The Original Application:

The original application is called "lighted moulding" A trademark name will be discussed below. The idea was to aid the victims of tragedy in thier evacuation of the compromised premises. To enable people within a facility during a fire or other evacuation procedure to quickly, safely and efficiently exit the installation.

The pieces of the application are:

1. The control module, consisting of connections to the moulding, connections to the power supply, (120 volt AC 60 hz, 12 volt or other) logic circuitry, and wiring.

2. The lighted molding, consisting of a rubberized, plastic, or other flexible moulding, a hardwood, baseboard, or other rigid moulding, containing lights, light emmiting diodes, or other radiation emmision devices, either in the visible spectrum, specific color spectrums, or other depending on application, dispersed along the length and embeded in the moulding, extruded from the moulding, or both in combination, and a battery pack, (if manufactured with a battery backup option) per length moulding, set of lengths of moulding, or entire system, or any combination of the above.

The moulding could be manufactured so as the direction logic is configurable on the individual piece of moulding itself, or in the control module and accompanying wiring.

The installation process:

The moulding would be installed like it's common everyday counterparts. The only exceptions to this would be that it would be connected to a power supply through a control module, and or battery pack.

Also if the lighted moulding was manufactured with the "Local Logic"option, meaning the direction of the tracing lights would be set on a length or lengths of moulding during installation, this direction must be set manually by the installer(s).

The control module installation would be similar to the installation of an alarm system, home network phone, or similar system. The control module would be set to activate the lights under a variety of conditions. This system could be used with pre-existing fire and burglar alarm systems, or other similar and needed alert systems. It could be sold with a variety of fire, earthquake, burgular or other "sensing" alarms.

The big idea:

1. This device would receive a code positive (a code from a sensor, alarm system, or other system) and would transmit a signal to the moulding, telling it to light. The moulding would be set to light in a specific "tracing" patteren toward the nearest exit.

Color codes could be used to alert the occupants of an establishment to a variety of disasters.

If for example the moulding was used as the trim on a door frame, in the event of an earthquake the moulding on the walls would trace toward the exits with the "standard earthquake color", and as they pass every availiable and safe ( that is, amply supported with adequate headers etc.)doorway (not the exits they are tracing toward) the "moulding method" used to create the special door frame trim lights with a specific "earthquake color" will indicate (at the victims discretion)that if the exit is too far off, take shelter under the nearest doorway.

Some Q and A:

Question: What is this "tracing" effect?

Answer: The "tracing" effect is very similar to that of common Christmas lights. It is a repeating pattern of one light after the other continuing in a direction until the end of the string is reached, and then repeat.

Question: Suppose that the moulding is triggered as the result of fire. What if the fire burns through a wall and severs the electrical connection to the moulding?

Answer: If there is a battery backup in the piece, set, or system, the moulding will continue to light and wait for the OK code until the battery has gone dead.
If there is damage to a piece, or pieces of the moulding, and thier battery backup is damaged the unit may not function, however the rest of the system that has not yet been compromised will function until the battery fails.
Also if the ALERT and COLOR codes are sent from the control module to the moulding, the moulding could be manufactured to continue to broadcast the same color codes in use the last time the moulding was in contact with the control module. (In other words if the connection to the control module is severed due to fire, earthquake damage, or other, the moulding could be made to keep flashing the same color(s) it was flashing before it lost connection to the control box.)

Question: What if there was a corner? Would the tracing pattern follow it around?

Answer: If the exit is located around that or another corner, the lighted molding will be set to "trace" around the corner on one or both sides of the hallway, passage, or other environment, depending on installation.

Question: Could the lights be seen through the heavy, thick smoke of a large fire?

Answer: Of course! The best place to see anything in thick smoke is low to the ground. Probably most of us were taught as children to crawl on the ground below the smoke in the event of a fire.
This makes it an ideal location for exit direction markers.
The lights should be specially selected for their smoke penetration properties for maximum effectivness at saving lives.

Question: What of these color codes? What type of things could the be used for?

Answer: For example, of there was a fire in the building, and the color red was adopted as the "crisis color standard" for a fire emergency, in the event of a fire in a hotel where the product was installed, the moulding in the halls, doors etc. would trace toward the exits, and would light the color red.

Question: Would the moulding be cost effective?

Answer: Yes! Saving lives is worth any price, however this time it comes at a bargain. The manufacturing costs for the moulding will be near that of conventional counterparts. The control module manufacturing costs would (at most) be that comparable to an alarm system control module, or other household control modules. Everything can be made from simple, existing components and technology.

There is no current trademark name for this "lighted moulding, trim etc." of course when it goes into production, a trademark name(s) will be chosen and purchased.

The inventor, Steve Joslin, claims all rights to any and all ideas, products, specific terms, and any other proprietary information contained in this document, under the terms of the Non-Disclosure Agreement signed by both parties, and any and all rights granted to inventor by law.

The above is a good outline of the original application, and it gives you some insights into the methods and apparatus which will be disscussed along with the various "product streams".
The basic "tracing" as a means of indicating direction in a time of crisis, and of color to relay the type of crisis to related parties will remain virtually the same throughout all these various applications, and products.
I have enclosed images and or image files of this application, and the others I will cover with you in these documents. These should help explain any questions you might have remaining after the written description. If you have questions not answered here, please do not hesitate to call me anytime at ***- ***- 0392. If for some reason I am unavailable, feel free to leave a message for me and I will get back to you as soon as possible.

Previous Page (1/9) - Next Page (3/9)