The invention relates to a lighting apparatus according to the pre-characterizing portion of claim 1. In particular, the invention relates to a lighting apparatus comprising:

- a central post;

- a number of ribs which are pivotably connected with the central post near an upper end of the central post;

- an operating slide which is slidably connected with the central post;

- a number of tensioners corresponding to the number of ribs, wherein each tensioner by a first end thereof is hingedly connected with an associated rib and by another end is hingedly connected with the operating slide;

- screen material which is attached to the ribs;

- a first blocking provision which is arranged on the central post and with the aid of which the operating slide is held in a first position when the first blocking provision is in a blocking position, wherein, when the operating slide is in the first position, the ribs are in a folded-out state in which the lighting apparatus is in a folded-out state in which the screen material is at least partially tensioned;

- wherein the operating slide is bringable into a second position when the first blocking provision has at least temporarily been taken out of the blocking position and has been brought into a release position, in which second position the operating slide is further from the upper end of the central post than in the first position and wherein the lighting apparatus is in a collapsed state, where the ribs extend substantially parallel to the central post and the screen material is in a relaxed state;

- a light source which is under the screen material when the lighting apparatus is in the folded-out state. Such an apparatus is for instance described in US 2006/0207637 Al and US 2007/0242450 Al and NL9301852.

The invention contemplates providing to such an apparatus a novel application.

To this end, the invention provides a lighting apparatus according to claim 1.

The lighting apparatus described above is characterized in that: the light source is set up within a space bounded by the screen material, at least when the lighting apparatus is in the folded-out state, such that direct view on the light source from a side of the lighting apparatus is substantially screened by the screen material; the screen material is provided with a layer, for instance a printing, to form light transmissive areas and substantially light blocking areas on the screen material; the ribs are substantially straight both in the collapsed and in the folded-out state of the lighting apparatus; and in that in the folded-out state of the lighting apparatus the ribs enclose with the central post an angle which is in the range of 15 to 45 degrees, and is preferably approx. 30 degrees.

Thus, a lighting apparatus is provided which can be manufactured at a relatively low cost price and with which especially attractive effects can be created. The light source illuminates the screen material from the inside and the screen cloth passes the light only locally, viz. at the location of the light transmissive areas. In that regard, the light may optionally be filtered, so that different colours can be realized. In this way, the apparatus is particularly suitable for advertising purposes, but also a decorative function is among the possibilities. Thus, with the aid of the apparatus, for instance the impression of a decorated Christmas tree can be provided. Due to the lighting apparatus being collapsible, it can be simply packaged and transported in a collapsed, compact state. With the folding out of the lighting apparatus, within seconds a fine object can be realized.

Further elaborations are described in the dependent claims and are hereinafter further clarified on the basis of an example which is represented in the drawings.

In the figures:

Fig. 1 shows a perspective view of a first example; and Fig. 2 shows a perspective view of a second example.

In the most general terms the invention provides a lighting apparatus 1 including a central post 12 and a number of ribs 14 which are pivotably connected with the central post 12 near an upper end of the central post 12. An operating slide 16 is slidably connected with the central post 12. Further, the lighting apparatus has a number of tensioners 18 corresponding to the number of ribs 14. Each tensioner 18 by a first end thereof is hingedly connected with an associated rib 14 and by another end is hingedly connected with the operating slide 16. Attached to the ribs 14 is screen material 20. With the aid of a first blocking provision 22 which is arranged on the central post, the operating slide 16 can be held in a first position when the first blocking provision 22 is in a blocking position. When the operating slide 16 is in the first position, the ribs 14 are in a folded-out state and the lighting apparatus 10 is also in a folded-out state, with the screen material 20 set up at least partially tensioned. The operating slide 16 is bringable into a second position when the first blocking provision 22 has at least temporarily been taken out of the blocking position and has been brought into a release position. In this second position, the operating slide 16 is further away from the upper end of the central post 12 than in the first position and the lighting apparatus 10 is in a collapsed state. The ribs 14 then extend substantially parallel to the central post 12 and the screen material 20 is in a relaxed state. The lighting apparatus 10 further includes a light source 24 which is under the screen material 20 when the lighting apparatus is in the folded-out state. The lighting apparatus is characterized in that the hght source 24 is disposed within a space bounded by the screen material 20, at least when the lighting apparatus 10 is in the folded-out state, such that direct view on the hght source 24 from a side of the lighting apparatus 10 is substantially screened by the screen material 20. Moreover, the screen material 20 is provided with a layer, for instance a printing, to form light transmissive areas L and substantially light blocking areas D on the screen material 20.

The effects and advantages of the invention have already been described hereinabove in the summary of the invention.

In an embodiment, in the folded-out state of the lighting apparatus 10, the ribs 14 can extend at an angle to the central post 12 which is in the range of 15 to 45 degrees, and is preferably approx. 30 degrees.

Thus, an effective screening from direct view on the light source from a side of the lighting apparatus 10 is guaranteed.

In a further elaboration of this embodiment, the screen material 20 in the folded-out state of the lighting apparatus 10 can have a substantially conically shaped configuration. The conically shaped configuration of the screen material 20 then encloses an apex angle which is in the range of 30 to 90 degrees, and is preferably approx. 60 degrees.

Thus, an effective screening from direct view on the light source from a side of the lighting apparatus 10 is guaranteed.

In an embodiment, the ribs 14 can be substantially straight both in the collapsed and in the folded-out state of the lighting apparatus 10.

