Abstract:
Safety vests and garments are for enhancing the visibility of a wearer in low-light, poor vision conditions. The safety garment has a first reflective layer, a second layer of reflective tape, physically attaching Electro Illuminating Wire under the inside edge of the reflect tape that maybe sewn or glued secures the Electro Illuminating Wire in place. Electro Illuminating Wire is then connected to a standard battery pack of old circuitry. The Electro Illumination Wire and glue are available on the market, Electro Illuminating Wire is old circuitry, prior art. Physically attaching the electro illuminating wire to safety garments creates a new environment, new area for a brighter and versatile safety garment. The electro illuminating wire adds greater visibility to safety garments. Wearers have the option to turn on a bright solid light or bright blinking light, simply by pressing a button, adding even greater visibility to wearers and stopping injury or even death.

Description:
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
       [0001]    This application is a continuation-in-part application of U.S. application Ser. No. 13/915,646 filed Jun. 12, 2013, and claims priority from Provisional Application No. 61/661,253 filed Jun. 18, 2012 entitled “El Wire lighted safety vests,” both of which are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety. 
     
    
     BACKGROUND 
       [0002]    There are many occupations, sports, and hobbies that require specific safety measures in order to prevent injury. Many of these measures rely on increasing the visibility of a user or location. Specifically, brightly colored vests worn to increase the visibility of a person are typically worn by many workers to enhance their safety. Police officers often wear safety vests when directing traffic or working an accident scene. These vests are often worn over their garments and are made in high-visibility colors such as neon orange, yellow, or green. To increase visibility, these vests often include reflective tape to reflect the light from car headlights when used at night. Likewise, similar safety vests are worn by Department of Transportation personnel and many other persons whose occupations require them to work in close proximity to highways and other means of high vehicular traffic. Additionally, airport personnel use high-visibility safety vests when working on the ramp area around aircraft. 
         [0003]    Another segment of society that often utilize high-visibility safety vests are people participating in sports such as hunting, fishing, cycling, snow skiing, and running. All of these sports rely on these vests to highlight the participant in order to protect them from being shot by other hunters or hit by vehicles whose drivers would not otherwise see them without a safety vest. Another benefit of using safety vests when participating in certain sports allow the wearer to be more closely tracked to prevent them or their companions from becoming lost. Hunter and fishermen often hunt and fish with others, but may become separated as they wander the woods or downstream from one another. By wearing brightly colored vests, the hunters or fishermen can better keep track of one another since the vests allow them to see each other from greater distances than would otherwise 
         [0004]    Even though these high-visibility safety vests greatly improve the chance that a wearer of the vest will be seen by others, certain limitations still exist. First, a brightly colored vest may be adequate for certain applications when used in a well-lit environment, but the ability for a colored vest to distinguish a wearer from the surrounding environment greatly diminishes as the ambient light also diminishes. As mentioned above, reflective tape is sometimes used to increase the visibility of a vest. This tape works well as long as the light source, i.e. headlights, is directed to the tape, but diminishes as the light source moves away from the reflective tape. This attribute of the reflective tape creates a hazard for workers in certain situations. For example, a person working at a location such as an intersection, where a vehicle might turn towards them only when it is already close to the worker, might not be seen until it is too late since the headlights of the vehicle will not shine in the direction of the worker until the vehicle turns in that direction. Additionally, most safety vests described above will not aid sportsmen in keeping within sight of one another once ambient light diminishes to the point that the vest can no longer be seen. Reflective tape does not help in this situation as the person as the person wearing the vest may be too far away from a person with a light source such as a flashlight. 
         [0005]    There are safety vests that have self-illumination features, such as vests made by POLYBRITE INTERNATIONAL of Naperville, Ill. These vests and others with illumination features only provide a user with a single safety feature, namely illumination, manufactured in a single configuration. A user may have the option of turning the illumination on and off, but is left with the particular configuration of reflective tape and the illumination sources established by the manufacturer. Additionally, light-emitting diodes (LEDs) are often left unprotected and susceptible to damage. 
