Personalized headboard with night light

Abstract

An item of furniture, especially a headboard of a bed, is personalized, e.g., with a user's name, and is backlit, thereby serving as a night light.

Description

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application claims the priority of U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 60/855,803, filed Nov. 1, 2006.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

This invention generally relates to furniture, especially a headboard of a bed, and, more particularly, to a headboard that is personalized, e.g., with a user's name, and that is illuminated, thereby serving as a night light.

2. Description of the Prior Art

Conventional night lights are releasably plugged into electrical wall outlets. Accordingly, they provide a dim light in the immediate vicinity of the wall outlet. If a user needs lighting at a different part of the room, for example, in a bed, that need cannot be fulfilled by a conventional night light.

Conventional headboards may be plain or ornate. They do not identify the user. A lamp may be clipped onto an edge of the headboard to direct illumination onto the bed. However, the illumination of the lamp may be too bright to serve as a night light and may prevent the user from going to sleep.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The long-standing but heretofore unfulfilled need for an item of furniture that is both personalized and illuminated to serve as a night light is now met by a new, useful, and non-obvious invention.

In the preferred embodiment, the furniture is a headboard for a bed, but could equally well be a chair, a table, a dresser, etc., especially furniture intended to be used by children. The headboard may be made of wood, plastic, or other solid material. The headboard is personalized by cutting the user's name, nickname, logo, or any other customized indicia all the way through the thickness of the headboard. These cutouts can be made by automated cutting machinery.

A light source in a housing may be positioned at any location on the rear of the headboard. The housing may be attached by screws, or preferably by Velcro™ strips on the housing and the headboard. The light source may be an incandescent lamp or preferably is a plurality of light emitting diodes. Electrical power is supplied by on-board batteries, or by a power cable connected to an electrical plug for insertion into an electrical wall outlet.

The illumination of the light source is directed toward a room wall behind the headboard and is reflected forwardly through the cutouts of the customized indicia. The indicia are thus backlit, thereby emphasizing their presence. The reflected light passing through the cutouts serve as a night light to illuminate the surrounding area on the bed.

The novel features which are considered as characteristic of the invention are set forth in particular in the appended claims. The invention itself, however, both as to its construction and its method of operation, together with additional objects and advantages thereof, will be best understood from the following description of specific embodiments when read in connection with the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

For a fuller understanding of the nature and objects of the invention, reference should be made to the following detailed description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a bed having a personalized headboard with a night light according to this invention; and

FIG. 2 is a rear elevational view of the headboard of FIG. 1.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Referring now to FIG. 1, reference numeral 10 generally identifies a bed having a headboard 12, especially a bed intended to be used by children. The headboard 12 may be made of wood, plastic, or other solid material. The headboard 12 is personalized by cutting the user's name, nickname, logo, or any other customized indicia 14 all the way through the thickness of the headboard 12. These cutouts 14 can be made by automated cutting machinery.

A light source in a housing 16 may be positioned at any location on the rear of the headboard 12. The housing 16 may be attached by screws, or preferably by Velcro™ strips on the housing 16 and the headboard 12. The light source may be an incandescent lamp or preferably is a plurality of light emitting diodes for emitting light of one or more colors. Electrical power is supplied by on-board batteries, or by a power cable 18 connected to an electrical plug 20 for insertion into an electrical wall outlet.

The illumination of the light source is directed toward a room wall behind the headboard and is reflected forwardly through the cutouts 14 of the customized indicia. The indicia are thus backlit, thereby emphasizing their presence. The reflected light passing through the cutouts 14 serve as a night light to illuminate the surrounding area on the bed. The bed is well-illuminated over a wide area.

It will be understood that each of the elements described above, or two or more together, also may find a useful application in other types of constructions differing from the types described above.

While the invention has been illustrated and described as embodied in a personalized headboard with nightlight, it is not intended to be limited to the details shown, since various modifications and structural changes may be made without departing in any way from the spirit of the present invention.

Without further analysis, the foregoing will so fully reveal the gist of the present invention that others can, by applying current knowledge, readily adapt it for various applications without omitting features that, from the standpoint of prior art, fairly constitute essential characteristics of the generic or specific aspects of this invention and, therefore, such adaptations should and are intended to be comprehended within the meaning and range of equivalence of the following claims.

What is claimed as new and desired to be protected by Letters Patent is set forth in the appended claims.

Claims

1. A personalized article of furniture, comprising:

a board having opposite front and rear surfaces;

a pattern of cutouts extending through the board between the front and rear surfaces; and

a light source mounted on the rear surface, for emitting light that passes through, and illuminates, the pattern of cutouts.

2. The article of claim 1, wherein the article is a bed, and wherein the board is a headboard.

3. The article of claim 1, wherein the pattern of cutouts is arranged to spell a user's name.

4. The article of claim 1, wherein the light that passes through the pattern of cutouts is reflected light to backlight the pattern of cutouts.

5. The article of claim 1, wherein the light source is operative at night to serve as a nightlight.

6. A personalized bed, comprising:

a headboard having a front surface and an opposite rear surface that faces a wall;

a pattern of cutouts extending through the headboard between the front and rear surfaces, the pattern of cutouts constituting indicia customized for a user of the bed; and

a light source mounted on the rear surface, and operable at night for emitting light to the wall for reflection therefrom through the pattern of cutouts to backlight the indicia and serve as a nightlight.