Patent Publication Number: US-2022221127-A1

Title: Origami lamp and planar bendable sheet for being formed into the origami lamp

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     The present invention relates generally to lamps and more particularly, to an origami lamp and a planar bendable sheet, wherein the origami lamp is formed from the planar bendable sheet. 
     2. Description of the Related Art 
     The conventional desk lamp usually includes a lamp stand made of wood, plastics or metal, a light source such as a bulb disposed on the lamp stand, and a lampshade disposed on the lamp stand to cover the light source and diffuse the light thereof. Such configuration brings the conventional desk lamp a stereoscopic shape for suitably used on the desk, but also causes the conventional desk lamp to occupy too much space in storage and transportation. 
     The conventional origami lamp uses an origami lampshade formed from folded papers, that is usually not designed for the consumer to form the folded papers into the origami lampshade, but already formed when being a product. Such lamp is also inconvenient in storage and transportation, and even needs to be stored and transported with more care. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention has been accomplished in view of the above-noted circumstances. It is an objective of the present invention to provide an origami lamp, which is easily formed from a planar bendable sheet, so the planar bendable sheet can serve as the product for sale for the convenience in storage and transportation. 
     To attain the above objective, the present invention provides an origami lamp which is formed from a planar bendable sheet and includes a lamp stand, a light emitter and a lampshade. The lamp stand has a standing portion and a connecting portion integrally connected with the standing portion. The light emitter is provided with a light source and integrally connected with the connecting portion of the lamp stand. The lampshade is integrally connected with the light emitter and the standing portion of the lamp stand. 
     Preferably, the standing portion is shaped as a tube and has two lateral edges connected with each other. The connecting portion is inwardly recessed from a top of the standing portion in a way that the connecting portion has a cone shape, a main point and two edges extending from the main point and being connected with each other. The light emitter upwardly extends from the main point of the connecting portion in a way that the light emitter has a cone shape and two edges connected with each other. The lampshade is shaped as a cloak extending from a top of the light emitter outwardly and downwardly and having two lateral edges connected with each other. 
     To attain the above objective, the present invention provides a planar bendable sheet for being formed into the aforesaid origami lamp. The planar bendable sheet includes an annular fold line and a middle section defined by the annular fold line. The middle section has a main point and two inner radial fold lines extending from the main point to the annular fold line. The two inner radial fold lines divide the middle section into a lower part and an upper part provided with the light source for being formed into the connecting portion of the lamp stand and the light emitter of the origami lamp respectively. 
     Preferably, two junctions of the annular fold line and the two inner radial fold lines divide the annular fold line into a lower segment and an upper segment, and the planar bendable sheet further includes a circumference, two outer radial fold lines, a bottom section and a top section. The circumference includes a lower curve, an upper curve and two junctions of the lower curve and the upper curve. The two outer radial fold lines extend from the two junctions of the annular fold line and the two inner radial fold lines to the two junctions of the circumference. The bottom section is defined by the lower segment of the annular fold line, the lower curve of the circumference and the two outer radial fold lines for being formed into the standing portion of the lamp stand of the origami lamp. The top section is defined by the upper segment of the annular fold line, the upper curve of the circumference and the two outer radial fold lines for being formed into the lampshade of the origami lamp. 
     As a result, the planar bendable sheet can be easily formed into the origami lamp by an act of bending the planar bendable sheet and fastening means such as fastening the two lateral edges of the standing portion (i.e. two lateral edges of the bottom section of the planar bendable sheet) with a clip, so that the origami lamp has a stereoscopic shape for suitably used on a plane such as a desktop. Therefore, the planar bendable sheet can serve as the product for sale, and the consumer can form the planar bendable sheet into the origami lamp easily. In other words, it is convenient to store and transport the product of the present invention in the form of a planar sheet. 
     Further scope of applicability of the present invention will become apparent from the detailed description given hereinafter. However, it should be understood that the detailed description and specific examples, while indicating preferred embodiments of the invention, are given by way of illustration only, since various changes and modifications within the scope of the invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art from this detailed description. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       The present invention will become more fully understood from the detailed description given herein below and the accompanying drawings which are given by way of illustration only, and thus are not limitative of the present invention, and wherein: 
         FIGS. 1 and 2  are front and back views of a planar bendable sheet according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 3  is a sectional view taken along the line  3 - 3  in  FIG. 2 ; 
         FIG. 4  is similar to  FIG. 2 , but showing a different type of power cord connection; and 
         FIGS. 5-8  are front, back, side and top views of an origami lamp according to the preferred embodiment of the present invention. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     Referring to  FIGS. 1-8 , an origami lamp  10  as shown in  FIGS. 5-8  is formed from a planar bendable sheet  20  as shown in  FIGS. 1-4 . 
