inserted in each of the two key slots (512) of the alerting lamp holder (51) and the pins (514) are fixed to the pin holes (521) of the connecting element (52) to fix the alerting lamp holder (51) to the connecting element (52). Then, each of the pins (531) of the alerting bulb (53) is inserted in the hole at the front end of each key slot (512) so that the alerting bulb (53) is positioned. Then, the color hood (54) is fixed by inserting the pins (542) at its bottom into the pin holes (513) of the alerting lamp holder (51) to complete assembly of an alerting lamp set (5). Each alerting lamp set (5) is provided with a plurality of pin holes (541) at its front end for receiving pins (523) of at the connecting element (52) for the previous alerting lamp set (5) in order to connect to the previous alerting lamp set (5). However, for connection of the first alerting lamp set (5) to the illumination lamp set (4), the pin holes (541) at the color hood (54) are engaged by the pins (423) of the connecting element (42) for the illumination lamp set (4). As for the last alerting lamp set (5), the cable connector (323) of the printed circuit board (32) is led to pass through the passing hole (524') and then the cable passage (525') of a connecting element (52'), and then the screw post (522') of the connecting element (52') is fixed to the screw hole (3111) provided at the sleeve (311) of the printed circuit board holder (31) in order to secure the whole alerting lamp set (5). Then, the plug (341) is connected to the cable connector (323) of the printed circuit board (32), the pins (342) provided at the connecting elements (34) are inserted into respective holes at the ends of the key slot (413) and the key slot (414) of the illumination lamp set (4), and the pins (342) being maintained in contact with the metal conductor strip (46) and the metal conductor strips (45, 55). Finally, the lamp hood (2) is assembled. The two half-shell elements (21, 22) of the lamp hood (2) are first fixed together to become a hood structure, with a transparent gasket (212) placed therebetween then to provide an air-tight effect assembly. After installation of spare bulb (43) for illumination purpose and spare bulbs (53) for alerting purpose at the bulb holders (232) on the convergent hood (23), the convergent hood (23) is placed within the lamp hood (2), and the front end of the lamp hood (2) is covered with the transparent plate (241). The hood (24) is locked by the outer thread provided on the lamp hood (1) so that the convergent hood (23) is positioned therewith. Then, the locking ring (12) is fixed by engaging its inner thread (122) with the outer thread (11) formed at the front end of the handle body (1) and the lamp hood (2) is fixed by engaging the outer thread (221) on its rear end with the inner thread (121) of the locking ring (12) so that the lamp hood (2) is fixed to the front end of the handle body (1). The illumination bulb (43) of the illumination lamp set (4) is located in front of the hole (231) of the convergent hood (23), while the alerting lamp sets (5) are within the transparent lamp hood (2). After placing a battery (6) into the hole (15) of the handle body (1) and locking the battery chamber cover (16), the assembly of a flashlight with illumination and alerting effect is completed.

In the flashlight with illumination and alerting effect according to the present invention, the positive pole of the battery (6) connects to the conductive copper plate (324) of the printed circuit board (32), and its negative pole connects to the handle body (1) made of metallic material. If non-metallic material is used to make the handle body, (1) then a conductive plate must be installed in the hollow space within the handle body (1) for electric conductivity. While using the flashlight according to the present invention for illumination purpose, the locking ring (12) can be rotated to adjust the position of the lamp hood (2) so as to change the relative distance between the convergent hood (3) and the bulb (43), which consequently changes the focal distance to adjust the illumination intensity.

The bulb (53) in each of the alerting lamp set (5) according to the present invention can be controlled by the printed circuit board (32) at the control circuit to provide either a twinkling effect or a constant lighting effect. The dots (331, 331') on the elastic push button (33) are used to control the elastic switches (322, 322') of the printed circuit board (32), one for selection of On, Twinkling, or Off modes, and the other for selection of illumination lamp set (4) or alerting lamp set (5). In this manner, alerting lamp sets (5) with different color hoods (54) can be selected to provide alerting lighting signals of different colors. As the design of such a circuit is not within the scope of the invention, it will not to be described in detail herein. The provision of spare bulb at the back of the convergent hood (23) in the lamp hood (2) allows prompt availability a bulb whenever the working bulb is burnt out.

Many changes and modifications in the above embodiment of the invention can, of course, be carried out without departing from the scope thereof. Accordingly, to promote the progress in science and the useful arts, the invention is disclosed and is intended to be limited only by the scope of the appended claims.