         [0006]    U.S. Pat. No. 4,891,896 issued on Jan. 9, 1990 to Boren and assigned to the Gulf Development Company is an example of many attempts to duplicate neon lighting. Like this attempt, most prior art neon simulations have resulted in structures difficult to fabricate and providing a little in the way of weight and handling benefits. The Boren patent exemplifies this by providing a plastic panel with essentially bas-relief lettering. The material comprising the lettering is transparent and coated with a translucent material. The surrounding material is opaque. When the panel is back lit the letting tends to glow with a neon-like intensity. 
         [0007]    The more recent introduction of light weight and breakage resistant point light sources as exemplified by high intensity light emitting diodes (“LEDs”) have shown great promise to those interested in illumination devises that may simulate neon lighting and have stimulated much effort in that direction. However, the twin attributes of neon lighting, uniformity and brightness, have proven to be difficult obstacles to hurdle as such attempts to simulate neon lighting have largely been stymied by the tradeoffs between light distribution to promote the uniformity and brightness. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,976,057 issued Dec. 11, 1990 to Bianchi describes a device that includes a transparent or translucent hollow plastic tubing which is mounted in juxtaposition to a sheet of material having light transmitting areas that are co-extensive to the tubing. The tubing can be made into any shape including lettering. While the tubing may be lit by such arrangement is likely to result in a “glowing” tube having insufficient intensity to match that of neon lighting. The use of point light sources such as LEDs may provide intense light that rival or exceed neon lighting, but when arranged in arrays lack the uniformity needed and unfortunately provide alternate high and low intensity regions in the illuminated surfaces. Attempts to smooth out the light have resulted in lighting that has unacceptably low intensity levels. 
         [0008]    It is therefore a paramount object of the present invention to provide for an energy efficient, virtually unbreakable alternative to neon lighting. 
         [0009]    A further important object of the present invention is to provide for a light device that is safe to transport and economical to operate while providing all of the application virtues of neon lighting including uniformity and brightness. 
         [0010]    Yet another object of the present invention is to provide for an alternative to neon lighting that is environmentally friendly, requiring no neon gas, and running on significantly less electricity that its neon equivalent. 
         [0011]    Still another object of the present invention is to provide for a neon equivalent that is easy to install without complex high voltage electrical installations. 
         [0012]    These and other objects of the present invention will become readily apparent and addressed through a reading of the discussion below and appended drawings. 
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION 
       [0013]    The present invention utilizes a material having wire-like characteristics that preferentially solid light entering a lateral surface of the wire (“light emitting surface”) is elongated along the length of the wire. A light source extends along and is positioned adjacent the light receiving surface and spaced from the light emitting surface a distance sufficient to create an elongated light intensity pattern along the length of the wire. In a preferred arrangement, the light source is a wire-like solid light sufficient to permit the mapping of the light emitted so as to create elongated light intensity pattern along the light emitting surface and circumferentially about the surface so that the collective light intensity pattern is perceived as being uniform over substantially the entire surface when being viewed from a normal head-on and side perspectives. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0014]      FIGS. 1-9  show example embodiments of the method and apparatus described herein. 
           [0015]      FIG. 1 , is a Front view of a standard well known Safety Vest, with an elevated perspective view of encased Electro Illumination Wire for protection then attachment, of the present invention; 
           [0016]      FIG. 2 , is a back view of a safety vest illustrating attachment of electro illumination wire in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention; 
           [0017]      FIG. 3 , is a side view of attachment of electro illumination wire within a protective cover, and showing the flexibility with one embodiment of the present invention; 
           [0018]      FIG. 4 , is the left inside view of safety vest and showing how the inside pocket secures the AA-battery pack in place; 
           [0019]      FIG. 5 , is a top elevation view of attaching the electro illumination wire, as positioned in the present invention; 
           [0020]      FIG. 6 , is an enlarged view of the electro illumination wire, attached under the reflective strip edge and on top of the safety vests mesh to secure electro illumination wire with in the present invention; 
           [0021]      FIG. 7 , is an elevated view of the clear material used to protect electro illumination wire and secure it to the safety vest of the present invention; 
           [0022]      FIG. 8 , is a partially explored view of a battery pack, illustrating detachable connectors, off/on button, in accordance with embodiment of the present invention; and 
           [0023]      FIG. 9  show, respectively, a safety vest being worn and illustrating the light distribution characteristics of a single point light source within a device constructed in accordance with the present invention. 
       
    
    
       [0024]    Although specific features of various embodiments may be shown in some drawings and not in others, this is for convenience only. Any feature of any drawing may be referenced and/or claimed in combination with any feature of any other drawing. 
