GB2364277A

GB2364277A - A pen with an LED light source and a refraction plate to disperse the light

Info

Publication number: GB2364277A
Application number: GB0016418A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Ching-Chuan Lee
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2000-07-05
Filing date: 2000-07-05
Publication date: 2002-01-23
Also published as: GB0016418D0

Abstract

A pen 1 has a light source 2 which can be at least one light emitting diode (LED) 251. A refraction plate 24 is provided to disperse the light from the light source 2. One embodiment has three LEDs 251 of differing colour (red, green, blue) on a circuit 252 so that any combination of diode can be lit. The refraction plate 24 acts to disperse the different coloured light from the diodes 251 and provide an even mixing of the coloured light, or white light when all are lit. The refraction plate 24 has two sets of parallel grooves 241,242, one on each side, that are set at right-angles to one another to provide the dispersal. The LEDs 251 are connected via a switch 253 and contact 254 to a battery arrangement 26.

Description

2364277 IILUNHNANT PEN

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of The Invention:

The present invention relates to an illurninant pen, and particularly to 5 a pen, which provides a light of sufficient illumi nation in addition to a function of writing.

2. Description of Related Art:

Due to development of technology, pens are made with diversified materials, styles, and functions. It is quite sure that a pen has become not lo only for writing but also for other purposes such as social class, advertisement, and etc..

Because we almost spend half of a day in a dark natural environment, it is unable for us to make a living without light. If we are in a no light location such as a tract of wild place at night and no light supplied there, it is 15 required for us to equip with illuminating device such as flashlight for a temporary use.

U.S. Patent No. 4,890,204 has disclosed a pen with an illuminating device thereon to allow a pen being able to write in a dark place. The prior art is composed of a write part and i1lurninating part. When the illuminating

20 part is turned on, the light can be projected by way of a refection shield to pass through a transparent plate. The projected light is condensed by a reflective bushing to pass through a transparent writing tube such that the light can en-At from the front end of the pen as the pen is used for writing in the dark. However, the prior art is provided with an illuminator such as a

25 light bulb or a light emitting diode and the illuminator is received in a reflective shield for reflecting the light source such that a illuminative light source can be generated by the transparent writing tube. But, it is difficult for assembling the pen disclosed in the prior art. Furthermore, the illuminant pen disclosed in the prior art has a limited size such that it is hard to add more illuminators in the pen for an expected illumination. Moreover,

5 the light projected by the illuminator may be divergent such that the light is emitted out of the writing tube so as to result in an insufficient brightness.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

An object of the present invention is to provide an Muminant pen, with which a sufficient brightness can be obtained effectively.

10 Another object of the present invention to provide an illuminant pen, with which a light with either a single color or a mixed color can be projected well.

A further object of the present invention to provide an illuniinant pen, with which not only a function of illuminating can be performed but also a function of signaling can be obtained.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present invention can be more fully understood by referring to the following description and accompanying drawing, in which:

Fig. 1 is an exploded perspective view of an illun-dnant pen according to the present invention in a first embodiment thereof; Fig. 2 is an assembled sectional view of Fig. 1; Fig.3 is an exploded perspective view of an illuminant pen according to the present invention in a second embodiment thereof, Fig-4 an assembled sectional view of Fig. 3; Fig. 5 is a perspective view of light even plate used in the Muminant pen of the present invention; and Fig. 6 is a diagram illustrating optical tracks of the illuminator passing through the light even plate.

5 DETAILED DESCRIMON OF THE PREFERRED EMEBODBUNTS Referring to Figs. 1 and 2, an Hluminant pen according to the present is composed of a write part 1 and an illuminating part 2 basically.

The write part 1 is a transparent or semi-transparent hollow pen holder and a core chamber 11 is in the write part to receive a center stick 12 10 for offering a basic function of writing. The core chamber 11 is provided with a hollow cone 111 at the upper part thereof. In order to gather the Eght projecting to the hollow cone, a connecting part 13 disposed above the hollow cone 111 is provided with a hopper shaped light gathering ring 14 therein. lights passing through the light gathering ring 14 become parallel 15 and concentrated.

The iflumining part 2 is a light source supply device and has a conductive cap shell 21. The cap shell 21 further comprises a conventional push locating mechanism 22, a battery set 26 with an insulation sleeve 261, and an intermediate ring 23. The intermediate ring 23 at the lower part 20 thereof has an engaging part 231 to be fastened to the connecting part 13 such that the illuminating part 2 and the write part 1 can be associated with each other. Besides, a stepped chamber 232 is provided in the intermediate ring 23 to sequentially receive a light even plate 24 and an illuminating device 25. The illuminating device 25 has at least an iflun-dnator 251 fixed 25 to the bottom of a circuit board 252 and the circuit board 252 is provided with control circuit thereon. A micro-switch 253 is attached to the top of the circuit board 252 and a lateral side of the micro-switch 253 extends a pole plate 254 to contact with a pole of the battery set 26. The circuit board 252 at the edge thereof has a connecting pole to contact with the inner wall of the intermediate ring 23. In practice, three fight emitting diodes with different colors are used as the illuminator 251 and the colors of the light emitting diodes are red,, blue, and green respectively.

5 Referring to Fig. 5, the light even plate 24 is a transparent plate and the top and the bottom thereof are provided with a plurality of upper wave stripes 242 and lower wave stripes 241 respectively. The upper wave stripes 242 are parallel to each other and the lower wave stripes 241 are parallel either. But, the upper wave 242 stripes are not parallel to the lower wave 10 stripes 241. Referring to Fig. 6, when these three light emitting diodes 251 are turned on, point light sources Ll of the emitting diodes project beam like lights. The light beams pass through lower wave stripes 241 to form a mixed line light source L2 on the light even plate 24. The line light source L2 then further passes through the upper wave stripes 242 and forms a plane 15 light source L3 under the light even plate 24. That is, a composite colored light is formed accordingly.

