What is the Signal Light?

The Signal Light is a practical multi-combinational rescue aiding flashlight that is designed to assist in rescue efforts for lost and stranded people. It is also vital for emergency preparedness and natural disasters.

• The dual function flashlight has both a standard flashlight and a red flashing beacon light to alert distress.
• The flashlight also has a mounted signal mirror for signaling people to your location.
• A hand pumped air horn gives you the ability to effortlessly get the attention of people around you.
• The best feature of this device is a deploy-able 16 inch helium filled balloon that is both reflective and lit  to give visibility above the tree lines with over 100 feet of tough nylon string, increasing visibility at night and during the day.

The modular flashlight has the ability to change to fit your needs. If you only need a flashlight, it can be removed and will function independent of the other sections. You can combine the flashlight and the balloon, the balloon and the air horn, or the air horn and the flashlight.

You can customize the light to fill your needs. Once we are ready for manufacturing, each piece can be bought separately, making the helium canister easy to replace when used.

The Signal Light is what everyone should have when they venture out into the wilderness, what every car should have stored in case of getting stranded, the compact device to be added to every emergency kit, 72 hour kit and survival kit. The Signal Light makes you seen when you can’t see your way out.

Help the Signal Light get to the next step!

Where did the idea for the Signal Light come from?

* Patent Pending

What would you do if you were lost? Stranded?  Hurt or stuck in a natural disaster?   What would you take with you so that people around you would be alerted to your distress?  The Signal Light is the multi-combinational devise that can alert others to your needs.

I developed the Signal Light with my own child’s safety in mind.  He was at the age that he was going off on scout camp-outs without my husband or I and when we would quiz him on what he should do if he got lost or stranded somewhere to get someone to help him he really didn’t have answers that we thought were sufficient.

As a mom, that intense protective drive set in and I was determined to come up with something that would make a difference if the unspeakable were to happen.  I started doing some research on what were the best things to bring to help people find a missing person. Whistles, signal mirrors, lighting fires and using smoke signals… all these things were frequently mentioned.  So, I started sending my son with these items.

The Problem

Then one camp out he went on a five mile hike and I asked him if he took all those things with him on the hike, because if there were an activity that made the stakes for getting lost or stranded higher, this was it.  He replied that it was too much stuff to remember and he didn’t have time to grab all of it.

Being the problem solving mom that I was, the next trip he took I put them all in a bag so he could easily grab them together and go; still he didn’t take them with- it took up too much space in his back pack. I had to come up with something else. I had to make it easier for him to grab and go.

I  wanted to have the best options for my son to be found. I focused on three essential things to be found: Being seen, being heard and staying put.  I wanted  something better than a whistle and a signal mirror- I wanted to give my son the best chance at getting found.  And, it all needed to be packaged together and convenient to grab and go.

Where to Start?

Sight: A signal mirror is what I heard mentioned for being seen.  What if the lost person was in a deeply wooded area and the mirror can’t be seen by anyone, what about at night or a cloudy day?  Would the signal mirror be effective then?

My husband and I were discussing the problems with the mirror while driving one day and drove past a car lot with huge balloons in the air. We noticed how far away we could see that balloon and thought  it was a great way to be seen. What if we could include that?

It could get above the tree lines unlike the mirror, it was effortless after its deployed unlike the mirror,  and no matter the time of day or weather, it was still effective. If we included reflective tails and lit the balloon we would have even more visibility.  So we had a goal: include a helium fill-able balloon in the devise.

Sound: A whistle is the standard thing to take with you…but we saw so many problems with this.

To be effective, it requires a lot of deep breaths, if you’ve been stuck for a while, you’re exhausted.  A whistle is a high pitch noise, lower sounds travel farther.  Whistles are small and can be deformed easily if sat on or not packed well in a back pack making it useless.

I had to come up with something better than a whistle.  Similar to how the balloon came to us, we went to a bike race at a nearby park and heard a lot of air horns.  That would be much better than a whistle, but how do we work around the air canister problem?  A hand pumped air horn!

Our noise making goal was accomplished.

Staying put: So many rescue missions are complicated with people wandering around trying to find their own way out.  When people stay where they originally became lost, search and rescue becomes a much easier  task.

I felt confident that if the lost person had a balloon launched and an air horn they would feel like that was essentially their base camp, they would feel more confident in staying where they were.  The first two conclusions have concluded our last goal.

Putting It All Together

My son gave me three problems to work through if he would actually use the things I wanted him to take:  It needed to be  packaged together, easy to grab, and not take up too much room.  So I started thinking of ways that I could pair the air horn and balloon system together.

We came up with a few capsule designs, but they seemed bulky and we thought that even packaged together, they would get left behind if a back pack was too full from other gear.

