Abstract:
An applique and method for creating an applique for use on vehicle lights is disclosed. A decal is placed on the lights or tail lights of vehicles for showing a design or a trademark. A method for advertising using the applique to display trademarks for goods or services is also disclosed.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS  
       [0001]    This application claims benefit of the filing date of U.S. Provisional Application 60/464,785, entitled Vehicle Indicator Light Advertising Method and Device, inventor Portillo, filed Apr. 22, 2003, incorporated herein by reference. 
     
    
     
       FIELD OF THE INVENTION  
         [0002]    This invention relates to advertising and decoration of vehicle lights and more particularly to a method and apparatus for using appliques to modify an automotive tail light with a design or word. This invention also relates to an advertising business method to use the indicator lights of a vehicle as a medium of advertising by altering them sufficient to create an advertisement, particularly by modifying a automotive tail light with a logo or word trademark to use in advertising.  
         BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
         [0003]    An undeveloped avenue of advertising and/or vehicle identification is the use of brake and turn signal lights of motor vehicles. An exemplary tail light is comprised of a housing, containing a light source, such as a bulb, and a reflector. The housing is covered with a lens, typically red or amber in color.  
           [0004]    Several industries could make use of such a device for advertising or marking their products or services. Truck and trailer rental services, for example, could mark their vehicles in this manner to identify and advertise their vehicles as they are being used by customers. Trailer rental services also frequently provide brake light connectors that are connected to the electrical lighting circuit of the towing vehicle to cause the trailer&#39;s tail lights to activate simultaneously with the towing vehicle&#39;s lights. It is self-apparent that such a method of advertising would create a great number of customer advertising contact opportunities by being seen on roads throughout a service area, perhaps nationally on the roads of America by other potential customers.  
           [0005]    This method of advertising would allow an economical yet highly visible means for marketing a company&#39;s trademark logo or name. It could also be used to mark other vehicles, such a emergency vehicles or those belonging to motorist clubs, to allow them to be more readily identified by other motorists.  
         SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
         [0006]    A applique is created from a decal made from a sheet of durable flexible material such as vinyl, which cut to delineate a desired name, picture or logo. One or more sheets may be layered to create the finished design. The lens of a light fixture, in this example a tail light, having a lens, housing and a light source, is removed from the housing and the one or more sheets are applied to the lens. The lens is then reattached to the light housing and, when lit by a light source within the housing of the light, illuminates the design in silhouette to display to other motorists. In one embodiment the decal is die-cut. The pattern may also be created by scanning existing art work into a computer graphics file, or by originally creating the design on a computer file, and cutting the decal according to the design. The decal then can be cut by hand or by having the computer guide the cutting instrument.  
           [0007]    The visual effect of the applique can be enhanced by further affixing a second sheet to the lens, adapted to diffuse light from the light source passing around the decal.  
           [0008]    The decal portion of the applique is preferably made of vinyl. Adhesive can be applied to either the decal or the second sheet to affix to the lens. Either the decal or the second sheet may further be shrunk with heat to fit snugly over the lens.  
           [0009]    A method for applying the applique to a vehicle light is also disclosed. A decal sized to fit on the lens is provided made according to one or more of the above descriptions and affixed to the lens. The second, light-diffusing sheet may also be affixed to the lens in this manner. The lens is then affixed to the light fixture so that the light from the light source passes around the decal and, if it is used, through the second sheet.  
           [0010]    A method for advertising is also disclosed. In the preferred embodiment a decal is made according to one or more of the above description to act as an identifying a trademark. The trademark when used on a vehicle is observed by other motorists, increasing the recognition of the trademark. This method is especially useful in identifying a fleet of vehicles commonly owned by one user, such as a fleet of rental cars, moving trucks or trailers.  
       
