Abstract:
There is provided a portable lighting device including an arrangement for releasable attachment to a stationary surface. The device includes a housing at least partly enclosing lighting elements and a base plate, mountable onto the stationary surface. The housing and base plate are securely joinable together by a first pin and a second pin and a first hook and a second hook, at least one of the hooks is swivable, and the housing and base plate are separable by releasing the grip of a swivable hook from a pin.

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION  
       [0001]     The present invention relates to a lighting device, and more particularly, to a portable lighting device including an arrangement for releasable attachment to a stationary surface, suitable for military use, especially for use in vehicles.  
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0002]     There often exists a need, both for military and civilian purposes, to utilize a lighting device which can provide illumination inside an enclosure, e.g., inside a vehicle or a room, wherein the device is secured to the ceiling or a wall and is normally fed from an external energy source. The lighting device, on the one hand, should be securely mounted and affixed inside the vehicle, and on the other hand, should have the capability of being easily and quickly dismountable from its mounting, and hence, also usable as a portable independent light source energized by its internal energy source, e.g., a rechargeable battery or a chargeable capacitor.  
       DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION  
       [0003]     According to the invention there is provided a portable lighting device including an arrangement for releasable attachment to a stationary surface, comprising a housing at least partly enclosing lighting elements, a base plate, mountable onto said stationary surface, said housing and base plate are securely joinable together by a first pin and a second pin and a first hook and a second hook, at least one of said hooks being swivable, said housing and base plate are separable by releasing the grip of a swivable hook from a pin.  
         [0004]     There is also provided a portable lighting device including an arrangement for releasable attachment to a stationary surface, comprising a rack, to which portable lighting elements are attachable on one of its sides, and including a first pin and a spaced-apart second pin, accessible from another side of said rack, a base plate, mountable onto said stationary surface, including a first hook engageable with said first pin, and a spaced-apart swivable hook engageable with said second pin, said rack and base plate are securely joinable together by said pins and hooks and are separable by releasing the swivable hook from its grip of said second pin, and pulling away the rack from said first hook. 
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0005]     The invention will now be described in connection with certain preferred embodiments with reference to the following illustrative figures so that it may be more fully understood.  
         [0006]     With specific reference now to the figures in detail, it is stressed that the particulars shown are by way of example and for purpose of illustrative discussion of the preferred embodiments of the present invention only and are presented in the cause of providing what is believed to be the most useful and readily understood description of the principles and conceptual aspects of the invention. In this regard, no attempt is made to show structural details of the invention in more detail than is necessary for a fundamental understanding of the invention, the description taken with the drawings making apparent to those skilled in the art how the several forms of the invention may be embodied in practice.  
         [0007]     In the drawings:  
         [0008]      FIG. 1  is a perspective, exploded view of a preferred embodiment of the lighting device according to the present invention, in its dismounted state;  
         [0009]      FIG. 2  is a perspective view of the rack and pins of the device of  FIG. 1 ;  
         [0010]      FIG. 3  is a cross-sectional view of the base plate of the device of  FIG. 1 ;  
         [0011]      FIG. 4  is a perspective view of the spring of the base plate of the device of  FIG. 1 ;  
         [0012]      FIG. 5  is a perspective view of the device of  FIG. 1  in its mounted state;  
         [0013]      FIG. 6  is a cross-sectional view of the device of  FIG. 5 ;  
         [0014]      FIG. 7  is a perspective view of the device of  FIG. 1  in its semi-mounted state;  
         [0015]      FIG. 8  is a cross-sectional view of the device of  FIG. 7 ;  
         [0016]      FIG. 9  is an exploded view of a further embodiment of the invention;  
         [0017]      FIG. 10  is a cross-sectional view of the embodiment of  FIG. 9  in a semi-mounted state, and  
         [0018]      FIG. 11  is a cross-sectional view of the embodiment of  FIG. 9  in a mounted state.  
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS  
       [0019]     Referring now to the drawings, there is seen in FIGS.  1  to  6 , a lighting device  2 , including an arrangement for releasably attaching the portable lighting device to a stationary surface. The arrangement includes a portable housing  4  for enclosing lighting elements, a rack  6  having lateral supports  8 ,  10 , a first pin  12  fixedly attached to support  8  and second and third pins  14  and  16 , spaced-apart from pin  12 . All pins, seen to best advantage in  FIG. 2 , are fixedly attached to a base  17  of rack  6 . The housing  4 , having coupling members, e.g., pivots  18 ,  20  ( FIG. 6 ), is mounted on the rack  6 . Pivot  18  is mounted on lateral support  10  and pivot  20  is mounted on the lateral support  8 , thereby allowing the housing  4  to swivel. There is also provided an extension of pivot  20  forming an electrical port  22  through which electrical energy can be fed into the lighting elements via wires (not shown). Knobs  24  and  26  mounted on housing  4  serve to control the lighting actuation and intensity, respectively. Transparent panel  28  provided on top of housing  4  serves to transmit the light produced by the light sources  29 , e.g., light emitting diodes, installed in housing  4 . Pushbutton  30  mounted on housing  4  serves to activate the internal energy sources, e.g., battery and/or capacitor, installed therein as required.  