         [0025]    Unless otherwise indicated, the drawings provided herein are meant to illustrate features of embodiments of the disclosure. These features are believed to be applicable in a wide variety of systems comprising one or more embodiments of the disclosure. As such, the drawings are not meant to include all conventional features known by those of ordinary skill in the art to be required for the practice of the embodiments disclosed herein. 
       DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       [0026]    The following description refers to the accompanying drawings, in which, in the absence of a contrary representation, the same numbers in different drawings represent similar elements. 
         [0027]    The present invention now will be described more fully hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which illustrative embodiment of the invention are shown. This invention may, however, be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiment set forth herein; rather, these embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete, and will fully convey the scope of the invention to those skilled in the art. Like numbers refer to like elements throughout. 
         [0028]    For the people working or participating in sports or hobbies in close proximity to motor vehicles, aircraft, or other potential dangers, being visible could mean the difference between life and death. Aspects of the present invention provide improved safety vests and garments to be utilized by police, firemen, airport ramp workers, department of transportation personnel, construction workers, refuse collectors, military personnel, coast guards, ship operator and employees, hunters, runners, snow skiers, cyclists, and any other persons relying on enhanced visibility to ensure their safety. Safety vests and safety garments according to aspects of the present invention provide users with increased visibility in low light, poor weather conditions utilizing self-illumination that does not rely on reflecting light from sources outside of the safety garments. The safety garments illumination sources are protected increasing the durability and life of the safety garments. Embodiments of the present invention provide personnel not only increased safety, but also increased utility through flexible options and features. It should be understood by those skilled in the art that while the following description utilizes a safety vest to illustrate embodiments of the present invention, the invention is equally applicable to other garments such as hats, gloves, belts, pants and rain gear. 
         [0029]      FIG. 1  Illustrates a front view  11  of the safety vest  10 , according to one embodiment of the present invention. Safety vest  10  is preferably made from mesh  14  to allow air to penetrate the vest for the comfort of the wearer, but may be any other suitable material. To avoid confusion, only a portion of the safety vest  10  shown in  FIG. 1  and  FIG. 9  is shown as mesh  14 , but it is to be understood that the entire surface may be mesh  14 . Mesh  14  may be a bright color to provide a sharp contrast with the surrounding environment of a wearer in order to attract attention, such as neon orange, neon green, or neon yellow. When safety vest  10  is warn, the wearer will have a front closing with a zipper  18  to secure the safety vest  10  in place, respectively using any fastening means now known or developed in the future, but may also be secured using snaps, buttons, hook and loop material, or any combination thereof. It should be appreciated that any safety vest  10  designs, market availability is equally applicable to the embodiments of the present invention described herein. Safety vest  10  has a plurality of reflective strips  12  attached to the mesh  14 . Reflective strips  12  add to the visibility of the safety vest  10  since they have a reflectance that is greater than that of the mesh  14 . Because reflective strips  12  reflect more light than mesh  14 , they are more easily seen in low-light conditions with the aid of outside light source such as headlights of an automobile. Reflective strips  12  are sewn  39  to mesh  14 .  FIG. 5  shows how the market available electro illumination wire  13  is attached by sewing  39  under the edge of the reflective tape  12  enhancing the visibility of the safety vest  10 . X  24  is on and off button. Aperture  15  is where electro illumination wire  13  exits inside pouch to front of the safety vest  10  for application. 
         [0030]      FIG. 2  shows the back view of the safety vest  10 , according to the embodiment of the present invention. By physically attaching electro illumination wire  13  causes a new environment and gives the wearer room on the back, and front for identification. For example, the safety vest  10 , may be marked with letter “POLICE,” “DOT”, “UNITED ARMED FORCES,” a company name, or any other identifying insignia corresponding to the name, or any other identifying insignia corresponding to the wearer. Alternatively, mesh  14  may be marked with messages such as “CAUTION” or “SLOW”. These identifiers and messages may be printed on the mesh  14  using a contrasting color, or may be created using reflective strips  12 . It is to be understood the reflective strips  12  may be secured to the mesh  14  in any pattern or configuration. 
