Nissan Motor Company Limited

Junichi Takimoto

Hiroshi Tabata

Kinya Kumazawa

Yasuhiko Ohsawa

Hiroshi Takao

Masazumi Ishikawa

Keishi Negita

Katsunori Aoki

The invention relates to a minute structure for showing an interference color having a certain wavelength within a visible light region, by reflection and interference of a natural light incident on the minute structure. The minute structure has: a laminated portion including a plurality of first layers having a first refractive index and a plurality of second layers having a second refractive index different from the first refractive index; and a stray-light absorbing member. The first and second layers are alternately placed on top of each other. The stray light has wavelengths other than the certain wavelength and is formed by transmittance of the natural light through the laminated portion, reflectance of the natural light by the laminated portion and/or scattering of the natural light by the laminated portion. The invention further relates to a fabric for showing the interference color. The fabric includes: a first thread which is one of a warp and a weft; and a second thread which is the other of the warp and the weft. The first and second threads are woven to form the fabric. The first thread is made of a material containing the laminated portion. The second thread is made of a material containing the stray-light absorbing member. By the provision of the stray-light absorbing member, the interference color becomes brighter and deeper and higher in value.

Minute structure for showing colors by reflection and interference of

The electrically controlled force transmitting apparatus includes a drive member having an electrically conductive surface and a driven member having an electrically conductive surface, which are arranged to be opposed to each other with a small space therebetween, a fibrous member provided in the space between the opposed electrically conductive surfaces of the drive and driven members, and a voltage supply source connected across the electrically conductive surfaces, whereby by applying a voltage across the opposed surfaces, there is induced a shear stress and a force is transmitted from the drive member to the driven member. The space in which the fibrous member is arranged is preferably filled with an electrically insulating fluid medium.

Electrically controlled force transmitting method and electrically

A coloring structure for generating a color having a wave length in an area of a visible light by reflecting and interfering actions of a natural light includes first substance layers having an optical refractive index of n.sub.a and second substance layers having an optical refractive index of n.sub.b. The second layers overlie respective first layers in an alternating arrangement of the first and second layers. In order to generate a brilliant color by the reflecting and interfering actions, the optical refractive indexes n.sub.a and n.sub.b are established to satisfy both of relationships '1.3.ltoreq.n.sub.a ' and '1.1.ltoreq.n.sub.b /n.sub.a .ltoreq.1.4'. The coloring structure may contain a fluorescent pigment.

Coloring structure having reflecting and interfering functions

A minute structure for showing colors by reflection and interference of natural light includes a plurality of fin portions and a central portion for uniting the fin portions. The fin portions are aligned in a first direction and positioned such that the adjacent fin portions are spaced from each other so as to define therebetween a void space which is filled with air. Each fin portion has a first width defined in a second direction which is perpendicular to the first direction and a second width defined in the first direction. The void space has a third width which is defined in the first direction. The central portion has a fourth width defined in the second direction. The first width of each fin portion is three times or more larger than the fourth width of the central portion. The third width of the void space ranges from 0.02 .mu.m to 0.4 .mu.m. The second width of each fin portion is not less than 0.02 .mu.m. A refractive index of each fin portion ranges from 1.2 to 1.8. A maximum production error from a standard value with respect to the second width of each fin portion is not larger than 40%. Thus, the minute structure reflects ultraviolet rays and infrared rays and shows, for example, a bluish purple tint or a bluish green tint by reflection and interference of visible light rays.

Growing community of inventors

Yonezawa, Japan

Junichi Takimoto