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0011]    [0011]FIG. 1 is an exploded cutaway view of an example a tail light.  
         [0012]    [0012]FIG. 2 is a front view of die-cut vinyl decal.  
         [0013]    [0013]FIG. 3 is a front view of a second vinyl sheet used to diffuse light.  
         [0014]    [0014]FIGS. 4A-4F are a series of front views illustrating the steps the method of the present invention.  
         [0015]    [0015]FIG. 5 is a flow chart of the method of the present invention. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION  
       [0016]    The following detailed description, and the figures to which it refers, are provided for the purpose of describing examples and specific embodiments of the invention only and are not intended to exhaustively describe all possible examples and embodiments of the invention. Further objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent to one skilled in the art by reading and understanding the following description and the drawings to which it refers, wherein the advantages of the present invention are set forth in the claims when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which like parts bear like reference numerals.  
         [0017]    The method of the presently preferred embodiment is illustrated using as an example a prior art tail light  11  of FIG. 1. This exemplary tail light comprises a housing  13 , a light source  15  such as a bulb, a reflector  17  and by way of example a three-inch square lens  19 .  
         [0018]    A flexible sheet material, such as Neschen vinyl (Hans Neschen GmbH &amp; Co KG, Buckeburg, Germany) is provided on which to cut or die-cut a preferred design. In this method the ultimate design will be monochromatic, it will be the color of the light lens. It is best to first make a black and white print of the design, or create it as a computer file using graphics software such as Adobe Illustrator (Adobe Systems Incorporated, San Jose, Calif.). Generic shapes and figures may be obtained for use in the design from commercial software vendors, such as the SignPost multimedia library and plotter control software (Signpost software (Signpost company, London, UK).  
         [0019]    The design may also be created by scanning existing artwork into a computer graphics file or by originally creating the design on a computer, storing it in a file. Simple and bold designs are preferred for this die-cutting process. The vinyl is die cut until the finished art work is composed of one or more sheets of this flexible material.  
         [0020]    By way of example, in the case of a three-inch square brake light, Neschen vinyl of one color, e.g. their Neschen Pro-Cal 5™, black in color, having one adhesive side, is die-cut using SignPost 4.0 software and a die-cutting plotter, such as an Ioline plotter (Ioline Corporation, Woodinville, Wash.). A decal  20 , shown in FIG. 2, may comprise a logo  23  for example, centered on a sheet having four 4.08″×4.08″ tabular sections  25  to adhere to the sides of the exterior of the lens. The die-cut vinyl decal is then covered with application tape for transferring vinyl graphics to a lettering substrate, using an application tape such as TransferRite® tape (American Biltrite Inc., Cambridge, Mass.).  
         [0021]    In this example the decals are applied to the lens  19  after it has been removed from the tail light. The logo  23  of the vinyl decal is centered on and applied to the exterior surface of the lens. Adhering the decal to the lens is preferably finished by applying the adhesive side of the decal to a dampened lens, then using a squeegee to remove any trapped air bubbles. In the preferred embodiment a hot air gun is then used to blow heat on the vinyl to melt or shrink-wrap the edges of the decal to the lens to produce the best result.  
         [0022]    In the preferred embodiment a second vinyl sheet  30  of FIG. 3, is also provided to diffuse the light passing through the decal. Many lenses use an undesirably textured interior surface to focus the light and this second sheet counteracts this effect by diffusing the light instead, to improve the look of the design. The diffusing sheet  30  is fitted for the interior side of the lens as a 3″×3″ square sheet. In the present example the second sheet is made from a red Neschen Pro-Cal 5™. The second sheet is adhered to the interior side of the lens, opposite the decal  20 , which together produce a desired design. The lens is reattached to the tail light and otherwise used in the ordinary manner, providing a view to other motorists.  
         [0023]    [0023]FIGS. 4A-4F illustrate the steps of creating an exemplary completed tail light. A standard brake light  101  is shown having a lens  103 , showing the exterior side  103 A, a light bulb (not shown) as an internal light source and a housing  105 . Exemplary desired logo  107  of FIG. 4B is selected to be made into a decal. The logo  107  may be scanned into a computer and used as a template to cut the components of vinyl decal  109  of FIG. 4C by methods known to those of skill in the art.  
         [0024]    The decal  109  is then transferred as in FIG. 4D to the lens  103  using application tape  110 . It is centered on and applied to the exterior side of the lens  103 A as shown in FIG. 4E, with either an adhesive or by using vinyl made with an adhesive side. The lens is dampened and the decal is pressed onto the lens  103  by applying the adhesive side of the decal to a dampened lens, then using a squeegee  112  to remove any trapped air bubbles. In the preferred embodiment a hot air gun  113  is then used to blow heat on the vinyl to melt or shrink-wrap the edges of the decal to the lens. A diffusing sheet  111  may likewise be applied (shown by arrow) to the interior side  103 B of the lens  103 , as shown in  4 F, with the squeegee  112  and hot air gun  113 . The lens  103  is then affixed to the light housing  105  and the logo is illuminated when the light source is activated.  
         [0025]    A method of the present invention is straightforward as shown in FIG. 5. A desired logo is cut from a flexible sheet material to produce a decal. The decal is then transferred to the exterior of a tail light, and may pressed with a squeegee or melted with a hot air gun to facilitate adhesion. A diffusing sheet may also be used, applied to the interior side of the tail light lens. The modified lens is then affixed to the light housing and the logo is illuminated when the light source is activated.  
         [0026]    The above applique or similar coverings are used to apply a design, logo or name to a light, preferably one or more tail lights of one or more vehicles. According to another method the tail lights are used on vehicles owned or authorized by the user, providing widespread advertising and identification for the subject trademark design, initials or words.  
         [0027]    The present invention has been described above in terms of a presently preferred embodiment so that an understanding of the present invention can be conveyed. There are, however, many configurations for advertising method and device not specifically described herein but with which the present invention is applicable. The present invention should therefore not be seen as limited to the particular embodiments described herein, but rather, it should be understood that the present invention has wide applicability with respect to event-tracking generally. All modifications, variations, or equivalent arrangements and implementations that are within the scope of any patent claims issuing hereon and should therefore be considered within the scope of the invention.