Auxiliary Spare Tire Brake Light For Vehicles

Abstract

An auxiliary spare tire brake light is provided for a vehicle having a spare tire with a rim that has spokes and openings and that is secured on lugs at the back of the vehicle. The auxiliary spare tire brake light includes a support disc having a central portion and a peripheral portion. An array of openings is formed in the central portion of the support disc and the openings are positioned to fit over the lugs at the back of the vehicle for positioning the support on the lugs behind the rim of the spare tire. An annular race extends around the peripheral portion of the support and a plurality of lights in the form of LEDs is disposed in the race. The LEDs are arrayed in a closely spaced substantially continuous array around the support to form a ring of LEDs. A wire and electrical connector electrically connect the plurality of LEDs to the brake circuitry of the vehicle so that the LEDs are illuminated when the vehicle's brake pedal is depressed, A first portion of the ring of LEDs align with and project light directly through the openings in the rim of the spare tire to be seen from behind as an indication that the vehicle is braking. A second portion of the ring of LEDs aligns behind) the spokes and reflects off of the backs of the spokes to silhouette the rim against the glow of the reflected light.

Claims

1: An auxiliary spare tire brake light for a vehicle having a spare tire with a rim having spokes and openings and being secured on lugs at the back of the vehicle, the auxiliary spare tire brake light comprising: a support having a central portion and a peripheral portion; an array of openings in the central portion of the support positioned and sized to fit over a plurality of lugs at the back of the vehicle for positioning the support on the lugs behind the rim of the spare tire; a plurality of lights arrayed in a substantially continuous ring around the peripheral portion of the support; a depressed race having opposing walls formed of a single piece of material with the support and extending around the peripheral portion of the support wherein the plurality of lights are disposed in the depressed race between the opposing walls and the plurality of lights are recessed from a terminal edge of the opposing walls; and a wire electrically connected to the plurality of lights for electrically connecting the plurality of lights to the brake light circuitry of the vehicle so that the plurality of lights illuminate when a brake pedal is depressed within the vehicle, wherein at least some of the plurality of lights are configured to project light through openings in the rim of the spare tire to be seen from behind as an indication that the vehicle is braking.

2. (canceled)

3: The auxiliary spare tire brake light of claim 1, wherein the support is disc-shaped.

4: The auxiliary spare tire brake light of claim 3, wherein the depressed race is annular.

5: The auxiliary spare tire brake light of claim 4, wherein the depressed race is configured to hold the plurality of lights in place.

6: The auxiliary spare tire brake light of claim 5, wherein the opposing walls of the depressed race is configured to hold the plurality of lights in place with a friction fit, an interference fit, or both.

7: The auxiliary spare tire brake light of claim 6, wherein the plurality of lights comprises a plurality of light emitting diodes.

8: The auxiliary spare tire brake light of claim 1, wherein the plurality of lights comprises a plurality of light emitting diodes.

9: The auxiliary spare tire brake light of claim 8, wherein the light emitting diodes are attached in a ring.

10: The auxiliary spare tire brake light of claim 9, wherein the light emitting diodes extend in a substantially continuous array around the ring.

11: The auxiliary spare tire brake light of claim 10, wherein the light emitting diodes are spaced sufficiently closely together so that a first portion of the light emitting diodes align with the openings in the rim of the spare tire and a second portion of the light emitting diodes align behind the spokes that separate the openings in the rim.

12: The auxiliary spare tire brake light of claim 10, wherein the second portion of the light emitting diodes, when illuminated, projects light onto the backs of the spokes to be reflected onto the back of the vehicle behind the spare tire to silhouette the rim of the spare tire against the back of the vehicle.

