Translucent Treat Carrier with Embedded LEDs for Visibility
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Solution Overview
Problem
Children carrying treat buckets during Halloween face visibility issues due to poor lighting, obstructions, and dark costumes, increasing the risk of accidents as drivers may not see them, especially in poorly lit areas with distractions and adverse weather conditions.
Innovation Solution
A lighted treat carrier bucket made of translucent material with embedded light-emitting diodes that illuminate both internally and externally, providing a decorative silhouette and enhancing visibility through refraction means, allowing the child to carry treats while being more visible to drivers.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Illumination intensity
If the child wears dark costume and carries a non-illuminated bucket, then the Halloween theme is maintained, but the visibility to drivers is insufficient
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines the treat bucket with an illumination system by integrating light-emitting diodes (LEDs) into the bucket structure. The bucket and lighting system are merged into a single unit, eliminating the need for separate flashlights or headlamps while providing enhanced visibility.
Solution Approach 2:
The illuminated bucket serves multiple functions: it carries treats, provides illumination for the child's path, and projects decorative silhouettes for visibility and safety. This multi-functional design replaces the need for separate costume accessories with lighting capabilities.
2Illumination intensity
If the child carries a flashlight along with the bucket, then visibility is improved, but the movement is restricted due to costume limitations
Solution Approach 1:
The flashlight function is merged into the bucket by integrating LEDs and power sources directly into the bucket structure. This eliminates the need for the child to carry a separate flashlight, freeing up their hands and improving movement freedom while maintaining visibility.
Solution Approach 2:
The bucket becomes self-sufficient by incorporating its own power source (battery) and lighting system. The illumination system is self-contained within the bucket, requiring no external power sources or additional accessories that would restrict the child's movement.
3Illumination intensity
If traditional opaque buckets are used, then manufacturing is simple, but visibility enhancement and decorative projection are limited
Solution Approach 1:
The bucket incorporates translucent or semi-transparent sections that allow light to pass through while maintaining structural integrity. These translucent sections enable the projection of decorative silhouettes and provide visibility enhancement without requiring the entire bucket to be complex in structure.
Solution Approach 2:
The bucket uses different material properties in different regions: opaque sections for structural strength and translucent sections for light transmission. This local differentiation allows the bucket to maintain simple manufacturing processes while providing enhanced visibility and decorative projection capabilities in specific areas.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The lighted bucket increases the child's visibility to drivers, reducing the risk of accidents by creating a kaleidoscopic pattern around the child, making them more noticeable in low-light conditions and allowing them to carry treats without using additional light sources.
Implementation Method 1
The treat carrier includes at least one light-emitting diode affixed in an interior portion of a top region of the bucket serving as the light source
Implementation Method 2
Decorative openings along a surface of an exterior wall permit the light to pass through to a region exterior to the bucket, and which generates a decorative projected silhouette that emanates from the exterior wall of the bucket
Data Source
AI summary
Treat carriers and methods of manufacture of the same are described, and more particularly to a holiday treat carrier in the form of a lighted bucket, and its associated methods of manufacture. In one embodiment, a treat carrier includes a bucket formed of a translucent material in which a light source illuminates the bucket interiorly and exteriorly. A single mold process may be used to form the bucket when the translucent material is manipulated in a form of the bucket. Decorative openings permit the light to pass through to a region exterior to the bucket, and generate a decorative projected silhouette that emanates from the exterior wall of the bucket and projects to surrounding areas. At least one light-emitting diode affixed in an interior portion of a top region of the bucket serves as the light source. The light-emitting diode is placed within a cavity formed through the single process mold.