`Johnson et a1.
`
`[191
`
`[54] CARGO VEHICLE PERIMETER
`CLEARANCE LIGHTING SYSTEM
`
`[76]
`
`Inventors: Glenn M. Johnson, 1146 Longwood
`Ave... Los Angeles, Calif. 90019;
`Derek R. Gallardo, 9594; West
`Olympic Blvd, Beverly Hills, Calif.
`90212
`
`[21] Appl. No.: 318,709
`
`[22]
`
`filed:
`
`Mar. 3, 1989
`
`Int. (1.5 ................................................ F21Y 8/00
`[51]
`[52] US. a. ........................................ 362/32; 362/61;
`362/74
`[58] Field of Search ....................... 362/32, 61, 80, 74,
`362/330, 328
`
`[56]
`
`References Cited
`U.S. PATENT DOCUMENTS
`
`............................. 362/32
`2,198,443 4/1940 Paul et al.
`240/2
`2,479,500 8/1949 Longberg
`. 240/7.7
`2,704,321
`3/1955 Orlansky ..
`
`..... 240/8.l
`2.791.678
`5/1957 Ferman
`2,808,502 10/1957 Large ............ 240/82
`3.1135089 10/1961 Robbins .................... 362/61
`
`3/1973 Van lderstine et al.
`..... 240/7.7
`3,723,722
`
`3,761,706 9/1973 Frey ........................... 362/32
`3,854,438 12/1974 Soto .....
`. 116/28R
`
`
`4,561,043 12/1985 Thompson 362/32
`
`[11] Patent Number:
`
`4,947,293
`
`[45] Date of Patent:
`
`Aug. 7, 1990
`
`4,613,927 9/1986 Brandt ................................... 362/32
`4.740,870 4/1933 Moore
`....... 352/32
`.
`.. 350/9624
`4,763,984
`8/1988 Awai et a1.
`
`3/1989 Viola ......................... 362/32
`4.311.171
`3/1989 Yamada et al. ................ 362/32 XV
`4,816,968
`
`FOREIGN PATENT DOCUMENTS
`660223
`3/1963 Canada .................................. 362/74
`
`Pn'man Examiner—Stephen F. Husar
`Assistant Examiner—Richard R. Cole
`Attorney. Agent. or Firm—Harvey S. Hertz; William T.
`O’Neil
`
`mm
`[57]
`A trailer or semi-trailer cargo container body clearance
`lighting system including a core light conducting mate-
`rial in the form of an elongated light-conducting strip
`clad about its cross-section with a translucent material
`layer having an index of refraction different from that of
`the core material to produce alight guide. The core and
`cladding are constructed to support lower and higher
`modes of light transmission and thereby provide lateral
`light emission as well as longitudinal propagation. A
`light source with light focusing reflectors is adapted to
`end-illuminate light guides for both sides of a container
`body from a single light source.
`
`3 Claims, 2 Drawing Sheets
`
`
`
`Page 1 of 5
`
`TOYOTA EXHIBIT 1003
`
`Page 1 of 5
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`TOYOTA EXHIBIT 1003
`
`
`
`US. Patent
`
`Aug. 7, 1990
`
`Sheet 1 of 2
`
`4,947,293
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`Page 2 0f 5
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`Page 2 of 5
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`
`
`US. Patent
`
`Aug. 7, 1990
`
`Sheet 2 of 2
`
`4,947,293
`
`
`
`Page 3 0f 5
`
`Page 3 of 5
`
`
`
`1
`
`4,947,293
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`2
`
`CARGO VEHICLE PERIIVIE'I'ER CLEARANCE
`LIGHTING SYSTEM
`
`BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
`1. Field of the Invention
`
`The invention relates generally to apparatus for con-
`tinuous strip illumination along the top edge of the
`perimeter of the vehicle body, and, more specifically, to
`a continuously illuminated clearance light strip arrange-
`ment along that perimeter.
`2. Description of the Prior Art
`Highway cargo vehicles of the semi-trailer or full
`trailer type are conventionally constructed as separate
`chassis units with container bodies mounted thereon
`and are pulled by tractor units. Vehicles codes uni-
`formly prescribe brake, clearance and turn signal light
`locations and light colors. Every container body of the
`type includes an indentation or trough about at least a
`portion of the body perimeter adjacent to the roof line
`of the body for placement of clearance and other re-
`quired lights. Conventionally, the lights placed therein
`are prior art units including incandescent lamps.
`The light strips employed in the novel combination
`are emplaced horizontally within the container body
`trough along at least a portion of the perimeter of the
`container body such that lateral visibility is provided.
