Illumination – Elongated source light unit or support – With means to position plural light sources colinearly
Reexamination Certificate
1998-04-28
2001-04-24
O'Shea, Sandra (Department: 2875)
Illumination
Elongated source light unit or support
With means to position plural light sources colinearly
C362S225000, C362S231000, C362S404000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06220721
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates generally to lighting systems, and more particularly to a unitary lighting system that provides both general lighting and accent lighting.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
In many locations, it is often considered desirable to be able to provide indirect and/or direct general or ambient lighting as well as track or accent lighting. Combined illumination of this nature is often used, for example, in an architect's office or in a house in which accent lighting is used to highlight a selected area, such as one on which a painting is hung, or in a commercial establishment to highlight or concentrate light on merchandise offered for sale.
Ambient lighting fixtures or luminaires typically operate at one voltage, e.g. 277 volts, whereas accent or track lighting typically operates at a lower voltage, e.g. 120 volts. In a typical lighting fixture installation, a channel is secured to the ceiling and a luminaire is mounted to the channel for support and to receive electrical connection to the building electrical power supply. The known mounting channels typically, however, only provide support for a single type of lighting and do not provide more than a single operating voltage.
It is also often desirable for a lighting designer to be able to configure the building or room lighting system so as to provide the optimum combination of direct and indirect lighting as well as access lighting in certain areas. The known mounting channels have limited flexibility of use in that they are typically of a single length, and limited as to the locations and configurations in which they can be used.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is accordingly an object of the present invention to provide a unitary lighting system that readily provides both general and accent lighting throughout a space.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a lighting system which can be readily adapted and configured for use in a variety of architectural spaces to provide general lighting, and which also allows selected areas to be highlighted by accent lighting.
It is another object of the invention to provide a lighting system that can be readily configured to adapt to a wide variety of architectural spaces and to provide a more interesting and varied visual structure in those spaces.
It is yet a further object of the present invention to provide a unitary lighting system that includes both direct or indirect luminaires as well as track lighting, in an attractive and relatively inexpensive mounting system that is easy and inexpensive to install and to use, and which can be readily modified to produce new lighting patterns.
The present invention meets these and other objects by providing a mounting channel that is suspended from the ceiling that can be used with both luminaires and track lighting. The luminaire used in the system of the invention may be of various types to provide, as desired, direct light, indirect light, or direct/indirect light. The track lighting provides accent lighting to highlight selected areas.
The mounting channel includes three compartments separated by a horizontal wall and a vertical H-shaped member. Each compartment extends along the length of the mounting channel. Through wiring of different operating voltages or circuits can be placed in the adjoining compartments for respective connection either to one or more different types of luminaire, or to the track lighting fixture. When a luminaire is to be installed in the channel, the luminaire ballast is inserted into the lower compartment, the luminaire is secured to the underside of the channel, and the through wiring in one of the compartments is run to the ballast to connect it to the power line. When accent lighting is to be provided, a track section is placed in the lower compartment and the appropriate track wiring is run to the track.
By allowing the through-wiring to be achieved outside the lighting fixtures or modules and the track sections, the lighting modules and track sections can be spaced apart, as desired, rather than requiring separate continuous runs. Mounting channels can be connected to one another, such as by the use of end connectors of different shapes e.g. L-shaped, T-shaped, or X-shaped, so as to permit the mounting channels to be connected to one another in a desired configuration to best satisfy the requirements of the overall lighting system for general and accent lighting.
To the accomplishment of the above and to such further objects as may hereinafter appear, the present invention is directed to a unitary lighting system, substantially as defined in the appended claims and as described in the following specification, as considered with the accompanying drawings, in which:
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patent: 3075072 (1963-01-01), Gibson et al.
patent: 3123310 (1964-03-01), Damerul
patent: 4688154 (1987-08-01), Nilssen
patent: 4979081 (1990-12-01), Leach et al.
patent: 4980808 (1990-12-01), Lilos
patent: 4994943 (1991-02-01), Aspenwall
patent: 5025355 (1991-06-01), Harwood
patent: 5568969 (1996-10-01), Yu
Chan Kingsley
Lizarde Juan
Nourishad Fred
Genlyte Thomas Group LLC
Neils Peggy G
O'Shea Sandra
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