Non-electronic character display
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A character display device comprising:
- an opaque front plate member having front and rear faces and having groups of elongated openings arranged as segments for being selectively opened and closed to delineate a character,a back plate member having front and rear faces and having its front face in interfacing spaced relationship with the rear face of said front plate,a shutter member disposed in the space adjacent the respective openings for being moved manually between a retracted position in which it opens said opening and an advanced position in which it closes said opening,each shutter member having its length dimension extending correspondingly with the length of said elongated openings and having a width dimension less than its length, said member being movable in the direction of its width dimension,one of a selected one of said plate members and a shutter member having groove means in it directed transversely to the length of the shutter member and the other of said selected plate member and shutter member having runner means on it for projecting into said groove means to effect sliding engagement between said runner means and groove means and to provide the only required guidance for movement of said member between advanced and retracted positions, said runner and groove means being located intermediately of the ends of said shutter length dimension.
0 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A sign board comprises an opaque front plate interfacing with a translucent or reflective back plate. Slots in the front plate define the segments of 7-segment characters. Shutters are slideable within the interface to selectively open and close slots for defining individual characters. Means are provided for retaining the shutters in open and closed positions.
17 Citations
13 Claims
-
1. A character display device comprising:
-
an opaque front plate member having front and rear faces and having groups of elongated openings arranged as segments for being selectively opened and closed to delineate a character, a back plate member having front and rear faces and having its front face in interfacing spaced relationship with the rear face of said front plate, a shutter member disposed in the space adjacent the respective openings for being moved manually between a retracted position in which it opens said opening and an advanced position in which it closes said opening, each shutter member having its length dimension extending correspondingly with the length of said elongated openings and having a width dimension less than its length, said member being movable in the direction of its width dimension, one of a selected one of said plate members and a shutter member having groove means in it directed transversely to the length of the shutter member and the other of said selected plate member and shutter member having runner means on it for projecting into said groove means to effect sliding engagement between said runner means and groove means and to provide the only required guidance for movement of said member between advanced and retracted positions, said runner and groove means being located intermediately of the ends of said shutter length dimension. - View Dependent Claims (2, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
-
-
3. A character display device comprising:
-
an opaque front plate member having front and rear faces and having groups of elongated openings arranged as segments which delineate a character, a back plate member having front and rear faces and having its front face interfaced with the rear face of said front plate, said front and rear plate members cooperating to define recesses at their interface adjacent said elongated openings, respectively, a shutter member disposed in the recesses, respectively, for being moved between a retracted position in which it opens said openings and an advanced position in which it closes said opening, one of said shutter member and said front plate having runner means projecting from it and extending in the line of movement of said shutter member, and the other of said shutter member and said front plate having groove means into which said runner means project, said runner means and said groove means cooperating to guide said shutter means during movement.
-
-
4. A character display device comprising:
-
an opaque front plate member having front and rear faces and having groups of elongated openings arranged as segments which delineate a character, a back plate member having front and rear faces and having its front face interfaced with the rear face of said front plate, said front and rear plate members cooperating to define at their interface adjacent said elongated openings, respectively, a shutter member disposed in the recesses, respectively, for being moved between a retracted position in which it opens said opening and an advanced position in which it closes said opening, one of said shutter member and said back plate having runner means projecting from it and extending in the line of shutter member movement, and the other of said shutter member and said back plate having groove means into which said runner means project, said runner means and said groove means cooperating to guide said shutter means during movement.
-
-
10. A panel for selectively displaying numerals comprising:
-
a generally planar opaque front plate member molded from plastic material and having groups of elongated openings arranged as segments which delineate numerals, a generally planar back plate member molded from plastic material and interfaced with said front plate member, said front and rear plate members cooperating to define recesses between their interfaces in the vicinity of said elongated openings, respectively, a bar-like shutter member disposed for sliding in each of said recesses between a retracted position, at which time said opening is open, and an advanced position at which time said opening is covered by said shutter member, said shutter including a portion having a thin section for enabling it to flex and detent means projecting from said thin section, one of said front plate or said rear plate having a recess into which said detent means projects for holding said shutter member in retacted position, said thin section flexing to allow said detent means to withdraw from said recess when said shutter member is slid, one of said shutter member and a selected one of said back plate or front plate having runner means molded thereon and extending in the line of movement of said shutter member and, the other of said shutter member and said selected plate having groove means into which said runner means projects, said groove and runner means each having sufficiently great lengths to constrain said shutter member to move in a straight line. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13)
-
Specification