Bed employed for light bathing

A bed employed for use in light bathing. The bed comprises a transparent cloth stretched thereon and optical conductors arranged on the underside of the cloth. The optical conductors are arranged in such a manner that the light rays transmitted therethrough are radiated outside of the optical conductors and pass through the transparent cloth.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
The present invention relates to a bed employed for use in light bathing. 
The present applicant has previously proposed to focus solar rays or 
artificial light rays by the use of lenses or the like, to guide the same 
into an optical conductor, and to transmit those solar rays or artificial 
light rays onto an optional desired place through the optical conductor. 
Those light rays transmitted in such a way are employed for use in 
illuminating or for other like purposes, as for example to cultivate 
plants, chlorella or the like. In the process thereof, visible light rays 
not containing ultraviolet rays, infrared rays, etc., are used to promote 
a living body reaction, and thereby to promote the health of a person. 
On the basis of such a discovery, the present applicant has previously 
proposed various light ray radiating devices for health and beauty 
treatment and capable of radiating light rays that correspond to the 
visible light ray components of solar rays and which do not contain 
therein any harmful components such as ultraviolet rays, infrared rays, 
etc. An example thereof is U.S. Pat. No. 4,653,472 issued Mar. 30, 1987, 
which is incorporated herein by reference. Such beneficial light rays are 
focused onto specific parts of a patient in order to radiate the same to 
give beauty treatments and to promote health, etc. 
It is well known that sun-bathing is useful for promoting the human body's 
health. However, ultraviolet or the like are contained in the solar rays 
and exert a bad influence on the skin of the human body. The person who is 
not so healthy to begin with cannot bathe in the sun. 
Furthermore, light rays such as ultraviolet, infrared or the like have an 
accumulation effect. Accumulating ultraviolet causes cancer, and 
accumulating infrared causes a heat or is even capable of producing a 
burn. Consequently, it is worse for the health to bathe in light rays 
containing therein ultraviolet or infrared for a long time. 
As mentioned above, light rays radiated onto the specific parts of the 
patient are to be the light rays corresponding to the visible light rays 
component of solar rays containing therein neither ultraviolet nor 
infrared. Thereby, health and beauty treatment can be done without 
resulting in any adverse influence due to ultraviolet and infrared. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
It is an object of the present invention to provide a bed for bathing in 
light, the light rays consisting of only a visible light rays component 
and not containing therein any harmful component such as ultraviolet, 
infrared or the like. 
It is another object of the present invention to provide a bed for bathing 
in light, the visible light rays being radiated from optical conductors 
which are embedded in the bed. 
It is another object of the present invention to provide a bed employed for 
light bathing which can be preferably used by an aged person who is 
confined to a bed. 
The above-mentioned features and other advantages of the present invention 
will be apparent from the following detailed description taken in 
conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
FIG. 1 is a detailed structural view of a solar ray collecting device 10 
which is accommodated in a transparent dome-shaped capsule. The solar ray 
collecting device 10 comprises a large number of lenses 11 (nineteen 
lenses in the embodiment shown in FIG. 1), a solar rays direction sensor 
12 for detecting the direction of the solar rays, a support frame 13 for 
unitarily sustaining the lenses 11 and the solar rays direction sensor 12, 
a first motor 14 for rotatably moving in a direction shown by an arrow A 
the unitarily combined lenses 11, sensor 12, and support frame 13, a 
support arm 15 for supporting the afore-mentioned lenses 11, sensor 12, 
support frame 13, and motor 14, a rotatable shaft 16 installed so as to 
meet at a right angle with the rotatable shaft of the afore-mentioned 
motor 14, and a second motor not shown in FIG. 1 for rotating the 
rotatable shaft 16 in a direction shown by an arrow B. 
The direction of the solar rays is detected by the afore-mentioned solar 
rays direction sensor 12. The signal generated by the sensor 12 controls 
the first motor and the second motor so as to direct the lenses 11 toward 
the sun at all times. The solar rays focused by the lenses 11 are guided 
into the optical conductor cable, the light receiving end portion of which 
is located at the focus position of the lenses 11, and further, the solar 
rays are transmitted through the optical conductor cable to a specific 
part of the patient. 
FIG. 2 is an overall perspective view of the main body of an embodiment of 
a bed employed for light bathing according to the present invention. FIG. 
3 is a view of its construction as seen along the line III--III of FIG. 2. 
