Photography – Underwater – waterproof – or water-resistant camera – Having illumination device
Reexamination Certificate
2000-06-20
2002-06-04
Mahoney, Christopher (Department: 2851)
Photography
Underwater, waterproof, or water-resistant camera
Having illumination device
C396S155000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06400900
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to the field of underwater photography.
Many sub-aquatic life forms possess a capability of fluorescence, which is sometimes mistaken for bioluminescence, the light radiating of fireflies. Fluorescence, in contrast, is the emission of light from a body, during illumination by excitation light having a higher frequency than the light emitted by the fluorescing body. When the excitation light is extinguished, the light produced by fluorescence ceases.
As an underwater photographer, I tried to photograph fluorescent aquatic life forms at night because they are most active at night. I was unsuccessful in doing so. The fact that the photographs needed to be exposed in darkness with very limited ambient light, and that ultra-violet (uv) light is needed to excite the fluorescence of these undersea creatures, defeated my ability to capture decent images of the undersea creatures, even with high speed film.
I began to experiment with building my own underwater camera-illumination apparatus using black light sources such as blue-black ultra-violet bulbs, which still did not produce satisfactory photographs. When I utilized the commonplace ultra-violet-black lamp, there was not enough light emitted to produce any image except the ghost image of the fluorescent pigments of the observed animals. My goal was to photograph the animals and also excite or enhance their fluorescence.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF A PREFERRED EMBODIMENT OF THE INVENTION
My success finally came about by employing a pair of commercially available fluorescent light bulbs that are commercially designated as “U/V White” light tubes, and that are commonly used as insect killing lights, These bulbs have a substantial, probably a maximum, ultraviolet (uv) light spectrum output component at about 365 nanometers (nm), similar to the ordinary blacklight bulb, but they also output significant amounts of white light, which produce enough ambient light for my purpose, to enable the aforesaid desired satisfactory photographs of aquatic creatures at night.
REFERENCES:
patent: 2996967 (1961-08-01), Edgerton
patent: 3571649 (1971-03-01), Bush, Jr.
patent: 3738248 (1973-06-01), Fish et al.
patent: 3971654 (1976-07-01), Kleinberg et al.
patent: 4096500 (1978-06-01), Lermann et al.
patent: 4179204 (1979-12-01), Robinson
patent: 4660949 (1987-04-01), Saito et al.
patent: 4887106 (1989-12-01), Cooper, Jr.
patent: 6151521 (2000-11-01), Guo et al.
Doubilet, David, a New Light in the sea, National Geographic, vol. 192 (2), p. 32-43, (Aug. 1997).*
Samuel M. Goldwasser, Sam's F-Lamp FAQ Fluorescent Lamps, Ballasts, and Fixtures, (C) 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1999.*
Cross, E. R., Skin Diver, v45, n11,, p24(3) Nov. 1996.
Mahoney Christopher
Nathans Robert
LandOfFree
Method and apparatus for photographing fluorescent undersea... does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Method and apparatus for photographing fluorescent undersea..., we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Method and apparatus for photographing fluorescent undersea... will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-2964573