Portable luminaire with fluorescent lantern

Claim 1

In a portable electric lamp structure having a housing, provided with an opening at one end thereon, a light-transmitting lens mounted on said housing for covering said opening, a substantially annular parabolic reflector mounted on the housing and opening outwardly toward said lens, an incandescent lamp positioned substantially at the focal part of said parabolic reflector, a self-contained direct-current electric power source positioned within the housing, and manual switch means for electrically connecting the power source to the incandescent lamp for energizing same, the improvement comprising a curved annular reflector disposed adjacent the outer free edge of said parabolic reflector and extending radially outwardly therefrom, said curved reflector having the radially inner edge thereof positioned in close proximity to the radially outer edge of said parabolic reflector, said curved reflector being of a smooth curvature as it projects radially outwardly from said inner edge so as to also project axially forwardly from the outer edge of said parabolic reflector toward said lens, a ringlike fluorescent lamp positioned rearwardly of said lens and in front of said curved reflector in concentric relationship with said parabolic reflector, said ringlike fluorescent lamp having a diameter which is of a magnitude at least similar to the diameter of the parabolic reflector adjacent its outer free edge, inverter means electrically connected to said fluorescent lamp for converting direct current to alternating current, said switch means being electrically connected between said power source and said inverter means and including a first manually-actuated switch connected electrically in series between said power source and said incandescent lamp and a second manually-actuated switch connected in series between said power source and said fluorescent lamp, whereby said lamps may be energized individually or jointly, said lens including a substantially flat center portion which is substantially aligned with the parabolic reflector and is positioned so as to be coaxially aligned with the open region defined within the interior of the ringlike fluorescent lamp, said ringlike fluorescent lamp being disposed radially outwardly of said center portion, said lens also including an outer annular portion which surrounds said center portion and is of a smoothly curved and outwardly rounded convex configuration when viewed in a radial plane, said curved outer portion of the lens cooperating with the curved reflector to define an enlarged annular region therebetween, and said ringlike fluorescent lamp being disposed in said annular region so that the curved convex outer portion of the lens provides for more uniform sideward diffusion of light over a large transverse area when the ringlike fluorescent lamp is energized.