The use of arrangements adapted to modify the light flux generated by incandescent lamps in direct lighting apparatuses in view of attenuating glare is known in the art since a long time now. This is particularly true of such arrangements as light diffusers and light refracting means.

Light diffusers are housings made of non-diaphanous glass (e. g. ground or opaline glass), which are arranged around light sources and do not modify the original direction of the light beams, which in fact remains substantially perpendicular to the lateral surface of the lamps, regardless of the shape thereof (bulb shape, linear shape, etc.). From an industrial standpoint, it should be pointed out that light diffusers are manufactured by blow-moulding, injection-moulding or similar process, whereas from a standpoint of the end-users of such diffusers, it should be noticed that the inherent aesthetical properties of non-diaphanous glasses often fail to enjoy full consumer acceptance.

Refracting means are housings made of diaphanous material (usually glass) streaked by deep furrows which have such a profile and orientation as to be capable of modifying the direction of the rays emitted by the light source. Apart from the fact that they are generally expensive since double or even triple housings are frequently used, the conventional refracting means are very sensitive to dust depositing onto the surface thereof, so that they need frequent cleaning.

Besides the above mentioned direct-lighting apparatuses, well-known in the art are also indirect- lighting apparatuses, which are typically used in connection with very bright light sources, such as halogen lamps, in which appropriate, usually reflecting screens are used to direct the rays of light against the side walls and/or the ceiling of the rooms in which they are installed. These apparatuses, however, give rise to quite poor shading effects, so that they do not always prove favourable as far as the perception of lighted objects is concerned : furthermore, they sometimes have also a rather poor energy efficiency.

Known in the art since a shorter time are also the so-called light pipes for connecting a light source with a remote spot. These apparatuses, however, are generally used in connection with lighting installations and purposes that are different from those required by internal rooms of residential and similar buildings.

For example, US patents US-A-5'050 946 and US-A-5 202 950 provide for the use of light pipes to illuminate from the rear liquid-crystal displays (LCD) that are used in hand-held calculators and

other electronic devices. However, leaving the fact that the light sources are only and simply fluorescent lamps out of consideration, light pipes require an installation that cannot certainly be performed by a simple consumer or even an electrician if he/she does not have appropriate, special tools. In addition, these light pipes, although being manufactured with such conventional materials as polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA), require in all cases a surface that must be processed (faceted) according to definite geometrical shaped and this causes them to become too sophisticated, even from an economic standpoint, for applications such as the one considered by the present invention.

From US-A-5 836 669 the use is finally known of bundles of optical fibres in an arbitrary conformation to light the internal rooms or compartments of household appliances, such as refrigerators, ovens and the like, under utilization of so-called light extracting means as a supplement to the light sources (usually constituting of halogen lamps) that are situated on the outside of the same appliances. These light extracting means, which may in turn be variously shaped (i. e. be planar, cylindrical, toroidal, etc. in their shape), are adapted to emit light beams in a direction that is transversal with respect to the direction of propagation of the light. Anyway, also this lighting system proves to be too much sophisticated and, additionally, something of a problem as regards the replacement of parts, like lamps and light extracting means, which are likely to fail during the operating life.

It therefore is a main object of the present invention to provide a lighting apparatus for the illumination of internal rooms in residential and similar buildings, which is capable of being manufactured with the use of simple, rather unsophisticated materials at a low cost. A further object of the invention is to provide a lighting apparatus of the above cited kind, whose installation and maintenance-the latter being understood as to mainly refer to the replacement of parts that are likely to fail in the course of the operating life-can be performed also by non-skilled people, such as the normal end-users.

According to the present invention, these and further objects are reached in an apparatus featuring the characteristics as recited and defined in the appended claims.

Features and advantages of the present invention may anyway be more readily understood from the description of an non-exclusive example of embodiment that is given below with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: - Figure 1 is a plan view of the components of a lighting apparatus according to the invention; - Figure 2 is a cross-sectional view of the same lighting apparatus along the line A-A of Figure 1; - Figure 3 is a more detailed plan view of a number of the above mentioned component; - Figure 4 is a view of the components shown in Figure 3 along the section line B-B.

As this is illustrated in a partially schematic way in Figures 1 and 2, a lighting apparatus according to the present invention substantially comprises four parts, which are intended to be assembled in the manner that will be described in greater detail further on, namely : - a halogen lamp 10 that constitutes the light source of the apparatus; - a support member 20 made prevailingly of metal (which is only shown schematically in Figures 1 and 2 for a better clarity) ; a metal housing 35; - a square or rectangular plate 40 made of an optically transparent material, such as for instance crystal glass, having a relatively small thickness S.

The halogen lamp 10, which-as better explained below-extends along a portion of the periphery of the plate 40, is of the type that is generally called linear and comprises a cylindrical quartz pipe that is butt-sealed at the terminal zones 11 thereof so as to retain the ends of the tungsten filament 12 and the related power-supply terminals 13 that are enclosed in cylindrical insulating bushes (not shown, for greater simplicity). These bushes enable the lamp to snap-fit into two supports 21, which are electrically insulating as well. These supports are a part of the support element 20 and accommodate the ends (not shown in the Figures, either, owing to reasons of greater simplicity) of the power supply wires 14-see Figure 3.

