Patent Publication Number: US-2012044690-A1

Title: Expandable pendant lamp

Description:
TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention generally relates to pendant lamps, and more particular to an expandable pendant lamp having multiple chained lamp units that could be vertically stacked together or separated apart. 
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART 
     A conventional pendant lamp usually contains a lamp body hung from a ceiling by a string or a chain. When the pendant lamp is turned on, its light usually is radiated from a single point (i.e., the lamp body) and covers limited areas beneath and around the pendant lamp. 
     On the other hand, taking a dining table as example, people usually have various utensils, cruets, and other decorators on the tabletop. Usually there is no specific storage place for these items. It therefore occurs to the present inventor that it would rather convenient that a pendant lamp above the dining table could be expanded into several tiers and these tabletop items could be stored on these tiers. Additional advantages are that the expanded pendant lamp could also offer a much larger light coverage, and the tiers of the pendant lamp could be stacked together to save space. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The expandable pendant lamp contains a number of lamp units, each having at least a light generation element. The lamp units are vertically stacked and any two adjacent lamp units are connected by a number of flexible linear elements. For each pair of adjacent lamp units, magnetic elements are configured along the interfacing faces of the lamp units, respectively so that magnetic attraction therebetween would pull the adjacent lamp units together. The expandable pendant lamp, as it is hung from a ceiling, could have its lamp units vertically stacked together or the lamp units are separated apart to hold various objects such as utensils and decorators. 
     The lamp units are appropriately shaped so that, when they are joined together as described above, the pedant lamp could have a spherical, rectangular, diamond, or conical shape, to mention just a few. 
     Each lamp unit contains a bottom plate and, along a top rim of the bottom plate, a flange wall is provided. The magnetic elements are embedded along a top side of the flange wall. The flange walls separate the lamp units and to create storage spaces. 
     The light generation elements could be installed on a top side or a bottom side of the bottom plate, or on an inner side of the flange wall, of each lamp unit. Each light generation element contains a number of light emitting diodes (LEDs) and a carrier board where the LEDs are installed. 
     Each lamp unit is made of a transparent material so that the light produced from the light generation elements could pass through. Alternatively, a layer of coating is applied to an area of the lamp unit so that the coated area is opaque and the un-coated area reveals a pattern. When the light generation elements are turned on, the pattern is vividly illuminated. 
     Each lamp unit has a through hole allowing an electrical cable to pass through and to reach the light generation elements on the lamp unit beneath. 
     Each flexible linear element has each of its ends running through a positioning screw and forming a locking head beyond the positioning screw. The positioning screws are fixed separately on two adjacent lamp units so that the two lamp units are reliably connected by the flexible linear elements. The flexible linear elements could be a rope, a chain, a steel string, etc. 
     A bottommost lamp unit could have a transparent bottom area so that the light could be projected downward. 
     The expandable pendant lamp has the following advantages. First, the lamp units could be joined together vertically to save space when hung from a ceiling. Secondly, the lamp units could be separated so as to enlarge their light coverage while storing various objects between the lamp units. Further more, the utensils, cruets, magazines stored between the lamp units could be concealed when the lamp units are joined vertically together. 
     The foregoing objectives and summary provide only a brief introduction to the present invention. To fully appreciate these and other objects of the present invention as well as the invention itself, all of which will become apparent to those skilled in the art, the following detailed description of the invention and the claims should be read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. Throughout the specification and drawings identical reference numerals refer to identical or similar parts. 
     Many other advantages and features of the present invention will become manifest to those versed in the art upon making reference to the detailed description and the accompanying sheets of drawings in which a preferred structural embodiment incorporating the principles of the present invention is shown by way of illustrative example. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  is a perspective diagram showing an expandable pendant lamp, when it is collapsed, according to an embodiment of the present invention 
         FIG. 2  is a perspective diagram showing the expandable pendant lamp of  FIG. 1  when it is expanded. 
         FIG. 3  is a cross-sectional diagram along the 3-3 line of the expandable pendant lamp of  FIG. 1 . 
         FIG. 4  is a cross-sectional diagram showing a portion of the expandable pendant lamp of  FIG. 2 . 
