Abstract:
To enable legal twenty-four hour national flag display, to permit night display of vehicle-mounted school and team flags, and to do either with minimal increase in night sky light pollution, I mount a light source immediately adjacent a flag and direct the light essentially directly toward the flag, rather than upwardly into the sky. Preferably, the light source is provided within a transparent portion of the flag-mounting pole, and is ideally focused directly toward the flag by a reflector which is adapted to shift positions with changes in flag positions due to directional changes of air flow across the flag.

Description:
This application is based on U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 60/371,565 filed Apr. 11, 2002. 

   This invention relates to flag illumination from immediately adjacent a flag under night or low light conditions, whether such flag is mounted on a stationary flagpole, on a moving vehicle or is hand carried. 
   BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
   Chapter 10 of Title 36 of the United States Code recommends American flag display only from sunrise to sunset. However, it also states that American flags “may be displayed twenty-four hours a day if properly illuminated during hours of darkness”. Flags, particularly national flags and team or school flags, represent a source of pride to those who display them. University flags are frequently quite prominently exhibited on vehicles traveling to and from major sporting events of the school. It is fair to assume that if school flags could be easily and inexpensively lit up after dark, many would opt for the added feature. 
   Pole-mounted flags present a not-insignificant problem of atmospheric light pollution when the flag is on a tall pole or flagstaff and one or more spotlights at ground level are focused on the flag area surrounding 360 degrees at the top of the pole. According to the International Dark-Sky Association, over one billion dollars is wasted annually to generate light that does nothing more than light up the sky unnecessarily, and create problems while doing so. It is estimated that almost one third of the light created out-of-doors escapes into the night sky where, instead of providing useful illumination, it causes glare, sky glow and other types of light pollution. According to the Dark-Sky Association, about 2,500 individual stars should normally be visible on a clear night in an unpolluted sky, but in a typical suburb, only 200 to 300 may be visible. In a city, fewer than a dozen stars may shine through an artificially lit sky. 
   While the most common causes of light pollution are street lights, security lights, billboards lit from below, landscape illumination directed upwardly, businesses like convenience stores and gas stations that operate under extremely high levels of illumination, spot lights trained on night-lit flags also contribute to some extent to the overall problem. To combat this, many municipalities and communities, especially those in areas of research observatories, have responded to the urging of astronomers and have enacted ordinances for the regulation of night lighting. Additionally, at the request of wildlife environmental groups, some of Florida&#39;s oceanfront communities have adopted lighting codes to protect nesting sea turtles along beaches. These and other problems were taken into account in the development of the present invention. It will be seen that not only does my invention make it easier for people to display the national flag both day and night, but it does so at smaller cost, less bother and greater overall energy savings than comparable flag illumination in the past. 
   SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
   To enable legal twenty-four hour national flag display, to permit night display of vehicle-mounted school and team flags, and to do either with minimal increase in night sky light pollution, I mount a light source immediately adjacent a flag and direct the light essentially directly toward the flag, rather than upwardly into the sky. Preferably, the light source is provided within a transparent portion of the flag-mounting pole, and is ideally focused directly toward the flag by a reflector which is adapted to shift positions with changes in flag positions due to directional changes of air flow across the flag. 
   It is a principal object of the invention to provide for illuminating a flag from immediately adjacent its suspended end with minimal upwardly-directed light pollution of surrounding sky. 
   More specifically, an object is to concentrate the illumination by providing for reflector-focusing of light from a source thereof directly and essentially radially toward the flag. 
   A still further object is to maintain light focus directly toward a flag irrespective of airflow directional changes across the flag. 
   In a pole-mounted flag, an object of the invention is to mount a flag in part on a halyard truck that is pivotal in response to wind direction changes across the flag, and to mount a reflector to pivot in unison with the truck in order to maintain reflected light focus toward the flag at all times. 
   In a vehicle-mounted flag, an object is to allow for pivotal movement of a flag about its pole and to maintain illumination of the flag in any position to which the flag may move. 
   More specifically in connection with the immediately-preceding object, it is an object to provide a reflector responsive to flag directional changes to maintain focal direction of illumination toward the flag at all times. 
   Other objects and advantages will become apparent from the following description, in which reference is made to the accompanying drawings. 

   
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       FIG. 1  is a fragmentary, cross-sectional generally vertical view of a stationary flagpole illustrating its key components. 
       FIG. 2  is a cross-sectional view taken essentially along lines  2 — 2  of FIG.  1 . 