     Referring to  FIGS. 1-3 , the planar bendable sheet  20  primarily includes a translucent sheet body  21 , a light source  22 , and a translucent cover  23 . 
     The translucent sheet body  21  is a translucent plastic sheet made of, but not limited to, polypropylene (PP), which has a front surface  211  as shown in  FIG. 1 , and a back surface  212  as shown in  FIG. 2 . The translucent sheet body  21  is manufactured with a specific outline in a way that the circumference  213  of the translucent sheet body  21  consists of a lower curve  214  with multiple relatively larger radiuses of curvature, an upper curve  215  with multiple relatively smaller radiuses of curvature, and two junctions  216  of the lower curve  214  and the upper curve  215 . In addition, the translucent sheet body  21  is manufactured with many grooves recessed from the front surface  211 , that will be specified hereunder, and a light installation groove  217  recessed from the back surface  212  as shown in  FIGS. 2 and 3 . It is to be mentioned, the so-called “curves”, e.g. lower and upper curves  214  and  215 , are actually realized by piecewise continuous straight lines in this embodiment. However, in another embodiment, they are realized by continuous smooth curves. In other words, a curved edge or curved fold may be realized as a smooth curve or as a series of straight segments approximating a curved line, as is shown in this embodiment. 
     The light source  22  is an LED (light emitting diode) light strip including a flexible printed circuit (FPC)  221  made of, but not limited to, glass fiber and copper foil, and a plurality of LED light beads  222 , thereby shaped as a planar flexible elongated strip. The LED light strip  22  is embedded in the light installation groove  217 . The cover  23 , which is also made of plastics such as polypropylene (PP), is also embedded in the light installation groove  217  and covers the LED light strip  22 . The cover  23  is fixed in the light installation groove  217  by ultrasonic welding, or may be fixed there by gluing. The planar bendable sheet  20  further includes a power cord  24  electrically connected with the LED light strip  22 , and a clip  25  disposed on the power cord  24 , that will be specified hereunder. 
     Referring to  FIG. 1 , the grooves on the front surface  211  primarily includes an annular fold line  31 , two inner radial fold lines  32  extending from a main point  33  to the annular fold line  31 , and two outer radial fold lines  34  extending from two junctions  35  of the annular fold line  31  and the two inner radial fold lines  32  to the two junctions  216  of the circumference  213 . The two junctions  35  divide the annular fold line  31  into a lower segment  311  and an upper segment  312 . The annular fold line  31  and the two outer radial fold lines  34  divide the planar bendable sheet  20  into top, middle and bottom sections  26 ,  27  and  28 . Specifically speaking, the middle section  27  is defined by the annular fold line  31 ; the bottom section  28  is defined by the lower segment  311  of the annular fold line  31 , the lower curve  214  of the circumference  213  and the two outer radial fold lines  34 ; the top section  26  is defined by the upper segment  312  of the annular fold line  31 , the upper curve  215  of the circumference  213  and the two outer radial fold lines  34 . The two inner radial fold lines  32  divide the middle section  27  into a lower part  271  and an upper part  272 , wherein the light source  22  is provided in the upper part  272 . Referring to  FIGS. 2-3 , the LED light strip  22  includes a section  223 , namely a central section, located along the upper segment  312  of the annular fold line  31 , and two other sections  224 , namely lateral sections, extending from two ends of the section  223  toward the main point  33  along the two inner radial fold lines  32  respectively. 
     Referring to  FIG. 1 , the grooves on the front surface  211  further includes a plurality of inner radial grooves  36  provided in the lower part  271  and the upper part  272  of the middle section  27  and extending from the main point  33  to the annular fold line  31  radially, and a plurality of outer radial grooves  37  provided in the bottom section  28  and the top section  26  and extending from the annular fold line  31  to the circumference  213  radially. 