13. (canceled)

14: A spare tire brake light comprising: a circular support disc having a central portion and a peripheral portion; a depressed race having opposing walls formed of a single piece of material with the support disc and extending around the peripheral portion of the support disc; a plurality of light emitting diodes (LEDs) attached to the support disc extending in a substantially circular array around the peripheral portion of the support disc; and a wire electrically connected to the plurality of LEDs configured to electrically connect the plurality of LEDs to a brake light circuitry of the vehicle, wherein the LEDs are spaced apart sufficiently closely to ensure that a first portion of the plurality of LEDs aligns with openings between spokes of a spare tire rim when the circular support disc is disposed behind the rim and a second portion of the plurality of LEDs align behind the spokes of the spare tire rim; and wherein the plurality of LEDs are disposed in the depressed race between the opposing walls and the plurality of LEDs are recessed from a terminal edge of the opposing walls.

15. (canceled)

16: The spare tire brake light of claim 14, wherein the plurality of LEDs are held in the depressed race by a friction fit with the opposing walls, by an interference fit with the opposing walls, or both.

17: The spare tire brake light of claim 14 wherein the plurality of LEDs are arrayed in a closely spaced relationship around the periphery of the support disc to form a substantially continuous ring of LEDs on the support disc.

18: The spare tire brake light of claim 14, further comprising an array of openings in the circular support disc configured to receive threaded lugs.

19: The spare tire brake light of claim 1, wherein the wire extends through a hole located in the depressed race.

20: The spare tire brake light of claim 14, wherein the wire extends through a hole located in the depressed race.

21: The spare tire brake light of claim 14, wherein the depressed race is a substantially U-shaped channel having an open end located near the terminal edge of the opposing walls that receives the circular array of the plurality of LEDs in its entirety to secure the circular array within the depressed race.

22: The spare tire brake light of claim 1, wherein the opposing walls extend perpendicular to a surface of the central portion and the peripheral portion.

23: The spare tire brake light of claim 14, wherein the opposing walls extend perpendicular to a surface of the central portion and the peripheral portion.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0011] FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an auxiliary brake light for vehicles that embodies principles of the invention in one preferred embodiment.

[0012] FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the auxiliary brake light of FIG. 1 mounted and functioning behind the spare tire of a Jeep brand off-road vehicle.

[0013] FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view of the auxiliary brake light of FIG. 1 illustrating better a preferred LED ring configuration.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0014] Referring now in more detail to the drawing figures, wherein like reference numerals indicate like parts throughout the several views. FIG. 1 shows one embodiment of an auxiliary spare tire brake light according to principles of the invention. The brake light 11 includes a circular support disc 12 having a central portion 13 and a peripheral portion 14. An array of five (5) elongated openings 16 is formed through the support disc 12 in the central portion 13. These openings 16 are positioned and sized so that the support disc 12 can be received on arrays of lugs of different configurations at the back of a vehicle. A spare tire also is mounted to the vehicle via the same lugs capturing the auxiliary brake light between the spare tire and the tail gate of the vehicle. The elongated openings 16 are sized and positioned to be received on either a 5 on 4.5 inch or a 5 on 5 inch lug pattern so that the auxiliary brake light can be used with smaller and larger spare tires. In at least this sense, the auxiliary brake light 11 may be said to be universal.

[0015] An annular groove or race 17 is formed in the peripheral portion 14 of the support disc 12 and extends around the edge of the support disc. A continuous ring of lights 18 is disposed in the annular race and the lights are oriented to project light rearwardly away from the vehicle when illuminated. In the preferred embodiment, the continuous ring of lights 18 is formed by a plurality of closely spaced, interconnected, side-by-side light emitting diodes (LEDs) 19 formed into the shape of the ring.

[0016] The ring of LEDs preferably is pressed into the annular race and is held in place within the race with an interference or friction fit between the ring and the walls of the race. This is advantageous during manufacturing since the ring of LEDs need only be snapped into place in a single step. However, the ring of LEDs might just as well be held in place with fasteners such as screws or with adhesive if desired. An electrical cable 21 is connected to the LEDs of the ring and terminates in a waterproof connector 22. The connector 22 is configured to be connected to the existing third brake light circuitry of the vehicle. In this way, the LEDs of the ring are illuminated whenever the standard brake lights at the sides of the vehicle are illuminated by depression of the brake pedal within the vehicle.