In FIGS. 2 and 3, there is shown the frame 50 of the bed, a transparent 
cloth 51, and optical conductors 52. In the present invention, the 
transparent cloth 51 is stretched onto the frame 50 of the bed and a large 
number of optical conductors 52 are arranged on the underside of it. The 
light rays emitted from the optical conductors 52 pass through the cloth 
51. The light rays are then radiated onto a human body lying on the cloth 
51. 
A solar ray collecting device or an artificial light ray collecting device, 
proposed previously by the present applicant, is installed at the end 
portion of the optical conductor 52 (not shown). The light rays focused by 
the solar ray collecting device or the artificial light rays are guided 
into the optical conductor 52. The guided light rays are transmitted 
through the optical conductor 52 and emitted outside of it at the 
lowerside of the transparent cloth 51 arranged on the bed 50 as mentioned 
before. 
One who employs the bed can receive a light bath by lying naked on the 
stretched cloth as mentioned above. Any transparent material can be used 
as the above-mentioned cloth. If possible, it is preferable to use a 
material that is gentle to human skin, as, for example, silk. 
Furthermore, since the user lies on the cloth naked and since silk cloth is 
weak, it may be preferable that the cloth be stretched in such a way as to 
be interchangeable with others for private use as well as for common use. 
It is simple to prepare a plurality of cloths and to use those cloths one 
after another. 
However, in order to avoid exchanging, cleaning and disinfecting the cloth, 
the cloth is wound into a rolled state as shown in FIG. 3. A roller 53 
having the cloth wound thereon is installed at one side of the bed 50 and 
a roller 54 for unwinding it is installed at the other side of the bed 50. 
In such a way, it may be possible to stretch a new part of the cloth 51 by 
turning the wind-out roller 54 when the cloth 51 becomes dirty or wears 
out. 
Furthermore, in the case of only stretching the cloth onto the bed, the 
cloth might get torn when a person uses on the bed. For this reason, a 
reinforcing material 55 such as steel wire netting, netted sheeting, or 
transparent cloth is placed under the cloth 51 or the optical conductor 
52. Furthermore, an air bag 56 constructed of a transparent material is 
placed on the cloth 51. In such a manner, the bed becomes very comfortable 
to lie on and to sleep in. 
Needless to mention, the air bag 56 may be unitarily constructed so as to 
allow a uniform pressure throughout. Or, as shown in FIG. 4, the air bag 
56 may be constructed with a large number of air chambers 56a.sub.1 
through 56a.sub.n and 56b.sub.1 through 56b.sub.n, and when the bed is 
used, the air pressure inside changes in order from air bag 56a.sub.1 
located at the foot position to air bag 56a.sub.n at the middle position 
and the same changes in order from air bag 56b.sub.1 at the head position 
to air bag 56b.sub.n at the middle position. When a person lies on a bed 
constructed in such a manner, the blood in their body moves from the feet 
to the heart and from the head to the heart so that the circulation of the 
blood becomes smoother and thereby the person's health is promoted. 
Furthermore, the light rays emitted from the optical conductor 52, as 
mentioned above, are radiated onto the human body lying on the bed. On 
that occasion, a part of the light rays emitted from the optical conductor 
52 are discharged downward so that the discharged light rays cannot be 
used effectively. In order to prevent the light rays from being diffused, 
a reflecting plate 57 is disposed on the underside of the optical 
conductor 52 as shown in FIG. 4 (or FIG. 3). The light rays reflected on 
the reflecting plate 57 pass through the cloth 51. Consequently, the light 
rays emitted from the optical conductor 52 are effectively utilized. 
The bed for light bathing, according to the present invention, is employed 
as mentioned above. On that occasion, the rear surface of the employed 
cloth covering is formed as a reflecting surface or an air bag is used as 
the cloth-covering, and furthermore the cloth on the internal side is 
constructed of a transparent substance. Furthermore, in the case of 
constructing the external side cloth with a reflecting material, the light 
rays which pass through the cloth (bed sheet) 51 and dissipate without 
being radiated onto the human body can be reflected on the cloth covering 
and returned downward. Consequently, the light rays emitted from the 
optical conductor 52 can be utilized more and more effectively. 
As is apparent from the foregoing description, the bed employed for light 
bathing according to the present invention has several advantages for a 
person who must keep lying on a bed as well as for a healthy person who 
can effectively take a light bath for the purpose of promoting health and 
receiving a beauty treatment.