Illumination – Supported by vehicle structure – Light modifier
Reexamination Certificate
2001-09-18
2003-09-16
O'Shea, Sandra (Department: 2875)
Illumination
Supported by vehicle structure
Light modifier
C362S517000, C362S326000, C362S328000, C362S545000, C362S521000, C362S518000, C359S839000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06619825
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE PRESENT INVENTION
1. Technical Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a vehicle lamp and more particularly to a structure for improving the appearance of the vehicle lamp.
2. Prior Art
A typical vehicle lamp comprises a light source, a lamp body for supporting the light source and a translucent cover mounted on the lamp body. However, conventional vehicle lamps appear changeless in the case where the vehicle lamps are on and in the case where the vehicle lamps are off.
On the other hand, the adoption of a vehicle lamp with its translucent cover (the light cover) subjected to half-mirror processing as disclosed in JP-2-22505U results in making the interior of the vehicle lamp in the on state visible. The half-mirror processing also makes the interior thereof (in the vehicle lamp off state) invisible due to the external light reflective action of the translucent cover, whereby the vehicle lamp in the on state can look quite different from what is in the off state.
As the vehicle lamp described in the publication above is arranged such that the translucent cover has been subjected only to the half-mirror processing, the vehicle lamp in the off state causes scenery ahead of the vehicle lamp to be simply reflected on the translucent cover in a whitish fashion. This is similar to the way a window with a half-mirror film stuck thereon is seen. With respect to the way the vehicle lamp looks while the vehicle lamp is in the on state, the arrangement above is also insufficient because the hidden light source looks luminous only while vehicle lamp is in the off state.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
An object of the present invention made in the foregoing circumstances is to provide a vehicle lamp that appears different by making the appearance of the vehicle lamp in an on state look great different from the appearance of the vehicle lamp in an off state.
According to the present invention, a vehicle lamp comprises a light source and a translucent panel provided in front of the light source. The translucent panel is formed with half-mirror portions subjected to half-mirror processing and non-half-mirror portions or the opening portions not subjected to half-mirror processing. The vehicle lamp comprises a plurality of light sources provided so that the light sources are positioned in the rear of the half-mirror portions and the non-half-mirror portions or the opening portions.
As long as the vehicle lamp is provided with the translucent panel in front of the light source, the arrangement of other members for use in forming the vehicle lamp is not limited to any specific arrangement.
As long as the translucent panel is provided in front of the light source, the translucent panel could be an outer panel (translucent cover) exposed forward on the vehicle lamp or an inner panel provided in the rear thereof. Further, the translucent panel may be a see-through panel or what is formed of lens elements.
The arrangement of the half-mirror portion and the non-half-mirror portion or the opening portion in the translucent panel is not limited to any specific arrangement.
Although a plurality of light sources is provided, the number of light sources provided in the rear of the half-mirror portion and the number of light sources provided in the rear of the non-half-mirror portion or the opening portion may be singular or plural. Moreover, the arrangement of the light sources is not limited to any specific arrangement but may be, for example, inclusive of incandescent bulbs, LEDs (light emitting diodes) or similar devices.
As described above, since the vehicle lamp according to the present invention is arranged so that the translucent panel is formed with the half-mirror portions subjected to half-mirror processing and the non-half-mirror portions or the opening portions not subjected to half-mirror processing and that the plurality of light sources are provided so that the light sources are positioned in the rear of the half-mirror portions and the non-half-mirror portions or the opening portions, the following operation is obtainable.
More specifically, the interior of the vehicle lamp in the rear of the half-mirror portion can be made invisible by the external light reflective action of the half-mirror portion. The interior of the vehicle lamp in the rear of the non-half-mirror portion or the opening portion can be made visible thereby while the vehicle lamp is in the off state.
Further, when both the light source positioned in the rear of the non-half-mirror portion or the opening portion and the light source positioned in the rear of the half-mirror portion are turned on, the vehicle lamp can be made to look luminous. The luminescent color is not expected from the design of the vehicle lamp in the off state. In other words, since only the non-half-mirror portion or the opening portion allows the interior of the vehicle lamp to be visible in the off state is visible, it appears that only the non-half-mirror portion or opening portion appears luminous even in the off state.
With the arrangement above, the translucent panel is dome-shaped and a condenser lens is provided between the non-half-mirror portion or the opening portion and the light source positioned in the rear of the non-half-mirror portion or the opening portion. Thus, a vehicle lamp having a design in which a small translucent dome is disposed in a dome that appears to reflect external light is achieved.
Although the light source positioned in the rear of the condenser lens appears magnified, the provision of the diffusion lens therebetween allows the light source to be hardly visible because of the diffusive action of light passing through the diffusion lens. In so doing, moreover, it is possible to make the luminosity of the whole light source in the on state look substantially uniform over a wide luminescent area.
With the arrangement above, the provision of the non-half-mirror portion or the opening portion in the central position of the translucent panel, as well as in a plurality of peripheral positions surrounding the central position) provides an enhanced lamp design for the vehicle lamp in the on state and off state both.
At this time, by disposing the light source positioned in the rear of the half-mirror portion between the light sources positioned in the rear of the non-half-mirror portion or the opening portion, the luminosity of the whole vehicle lamp can be made substantially uniform.
With the arrangement above, by forming each light source with a plurality of LEDs, the light source can be made to look luminous over a wide luminescent area and the luminescent color of each light source can be selected.
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Choi Jacob Y.
Koito Manufacturing Co. Ltd.
O'Shea Sandra
LandOfFree
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