         [0031]      FIG. 3  shows a side view of safety vest  10 ,  19  back of safety vest  10 . 11 , front of safety vests  10 . The flexibility of electro illuminating wire  13  around the back right corner  13 -A of safety vest  10 , demonstrating the ability to bend electro illuminating wire  13  up to the right side shoulder and down to the right front to aperture  15 , exiting inside waist of the safety vest  10  and secured. 
         [0032]      FIG. 4  shows an inside view of safety vest  10 , which includes a pouch  25 . Pouch  25  with top opening  27 , is preferably made of mesh  14  and sewn  39  to the inside of safety vest  10 . It is understood that the pouch  26  may be made from any material and secured in any location on safety vests  10 . Inside safety vest  10  shows the placement of pouch  26  inside  17  of safety vest  10 . 
         [0033]      FIG. 5  is a side view of the attachment of the electro illumination wire  13  to the reflective strip  12  edge. By physically attaching electro illumination wire  13  by sewing  39  under reflective strips edge  12  and on top of mesh  14 , creates a secure and safe, new environment. It is to be understood the electro illumination wire  13  may be secured to the safety vest  10  in any pattern or configuration. 
         [0034]      FIG. 6  illustrates a cross section of electro illumination wire  13  and attachment. Electro illumination wire  13  is protected by clear protective cover  30 ,  31  is showing ending of clear protective cover  30 . Placed between bottom edge of reflective strip  12  and top of mesh  14 , sewing  39 , secures electro illumination wire  13  securely in place. It is to be understood the electro illumination wire  13  may be secured to the safety vest  10  in any pattern or configuration. 
         [0035]      FIG. 7  Electro illumination wire  13 , has a protective cover  30 , as seen in  FIG. 7 , however, it is to be understood that protective cover  30  market available, may be any shape. Protective cover  30  is preferably made of durable, stretch-resistant, heat-resistant material to ensure long life.  FIG. 7, 32  shows center of protective covering. 
         [0036]      FIG. 8  The electro illumination wire  13  assemblies power source  22  and connecting electrical wires  13 -A further includes on/off button  24  is secured in a location inside safety vest  10 ,  FIG. 4 . Location of on/off button  24  is behind the reflective strip  12 , on front of safety vest  10 ,  FIG. 1  and  FIG. 9  X,  24  indicates location of secured on/off button  24 . Power source  22  is preferably uses two AA-sized batteries, but maybe any number of or size of batteries sufficient to provide power to electro illumination wire  13  depending on the length and width of electro illumination wire  13  to the power source. A battery pack  22  rests in a pouch  26  sewn  39  to the interior of the safety vest  10 . A wearer presses a marked location  24  on the reflective strip  12  in order to activate and deactivate the electro illumination wire  13 . The circuit components are hidden and protected from damage due to ordinary wear and tear from use of the safety vest  10 . The wearer of safety vest  10  has easy access to the on/off button  24 , while the button  24  remains protected for durability purposes. It is also to be understood that the electro illumination wire  13  assemblies and corresponding wiring and circuitry may be located on safety vest  10  separate from the reflective strip  12 . The safety vest  10 , may be water-resistant or waterproof if the battery pack  22  and behind reflective strip  12 , on front of safety vest  10 ,  FIG. 1  and  FIG. 9  X  24  indicates location of secured on/off button  24 . Power source  22  is preferably two AA-sized batteries, but may be any number of or size of batteries sufficient to provide power to electro illumination wire  13  depending on the length and type of electro illumination wire  13  to the power source. A battery pack  22  rests in a pouch  26 , sewn  39  to the interior of the safety vest  10 . The wearer presses a marked location  24  on a reflective strip  12  in order to activate and deactivate the electro illumination wire  13 . 
         [0037]      FIG. 9  Illustrates electro illumination wire  13 , attached to reflective strip  12 , X,  24 , off/on button, is shown on front view  11  of  FIG. 9 , marked on the reflective strip  12 , placed for ease of wearer to activate or deactivate on/off button  24 . Safety vest  10  is shown of mesh  14 .  FIG. 9  shows an example of a zipper  18  for front closure. Showing how its look is impressive to automobile drivers, cyclists, walkers, truck drivers, anyone on the roadways. Wearers do not have to depend on automobile headlights to be seen, thereby protecting them from injury or even death. 
