Apparatus for producing a source of light of reduced size

Claim 1

APPARATUS FOR REDUCING THE OPTICAL SIZE OF A SOURCE OF LIGHT COMPRISING A SOURCE OF LIGHT, LIGHT-TRANSMITTING CONE MEANS HAVING A BASE AND AN APEX PORTION, THE CROSS-SECTIONAL DIMENSIONS OF SAID APEX PORTION BEING SMALLER THAN THE CROSS-SECTIONAL DIMENSIONS OF SAID SOURCE OF LIGHT, SAID CONE MEANS HASVNG AN OUTER WALL, THE INNER SURFACE OF SAID WALL BEING LIGHT-REFLECTIVE, SOURCE MEANS FOR PROVIDING A BUNDLE OF CONVERGING RAYS OF LIGHT FROM SAID SOURCE OF LIGHT AND FOR DIRECTING SAID BUNDLE ONTO THE BASE OF SAID CONE MEANS, THE AXIS OF SAD CONVERGENT BUNDLE BEING SUBSTANTIALLY COINCIDENT WITH THE AXIS OF SAID CONE MEANS, THE ANGLE OF CONVERGENCE OF SAID BUNDLE BEING SUCH AS TO CAUSE SAID RAYS TO CROSS-OVER IN THE REGION OF SAID APEX PORTION, SAID SOURCE MEANS ALSO PROVIDING RAYS WHICH ARE TRANSMITTED THROUGH SAID CONE MEANS TO SAID APEX PORTION BY MULTIPLE INTERNAL REFLECTIONS FROM SAID INNER SURFACE THEREBY ADDING THE ENERGY OF THE LAST-MEMTIONED RAYS TO THE ENERGY TO THE RAYS WHICH CONVERGE ONTO SAID APEX PORTION.