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US-12619089-B1 - Rainbow projector and method for producing rainbow light

US12619089B1US 12619089 B1US12619089 B1US 12619089B1US-12619089-B1

Abstract

An embodiment of this invention regards the production and projection of rainbow colors from sunlight or an alternative light source, and more particularly, the production and projection of a multicolored rainbow patch of light onto a chosen target, such as a ceiling or wall, an object, or any other target. A prism receives a lightstream either directly or by reflection from a mirror. The lightstream enters the prism at a specific angle and is refracted, emerging as a rainbow light. The rainbow light is directed towards the chosen target either directly from the prism or by reflection from a mirror.

Inventors

  • Stephen Figlewski

Assignees

  • Stephen Figlewski

Dates

Publication Date
20260505
Application Date
20241022

Claims (17)

  1. 1 . A rainbow projector comprising: a prism having an entry face and an exit face not parallel to the entry face, the prism being without substantially reflective surfaces along a path from the entry face to the exit face; receiving means to receive a lightstream at the entry face at an angle of incidence; an aimer mirror having an aimer light reflecting surface, the aimer mirror not attached to the prism; the prism allowing the lightstream to pass through the prism along the path and the lightstream being dispersed at the entry face and at the exit face to form a rainbow light; transmittal means to transmit the rainbow light from the exit face to the aimer mirror; and aimer adjustment means positioning the aimer mirror such that the aimer light reflecting surface is positionable to receive the rainbow light and reflect the rainbow light in a desired manner.
  2. 2 . The rainbow projector as described in claim 1 , wherein the angle of incidence is more than 30 degrees.
  3. 3 . The rainbow projector as described in claim 1 , further comprising: a source mirror having a source light reflecting surface; and source adjustment means positioning the source mirror such that the source light reflecting surface is positionable to receive the lightstream and reflect the lightstream to the entry face at the angle of incidence.
  4. 4 . The rainbow projector as described in claim 3 , wherein the angle of incidence is more than 30 degrees.
  5. 5 . The rainbow projector as described in claim 3 , wherein the lightstream is visible light from the Sun and the rainbow projector further comprises tracking means to track and remain aligned with the Sun during a period of time.
  6. 6 . A rainbow projector system comprising: a light source emitting a lightstream; a source mirror having a source light reflecting surface; a prism having an entry face and an exit face not parallel to the entry face, the prism being without substantially reflective surfaces along a path from the entry face to the exit face; an aimer mirror having an aimer light reflecting surface, the aimer mirror not attached to the prism; source adjustment means positioning the source mirror such that the source light reflecting surface is positionable to receive the lightstream and reflect the lightstream to the entry face at an angle of incidence; the prism allowing the lightstream to pass through the prism along the path and the lightstream being dispersed at the entry face and at the exit face to form a rainbow light; transmittal means to transmit the rainbow light from the exit face to the aimer mirror; and aimer adjustment means positioning the aimer mirror such that the aimer light reflecting surface is positionable to receive the rainbow light and reflect the rainbow light to a target; the target being able to display the rainbow light as a rainbow patch.
  7. 7 . The rainbow projector system as described in claim 6 , wherein the angle of incidence is more than 30 degrees.
  8. 8 . The rainbow projector system as described in claim 6 , wherein the light source is the Sun, the lightstream is visible light from the Sun, and the rainbow projector system further comprises tracking means to track and remain aligned with the Sun during a period of time.
  9. 9 . A method for producing a rainbow light, the method comprising: obtaining a lightstream; receiving the lightstream at an entry face of a prism having an entry face and the exit face not parallel to the entry face, at an angle of incidence, the prism being without substantially reflective surfaces along a path from the entry face to the exit face; passing the lightstream through the prism from the entry face to the exit face, and the lightstream being dispersed at the entry face and at the exit face to form a rainbow light; transmitting the rainbow light to an aimer mirror having an aimer light reflecting surface to receive the rainbow light, the aimer mirror not attached to the prism; and reflecting the rainbow light from the aimer light reflecting surface in a desired manner.
  10. 10 . The method as described in claim 9 , wherein the angle of incidence is more than 30 degrees.
  11. 11 . The method as described in claim 9 , wherein the receiving step further comprises: positioning a source mirror having a source light reflecting surface to receive the lightstream; and reflecting the lightstream from the source light reflecting surface to the entry face, at the angle of incidence.
  12. 12 . The method as described in claim 11 , wherein the angle of incidence is more than 30 degrees.
  13. 13 . The method as described in claim 11 , wherein the lightstream is visible light from the Sun and the receiving means further comprises tracking means to track and remain aligned with the Sun during a period of time.
