US 5,295,050 AGranted

Display system

AssigneeEaton Corporation

InventorsRobert P. Helstern, Vanacan Tatavossian

Life of this patent

Estimating the term…

Loading patent…

Abstract

An improved display system includes a prism having a pair of light receiving faces which intersect at an apex. The prism has a light emitting face from which light transmitted. The light emitting face of the prism has a series of parallel linear V-shaped grooves with side surfaces which intersect to form a series of parallel linear ridges which disperse rays of light. A display panel is disposed adjacent to the prism and has a rear side with indicia thereon. The indicia can be read from a front side of the display panel, even in bright sunlight, when a pair of light sources are energized. However, when the light sources are not energized, the indicia on the display panel cannot be observed. A divider panel separates the light sources to enable an observer to determine when one of the light sources is burned out. Reflectors direct light from the light sources toward the light receiving faces of the prism.

Claims19

Dependent claims

A display system which is readable in bright sunlight, said display system comprising a housing, energizeable means disposed in said housing for providing light when said energizeable means is energized, a prism disposed in said housing and having a generally triangular cross sectional configuration, said prism having a pair of light receiving faces disposed in planes which intersect at an apex adjacent to said energizeable means and which receive light from said energizeable means when said energizeable means is energized, said prism having a light emitting face through which light which enters said prism through said light receiving faces is emitted, said light emitting face having a series of parallel V-shaped grooves formed therein, said V-shaped grooves having side surfaces which intersect to form a series of parallel ridges extending across said light emitting face of said prism to disperse rays of light transmitted from said light receiving faces through said prism to said light emitting face of said prism, and a display panel disposed in said housing adjacent to said light emitting face of said prism, said display panel having a major side surface forming at least a portion of an outer side of said housing and extending parallel to said light emitting face of said prism, said display panel having indica thereon which is exposed to light transmitted from said light emitting face of said prism and which is observable when said energizeable means is energized even when said display panel is exposed to bright sunlight, the indicia on said display panel being obscured when said energizeable means is not energized and said display panel is exposed to bright sunlight.

A display system comprising a housing, energizeable means disposed in said housing for providing light when said energizeable means is energized, and a prism disposed in said housing and having a generally triangular cross sectional configuration, said prism having a pair of parallel and generally triangular end faces, a pair of flat rectangular light receiving faces which intersect at an apex disposed adjacent to said energizeable means and which extend between said end faces, said light receiving faces being exposed to light transmitted from said energizeable means when said energizeable means is energized, said prism having a rectangular light emitting face through which light which enters said prism through the light receiving faces is emitted, said light emitting face extending perpendicular to said end faces and having a series of parallel linear V-shaped grooves formed therein, said V-shaped grooves having side surfaces which intersect to form a series of parallel linear ridges extending across said light emitting face of said prism to disperse rays of light transmitted from said light receiving faces through said prism to said light emitting face of said prism, said ridges having longitudinal axes which extend perpendicular to said end faces and parallel to a longitudinal axis of the apex at which said light receiving faces of said prism intersect, said apex at which said light receiving faces intersect being disposed in a plane which extends perpendicular to said light emitting face of said prism and which bisects an angle formed by the intersection of said light receiving faces.

A display system comprising a housing, energizeable means disposed in said housing for providing light when said energizeable means is energized, said energizeable means including first and second sources of light, a prism disposed in said housing, said prism having a pair of light receiving faces disposed in planes which intersect at an apex adjacent to said energizeable means and which receive light from said energizeable means when said energizeable means is energized, said prism having a light emitting face through which light which enters said prism through said light receiving faces is emitted, and a divider panel disposed in said housing in engagement with said prism, said divider panel cooperating with said housing to at least partially define first and second compartments, said first light source being disposed in said first compartment and said second light source being disposed in said second compartment to enable an observer of said display system to determine when one of said first and second sources of light fails to emit light upon energization of said energizeable means.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.