Fiber optic light emitting panel and method of making same

The panel of claim of 24 wherein said fill threads are made of cotton to increase the friction between said optical fibers and said fill threads and to diffuse the light output from said panel.

A method of making a light emitting panel comprising the steps of forming an emitter surface having a plurality of optical fibers extending from one end of said emitter surface toward another end of said emitter surface, providing disruptions or bends in said optical fibers along the length of said optical fibers to cause light entering said optical fibers at said one end to be emitted from said disruptions or bends, said disruptions or bonds being formed to cause the light output from said disruptions or bends to progressively increase with the distance from said one end for at least a portion of the length of said emitter surface, and applying coating means to said optical fibers in said portion of said emitter surface having a higher index of refraction than said optical fibers to increase the attenuation of light emitter from said portion of said emitter surface and produce a substantially uniform light output from said portion of said emitter surface.

A light emitting panel comprising an emitter surface including a plurality of optical fibers which are woven to provide bends at discrete locations along the length of said optical fibers to allow light to be emitted therefrom, and coating means applied to said optical fibers having a refractive index that changes the attenuation of the light emitted from said optical fibers, said optical fibers being woven in a warp direction, with plural fill threads woven in a weft direction to control the shape and spacing of said bends for controlling the amount of light emitted from each of said bends.