US1546927A - Sign-composing device - Google Patents

Description

July 2l, 1925.

L. A. GRAHAM ET AL SIGN coMPosING DEVICE Fi1d May 16 192,4

Illlll llllll Q l Q .IlIlIl-.III

Patenten .my 21,1925.

UNITED. STATES- PATENT' oFF-ICE.

LoUIs A. cumin, or nvnnsron, V.auto CHARLES I.. Low, or CHICAGO, ILLINoIs.

v SIGN-Conrosme nnvlcn.

, 4Application led Iay 18,1' 1924. Serial No. 713,678.

To all whom it mayV concern; Y Be it known that we, Lome-A. GRAHAM l' and CHARLES L. Low, citizens of the United States, residing, respectivel at Evanston, in the county of Cook and tate of Illinols,

and at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have jointlyinvented cerf. tainnew and useful Improvements in Signj Composing Devices, of which the following is a specification. A

This invention relates to a device by I means of which letters, figures, characters,

or 'other indicia expressive o f a sign or other announcement to be made, can be composed at will by selected collocation of light-af- .fecting bodies, such' as marbles, beads, or

other segregated objects of spherical or other form having the capacity for transmitting, reflecting, or otherwise aifecting light in contrast with a ground, or field developed by a `backin structedto receive and hold them in positions in which-they are placed; and particularly to a device in which theelemental characters of the sign'are themselves composed by selected arrangement of thelightaffecting bodies, as distinguished Jrrom composition of Words or the complete sign by association of-originally complete letters or the like, and, to which end, the mounting upon which the constituent objects are assembled has substantially the entire area ci its field of composition formed with symmetrically disposed pockets or recesses for the objects, so that the same original segregated light-aiecting objects lmay bevemployed Jfor delineating any character desired, and in addition thereto, the background or ield with which the composed characters are to contrast can be supplied with light-affecting objects 'of a contrasting kind, or be left with the inherent lightaffecting quality of the mounting unchanged.

In carrying out the invention, the mounting in whichis formed the field of ockets or seats for the composing elements 1s preferably constructed to pass light through it, and, to` this end, it .may be made oftranslucent material, in which case it is preferably caused to lend special character to the light that passes through it or is reiiected from it, as, for instance, by making it of milk` white glass or glass suitably tinted or colored; or it may be made of non-translucent material provided with periorations or' mounting con' suiicient in number to develop anV illumif vcomposing objects; or the mountingv may embody as its iield of positioning pockets and light transmitting openings, any suit-v ably reticulate'd structure, such, for instance,` as woven wire. Y

In .all forms of the invention a coniiningV plate is laid over the composing objects to retain them in their seats, and this confining late lis rendered transparent either by makmgit of inherently transparent material or by providing it with apertures coincident with the composing objects to be disclosed. Moreover, this confining plate may be formed with registering pockets that lreceive and assist in locating the composing objects, or it may have a plane face opposed to said objects, and the backing member and confining plate may be held in assembly in any suitable manner, as, for instance, by

applying to marginal portions thereof- .on an enlargedscale of a portion ofthe device shown 1n Figure 1.

Figure 3 is a ragmentary' face view of the backing member of Figures 1 and 2. Figures 4, 5, and 6 are views correspondf ing to Figure 2, showing modified constructions of backing member and conning plate. V- Referring to Figures 1 to 3., 1 represents a backing member. which, in this instance, is made of milk white translucent glass molded with symmetrically disposed seats or pockets 2 for the reception of spheres 3 of glass or other material adapted to affect light, either transmitted or reiected', and lrepresents'a confining plate adapted to be placed over the objects 3 after they have been selectively located in their pockets 2 to render them definitive of elements employed for expressing a sign, notice, or the like. The backing member 1 and the conning member 4 may be held in assembled relationv by clamping channels 5 applied to the ends thereof, which clamping channels may serve as the means for suspending or otherwise supporting the composite sign produced.

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-ianged openings 2c member 1 may be produced as a plate of substantially uniform thickness, but with its pockets developed b alternate concave and convex portions, wi h the concaves on one side corresponding to the convex portions on the other side. Certain advantageous light effects will result from this particular form of backing member since refraction. due to the concavo-convex portions of the plate will result in a measurably advantageous concentration of light on the composition objects. l

ccordin to Figure 4, the backing member 1* is p ane on one side and undulated on the other side to produce spherical pockets 2, and the conining-plate 4a is similarly constructed, so that it assists in holding the composition objects against displacement.

Figure 5 shows a mounting for the com# position objects, consisting of a plate 1b having apertures 2b in which the composition objects 3 are seated, the confining member 4 being a lane glass plate, as in Figures 1 and 2. he apertured plate lb may be of glass or even' opaque material since light would be transmitted throu h its apertures 2" whether they are occupied by translucent composition bodies 3 or left open.

According to Figure 6, the packin member 1 consists o a. metal plate aving struck up therein, and

the confining plate 4 is of similar construction, although it might obviouslybe similar to that shown in either Figure 2 or Figure 4.

We claim:

1. A sign composing device, comprising a niountin constructed to provide a field of symmetrically disposed seats or pockets, the field and pockets being translucent, and a plurality of light-contrasting translucent objects adapted to be selectivel located in said pockets in a manner to elineate, by their comparative 1i ht traL mission, characters to b e expresset 2. A sign composing device, comprising a body of translucent glass having formed manner to de-

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