Abstract:
A hollow carrier having a handle in the shape of a jack-o-lantern or the like is provided with a light and diffuser assembly. When the light is activated, a portion of the light is reflected onto a path external to the carrier while another portion is reflected back into the carrier illuminating the carriers interior allowing the person holding the carrier to be visible from all directions.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of Invention 
     The present invention relates generally to an illuminated carrier for holding small items such as treats and more specifically to a carrier which illuminates internally as well as the ground underneath the carrier. The internal and external illumination is accomplished with a single light source. 
     2. Description of Related Art 
     Trick-or-treating is a popular activity by young children on the Halloween holiday. Generally, the children carry a bag or a bucket-shaped carrier called a “jack-o-lantern” to hold the treats they collect by going door to door in their neighborhood. This activity commonly occurs near or after sunset, which makes it difficult to see the child. Since the children often have to cross streets, there is a significant risk that the child may be struck and injured by an automobile. The darkness also poses an additional risk of the child falling when walking over uneven ground. 
     To increase their safety, children often wear reflective clothing to make them more visible or carry a flashlight to light their path. While this does reduce the risk, there are some inherent disadvantages. The reflective clothing only covers certain portions of the child&#39;s body and unless the lights of the automobile hit the child in the right manner there&#39;s a probability that the child will not been seen. The flashlight however, does not increase the child&#39;s visibility unless the child is walking directly toward the automobile. The flashlight may also be problematic for smaller children who will have a hard time managing both the flashlight and their carrier. 
     Various jack-o-lantern&#39;s have been proposed to increase the visibility of the child. The U.S. Pat. No. 4,802,071 describes a carrier having a light source built into the top of the carrier. When the light is turned on, the inside of the carrier is illuminated. Since the carrier is made from a translucent material, a portion of the light will pass through the carrier making it glow. The glowing carrier thus makes the child more visible from all directions. 
     The U.S. Pat. No. 5,597,230 describes a carrier having light sources built into the “eyes” of the jack-o-lantern. When the light source is turned on, the decorative eyes of the carrier act like flashlights to light the path for the child. While this invention does solve the problem of the child having to handle both a carrier and a flashlight, it does not make the child any more visible from the rear or side directions. 
     Accordingly, it is considered advantageous to have a jack-o-lantern carrier that can both illuminate the carrier internally and the path below the child. It is also considered advantageous to have this illumination created by a single light source to ease assembly and reduce manufacturing costs. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention is directed to a hollow carrier for carrying treats. The carrier having a hollow shaped body with a first opening formed in a top portion, this first opening being sized to allow treats to be inserted into and removed from the interior of said body. The body also has a second hole in a bottom portion. A diffuser is adapted to be received by the body&#39;s second hole and a light source is attached to the diffuser. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS 
     These and other features, aspects, and advantages of the present invention will become better understood with reference to the following description, appended claims and accompanying drawings where: 
     FIG. 1 is a side view partially in section of the carrier in accordance with the preferred embodiment. 
     FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the body portion of the carrier. 
     FIG. 3 is a side view in section of the light-diffuser assembly of the preferred embodiment. 
     FIG. 4 is a side view of an alternate embodiment of the diffuser. 
     FIG. 5 is a side view partially in section of an alternate embodiment of the carrier. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     As shown in FIG. 1, a carrier  10  for carrying treats is provided. The carrier is comprised of a generally hollow body  12  that holds the treats. The body  12  has a ornamental face design  11  on it&#39;s outer surface. When used for trick or treating, the face design  11  could be similar to those seen on jack-o-lanterns. The body  12  also has an upper opening  13  which is sized to allow a child to place her hand into the opening to deposit treats. Opposite this upper opening  13  is a lower opening  16  having a purpose which will be made clearer herein. Attached to the body  12  is a handle  32 . The handle  32  can be attached to the body  12  by any convenient means, such as a snap  34 . Other methods of securing the handle could include using a screw, rivet, or by adhesive bonding. Inserted into the lower opening  16  is a light-diffuser assembly  17 . 
     The body  12  is made from a translucent material such as polypropylene or polyethylene that is easily molded into the shape desired. The desire to have the material be translucent will be made clearer herein. 
     As is best seen in FIG. 2, the lower opening  16  has a rim  20  defining the outer surface of the opening. This rim  20  is used to hold the light-diffuser assembly  17  to the body  12 . 
     The light-diffuser assembly is shown in FIG.  3 . The light-diffuser assembly comprises a generally hollow diffuser  18  having a groove  19  extending circumferentially around the outer diameter of the diffuser  18 . This groove  19  interacts with the rim  20  of the body  12  to hold the assembly  17  in the body  12 . The diffuser  18  is made of an opaque material such as polypropylene, polyethylene, polycarbonate or glass. 
     The diffuser  18  also has an open cylindrical projection  23  having a threaded inner surface  21 . The housing  24  has a corresponding threaded surface  25  which is used to attach the housing  24  to the diffuser  18 . The housing  24  holds the light bulb  22 , a reflector  26 . the batteries  28  and a switch  30 . The light bulb  22  mounts to the housing in a typical fashion to that used in flashlights. 
     When the switch  30  is moved to the “On” position, current is allowed to flow from the batteries  28  to the light bulb  22  creating the desired illumination. The amount of light entering the diffuser  18  is further increased by the conical reflector  26 . The reflector  26  is shaped to reflect any light striking its surface into the diffuser  18 . Once the light enters the diffuser, a certain portion will continue to travel downward through the bottom of the diffuser to illuminate the area below the carrier  10 . The remaining portion of the light will be reflected by the opaque diffuser back in to the hollow body  12 . This reflected light will exit the through the wall of the hollow body  12  making the body  12  “glow” thus increasing the visibility of the person carrying the carrier  10  in all directions. 
     The quality level of the illumination is directly dependent on the distance from the bottom of the carrier to the light source. The larger the distance results in greater internal illumination, however, the increased distance also results in a proportional decrease in the amount of light exiting the carrier to illuminate the path. The ideal location to place the light source depends on the size of the carrier and the amount of light that is required to illuminate the path. For example, in a typical jack-o-lantern type of carrier, the desired distance from the bottom of the carrier to the light source will be approximately 31.75 mm (1.25 inches). 
     An alternate embodiment of the diffuser  38  is shown in FIG.  4 . In this embodiment, the diffuser  38  has clips  40 ,  40 ′ which are used to attach the diffuser  38  to the hollow body  12 . 
     Another alternate embodiment of the diffuser  38  is shown in FIG.  5 . In this embodiment, the diffuser  38  has a rim  50  that slides onto a projection  52  on the carrier  12 . The diameters of the rim  50  and the projection  52  are such that there is a small interference fit. Due to the ductility of the material of the diffuser  38  and carrier  12  the rim  50  and projection  52  deflect to allow assembly. The resulting compression fit holds the diffuser  38  on the carrier  12 . 
     Although the present invention has been described with reference to certain embodiments, it will be appreciated that these embodiments are not limitations and that the scope of the invention is defined by the following claims.