       FIG. 3  is a lower cross-sectional view of the flagpole of  FIG. 1  at a level a few feet above ground level, illustrating winch mechanism for manually hoisting and lowering a flag as well as mechanism for raising and lowering an internal light source to enable bulb changing when necessary. 
       FIG. 4  is a cross-sectional fragmentary vertical view of a type of my invention useful for exhibiting a school or team flag atop a vehicle. 
       FIG. 5  is a cross-sectional view of the flag mount of  FIG. 4 , and is taken along lines  5 — 5  of FIG.  4 . 
   

   DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
     FIG. 1  shows the upper or top section of a permanent flagpole  10  having a metallic tubular portion  12  for its principal length and a transparent plastic tubular portion  14  mounted atop the portion  12 . The portion  14  is of a length at least somewhat exceeding the height of a flag  16 . Portion  14  securely interfits the portion  12  in a manner providing a smooth continuation of the exterior surface of the two tubular portions. While  FIG. 1  shows the flagpole  10  as being vertical and may be referred to in that manner, it should be understood that the flagpole  10  may be angled and may be either ground or building mounted. 
   The left end of flag  16  is suspended from a line or halyard  18  by any means such as swivel hooks  20  applied to the halyard  18 . In addition, a counterweight  22  and a beaded retainer ring  24  may be supported at the extended end of the halyard  18  to maintain the suspended end of the halyard  18  and flag  16  taut and closely adjacent the flagpole. The remote end of the halyard  18  is wound about a winch spool  26  ( FIG. 3 ) at the lower end of the flagpole. The spool is rotatably mounted at approximately waist height in pole portion  12  so that a person can engage a hand crank (not shown) into a socket  28  and raise or lower the flag  16  for installation and removal of a flag as desired. It will be noted that  FIGS. 1 and 3  represent two extremes of halyard positions. When flag  10  is at the top of the pole as in  FIG. 1 , the halyard portion wound about the winch spool would fully occupy the spool.  FIG. 3  shows the halyard  18  almost completely unwound from the spool  26 , meaning that the flag  16  and its supporting elements and counterweight  22  are at their lowermost ground-level positions for attaching or detaching the flag. The halyard  18  is trained over a pulley system  30  supported in a truck  32  which is freely rotatable on an axle  34  mounted in the top end of the transparent portion  14  of the flagpole  10 . 
   With the exception of the transparency of the portion  14 , what has been described thus far in conventional for many, if not most, ground-positioned flagpoles. What is novel herein is that a light source  36 , in the design in  FIGS. 1 and 2  shown as being in the form of an elongated fluorescent tube, provides illumination for the flag  16  through the transparent portion  14  of the pole. Preferably, as shown best in the cross-sectional view of  FIG. 2 , a semi-cylindrical or parabolic reflector  38  at the exterior of the transparent portion  14  is mounted on the side of the light source  36  opposite that of the flag  16 . Thus, light from the fluorescent tube is direct from the tube toward the flag and at the same time is reflected from a highly-reflective inside surface of the reflector  38 . Focus of light is thus directed along the flag  16  on both sides thereof from its suspended end adjacent pole  10  toward its free end at the extreme right of FIG.  1 . The fluorescent tube may be of a length equal to the height of the flag. 
   When wind and flag directions change, in order to maintain light focus, it is necessary to have reflector  38  keep a constant diametrically-opposite relationship with that of the flag  16 . In the illustrated embodiment, I best accomplish this by securing the reflector  38  to depend downwardly from the revolving truck  32  by means of brackets  33 . As the flag responds to a change in wind direction, it pivots the pulley system  30  and truck  32  with it about the axle  34 . Being directly affixed to the truck, the reflector  38  likewise moves about pole  10  to the same extent as flag  16 . 
   For lowest energy cost and longest life of the light source, it is preferably automatically activated to its “on” condition only under low light conditions by customary light-sensitive switching controls (not shown). It will also be seen that the light direction is generally horizontally toward the flag, and not projected upwardly into the night sky as is common when illuminating a flag from ground-positioned spotlights. 