         [0038]    It should be understood that application of electro illumination wire to a market available safety vest, may be located anywhere on the front and back of safety vests. Electro illumination wire is light weight, resistance to the rigors of packing, handling, shipping, and installation, and the minimal heating aspect of the electro illumination wire, permits essentially endless possibilities for lighting and color sequences. The electro illumination wire, may for example, be provided with various electrical components that permit flashing of the light sources in varied timed sequences and give the effect of moving. Various light source colors may be used with the present invention. From the discussion above, it may be appreciated that the electro illumination wire of the present invention is rugged and resists breakage that normally would be expected for neon or LED lighting counterparts in shipping and handling. The electro illumination wire preferably solid state lighting such as electro illumination wire uses far less electrical energy and remains cool to touch. This allows the electro illumination wire of the present invention to be used in places where the heat generated by neon and led lighting precludes its use. Moreover, the light weight of the electro illumination wire facilitates mounting on support structures that could not support the relative weight of the neon and led lighting, and its required accessories including the high voltage infrastructure behind reflective strip  12 , on front of safety vest  10 ,  FIG. 1  and  FIG. 9  X  24  indicates location of secured on/off button  24 . Power source  22  is preferably two AA-sized batteries, but may be any number of or size of batteries sufficient to provide power to electro illumination wire  13  depending on the length and type of electro illumination wire  13  to the power source. A battery pack  22  rests in a pouch  26  sewn  39  to the interior of the safety vest  10 . The wearer presses a marked location  24  on a reflective strip  12  in order to activate and deactivate the electro illumination wire  13 . 
         [0039]      FIG. 9  illustrates electro illumination wire  13 , attached to reflective strip  12 , X,  24 , off/on button, is shown on front view  11  of  FIG. 9 , marked on the reflective strip  12 , placed for ease of wearer to activate or deactivate on/off button  24 . Safety vest  10  is shown of mesh  14 .  FIG. 9  shows an example of a zipper  18  for front closure. Showing how its look is impressive to automobile drivers, cyclists, walkers, truck drivers, anyone on the roadways. Wearers do not have to depend on automobile headlights to be seen, protecting them from injury or even death. 
         [0040]    It should be understood that application of electro illumination wire to a market available safety vest, may be located anywhere on the front and back of safety vests. Electro illumination wire is light weight, resistance to the rigors of packing, handling, shipping, and installation, and the minimal heating aspect of the electro illumination wire, permits essentially endless possibilities for lighting and color sequences. The electro illumination wire, may for example, be provided with various electrical components that permit flashing of the light sources in varied timed sequences and give the effect of moving. Various light source colors may be used with the present invention. From the discussion above, it may be appreciated that the Electro Illumination Wire of the present invention is rugged and resists breakage that normally would be expected for neon or LED lighting counterparts in shipping and handling. The electro illumination wire preferably solid state lighting such as electro illumination wire uses far less electrical energy and remains cool to touch. This allows the electro illumination wire of the present invention to be used in places where the heat generated by neon and led lighting precludes its use. Moreover, the light weight of the electro illumination wire facilitates mounting on support structures that could not support the relative weight of the neon and led lighting, and its required accessories including the high voltage infrastructure. 
         [0041]    Finally, the electro illumination wire is flexible in its use, allowing a tremendous variety of lighting techniques very difficult to obtain in neon and led lighting without substantial expense. Other advantages and uses of the present invention will be clearly obvious to those skilled in the art upon reading of the disclosure herein and are intended to be covered by the scope of the claims set forth. 
         [0042]    The above specification, examples and data provide a complete description of the manufacture and use of the composition of the invention. Since many embodiments of the invention can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention, the invention resides in the claims hereinafter appended. 
         [0043]    Although specific features of various embodiments of the disclosure may be shown in some drawings and not in others, this is for convenience only. In accordance with the principles of the disclosure, any feature of a drawing may be referenced and/or claimed in combination with any feature of any other drawing. 
         [0044]    This written description uses examples to disclose the embodiments, including the best mode, and also to enable any person skilled in the art to practice the embodiments, including making and using any devices or systems and performing any incorporated methods. The patentable scope of the disclosure is defined by the claims, and may include other examples that occur to those skilled in the art. Such other examples are intended to be within the scope of the claims if they have structural elements that do not differ from the literal language of the claims, or if they include equivalent structural elements with insubstantial differences from the literal language of the claims.