So I thought of things that you typically grab with every outing: water, food, a pocket knife, flashlight.  Maybe I needed to pair this with one of those items.  Not everyone was comfortable sending their child with a pocket knife and there are so many multi-use pocket knives on the market already.

So I started toying around with combining it with a flashlight.

Designed Around a Flashlight

* Patent Pending

I bought a handful or different flashlights in different sizes, ordered some hand pumped air horns and helium canisters, and started playing Frankenstein.  Lucky for me, my husband is an engineer and has a 3-D printer, so my development of this product was much easier than so many other inventors.

He and I would take a flashlight completely apart, use the circuit board and bulbs and add it into a new sleeve that would fit the helium capsule and air horn. Things were coming together…literally.  We went through about 100 ideas of piecing it together, and tried five or six configurations before we came up with the working prototype that we have now.

Then I wanted some feedback about the combo-flashlight.

Improving the Design

I talked to every person that I came across about it- coworkers, friends, neighbors- anyone who was willing to give me 5 minutes.  Everyone thought it was amazing.

We got a few suggestions on improving it, like adding a signal mirror as a cap to the air horn,  and making the flashlight a dual function flashlight so it not only could be used as a regular flashlight, but could also be used as a flashing red distress signal, and individually powered single bulb LED lights that could be used for triangulating your location or as a comfort light for the lost person during the night.

So we changed the design and added these few extra necessities. I also learned from a few people  that we talked to how great it would be in a 72 hour kit or emergency kit; the usefulness of the devise in natural disasters and car troubles.

Sharing With The World

Coming up with a working flashlight combination for our son to use was my goal, but keeping what could be a life-saving device for just my son to use seemed like a waste of such a great invention.  Nearly everyone that we talked to told me that they wanted to have one or even a few.  It was becoming clear that what I had come up with was a hit.

I was just an ordinary stay at home mom, thinking through every way that I could keep my kids safe and I have seemingly come up with a devise that so many people wanted to buy for their own use.  It was obvious that I needed to patent this idea.

Refining the Design

Now my new problem to work through was how in the world could I get this Frankenstein life-saving flashlight that my son carries, to a slimmer, polished, more reliable design that functions seamlessly ? If I was going to market this, I needed to make sure that everything worked every time.

This is a life-saving devise, so  I needed to engineer every aspect of it, test every aspect of safety, effectiveness and reliability.  Development costs, manufacturing costs, marketing costs…how could I come up with the means to do all this?  It seemed like an impossible thing to accomplish.

The more I talked to our inventor friends, the more they convinced me that I could make this happen with local help through crowd funding.  My family is not the type to ask for anything that we haven’t earned; we were always on the other end of equation jumping at any opportunity to help someone else in need.  But, if so many people saw the usefulness of this product, maybe giving a little bit to make it available to everyone was the way to do it.

The Signal Light Can Make a Difference

I can see how this product can change the outcome of lost kids and even adults. How it can aid in shortening rescue missions and relief in natural disasters and emergencies.  How it can make the difference when you are stranded with car trouble and no way to communicate.

Our target price for resale is aimed at under $50, making it is available for purchase to all hard working people just like us.  We are also working hard to make The Signal Light multi-combinational so it can be customized for your use.

Each section of the Signal Light will be independent of the other and able to combine with any other section by just snapping it together. This gives you the ability to have 3 separate devices or any number of combinations to suit your needs for any scenario.

Although not in production yet, we are confident that, with your help we can get these to the marketplace in a very short time.

As I mentioned before, we love to get suggestions for improvement and changes and we will always keep our followers updated on progress and news that is happening for Signal Light. Shoot us an email, leave us a comment, we love hearing from you!

The Path Forward

Recently, I have been working with 2 local universities to have The Signal Light be included in the fall engineering Capstone projects.  A team of engineering students will be perfecting the design and functions of The Signal Light for a cost much lower than we originally anticipated.  This is really exciting for me and gives me the confidence that I can offer The Signal Light to supporters that help us get there.  In April 2016 we will have a fully engineered and tested devise that will go right into production and you will be the first to receive one!  

With a donation of $1 or more, you will be first in line to receive The Signal Light when it is produced.

 Donation of  $25 will receive a  mini Signal Light key chain.

Donations of $120  will receive a flashlight/air horn combo Signal Light.

Donations of $220 will receive a full version Signal Light

Donations of $400 will receive 2 full version Signal Lights.

 We will keep you updated the entire process and we will offer all of our supporters to be  the first in line to purchase a Signal Light when they are manufactured.

The Signal Light helps you be seen when you can’t see your own way out...Help The Signal Light get to the next step!

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