A straight configuration of the ribs 14 provides the substantially conically shaped configuration of the screen material 20. Substantially conically shaped in this connection, of course, is understood to be a configuration where a lower edge of the screen material is tensioned between the ribs 14 and so does not describe a truly circular shape but an approximation thereof, as, in particular, a polygon, whose number of angular points is determined by the number of ribs 14 and where the angular points of the lower edge of the cloth material are at an equal distance from the central post 12, in particular at a distance corresponding to the radius of the approximated shape of a circle.

In an embodiment, the light source 24 can comprise at least one LED or a plurality of LEDs.

LEDs consume little power and may therefore be supplied by a battery, for instance. This contributes towards the free placement and/or portability of the lighting apparatus 10. For that matter, this embodiment, of course, also comprises a variant which is connectible to the electric grid, for instance via a mains adapter.

In an embodiment, the central post 12 may, near a lower end, be provided with a foot 26 (see Fig. 2). Thus, the lighting apparatus 10 can be set up freely, for instance in an indoor space, or outside. It is also possible, however, that the lower end of the central post 12 is provided with a handle, so that the lighting apparatus 10 can be carried by the user in the same way an umbrella can be carried.

In an embodiment, the light source 24 may be attached to the central post 12. For that matter, also embodiments where at least one light source 24 is attached to the ribs 14 fall within the scope of the invention. The central post 12, however, is a relatively strong part and, moreover, the lighting is not mechanically loaded upon collapsing and folding out of the lighting apparatus 10. This is of benefit to the robustness of the lighting apparatus 10.

In an embodiment, the lighting apparatus 10 may be provided with a second blocking provision 28 which is arranged on the central post 12 at a greater distance from the upper end of the central post 12 than the first blocking provision 22. With the aid of the second blocking provision 28 the operating slide 16 can be held in the second position when the second blocking provision 28 is in a blocking position. The operating slide 16 is slidable from the second position to the upper end of the central post 12 when the second blocking provision 28 has at least temporarily been taken out of the blocking position and has been brought into a release position.

Such a second blocking provision 28 prevents the lighting apparatus 10 being able to move from the collapsed state to the folded-out state unexpectedly. Especially in windy conditions this can be of relevance.

In an embodiment, the screen material 20 can comprise cloth material, film, or a laminate of film and cloth material.

The cloth material can for instance be canvas or canvas clad with a waterproof layer. In cheaper implementations of the lighting apparatus 10, on the other hand, it may specifically be the use of film for the screen material 20 that is of advantage in view of the cost price thereof. In particular for promotional applications, where the lighting apparatus is not constructed for long-term use, the use of film can offer a pricewise advantageous implementation.

In an embodiment, the central post 12 may be of telescopic design. This leads to a lighting apparatus 10 that can be put away compactly.

In an embodiment, the layer for forming light transmissive areas L and substantially light blocking areas D on the screen material 20 may be implemented such that the light transmissive areas L are transmissive of different colors of the visual spectrum of the light coming from the light source 24, so that the screen material 20 in the folded-out state of the lighting apparatus 10 has a multicoloured appearance.

Such a multicoloured lighting apparatus 10 attracts attention and thus contributes to its purpose as an advertising object or decorative object.

In an embodiment, the layer for forming light transmissive areas L and substantially light blocking areas D on the screen material 20 may be implemented such that the impression of a Christmas tree is created which is provided with lights and/or Christmas tree decoration, such as baubles and/or festoons.

In an embodiment, the layer for forming light transmissive areas L and substantially light blocking areas D on the screen material 20 may be implemented such that an advertising or decorative object is obtained.

The invention also relates to an apparatus according to claim 1 of the priority application. In other words, the invention also relates to a lighting apparatus (10) comprising:

- a central post (12);

- a number of ribs (14) which are pivotably connected with the central post (12) near an upper end of the central post (12);

- an operating slide (16) which is slidably connected with the central post (12);

- a number of tensioners (18) corresponding to the number of ribs (14), wherein each tensioner (18) by a first end thereof is hingedly connected with an associated rib (14) and by another end is hingedly connected with the operating slide (16);

- screen material (20) which is attached to the ribs (14);

- a first blocking provision (22) which is arranged on the central post and with the aid of which the operating slide (16) is held in a first position when the first blocking provision (22) is in a blocking position, wherein, when the operating slide (16) is in the first position, the ribs (14) are in a folded-out state in which the lighting apparatus (10) is in a folded-out state in which the screen material (20) is at least partially tensioned;

- wherein the operating slide (16) is bringable into a second position when the first blocking provision (22) has at least temporarily been taken out of the blocking position and has been brought into a release position, in which second position the operating slide (16) is further away from the upper end of the central post (12) than in the first position and wherein the lighting apparatus (10) is in a collapsed state, where the ribs (14) extend substantially parallel to the central post (12) and the screen material (20) is in a relaxed state; a light source (24) which is under the screen material (20) when the lighting apparatus is in the folded-out state; characterized in that

- the light source (24) is set up within a space bounded by the screen material (20), at least when the lighting apparatus (10) is in the folded-out state, such that direct view on the light source (24) from a side of the lighting apparatus (10) is substantially screened by the screen material (20);

- the screen material (20) is provided with a layer, for example a printing, to form light transmissive areas (L) and substantially light blocking areas (D) on the screen material (20).

Embodiments of this lighting apparatus can be obtained by combination of the above-described lighting apparatus with the subjectmatter of one or more of the dependent claims of the present application. The reference numerals specified above in parentheses have no limiting function.

It is clear that the invention is not limited to the examples shown in the figures and the above described embodiments. The scope of protection is defined by the claims appended hereto.