Wearable warning device

Abstract

 A wearable warning device (100) is provided which includes a strip (101) of plastics material of a sandwich construction having thereon one or more arrays (120, 121) of lamps (103) preferably LED's which lamps (103) when connected to a battery (110) via an electronic circuit breaker (112) flash on and off. The device (100) in the embodiment shown is constructed as an arm band which has two arrays (120, 121) of four LED's (103) which project through the outer wall of the layered strip (101). The battery (110) is housed in a pocket of the device and a flap (115) serves to support terminals (116) which connect with the battery (110). In use, the arm band is placed around the arm of the wearer by means of the elastic strip (102) so that one array (120) faces forwardly and the other array (121) faces rearwardly. The electronic circuit breaker causes the LED's to flash on and off in a time ratio of about 1:3. An audible warning device may also be incorporated into the arm band.

Description

[0001] This invention relates to a wearable warning device. It relates in particular to a warning device which can be worn by pedestrians and other road users during the hours of darkness to render said persons visually conspicuous and thereby reduce the danger of road accidents.

[0002] It is customary to alert road users to the presence of stationary hazards at night by the provision of stationary lights. Vehicles normally carry lights also. Reflective surfaces and devices are often applied to vehicles, to stationary hazards and indeed to road surfaces, and are occasionally applied to the person or to the clothing of pedestrians, traffic policemen, cyclists and others. As far as is known to the present inventor, no visible warning device for pedestrians at night has been proposed which does not depend on an extraneous source of light, apart from wearable cyclist's lamps.

[0003] The invention seeks, among its objects, to safeguard the pedestrian at night by clearly visible warning means to the front and to the rear which are independent of incident light from vehicles or street lamps.

[0004] The invention accordingly provides a wearable device for pedestrians and other road users at night, which device comprises a battery-operated array of electric lamps mounted on a flexible carrier, means for switching the array on and off, circuit elements adapted to effect intermittent flashing on and off of the lamps while the array is switched on, and means for attaching the carrier to the body or clothing of a person.

[0005] Preferably, the flexible carrier comprises a strap with a buckle or clasp, and the device can be worn around the waist as a belt or over one shoulder as a bandolier.

[0006] Preferably, the lamps are light emitting diodes (LED's).

[0007] More preferably, the flexible carrier comprises an arm band.

[0008] The array of lamps may be disposed in equally spaced apart formations along the length of the midline of the carrier. Each lamp is desirably located in and partly protected by a perforation in the carrier and the carrier is preferably constructed from two or more layers of material with the necessary wiring located and concealed between the layers.

[0009] Alternatively, the array of LED's may be in a cluster of four, each LED being mounted on a corner of one side of a rectangularly shaped printed circuit board, the other side of the board having a suitable circuit for conveying electricity to the LED's etched thereon and means for connecting the circuit to the battery. Preferably, each arm band has at least two arrays of LED's thereon so that, in use, one array is directed forwardly of the wearer and the other array is directed rearwardly of the wearer.

[0010] The circuit elements adapted to effect intermittent flashing preferably comprise an electronic circuit breaker, but a conventional flasher bulb replacing one of the lamps may also be used.

[0011] The invention will be appreciated in greater detail from the following description of a preferred embodiment thereof, given by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which

Fig. 1 is a plan view of a safety warning belt, in the open and extended condition, for a pedestrian;

Fig. 2 is a simplified circuit diagram of the electrical components in the safety warning belt of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a cross-section of the belt of Fig. 1, taken along the line III-III in that figure and viewed in the direction of the associated arrows;

Fig. 4 is a detail taken from the region IV of Fig. 1 and partially dissected to expose the electrical components;

Fig. 5 is a perspective view of a safety warning arm band for a pedestrian;

Fig. 6 is a perspective view of a printed circuit board having four LED's thereon;

Fig. 7 is a rear perspective view of the printed circuit board of Fig. 6; and

Fig. 8 is a simplified circuit diagram of the electrical components in the safety warning arm band of Fig. 5.

[0012] Referring now to Figs. 1-4 of the drawings, a safety warning belt 10 comprises an elongate flexible strip 11 made from suitable plastics material and of sandwich construction consisting of two similar strips or layers lla, llb placed face to face and welded together along seams llc around their common periphery. The belt 10 further comprises a conventional buckle 12 and co-operating perforations 13. Six holes 14 are provided in the outer strip lla, each accommodating a screw-in bulb socket 15 for receiving a 1.5 V electric bulb 16. The sockets 15 are connected in series by PVC-insulated conducting wires 17 in a circuit which includes an on/off switch 18, a flashing device 19 and terminals 20 for the reception of a 9 V electric battery 21.

[0013] The flashing device 19 and the battery terminals 20 are housed in a small purse 22 attached to the belt 10 adjacent the buckle 12. The purse 22 also accommodates the battery 21 when present. The on/off switch 18 is likewise housed in the purse 22 but its actuator protudes therefrom for convenience in switching. Each socket 15 has a basal flange 15a of diameter greater than that of the associated hole 14 to permit secure retention of the socket 15 by the upper strip lla of the belt 10. Additionally, each socket 15 is adhesively secured by its base to the underlying strip llb of the belt 10.

[0014] The flashing device 19 is an electronic circuit breaker incorporating a time delay of about 1 second, and is effective to flash all the bulbs 16 simultaneously on and off at regular intervals. For economy in power usage, it is preferred that the off 9 time be longer that the on time, a ratio of about 3:1 between said times respectively being considered satisfactory.

[0015] The belt 10 is embellished on its outer strip lla by reflective patches 23 which improve the safety factor.