     The above-described planar bendable sheet  20  as shown in  FIGS. 1-3  can be formed into the origami lamp  10  as shown in  FIGS. 5-8  by an act of bending the planar bendable sheet  20  and fastening means. Referring to  FIGS. 5-8 , the origami lamp  10  includes a lamp stand  11  having a standing portion  111  and a connecting portion  112  integrally connected with the standing portion  111 , a light emitter  12  integrally connected with the connecting portion  112  of the lamp stand  11 , and a lampshade  13  integrally connected with the light emitter  12  and the standing portion  111  of the lamp stand  11 . The standing portion  111  of the lamp stand  11  is shaped as a tapered tube from the bottom section  28  of the planar bendable sheet  20  by the aforesaid act and fastening means in a way that two lateral edges  281  of the bottom section  28  are connected or abutted with each other. In other words, the standing portion  111  of the lamp stand  11  has two lateral edges connected or abutted with each other. The connecting portion  112  is a concaved recess shaped as a cone extending from the top of the standing portion  111  thereinto, which is formed from the lower part  271  of the middle section  27  of the planar bendable sheet  20  by the aforesaid act and fastening means in a way that two radial edges  273  of the lower part  271  extending from the main point  33  are connected or abutted with each other. In other words, the connecting portion  112  is inwardly recessed from the top of the standing portion  111  in a way that the connecting portion  112  has a cone shape, a main point  33  and two edges extending from the main point  33  and being connected or abutted with each other. The light emitter  12  is shaped as another cone extending from the connecting portion  112  upwardly, which is formed from the upper part  272  of the middle section  27  of the planar bendable sheet  20  by the aforesaid act and fastening means in a way that two radial edges  274  of the upper part  272  extending from the main point  33  are connected or abutted with each other. In other words, the light emitter  12  upwardly and expandly extends from the main point  33  of the connecting portion  112  in a way that the light emitter  12  has a cone shape and two edges connected or abutted with each other. The lampshade  13  is shaped as a cloak extending from the top of the light emitter  12  outwardly and downwardly, which is formed from the top section  26  of the planar bendable sheet  20  by the aforesaid act and fastening means in a way that two lateral edges  261  of the top section  26  are connected or abutted with each other. In other words, the lampshade  13  has two lateral edges connected or abutted with each other. 
     The aforesaid fastening means may be realized in this embodiment by fastening the two lateral edges  281  of the bottom section  28  of the planar bendable sheet  20  with the clip  25 . Specifically speaking, the clip  25  is provided at each end thereof with two feet  251 , as shown in  FIG. 2 ; the power cord  24  is clipped between the two feet  251  of an end of the clip  25 ; the two lateral edges  281  of the bottom section  28  is clipped between the two feet  251  of the other end of the clip  25 . Through the fastening means, the origami lamp  10  formed from the planar bendable sheet  20  is kept in the stereoscopic status. Besides, the two feet  251  for clipping the power cord  24  is adapted for standing on a plane such as a desktop along with the lamp stand  11 , as shown in  FIG. 7 . It is to be understood that any fastening member, such as snap on button, loop and hook fastener, needle, pin, etc., that can hold two lateral edges  281  of the bottom section  28  of the planar bendable sheet  20  can be used in the present invention. Further, as shown in  FIG. 4 , the power cord  24  may be detachably connected with the LED light strip  22  through a pair of USB connectors  29  and  30 . Specifically speaking, the USB connector  29  is fixed at an end of the LED light strip  22 , and the USB connector  30  is fixed at an end of the power cord  24 , so that the power cord  24  can be connected with the LED light strip  22  or detached therefrom. 
     When the origami lamp  10  is turned on, light is emitted from the LED light strip  22  provided in the light emitter  12 . The central section  223  of the LED light strip  22  is located along the opening  121  at the top of the light emitter  12 , therefore the top of the light emitter  12  is relatively brighter and emits much light toward the lampshade  13 . Besides, the lateral sections  224  of the LED light strip  22  extend from the central section  223  toward the apex  122  at the bottom of the light emitter  12 , therefore the light from the lateral sections  224  is centralized at the bottom of the light emitter  12 . Because the front surface  211  of the planar bendable sheet  20  is formed into the external surface  113  of the lamp stand  11 , the external surface  123  of the light emitter  12  and the internal surface  131  of the lampshade  13 , the power cord  24  connected with the LED light strip  22  extends from the internal surface  124  of the light emitter  12  and mostly hidden inside and under the lamp stand  11 . 
     As a result, the planar bendable sheet  20  can be easily formed into the origami lamp  10  by the act of bending the planar bendable sheet  20  and the fastening means realized by using the clip  25  in this embodiment, so that the origami lamp  10  has the stereoscopic shape for suitably used on the desk. Therefore, the planar bendable sheet  20  can serve as the product for sale, and the consumer can form the planar bendable sheet  20  into the origami lamp  10  easily. In other words, it is convenient to store and transport the product of the present invention in the form of a planar sheet.