   Because the bulb of light source  36  must be replaced occasionally, I provide for moving the light source  36  between its active position shown in  FIG. 1 and a  replacement position adjacent the winch spool  26  at ground level, as shown in FIG.  3 . An elongated opening  40  with a removable cover plate (not shown) is provided for installing and removing the fluorescent tube from a continuous loop cable  42  trained over a pulley  44  at the top in  FIG. 1 and a  corresponding pulley  46  in FIG.  3 . The fluorescent tube can have its opposed tube-receiving sockets  48  mounted to cable  42  in any fashion which maintains their respective positions and distance firmly for securing the tube in place on the cable. Electrical wiring  50  travels with the tube when moved along the cable  42 . Assuming the tube is to be replaced, the cover plate over the opening  40  is first removed to gain access to the interior of the pole  10 . A plug section  52  connected to wiring  54  is then disconnected from a mating plug section connected to wiring  50 . The wiring  54  leads to a ballast  56  connected by wiring  58  to a source of electricity. Once plug  52  is disconnected, the cable  42  can be manually pulled down on the side containing the fluorescent tube. One end of plug  52  attached to wiring  50  is secured to the cable  42  and it and its wiring  50  move upwardly to follow cable  42  as the light source  36  is lowered. Upon fluorescent tube replacement through the opening  40 , the cable is manually pulled on its opposite side to raise the new light source into position adjacent the flag. At the same time, the mating section that connects with the plug  52  is lowered back to the position of FIG.  3 . The wiring  54  can be reattached to wiring  50  at the plug  52 , the opening  40  closed and the entire system is now back in operation with a new light source. The wiring  58  may be connected to a photosensitive switch to energize the light source under conditions when needed. It can be seen that the flag  16  may be exhibited on a permanent basis, so long as the light source  36  remains in working condition. The need and time required for daily raising and lowering the flag is obviated. The United States Code recommends that the flag not be displayed when weather is inclement. Also, if for any reason the flag must be lowered for replacement due to tearing or weather shredding, lowering can be accomplished without affecting the flag illumination system. The two systems are totally independent. If desired, controls can be added to make the lighting system ineffective whenever the flag has been lowered or removed. 
   It should be understood that a permanent flagpole such as the pole  10  of  FIGS. 1-3  may also be constructed as a telescoping unit in which, instead of hoisting the flag by means of a halyard and winch, moveable extensions of the pole may be raised, lowered and locked in their final positions. In that design, I can readily use a telephone-type helical spring-like wiring cord to extend and retract the wiring for the light source. 
   Referring now to  FIGS. 4 and 5 , I here illustrate the basic principles of flag illumination adapted to use with a vehicle such as an automobile or pick-up truck. College team flags are commonly displayed in many parts of the country as a matter of pride when attending sporting events. Some of those events are gone to or returned from in hours of darkness or overcast skies when illumination of the flag may be desirable. 
   When traveling, the flag  60  would normally extend rearwardly of the vehicle. But when stopped or moving slowly in heavy traffic, the flag would be wind-direction dependent. I can provide any of several different types of means for mounting a shaft  62  to a window of the vehicle. Wiring  64  may be connected to plug into a conventional dashboard cigar lighter (not shown). The particular power source is immaterial, since the illuminated system of  FIGS. 4 and 5  may be battery operated as well. 
   A hollow transparent tube  66  supports end plugs  68  for a fluorescent tube  70 , with electrical wiring passing through the interior of the hollow tube  66  to the two plugs  68 . A collar  72  is fixed to the top of the hollow tube  66  by a screw or screws  74 . An upper rotatable collar  76  and a lower rotatable collar  78  are both freely journaled on the exterior surface of tube  66 . These two collars  76  and  78  are interconnected by a semi-cylindrical reflector  80  that is similar in function and maintenance of relationship to the flag  60  as in the design of the  FIGS. 1-3  embodiment. Screws  82  fasten the reflector  80  to the collars  76  and  78 . The flag  60  is preferably provided at its suspended end with a full-height loop  84  in which a rod  83  is received. Rod  83  is secured at its top and bottom to rotatable collars  76  and  78  respectively. A lower collar  86  is secured to the transparent tube  66  by means of a screw or screws  88 . The rotatable  78  collar rests against the upper surface of the lower collar  88 . Enough play should be allowed to enable free rotation of the flag  60  and its associated movable parts about tube  66 . It is apparent that air flow direction changes across the flag  60  will cause the rod  83  to move circumferentially about the axis of the tube  66 . In so doing, the collars  76  and  78  and the reflector  80  follow the rod  83  movement and maintain light focus from the tube  70  toward the flag  60 , irrespective of the angular repositioning of the flag  60  about tube  66 . 
   It is feasible to adapt the principles disclosed herein into flags that are manually carried as well as those that are permanent or carried by a moving vehicle. Various other changes may be made in the design details without departing from the spirit and scope of the claims.