  14. 14 . The method as described in claim 11 , wherein the desired manner comprises: reflecting the rainbow light from the aimer light reflecting surface to a target; and displaying the rainbow light on the target as a rainbow patch.
  15. 15 . The rainbow projector as described in claim 1 , wherein the aimer light reflective surface further comprises means to reflect the rainbow light to a target.
  16. 16 . The rainbow projector as described in claim 1 , wherein the rainbow light has an angular dispersion of at least four (4) degrees between a visible red wavelength and a visible violet wavelength.
  17. 17 . The method as described in claim 9 , wherein the rainbow light has an angular dispersion of at least four (4) degrees between a visible red wavelength and a visible violet wavelength.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATIONS This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application For Patent Ser. No. 63/595,333, filed Nov. 1, 2023; and whose contents are incorporated by reference herein in their entirety. FIELD OF THE INVENTION This invention regards the production and projection of rainbow colors from sunlight or an alternative light source, and more particularly, the production and projection of a multicolored rainbow spot or patch of light onto a desired target, such as a wall, an object, or any other target. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Throughout history, rainbows have produced wonder and fascination, as well as scientific inquiry. Rainbows are invariably regarded in a positive way. In the Bible, the rainbow is God's sign that the Great Flood is over. Rainbows in folklore are lucky and lead to pots of gold. Today, rainbow colors and imagery are everywhere: in clothing, home decorations, toys, tattoos, business logos, and much more. Natural rainbows are formed when sunlight passes through water droplets in the atmosphere. The droplets act as prisms, and a visual rainbow is created in the sky. Sunlight passing through a man-made prism also refracts into rainbow colors and the image can be projected onto a surface or a screen for viewing. “White” light from the Sun is a mixture of all the colors in the visible light spectrum. Rainbow images are frequently produced using a prism made of glass, acrylic plastic, or another transparent material. When light passes through the prism the different colors are refracted (bent) by differing amounts, to emerge as visually distinct rays of pure color. The prism produces a spot or patch of light displaying “every color of the rainbow.” An example of a patch of rainbow light is shown in FIG. 1. In the prior art, there are various devices and techniques that produce rainbow colors from natural sunlight. Typical prior art is disclosed in Mori, “Rainbow Forming Device,” U.S. Pat. No. 4,955,975 issued on Sep. 11, 1990. Mori discloses “[a] rainbow forming device includes a light guide for transmitting visible light therethrough and a prism having a cross-section of a substantially equilateral triangle for splitting the light into a series of colors of the spectrum to form a rainbow. A light-emitting end of the light guide is set with its axis perpendicular to the prism's first edge. The visible light emitted from the light guide's end passes through the prism along the path from prism's first vertex including the prism's first edge to said prism's second vertex and the light split into colors of the spectrum are emitted from the prism's third vertex and forms a rainbow.” Mori is a relatively basic, and not very efficient, setup for splitting visible light into rainbow colors. In Dear, “Rotating spectral display device,” U.S. Pat. No. 9,013,775, issued on Apr. 21, 2015, “[a] solar powered rainbow-making device produces a visual display that is created by the interplay of light and a light refractive element that form constantly changing patterns from a rotating crystal. The rotating display device includes a circular-shaped refractive element that is mounted on a base and is turned by a motor driven transmission gear train. The crystal rotates about a horizontal axis as sunlight is transformed into a color spectrum that moves in a circular fashion. The color images can include a plurality of distinct rainbow images that are projected onto the walls and other structures in the immediate environment.” Dear does not allow significant control over the created rainbow image. Arai, “Rainbow projector,” U.S. Pat. No. 4,557,055, issued on Dec. 10, 1985, discloses another approach to rainbow image creation. “The present invention relates to a rainbow image projector adapted to project a vivid rainbow image from a relatively small light source onto walls of a stage, a store, places for various parties, and like. Specifically, light rays emitted from the linear incandescent light source are converted by a cylindrical condenser lens into parallel light rays which are, in turn, obliquely incident on a triangular prism over whole area of its first refraction plane. Thus, it is possible to project a vivid rainbow image of a large curvature radius from the small light source of small power consumption and heat generation.” Arai is really a visual amplifier and a relatively complex method of creating a rainbow image from a different light source than the Sun. Another rainbow-creating approach is disclosed in Cabrera, “Installation for artificial rainbow generation and observation of same,” U.S. Patent Publication No. 2005/0024892, filed Nov. 21, 2002. In Cabrera, sunlight passes through a water curtain composed of water droplets. The water droplets act as a group of prisms, and the sunlight emerges from the water curtain in a multi-color, rainbow-like formation. Further, there are also numerous devices available in the marketplace which employ a transparent flat