Referring to Fig. 2, once the push locating mechanism 22 is pressed downward to a located position, the battery set 26 is then contacted by the locating mechanism 22. Thus, the current flows along the cap shell 21, the 20 intermediate ring 23 to the circuit board 252 to constitute a pole connection.

The other pole of the battery set 26 keeps to contact with the pole plate 254 to constitute another pole connection. During the battery is displacing, the pole plate 254 is forced to press the micro-switch 253 such that the control circuit actuates the illuminators 251 to flash/light up individually, any two of 25 them alternately, or all of them alternately. In this way, there are seven changeable colors generated under the light even plate 24. They are red, blue, green, pink, yellow, light green, and white. The colored lights pass through the light even plate 24 and are gathered by way of the light gathering ring 14 to project to the cone part 111. The colored light can be reflected to the write part I at the inner wall thereof and the very front end thereof. Hence., functions of illuminating and signaling can be effectively obtained.

Referring to Figs. 3 and 4, another embodiment of the present invention is illustrated. Similarly, the illurninant pen in the second 5 embodiment has a write part I and an illuminating part 2 as the first embodiment does. The only difference is that the illuminating device 274 in the second embodiment is a single illuminator 271 fixedly attached to the bottom of an insulation seat 274. A connecting pin 272 extends out of the insulation seat 274 at the top thereof and keeps to contact with a pole of the io battery set 26. Another connecting pin on the insulation seat 274 contacts with the inner wall of the annular chamber 232. In practice, the illuminator 271 is preferably the light emitting diode.

Referring to Fig. 4, once the locating mechanism 22 is pressed to displace downward to a located position, a conventional conductive contact 15 device (not shown) may touch the battery set 26. Thus, the current flows along the cap shell 21 and the intermediate ring 23 then to the connecting pin 273 so as to form a close circuit. Meanwhile, the illuminator 271 is lighted up to project the light thereof to the light even plate 24. The light even plate 24 changes the projected light to colored lights evenly, and then the colored 20 lights are condensed by way of the light gathering ring 14. The condensed lights then emit to the cone part 111 so as to be transmitted to the inner wall of the write part 1 and the very front end thereof finally. Hence, functions of illuminating and signaling are obtained accordingly.

It is appreciated that the present invention overcomes the insufficient 25 illumination of the illuminator and the generation of merely single color light, which are the problems raised in the prior. Single light or mixed colored lights generated by the present invention can be projected to the inner wall of the write part evenly. Thus, a sufficient light can be offered to prevent from writing errors and recognition difficulty resulting from bad light source in a location of insufficient light and this is impossible for the prior art to reach. Accordingly, it is noted that the illuminant pen of the present application can be used at any time and anywhere as well. Moreover, the present invention can obtain even colored lights at inner wall of the write part such that it can

5 act as a warning signal to inform others the user's location for differentiating from others.

While the invention has been described with reference to preferred embodiments thereof, it is to be -understood that modifications or variations may be easily made without departing from the spirit of this invention, which io is defined by the appended claims.

Claims

WHAT IS CLAIARD IS:

1. An illuminant pen, comprising:

a write part, being a transparent semi-transparent pen holder, having a core chamber for receiving a center stick, a hollow cone being provided on 5 top of the core chamber, a connecting part being disposed above the hollow cone, and a hopper shaped light gathering ring being in the connecting part; and an illuminating part, being a light source supply device, having a conductive cap shell, a conventional push locating mechanism, a battery set lo with a insulating sleeve, and an intermediate ring being arranged in the cap shell sequentially, the intennediate ring at a bottom thereof having an engaging part to be fastened to the connecting part, a stepped chamber being provided in the inten-nediate ring to receive a light even plate with a plurality of upper wave stripes at a top thereof and a plurality of lower wave 15 stripes at a bottom thereof respectively and the upper wave stripes being not parallel to the lower wave stripes, and an illuminating device with at least an illuminator, the illuminating device having a pole contacting with the battery set, and having another pole thereof connecting with the intermediate ring; whereby, once the push locating mechanism is pressed, a close circuit 20 is formed to light up the illuminator and colored lights are generated to pass through the light even plate so as to be single colorless light or mixed colored lights; the colored lights pass through the light gathering ring and project to the cone to allow the colored lights being transmitted to an inner wall of the write pam 25

2. The illuminant pen according to claim 1, wherein the illuminating device has at least an illuminator fixing to a circuit board with control circuit at a bottom thereof; a micro-switch is attached to a top of the circuit board and a lateral side of the micro-switch extending a pole plate to contact with a pole of the battery set; and the circuit board at an edge thereof has a 30 connecting pole to contact with the intermediate ring.

3. The illuminant pen according to claim 2, wherein the illuminator is three light emitting diodes with different colors.

4. The illuminant pen according to claim 3, wherein the colors of the three illuminators are red, blue, and green respectively.

5 5. The illuminant pen according to claim 3, wherein the three illuminators may be controlled by the rnicro-switch and the control circuit on the circuit board to flash/light up individually, in a way of any two of them alternately, or in a way of all of them alternately.

6. The illuminant pen according to claim 3, wherein the illuminating lo device is a single illuminator fixedly attached to a bottom of an insulation seat; a connecting pin extends outward from the insulation seat at the top thereof and keeps contact with the battery set and another connecting pin on the insulation seat contacts with the inner wall of an annular chamber.

7. The illuminant pen according to claim 6, wherein the illuminator is a 15 single light emitting diode.