The other components, made invariably of metal, of said support element 20 are a first metal bracket 22, an elongated rigid body 24 and a second metal bracket 30. The first metal bracket 22 is centrally fastened to the front wing 25 of the elongated rigid body 24 by means of a screw 23, and laterally sustains, for instance by means of a fixed joint, the supports 21 of the lamp 10. The central portion of the elongated rigid body 24 has a cross-section in the shape of a reverse U-see Figure 4 - the rear wing 26 thereof acting as the support of two hinges 27, whose axis X is parallel to the filament 12 of the lamp 10-see Figure 3. To the pins of said hinges 27 there is attached a first side 31 of the second metal bracket 30, which has a cross-section in the shape of a reverse L and is therefore capable of being adjusted about the axis X with respect to the other components of the support element 20, as indicated by the double arrow P in Figure 4. In an advantageous manner, such adjustment is performed by tightening to a more or less great extent (or, should this be the case, by removing) at least a dowel 29 engaging in a threaded hole provided in the second side 32 of said second metal bracket 30 and touching with its tip the rear wing 26 of the elongated body 24.

The housing 35 performs the double function of covering the support element 20, with the lamp 10, and of sustaining the plate 40. To this purpose, housing 35 is in the shape of a parallelepiped where the rear face 36 and front face 37 are fully open, whereas the bottom face is provided with a large window 38 starting from the front face 37-see Figures 1 and 2. The window 38, when the

apparatus is assembled and installed, is closed by means of a cover (not shown) to prevent free access tove parts, such as the terminals of power-supply wires 14. However, such a cover can of course be temporarily removed, for instance in order to replace a bumt-out lamp. In its top face, said housing 35 is finally provided with a plurality of apertures 39 enabling a proper dissipation of the heat generated by the lamp 10 when energized, the said apertures being so sized, actually, as to prevent a test finger from being capable of being inserted therein, as requested by the safety standards applying to electrical devices.

The plate 40 has following fundamental features, i. e.: - it has a thickness S that is not smaller than the corresponding dimension of the lamp 10, which in this case is the diameter D of the cylindrical quartz tube; - along a side of its periphery, it is provided with a thinned-out appendix 41, as defined by a shoulder 42, with a recess 43 in its middle portion-see Figure 1; - the bottom face 46 is perfectly transparent, while light-flux refracting means are provided in correspondence of the top face 45, as this will be more clearly explained below.

The assembly of the apparatus is accomplished by the fixation of housing 35 to the support element 20 and the plate 40, as shown by arrows M1 and M2 in Figure 2. The rear wing 26 of the elongated body 24 acts as a retaining means when inserting the support element 20 through the open rear face 36, while shoulder 42 in the appendix 41 acts as an abutment means when inserting the plate 40 through the open front face 37. Appropriate and well-known retaining means (not shown), such as for instance screw-like means, are used on the apparatus for preventing the support element 20, with the lamp 10, and the plate 40 from accidentally separating from the housing 35 upon having been so inserted. When the apparatus is fully assembled, the lamp 10-according to important features of the invention-is therefore situated within the housing 35 and along a portion of the periphery of the plate 40, namely in front of the recess 43 in the thinned-out appendix 41.

As already mentioned above, in correspondence of the top face 45 of the plate 40 there are provided light-flux refracting means, which may simply consist of a suitable surface finish of the said face 45, and these means are intended to deflect-according to a fundamental feature of the present invention-the light flux emitted by the lamp 10 which is situated along the portion 43 of the periphery of plate 40. Namely, this light flux, which penetrates along the plate 40 from the said portion 43 of the periphery and moves forwards in a parallel to the faces 45 and 46 owing to the screening effect brought about by the walls of housing 35, is deflected by 90 degrees by the action of the above mentioned refracting means, so that it diffuses into the ambient to be lighted up through the optically transparent bottom face 46 of the plate 40.

The installation of the apparatus can be carried out directly on a stationary structure, for instance a wall of the room to be lighted up, by making use for example of at least a screw anchor passing through an appropriate bore provided in the second side 32 of the second bracket 30, near the dowel 29 (for reasons of greater simplicity, these components are not shown in the figures). Owing to the hinges 27, by acting on the insertion of dowel 29 it is possible to adjust the orientation of the bracket 30 with respect to the support element 20 while the lamp 10, the housing 35 and the plate 40 are firmly joined thereto. In this manner, the possibility is given for the plate 40 to be given any arrangement differing from the horizontal one, according to the varying circumstances and/or the particular requirements of the end user, or to compensate for possible. deviations from the vertical of the wall of the room on which the apparatus of the invention has to be attached.

The apparatus can anyway be installed or attached also onto other kinds of fixed structures, such as a metal pier, so as to diffuse the light flux in a different direction.

Following particular advantages of a lighting apparatus according to the present invention are therefore clearly apparent from the above description : - the construction is very simple, since it not only makes use of standard parts that are readily available on the market, but also of simple dedicated components, from the support element 20 to the plate 40 through the housing 35, which do not need the use of complex tool or manufacturing equiipment; - no particular difficulty is to be found when installing the apparatus and the installation itself can in fact be carried out even by a generally unskilled end user; - maintenance operations (such replacing a bumt-out lamp or of carrying out an in-depth cleaning instead of a simple dusting of the apparatus) is made more convenient by the fact that, through the use of a common tool (such as for instance a screw-driver) it is quite easy to gain access to the lamp in view of replacing it in the case of a burn-out; - the plate 40 has such a neat aesthetical appearance as to be capable of gaining an almost general acceptance among the consumers.

It will be appreciated that, while the above description refers to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, a number of different embodiments and variants thereof may be developed without departing from the scope of the present invention as defined by the appended claims. So, for example, - the plate may be made of any other type of optically transparent material, likr an acrylic resin (polymethyl methacrylate) and may be in a shape differing from the square or rectangular one ; - the light source may be of a type differing from the afore described linear halogen lamp ;

- use may be made of more than just a lamp as a light source, wherein said lamps may be arranged along various portions of the periphery of the plate ; - the refracting means in correspondence of the top face may consist of a metal foil, which may be possibly given a suitable conformation, in contact with the plate.

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