"Profile for furnishings provided with a guide visible in the dark"

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DESCRIPTION The invention relates to the industry of furnishings and indicator and safety devices integrated in furnishing items, meant in the more general sense of interior furnishings or site amenities and outdoor furnishings.

More in detail, the invention concerns a furnishing profile with guide visible in the dark, and is in particular intended (but not only) for making skirtings, door and window wire covers, bumpers, parapets and handrails, route or edge and step and obstacles indicators, etc. suitable for making available a linear guide visible in the dark particularly in the safety sector. According to the state of the art, to indicate the presence of obstacles or the outline of objects in the dark, linear elements or profiles are used having luminous devices electrically supplied or having paints or strips of material that reflect the light, meaning which reflect the light that strikes them. Such devices have a number of limits or drawbacks: the electrically supplied elements are subject to malfunctions due to interruptions in the supply of electricity or exhausted batteries, as well as requiring connections to electrical and maintenance systems.

The drawback of reflector devices is that they need a strong light source to be visible.

The invention is intended to overcome these limits by realising a

furnishing profile with guide visible in the dark that is independent as regards electrical power supply or light sources, but which can automatically start up in the dark.

Such purposes are achieved with a furnishing profile with guide visible in the dark consisting of a shaped linear rigid element, characterised in that it comprises at least a further linear element in photoluminescent material stably associated with the former.

The photoluminescent material is preferably of the thermoplastic type, comprising a dispersion of granules of photoluminescent substances.

Advantageously, the photoluminescent material is translucent and emits coloured light.

According to preferred aspects of the invention, said linear element in photoluminescent material is obtained by extrusion, has a T section with a stem having tabs suitable for cooperating by interference with a longitudinal groove on the rigid element.

According to a further aspect of the invention, the linear element in photoluminescent material does not extend along the entire length of the rigid element. The invention has numerous advantages: the profile is independent of the power supply; does not require continuity or power connections between the various rigid linear elements; it is cheap, easy to install and suitable for DIY use without any risk of errors; it does not require plant engineering prearrangements nor maintenance and can replace traditional profiles and give these an additional function.

These and other advantages of the invention will be made more clearly evident below, where a description is given of a preferred exemplary and non-limitative embodiment, with the aid of illustrations, where: the Fig. 1 shows, in sectioned axonometric view, a furnishing profile with guide visible in the dark according to the invention with skirting conformation; the Figures 2 and 3 show, in sectioned axonometric view, a furnishing profile with guide visible in the dark according to the invention with handrail conformation; the Fig. 4 shows in sectioned axonometric view, a furnishing profile with guide visible in the dark according to the invention with bumper or wire cover conformation for doors and windows; the Fig. 5 shows, in cross section, a linear element in photoluminescent material according to the invention; the Fig. 6 shows, in axonometric view, a stair with parapet and furnishing profile with guide visible in the dark according to the invention with handrail conformation.

With reference to the Figures 1-4, a furnishing profile with guide visible in the dark is shown according to the invention with skirting S, handrail H and bumper or wire cover C conformation.

More specifically, a rigid linear element 1 is shown with conformation according to use, having a further linear element 2 in photoluminescent material. The linear photoluminescent element is made of material with

photoluminescence properties, comprising for example a translucent linear structure of the thermoplastic type in which is present a dispersion of photoluminescent granules suitable for absorbing light and re-irradiating it even after the exciting light source is switched off. The light emissions can be white or coloured.

The linear element 2 has a T section with convex head and core 3 with flexible protruding anchoring tabs 4.

The core 3 is designed to be fitted in a groove 5 obtained longitudinally in the linear rigid element 1 and to be kept in position by effect of the mechanical interference established between the same parts 3 and 5.

Alternatively, the linear element 2 can have a cross section without the core 3, and the system of fastening to the linear rigid element 1 can be of the chemical type by means of known adhesives or of the mechanical type by means of nails, screws, pins, rivets or other known quick fastening devices.

As a further alternative, the linear element 2 can be integrated directly in the linear element 1 , for example by means of co-extrusion during the construction process. In this case, the element 1 will be made of plastic material and may, if necessary, have flexibility such as to allow coil winding.

The linear element 2 can extend along the entire length of the linear rigid element 2 or else only along discontinuous sections, according to need. With reference to Fig. 3, the linear rigid element 1 can envisage the

presence of several photoluminescent linear elements 2.

During use, the furnishing profile according to the invention is able to recharge during the hours of light and to give off the accumulated light energy during the hours of darkness. This way, the profile with luminescent guide can be exploited as a guide light for moving along corridors, detecting walls, door surrounds, obstacles, etc.

Thanks to the use of the profile according to the invention, it is possible to avoid accidentally knocking against edges and obstacles, escape routes are made easier in public buildings, routes are improved in homes for adults and children without the need to switch on lights.

As is obvious to any skilled man, the invention has been described by making reference, by way of example, to furnishing profiles, but it is applicable, more in general, to the use of any rigid indicator and safety profile fitted to vertical walls or floors or fitted in the covering of the same always achieving the advantages emphasised above.

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