         [0020]     A detailed example of the lighting elements, e.g., light emitting diodes (LEDs) and source of energization will be described hereinafter. The light sources  29 , advantageously consist of an array of 32 white LEDs interlaced with 16 colored LEDs, e.g., blue (wavelength ˜470 nm), green, red or infrared LEDs providing an active LED area of approximately 30×68 mm. The 32 white LEDs are energized from a 160 mA, 14 VDC source, while the 16 colored LEDs  26  are energized from 100 mA, 14 VDC source. The desired luminous intensity of each white LED is typically ˜400 mcd at 120 degrees. The white LEDs provide light for general activity, e.g., map reading, orientation, etc. during daytime and nocturnal non-combat activities, whereas the blue LEDs provide light for nocturnal combat activity. The advantage of blue light during combat activity is that blue light is less detectable by night vision equipment of the enemy in the event that some of it leaks out through openings in the vehicle, e.g., a periscope. Alternatively, red (wavelength ˜630 nm) LEDs may be used instead of the blue ones during nocturnal activity. The advantage of red light is that, although detectable by night vision equipment, it does not impair the high sensitivity of the adaptivity of the human eye to darkness.  
         [0021]     Another component of the lighting device  2  is a base plate  32  having at its ends a fixed hook  34  and a movable hook  36  furnished with an external smooth surface  38 . The hook  36  has a lever  40  rotatably mounted on base plate  32  about a pivot  42 . A helical spring  44  ( FIGS. 1 and 4 ) is coupled with lever  40  and base plate  32 , biasing hook  36  to an extreme disposition, as depicted in the drawings. Further seen, is a groove  46  configured to partly accommodate pin  16 . Bolts  48  secure plate  32  to a stationary surface  50 .  
         [0022]      FIGS. 5 and 6  illustrate the lighting device  2  in its fully mounted state for its utilization as a fixed lighting device in a room or a vehicle, where it is advantageously electrically fed from an external energy source through port  22 . The operations leading to this state from the state illustrated in  FIG. 1 , is depicted in  FIGS. 7 and 8  and include rotating the housing  4  about pin  12 , as a pivot inserted in hook  34 , until pin  14  engages the smooth external surface  38  of hook  36  on which the pin  14  slides. While sliding, pin  14  causes hook  36  to swivel against the force of helical spring  44  in the direction of arrow A until attaining a position enabling pin  14  to engage hook  36  and firmly couple with it. Simultaneously, pin  16  enters groove  46 . Therefore, in this state, pins  12  and  14  are, respectively, held by hooks  34  and  36 , and pin  16  rests in groove  46 , preventing portable housing  4  from moving along base plate  32  when subjected to strong vibrations. Since hook  36  is held in place mainly by the force of spring  44 , pin  16  and groove  46  prevent unintentional release of portable housing  4  from base plate  32 .  
         [0023]     While in FIGS.  1  to  8  there has been disclosed a preferred embodiment of the lighting device and arrangement according to the present invention, it should be realized that in cases where it is not necessary to provide a lighting device which is capable of swiveling when attached to the stationary surface  50 , the rack  6  can be disposed of.  
         [0024]     Illustrated in FIGS.  9  to  11  is an embodiment in which the portable housing  4  is directly attached to the base plate  32 . For this purpose, the bottom side  52  of the housing  4  is provided with legs  54 ,  54 ′,  56 ,  56 ′ supporting pins  12 , and  16 ,  14 , respectively.  
         [0025]     The manner of attaching the housing  4  to the base plate  32  and the removal therefrom, is the same as in the embodiment according to FIGS.  1  to  8 .  
         [0026]     It should be realized that while for manufacturing reasons the housing  4  includes the pins  12 ,  14  and  16 , and the hooks  34  and  36  are associated with the base plate  32 , the association of the pins and hooks with the housing and base plate could just as well be reversed, namely, the hooks could be associated with the housing  4  while the pins associated with the base plate.  
         [0027]     It will be evident to those skilled in the art that the invention is not limited to the details of the foregoing illustrated embodiments and that the present invention may be embodied in other specific forms without departing from the spirit or essential attributes thereof. The present embodiments are therefore to be considered in all respects as illustrative and not restrictive, the scope of the invention being indicated by the appended claims rather than by the foregoing description, and all changes which come within the meaning and range of equivalency of the claims are therefore intended to be embraced therein.