[0017] To install the auxiliary brake light of FIG. 1, the spare tire of a vehicle is removed from the supporting lugs of the support structure at the rear of the vehicle. The auxiliary brake light 11 is then slid into place with the lugs extending through the elongated openings 16 and with the ring of LEDs 18 facing rearwardly. The spare tire is then replaced onto the lugs and secured in place with lug nuts in the normal way to complete the installation. The completed installation is shown in FIG. 2. Here, an off-road vehicle 26 has a rear tailgate 27 and a spare tire support structure (not visible) to which a spare tire 28 is mounted. The spare tire 28 includes a rim 29 formed with radial spokes 31 separated by openings 32. Many different rim designs with different spoke and opening configurations are available and used by off-road enthusiasts. The design shown in FIG. 2 is provided as an example only.

[0018] The spare tire support structure includes an array of rearwardly projecting threaded lugs 34 that align with the lug holes in the rim 29 of the spare tire. The spare tire is secured to the spare tire support structure with lug nuts as is known in the art. When the spare tire is secured, the auxiliary brake light 11 also is secured in place by being captured between the tailgate 27 and the rim 29 of the spare tire 28 as shown.

[0019] It can be seen in FIG. 2 that with all components mounted, some portions of the ring of LEDs 18 are visible directly through the openings 32 between the spokes 31 of the rim. However, other portions of the ring of LEDs are disposed behind the spokes of the rim and are hidden from direct visibility by the spokes. Further, there is no need to align the auxiliary brake light rotationally relatively to the rim because the ring of LEDs extends substantially continuously around the support disc. In FIG. 2, the LEDs of the ring 18 are shown illuminated along with the stock tail lights 33 of the vehicle, but when the brake pedal within the vehicle is released, the tail lights 33 and the auxiliary brake light 11 are extinguished.

[0020] FIG. 3 is an exploded view showing components of the auxiliary spare tire tail light according to a preferred embodiment. The support disc 12 is shown with its central portion 13, its peripheral portion 14, and annular race 17 as described above. Elongated openings 16 are used to position the support disc on the threaded lugs of the spare tire support structure behind the spare tire. The substantially continuous ring 18 of LEDs 19 is attached to the support disc 12 by being moved into the annular race 17 as indicated by arrows 38. In this process, the connector 22 and cable 21 are threaded through a hole in the annular race so that they extend from the back of the support disc and can be connected to the brake light circuitry of the stock third brake light. In the preferred embodiment, the annular race is sized and configured so that the ring 18 of LEDs 19 snaps into the annular race and is held with a friction and/or interference fit. Alternatively, the ring 19 may be secured in the race 17 with an appropriate adhesive or fasteners.

[0021] With the auxiliary spare tire brake light installed and connected, the LEDs of the substantially continuous ring are lighted in addition to the standard brake lights of the vehicle whenever the driver applies the brakes. Light from the portions of the ring aligned with the openings between the spokes of the rim shines through the openings and is directly visible to drivers behind. In addition, light from the portions of the ring aligned behind the spokes falls on the backs of the spokes and is reflected onto the tailgate behind the rim of the spare tire. This lights the tailgate and results in a glow of bright red light against which the rim of the spare tire is silhouetted, rendering the rim visible at night. The combined result of the direct light, the glow, and the silhouetted rim is a very unique and highly noticeable signal to those behind that the brakes have been applied. It is believed that such a signal is more effective at preventing rear-end collisions than the stock third brake light and more effective than prior art devices with lights aligned only with the holes between the spokes of the rim.

[0022] The invention has been described herein in terms of preferred embodiments and methodologies considered by the inventors to represent the best mode of carrying out the invention. A wide gamut of additions, modifications, and deletions, both subtle and gross, may well be made to the illustrated exemplary embodiments without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention, which is determined by the claims.