Illumination – Housing
Reexamination Certificate
2000-10-31
2002-12-31
Husar, Stephen (Department: 2875)
Illumination
Housing
C362S234000, C362S249070, C362S370000, C362S812000, C040S570000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06499866
ABSTRACT:
DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART
1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates generally to emergency lighting fixtures including illuminated signs and emergency lighting units and particularly relates to combinations of illuminated exit signs and the like with emergency lighting units to form fixtures having multiple emergency lighting functions in a single device.
2. Background of the Invention
Emergency lighting capability is mandated by building codes throughout most of the world for commercial buildings in particular. The most common type of emergency lighting is the exit sign which is also the most noticed due not only to its ubiquity but also due to the fact that most exit signs are constantly illuminated and are therefore readily seen. Exit signs are typically placed above doorways or in egress paths to indicate in a time of emergency the most efficient manner of exiting a building. Another common form of emergency lighting is generally referred to as an emergency lighting unit and typically operates two spaced lamps which are often referred to as “frog eyes”. Emergency lighting units operate only in the event of emergency and are intended to supply an acceptable degree of ambient illumination under emergency conditions, these conditions usually including loss of normal power. Since emergency conditions requiring the most immediate and effective use of both exit signs and emergency lighting units are normally associated with mains power loss, backup power is necessary for the continued operation of an exit sign and for start-up and continuing operation of an emergency lighting unit. This back-up power is provided by batteries, a typical exit sign having a battery and circuitry capable of switching to DC battery power from AC mains power on loss of AC power to the exit sign. An emergency lighting unit includes a battery and sensing circuitry which initiates operation of the battery on loss of normal building power, the lamps of the emergency lighting unit being then activated to provide emergency lighting. These two forms of emergency lighting, the exit sign and the emergency lighting unit, are placed in a building structure at locations requiring a particular function of each form. Certain situations require the use of both forms of emergency lighting in one location. Rather than USQ separate lighting fixtures in one particular location, common practice has been to use a “combination” exit sign and emergency lighting unit, this type of fixture being commonly referred to as an exit/unit combo. The “combo” has previously taken the form of an emergency lighting unit mounted to an exit sign, the emergency lighting unit most often being mounted along the top of the exit sign. In most instances, the exit sign and the emergency unit operate separately although certain functions can be shared between the exit sign and the unit by providing common circuitry such as would be useful to detect power line failure for switching the exit sign to DC battery power and for initiating operation of the emergency lighting unit. A particular exit/unit combo which has enjoyed substantial market acceptance is the QUANTUM Exit/Unit Combo manufactured by Lithonia Lighting, Inc. of Conyers, Ga., a wholly owned subsidiary of National Service Industries, Inc., of Atlanta, Ga., QUANTUM being a trademark of National Service Industries, Inc. The widespread use of the Lithonia Lighting combo has been brought about at least in part due to the reduced labor costs associated with installation of the Lithonia combo on site, the exit sign and the emergency lighting unit being factory assembled and prewired for shipment to a job site in a configuration allowing rapid and simultaneous final wiring of both the exit sign and the emergency lighting unit. Further, the Lithonia combo manufactured and marketed under the QUANTUM mark is comprised of a substantially all-plastic exit sign and a substantially all-plastic emergency lighting unit, thereby resulting in a combo product which is light in weight relative to previous combo products many of which included metal housings and parts which caused the products to be heavy and therefore more difficult to support especially in end mounted installations. The Lithonia QUANTUM combo could be rapidly and easily mounted at the top, back or ends with adequate support of the assembly being possible even when end mounted. Manufacture and maintenance of the Lithonia combo were facilitated by the virtual all-plastic structure of the Lithonia product which allows at least portions of the product to be positively and readily snap-fitted to each other. While the QUANTUM combo evidenced significant advantages in this art, the combination of two essentially different and distinct forms of emergency lighting into a single product with both the exit sign and the emergency lighting unit retaining its own housing inter alia such as would be employed in their separate use has caused combo products to continue being somewhat bulky in size and to be less attractive than most other forms of emergency lighting have become in recent years as the industry has devoted increased attention to the appearance of emergency lighting products generally.
Accordingly, the art has experienced a long-felt and continuing need for improvement of a combination exit sign and emergency lighting unit or combo product to the end that such products become a true integration of an exit sign and an emergency lighting unit capable of supporting the weights of batteries necessary for providing power to both sides of an exit sign as well as unit lamps including remote unit lamps. In addition to the need to support greater battery weights than previously necessary in exit signs alone, the need exists in a combo to support greater weight than is normally experienced with an exit sign per se so that a combo can be safely and positively mounted in wall or ceiling installations. The art has thus felt the need for the present combo invention which integrates the functions of an exit sign and an emergency lighting unit into a single housing with repositionable lamping elements mounted to exterior portions of the housing. The structure of the present exit/unit combo allows support of battery loads in tension rather than through the usual cantilevered support of loads disposed internally of a sign housing. The structure of the present combo housing provides support of such efficiency as to prevent warping or bowing of the housing over time, thereby providing substantially improved product quality along with substantially improved product appearance. The exit/unit combo of the invention is provided with significant structural features useful not only with the combo but also with exit signs per se and with emergency lighting units per se as well as remote emergency lighting units., The present invention thus provides substantial improvement over the prior art by the provision of an integral and integrated exit/unit combo characterized by ease of assembly, installation and maintenance as well as by extraordinarily acceptable appearance.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The invention provides an emergency lighting fixture which combines the functions of an illuminated sign, particularly an exit sign, with an emergency lighting unit, the structural combination being integrated into a single housing which internally contains those structural elements necessary to produce the functions of the feature and which carries emergency lamping externally of the housing at multiple locations thereby providing extraordinary flexibility in use. The present combination of an exit sign and an emergency lighting unit or “exit/unit combo” is preferably formed of a polymeric material such as polycarbonate/ABS, thereby allowing molding of a fixture housing with most of the structural elements necessary to produce the functions of the fixture being integrally formed with the housing, these molded structural elements and other structure contained within the housing being located in the housing in a manner whereby the elements combine to produce synergistic ef
Hull Edwin Lewis
Logan Mark Campbell
Masters Andrew Edward
Acuity Brands Inc.
Darnell Kenneth E.
Husar Stephen
LandOfFree
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