Deformation-activated safety light for elastic tires

Abstract

The disclosed safety light is designed to provide automatic operation for lights placed on elastic tires. Wheel (100) comprises a hub (84), a urethane tire (88), and a safety light circuit molded into the urethane tire and hub. The safety light circuit is formed on a circuit board which holds electrical components comprising, a battery (B1), deformation-activated switch (SW1), photo sensor and delay(CDS1, D1, R1, R2, Q1, C1), and illumination devices (LED1 and LED2). Battery(B1) provides electromotive power to operate all circuitry, with switch (SW1), photo sensor CDS1, and illumination devices (LEDp1 and LED2) placed substantially in series electrically. Switch (SW1) is designed to conduct current when a change in deformation or a specified rate-of-change in deformation of the tire material is detected. The photocell (CDS1) signals the photo-sensor to conduct current when photocell (CDS1) detects a sufficiently low level of light. When both switch (SW1) and photo sensor are conducting, current will flow to illumination devices(LED1 and LED2) and provide light output. With a time delay on the photo-sensor, continuous light output can be obtained from illumination devices(LED1 and LED2) even though switch (SW1) only provides an intermittent signal. Because deformation switch (SW1) has a predictable point in its rotation (near the rolling surface) where it is activated, it can be used to control the position where photocell (CDS1) takes its reading of the ambient light conditions. Since most in-line skates have a wheel housing that shrouds the upper portion of the wheels, photocell (CDS1) is placed near switch (SW1) so that it samples ambient light while near the ground and away from the wheel housing and skate shoe.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.