[0016] It will be appreciated that the bulbs 16 and the screw-in bulb sockets 15 may be replaced by LED's. For convenience, the six LED's may be mounted on three printed circuit boards each board having a suitable circuit etched thereon for conveying electricity from the power source 21 to the LED's. The printed circuit boards are, of course, electrically interconnected so as to permit current to flow to each LED. Thus each printed circuit board would have two LED's thereon and the boards may be housed between the strips or layers lla, llb each LED protruding through holes 14.

[0017] The buckle 12 may be of the type wherein the buckling of the belt completes the electric circuit. Thus the switch 18 described above could be excluded.

[0018] Referring now to Figs. 5-8 of the drawings, a safety warning arm band 100 comprises a strip 101 made from a suitable plastics material of a sandwich construction similar to that described with respect to Figs. 1-4 of the drawings. The ends of the strip 101 are joined by elastic material 102 so as to permit the arm band 100 to fit snugly on any sized arm.

[0019] Eight holes are provided in the outer layer of the plastics material 101 for accommodating respective LED's 103.

[0020] The LED's are in two arrays 120, 121 of four LED's per array. Each LED 103 is mounted on one side of a printed circuit board 104, the reverse'105 of which has etched thereon a suitable circuit 106 for conveying electricity to each LED from a battery 110 via wires 107. The LED's of each array 120, 121 are connected in series but each array 120, 121 is connected in parallel to an electronic circuit breaker 112 which is in turn connected to terminals 116 for connection to the battery 110. The battery 110, shown in dotted outline in Fig. 5, is housed in a pocket on the inner wall of the plastics material 101. The outer wall of the plastics material 101 has a flap 115 thereon in which is housed the terminals 116 for connection to the battery 110. A switch 113 may be used if desired but this is not essential as the terminals 116 may be conncted or disconnected from the battery 110 by the use of the flap 115.

[0021] In constructing the arm band, the outer wall of the plastics material 101 has eight holes therein for the reception of the LED's 103 of each array 120, 121. Thus, each printed circuit board 104 having the LED's 103 therein is pressed against the inner face of the outer wall of the plastics material 101 so that the LED's 103 protrude through the holes. The wires 107 are connected to the electronic circuit breaker 112 which also has wires 107 leading therefrom to the terminals 116. The inner wall of the plastics material 101 is placed face-to-face and welded with the outer wall of the plastics material 101 to form a sandwich construction having the components sandwiched therebetween.

[0022] Ideally, when the arm band 100 is in use, it is^* worn so that the elastic material 102 is inwardly facing, (that is facing the body of the wearer), one array, say 120, is facing forwardly of the wearer the other array, 121, is facing rearwardly of the wearer.

[0023] Located in the vicinity of each array 120, 121 is a reflective patch 123 which improves the safety factor. If desired, the entire plastics material 101 may be of the reflective type or have reflective material embellished thereon.

[0024] Although it is possible to incorporate just one LED on each printed circuit board 104, it has been found that the use of four LED's per printed circuit board is preferred with each LED being located at a respective corner of the printed circuit board. It will be appreciated that other array designs such as a triangle or a circle are also possible.

[0025] Furthermore, with respect to Figs. 1-4 of the drawings, it will be appreciated that the arrays and the printed circuit boards used in Figs. 5-8 of the drawings may also be used as an alternative construction to the circuit and arrays described therein.

[0026] A suitable audible warning device may be incorporated into the safety wearing device. The audible warning device may be powered from the same battery but is connected directly thereto via suitable wires and an on/off switch. The audible warning device could be used if the wearer was attacked by a mugger and the wearer could switch on the audible warning device to attract attention. The audible warning device should have a sufficient intensity or shrill so as to indicate that its sounding is a distress signal.

Claims

1. A wearable device (100) for a pedestrian or other road user at night characterised in that the device (100) comprises a battery-operated array (120, 121) of electric lamps (103) mounted on a flexible carrier (101), means (115) for switching the array on and off, circuit elements (112) adapted to effect intermittent flashing on and off of the lamps (103) while the array (120, 121) is switched on and means (102) for attaching the carrier to the body or clothing of the pedestrian or other road user.

2. A device as claimed in claim 1 wherein the lamps are light emitting diodes.

3. A device as claimed in claim 1 or claim 2 wherein the circuit elements comprise an electronic circuit breaker.

4. A device as claimed in any of claims 1-3 wherein each lamp is located in and partially protected by a perforation in the carrier and wherein the carrier is constructed from two or more layers of material with the necessary wiring located between the layers.

5. A device as claimed in claims 2-4 wherein the array comprises a cluster of four light emitting diodes each light emitting diode being mounted on a corner of one side of a substantially rectangularly shaped printed circuit board, the other side of the board having etched thereon a suitable circuit for conveying electricity to the light emitting diodes.

6. A device as claimed in any of claims 1-5 wherein the flexible carrier comprises a strap and wherein the device can be worn around the waist as a belt or over the shoulder as a bandolier.

7. A device as claimed in any of claims 1-5 wherein the flexible carrier comprises an arm band.

8. A device as claimed in claim 7 wherein the arm band comprises two arrays of light emitting diodes thereon so that in use one array-faces forwardly of = the wearer and the other array faces rearwardly of the wearer.

9. A device as claimed in any of claims 1-8 wherein, in use, the off time of the lamps is longer than the on time of the lamps in a ratio of about 3:1 between said times.

10. A device as claimed in any of claims 4-9 wherein the battery is housed in a pocket located between the layers of the material.

11. A device as claimed in any of claims 1-10 which further comprises a battery operated audible warning device and means for switching the audible warning device on and off independently of the means for switching the array on and off.

Drawing