`The light strips employed in the novel combination
`are constructed in accordance with optic fiber princi-
`ples. Light transmission from an energizing source must
`travel longitudinally within the strips but also must
`emit, more or less uniformly, laterally. The use of fiber
`optic structures to convey light longitudinally and at
`the same time provide the needed lateral emission is
`known in the prior art. US. Pat. No. 4,763,984 discloses
`an arrangement including a plurality of optic fibers
`extending in lateral juxtaposition in a plane. The en-
`hanced lateral light flux emission thereby provides the
`appearance of an illuminated strip.
`In such an arrangement various techniques may be
`employed to enhance the required lateral emission. In
`the usual fiber optics arrangement light signal convey-
`ance is optimized to provide longitudinal light transmis-
`sion with a minimum of lateral emission, the latter being
`regarded as undesired leakage. For that purpose,
`the
`optical fiber core and cladding are constructed in accor-
`dance with well known criteria to provide light flux
`propagation in lower order and fundamental modes
`resulting in very little lateral emission. In the present
`combination, however, both the longitudinal transmis-
`sion and lateral emission are desired. The aforemen-.
`tioned US. Pat. No. 4,763,984 describes some methods
`and structural variations in respect to optic fiber core
`size, etc. for effecting the desired lateral light emission
`along with sufficient longitudinal propagation. Those
`criteria are generally applicable to the structure of the
`invention although very significant structural differ-
`ences vis-a-vis the prior art are included in the novel
`combination. These novelties will be described as this
`specification proceeds.
`Other known prior art disclosing uses of lateral emis-
`sions from an end- energized light guide includes US.
`Pat. Nos. 2,479,500 and 2,808,502. Other prior art show-
`ing various uses of “light pipes” for various purposes
`includes US. Pat. Nos. 2,704,321; 3,723,722; 3,854,438;
`and 4,740,B70. None of the known prior art discloses, or
`makes obvious, the novel combination of the invention.
`
`5
`
`10
`
`15
`
`20
`
`25
`
`30
`
`35
`
`45
`
`50
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`
`65
`
`SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
`
`It may be said to have been the general object of the
`invention to provide an inexpensive and easily manufac-
`tured and installed light strip, light guide particularly
`for insertion into a cargo vehicle body indentation to
`provide improved clearance lighting.
`The invention relies on known optical fiber design
`principles which provide light propagation within a flat
`strip light guide in lower and also higher modes to
`afford both longitudinal travel and lateral emission from
`a novel light guide structure. That structure includes a
`flat strip of light transmissive material, the broad lateral
`surface of which provides the latergl emission desired.
`That strip is the monolithic core of the light guide struc-
`ture and is encased in a cladding of a translucent mate-
`rial having an index of refraction differing from that of
`the core. The physical configuration of the core and
`cladding is relied upon to produce lower and higher
`mode light propagation therein for the purpose of the
`device.
`The details of a typical embodiment according to the
`invention are set forth in the detailed Description here—
`inafter.
`
`BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
`
`FIG. 1 is a pictorial view of a typical semi-trailer and
`tractor cargo vehicle with the clearance lighting appa-
`ratus in place.
`FIG. 2 is a detail of a typical trough (elongated inden-
`tation) adjacent to the container body (semi-trailer) roof
`line, with exploded view of the light guide structure
`according to the invention.
`FIG. 3 is a sectional view of the light guide taken
`along the line 3—3 of FIG. 2.
`FIG. 4 is a partially cut-away view of the light guide
`end anchoring means.
`FIG. Sis a pictorial view illustrating placement of the
`light source box at the front end of the container box in
`relations to a pair of light guide members extending
`therefrom.
`FIG. 6 illustrates the interior structure of the light
`source box of FIG. Sin section taken along the line 6—6
`of FIG. 5.
`FIG. 7 illustrates another sectional view of the inte-
`rior of the light source box taken along the line 7—7 of
`FIG. 5.
`FIG. 8 is a horizontal layout of a typical cargo con-
`tainer body light guide layout according to FIG. 1.
`DETAILED DESCRIPTION
`
`Referring to FIG. 1, a semi-trailer cargo vehicle 10
`including chassis mounted container body 11 and trac-
`tor unit 12 is shown. Light guides 13 and 14 are shown
`recessed into the conventional elongated indentation
`within the container body adjacent to the roof thereof
`and are secured by a plurality of clips, typically 17 and
`18. In FIG. 2, this elongated indentation is shown at
`11a. The light guide on this side of the body 11 is termi-
`nated in a cap 16 which is secured within the indenta-
`tion (recess) 11a by a screw 20 through mounting hole
`160 and into threaded opening 21.
