Variable radius multi-lamp illumination system
AssigneeThe United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Air Force
InventorWilla Cather Inbody
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Electric lamps are mounted by lamp arms to lamp pulleys that are, in turn, mounted to a rigid frame. A motor-driven belt synchronously rotates the lamps via frictional contact with the lamp pulleys to position the lamps to optimally illuminate a target surface. The lamps can be synchronously moved from a first location outside the periphery of the frame to a second location within the frame periphery by operation of the motor driving the belt. In either location, as well as in any other location, the apparatus provides an un-impeded, pass-through opening within the frame for an un-impeded line of sight to the target surface. Furthermore, the radial distance from each lamp to the geometric center of the frame remains the same, and the lamps remain spaced equally apart from each other.
Claims18
An adjustable lighting apparatus comprising:
- a rigid frame being square and having a geometric frame center;
- a plurality of pulleys attached to the frame, with each of the pulleys being rotatable about its own axis of rotation;
- a plurality of lamps, with each of the lamps being attached to one of the pulleys by means of a rigid lamp arm;
- a belt being in frictional contact with the pulleys and a drive pulley, wherein the drive pulley is for synchronously rotating the pulleys about their respective axes of rotation and, therefore, synchronously rotating the lamps about the axes, respectively;
- each of the lamps traversing an angle from a respective starting point when rotated;
- the lamps being at an equal radial distance from the geometric frame center and the respective angles being equal at every rotational position;
- an identical point on each of the lamps, and a locus being formed by each of the identical points when the lamps are rotated about the pulley axes, respectively;
- the loci forming respective arcs;
- and
- the arcs lying in a plane.
A frame and lighting system for illuminating a target in preparation for optical interaction with an optical device, comprising:
- a frame having an inner surface and an outer surface and providing an un-impeded, pass-through opening defined by a space within the inner surface, the space enabling optical interaction between to target locatable in front of the frame with an optical device locatable behind the frame, wherein the optical interaction between the target and the optical device occurs near a geometric center of the opening;
- a motor including a motor pulley, a belt, and lamp pulleys, wherein the belt is in frictional contact with the lamp pulleys and with the motor pulley attached to the motor, which cooperate to facilitate movement of the belt and the lamp pulleys;
- a controller operating the motor, wherein the belt is movable in forward and reverse directions on the lamp pulleys and the motor pulley;
- and
- lamps oriented to illuminate the target surface and mounted on at least two of the lamp pulleys, wherein each of the lamps is attached to a lamp arm and the lamp arm for each of the lamps is mounted to a surface of the lamp pulleys apart from the frame in a manner that extends the lamps away from the lamp pulleys, wherein the lamps are synchronously movable from a first location outside the periphery of the frame to a second location within the periphery of the frame by operation of the controller, and wherein the lamps preserve an un-impeded, pass-through opening within the frame when the lamps are in the second location.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.