1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to new and improved light transmitting decorative panels designed for use in windows, doors, skylights, transoms, cabinets, furniture, light fixtures, canopies and the like and having a decorative outer surface formed with a thin, hard, tough layer of abrasion resistant material to closely resemble a decorative glass surface. Panels constructed in accordance with the present invention are designed to simulate and/or replace glass panels and are substantially lower in cost, have a high resistance to breakage, are lighter in weight, while all the time closely resembling or simulating the decorative appearance of much more expensive cut glass or stained glass panels of the type heretofore used in doors, windows, canopies transoms, skylights, cabinets etc., and the like.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In the past, highly skilled artisans have created beautiful decorative panels of stained and leaded glass for use in doors, windows, transoms, furniture cabinets, and the like. However, these types of panels were subject to a number of difficulties and now are prohibitively expensive for ordinary usage, for one reason because of a lack of skilled craftsmen in the field. In addition, cut glass and stained glass panels are extremely labor intensive, easily broken, heavy in weight and relatively weak in strength resulting in structural problems when used in moving applications such as swinging or sliding doors. Prior art leaded glass panels are structurally weak in the areas along the lead strips and are also thermally inefficient in these areas. Moreover, prior art leaded glass panels do not provide adequate safety and security and as a result, wider usage of these type of panels is curtailed even though the decorative aspects thereof are desired.
Attempts have been made to duplicate the appearance of expensive leaded glass panels by utilizing plastic materials instead of glass, however, many problems still remain in that such panels tend to cloud up, craze or become somewhat opaque over time and the outer surface is easily scratched and/or nicked in the ordinary course of usage and this greatly detracts from the esthetic appearance thereof. In addition, many prior panels were not strong and even though relatively light in weight, these panels were often easily broken in normal mechanical usage as in doors, windows, etc., and the like. Moreover, such prior art panels have been subject to rapid deterioration caused by weather and ultra-violet radiation and in applications such as aircraft canopies, external light fixtures, and the like, crazing, cracking and/or clouding of the material often occurs before an economically suitable useful lifetime has occurred. Attempts at providing a hard surface coating on molded plastic panels have been troubled because of adhesion problems and micro-cracking and/or separtion of the coating layer from the underlying substrate.