`In FIG. 3 the light guide 13 will be seen to be config-
`ured as a substantially flat core member 130 with clad-
`ding 13b to produce light flux propagation along the
`length of light guide 13 as well as lateral emission illus-
`trated by arrows 23. Although there are various materi-
`als suitable for the core 13a and the cladding 13b, a
`
`Page 4 0f 5
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`Page 4 of 5
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`
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`5
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`20
`
`3
`polyfilimer material with transparent (or at least trans-
`lucent) polytetrafluorethylene cladding as manufac-
`tured by Luminite Corp. of Chatsworth, Calif. provides
`the appropriate combination of refractive indices to
`establish the light propagation modes which will result
`in the desired longitudinal light flux propagation and
`lateral emission through the cladding 13b when the light
`guide is end illuminated.
`FIG. 4 illustrates a way of anchoring the light guide.
`A cap member 16 has a bore with interval barbs 24 for 10
`gripping the light guide as it is inserted therein.
`Turning now to FIG. 5, a pictorial representation
`shows the light source enclosure 26 having a forward
`portion 260 which fits into the elongated indentation
`110 to facilitate end illumination of both light guides 13 15
`and 14 while they are seated within indentation 110.
`The clad light guides 13 and 14 project from the enclo-
`sure through openings with sealing grommets, typically
`25. Enclosure 26 has a cover plate 26b hinged at 26d and
`has a securing screw at 26c.
`Sectional views taken as indicated on FIG. 5 are
`depicted in FIG. 6 and FIG. 7. A double concave re-
`flector 27 has a first concave reflective surface 271: for
`concentrating (focusing) light flux from light source 28
`onto the inward end of light guide 13. Concave surface 25
`27b similarly reflects light form source 28 onto the cor-
`responding end of light guide 14. FIG. 7 shows that
`surface 27a, and for that matter 27b, concentrates the
`light in a vertical line since the inward ends of light
`guides 13 and 14 lie in a substantially vertical plane.
`FIG. 8 shows a plan view of light guides 13 and 14
`associated with light source enclosure 26.
`The light guides employed in the combination de-
`scribed afford simple installation and are commercially
`available. The flexibility of this form of light guide 35
`facilitates corner bends at 29 and 30 (FIG. 8), resulting
`in ease of installation. Moreover, the light guides em-
`ployed are much more economically fabricated than
`light guides formed of a plurality of optical fibers of
`circular cross section.
`In FIG. 2, a mandatory rear side light 22 is shown and
`is conventional in all respects. Light 22 is of a color
`prescribed by vehicle regulations and is no more than 18
`inches from the rear of the container body. Illumination
`according to the invention is not normally provided on 45
`the rear of the container body whose full height access
`doors are normally provided. Only the light source 28
`
`4
`requires electrical wiring, a further factor in simplifying
`installation on a cargo vehicle body.
`The light guides 13 an 14 are readily fabricated to
`laterally emit a specified light color by coloration of the
`polytetrafluorethylene cladding 13b.
`Modifications and variations within the scope of the
`inventive concept will suggest themselves to those of
`skill in this art. Accordingly, it is not intended that the
`scope of the invention be limited to the specific details
`depicted in the drawings or described in this specifica-
`tion, these being intended to be typical and illustrative
`only.
`‘
`What Is Claimed Is:
`1. In a highway cargo vehicle including at least one
`chassis mounted container body drawn by a tractor
`unit, said container body having a standard elongated
`recessed indentation extending adjacent to a roof line of
`said body, the combination comprising:
`at least one light guide in strip form mounted within
`said elongated indentation, said light guide having
`a solid core of polyfilimer material having a first
`index of refraction and a cladding being composed
`of polytetrafluorethylene having a second index of
`refraction, said light guide being of generally rect—
`angular cross-section mounted with a broad side of
`said cross-section facing outward;
`means for illuminating one end of said light guide
`over said cross-section;
`and mode forming means associated with said light
`guide including the physical cross-sectional dimen-
`sions of said light guide and a predetermined ratio
`of said first and second indices of refraction
`thereby effecting longitudinal light flux propaga-
`tion within said light guide and lateral light flux
`emission from said outward facing broad side of
`said light guide.
`2. The system according to claim 1 in which said
`cladding is colored to produce corresponding coloring
`of said laterally emitted light.
`3. The combination according to claim 1 in which
`said illuminating means is mounted along a forward end
`of said vehicle body and two of said light guides are
`connected therefrom and formed to bend around for-
`ward comers of said vehicle and thence formed around
`sides of said vehicle body to provide said clearance
`lighting.
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