An illuminating emergency device or system having indicators that effectively
communicate escape routes in highly dangerous industrial environments and commercial
safety systems is disclosed. An optical fiber is manufactured in a way to emit
controlled and patterned radiation along its length. This is realized by coupling
a predefined amount of radiation guided by the fiber per length unit out of the
fiber core into the cladding and jacket. The present invention advances a concept
of partially illuminating fibers, especially partially illuminating fibers providing
one or more illumination colors and illuminating fibers capable of changing illumination
color to indicate the status of an emergency route. The invention further provides
the inclusion of novel fiber lasers for illumination purposes and methods to obtain
a relatively homogeneous illumination at the diffusion sites, as well as discreet
illumination patterns. In other embodiments, multiple fibers are provided with
discreet illumination sites to provide a directional pattern. Further embodiments
include staggered or pattern pulsing of one or more radiation sources to give the
impression of a traveling or chasing light pulse to further enhance directional information.