         FIG. 5  is a schematic diagram showing the details within the circle numbered  5  of  FIG. 4 . 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
     The following descriptions are exemplary embodiments only, and are not intended to limit the scope, applicability or configuration of the invention in any way. Rather, the following description provides a convenient illustration for implementing exemplary embodiments of the invention. Various changes to the described embodiments may be made in the function and arrangement of the elements described without departing from the scope of the invention as set forth in the appended claims. 
     As shown in  FIGS. 1 to 4 , an expandable pendant lamp according to an embodiment of the present invention contains a number of lamp units  10 , each having at least a light generation element  11 . The lamp units  10  are vertically stacked and any two adjacent lamp units  10  are connected by a number of flexible linear elements  12 . Additionally, for each pair of adjacent lamp units  10 , magnetic elements  13  are configured along the interfacing faces of the lamp units  10 , respectively. For each pair of corresponding magnetic elements  13  thus configured, their polarities are reversed so that magnetic attraction therebetween would pull the adjacent lamp units  10  together. As described, the expandable pendant lamp, as it is hung from a ceiling, could have its lamp units  10  vertically stacked together. On the other hand, by exerting some force to pull the lamp units  10  apart, the pendant lamp is expanded and the separated lamp units  10  could be used to hold various objects such as utensils and decorators. 
     The lamp units  10  could be appropriately shaped so that, when they are joined together as described above, the pedant lamp could have a spherical, rectangular, diamond, or conical shape, to mention just a few. 
     As shown in  FIGS. 1 to 3 , each lamp unit  10  contains a bottom plate  10   a  and, along a top rim of the bottom plate  10   a , a flange wall  10   b  is provided. The foregoing magnetic elements  13  are embedded along a top side of the flange wall  10   b . The flange walls  10   b  separate the lamp units  10  and to create storage spaces so that, even when they are joined together, the storage spaces  10   a  could be used to accommodate various objects. 
     The foregoing light generation elements  11  could be installed on a top side or a bottom side of the bottom plate  10   a , or on an inner side of the flange wall  10   b , of each lamp unit  10 . Each light generation element  11  contains a number of light emitting diodes (LEDs) lib and a carrier board  11   a  such as a printed circuit board or a flexible printed circuit board where the LEDs  11   b  are installed. 
     Each lamp unit  10  is made of a transparent material so that the light produced from the light generation elements  11  could pass through. Alternatively, a layer of coating  14  is applied to an area  14  of the lamp unit  10 &#39;s external surface so that the coated area  14  is opaque and the un-coated area  15  reveals a pattern such as flowers. As such, when the light generation elements  11  are turned on, the pattern is vividly illuminated. 
     Each lamp unit  10  has a through hole  16  allowing a electrical cable L to pass through and to reach the light generation elements  11  on the lamp unit  10  beneath. The present invention does not impose specific requirement on how the light generation elements  11  are installed and wired. 
     As shown in  FIGS. 4 and 5 , each flexible linear element  12  has each of its ends running through a positioning screw  17  and forming a locking head  121  beyond the positioning screw  17 . The positioning screws  17  are then fixed separately on two adjacent lamp units  10 . The present invention does not impose specific requirement on how the flexible linear elements  12  are connected to the adjacent lamp units  10 . The flexible linear elements  12  could be a rope, a chain, a steel string, etc. The present invention does not impose specific requirement on the material by which the flexible linear elements  12  are made of. 
     A bottommost lamp unit  10  could have a transparent bottom area  10   c  so that the light from the light generation elements  11  could be projected downward to cover a space or a dining table beneath. 
     The expandable pendant lamp as described has the following advantages. First, the lamp units  10  could be joined together vertically to save space when hung from a ceiling. Secondly, the lamp units  10  could be separated so as to enlarge their light coverage while storing various objects between the lamp units  10 . Further more, the utensils, cruets, magazines stored between the lamp units  10  could be concealed when the lamp units  10  are joined vertically together, making the expandable pendant lamp a convenient container. 
     While certain novel features of this invention have been shown and described and are pointed out in the annexed claim, it is not intended to be limited to the details above, since it will be understood that various omissions, modifications, substitutions and changes in the forms and details of the device illustrated and in its operation can be made by those skilled in the art without departing in any way from the spirit of the present invention.