Night viewing system for reading without light

Claim 2

A viewing system for use in reading at night or the like, without visible light, said system comprising means for irradiating the material to be read with light radiation exclusively in the near visible spectrum; and a single goggles unit wearable by the reader comprising means for supporting the unit on the head of the reader, and a lens system through which the materials to be read are viewed including means transparent to light radiation in the near visible spectrum and opaque to light radiation in the visible spectrum for receiving near visible light radiation reflected from the materials to be read, light converter means for converting near visible light radiation into visible light, and means for conditioning the visible light output of said light converting means for viewing by the reader.

Claim 3

A viewing system as claimed in claim 1 wherein said irradiating means is incorporated into said single goggles unit.

Claim 4

A night viewing system as claimed in claim 1 wherein said irradiating means is incorporated into said single goggles unit and wherein said goggles unit further comprises a housing having a front face and a substantially arcuate rear face having a shape conforming generally to the curvature of the human face; said lens system comprising: a front objective lens system transparent only to light radiation in thE near visible spectra and opaque to visible light radiation for receiving the non-visible light radiation reflected from the irradiated object, said lens system located within said housing at the front face; light converter means located within said housing in optical alignment behind said front objective lens system for converting the non-visible light radiation transmitted through said front object lens system into visible light radiation; and two rear eye lens systems located within said housing at the rear face behind and in optical alignment with said converter means, said eye lens systems being laterally separated by the required interocular distance for viewing with both eyes.

Claim 5

A night viewing system as claimed in claim 3 wherein said irradiating means is comprised of a first light supply and a second light supply, said first light supply located along one side of said housing and said second light supply located along the other side of said housing.

Claim 6

A night viewing system as claimed in claim 1 wherein said transparent means comprises two independent subsystems, a first subsystem for one ocular light path and a second subsystem for the other ocular light path, each said subsystem being arranged along a respective optical axis and comprising: a filter opaque to visible light radiation and transparent to near visible light radiation, and a front objective lens; and wherein said light converter means comprises two converter means, a first converter means in optical alignment with said first subsystem and a second converter means in optical alignment with said second subsystem, each eye lens system being in optical alignment with a respective said image converter means.

Claim 7

A night viewing system as claimed in claim 5, and further icluding: first and second collimation lenses respectively located behind said first and second converter means in optical alignment therewith, each lens being located such that the focal plane thereof coincides with the image screen of said respective converter means; and first and second image intensifier tubes respectively located between said first and second collimation lenses and said first and second eye lens system.

Claim 8

A night viewing system as claimed in claim 1 whereas said conditioning means comprises a first rear eye lens system and a second rear eye lens system, said first and second rear eye lens system being separated by the required interocular distance for viewing with both eyes; and said night viewing system further including a collimation lens located behind said converter means in optical alignment therewith and located such that the focal plane thereof coincides with the image screen of said respective converter means; means in optical alignment with said collimation lens for splitting the light radiation passing therethrough into a first beam comprising the reflected light radiation and into a second beam comprising the transmitted light radiation; first means for optically coupling said first beam to said first rear eye lens system; second means for optically coupling said second beam to said second rear eye lens system, said second means being located such that the phase of the light radiation in the second eye lens system is equal to the phase of the light radiation in the first eye lens system.

Claim 9

A night viewing system as claimed in claim 1 wherein said irradiating means emits only infra-red light radiation, said transparent means is transparent only to infra-red light radiation and said light converter means converts the infra-red light radiation transmitted by said transparent means into visible light radiation.

Claim 10

A night viewing goggles system as claimed in claim 1 wherein said irradiating means emits only ultraviolet light radiation, said transparent means is transparent only to ultraviolet light radiation and said light converter means converts the ultraviolet light radiation transmitted by said transparent means into visible light radiation.