US3566525A - Advertising sign - Google Patents

Abstract

A SIGN, PREFERABLY FOR ADVERTISING PURPOSES, HAVING AN OPAQUE BOX-SHAPED HOLLOW BODY, A SOURCE OF LIGHT MOUNTED THEREIN, AND AT LEAST ON ONE FACE TO BE VIEWED TRANSPARENT PORTIONS TO BE PENETRATED BY LIGHT FROM THE SOURCE OF LIGHT IN THE FORM OF PROJECTIONS, BEADS OR RIBS ARRANGED SO AS TO MAKE THE CONTOURS OR BOUNDARIES OF THE ADVERTISED OBJECT STAND OUT FROM THE SURROUNDING SIGN SURFACE AND SHINE IN THE DARK.

Description

ADVERTISING SIGN 5 sheets-'sheet 2 igina l Filed Feb. '24, 1967 :Nvu/fons n u. N n

N n W P f as,

March 2, 1971 B, P, NASS|L ETAL 3,566,525

ADVERTISING SIGN v original Filed Feb. 24, 1967v s sheets-sheet s l N VEN 'l`( )R 5 PEI? B.' NASS/L EROI? A. HAKANSSON United States Patent Patented Mar. 2, 1971 3,566,525 ADVERTISING SIGN Bertil P. Nassil, Johannesgatan 22, Stockholm, Sweden, and Bror A. Hakansson, Ankdammsgatan 28, Solna, Sweden Continuation of application Ser. No. 618,401, Feb. 24, 1967. This application Dec. 1, 1969, Ser. No. 876,213 Claims priority, application Sweden, Feb. 28, 1966, 2,615/66 Int. Cl. G0915 1 3/ 06 U.S. Cl. 40-130 6 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A sign, preferably for advertising purposes, having an opaque box-shaped hollow body, a source of light mounted therein, and at least on one face to be viewed transparent portions to be penetrated by light from the source of light in the form of projections, beads or ribs arranged so as to make the contours or boundaries of the advertised object stand out from the surrounding sign surface and shine in the dark.

This is a continuation of application Ser. No. 618,401, led Feb. 24, 1967, now abandoned.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The most customary type of advertising signs is the neon sign. The predecessor of the neon sign is the sign outlined in the foregoing, and in recent years this type of signs has made a successful come-back due to the progress made in the synthetic plastics industry and has now begun to supersede the neon signs by reason of its considerably lower price. However, the irst-mentioned signs still are inferior to the neon signs in several respects. Thus one of the great advantages of the neon sign resides in that it is easy to read also at a distance due to the high contrasts and sharp contours produced in the sign by the luminescent, relatively slender tubes. On the other hand, luminescent surfaces like those provided by the first-mentioned signs, when viewed from a distance, will run together into a blurr of light. Another important advantage of the neon sign is that the shape of the tubes will make the sign fully readable also when it is regarded at an obtuse angle, for the fluorescent tubes of the sign are discernible almost equally clearly as had the sign been regarded directly from in front. In a sign having plane luminescent surfaces, however, the portions penetrated by light from the light source will run together already when the sign is viewed from a point which is but insignicantly olset laterally. These advantages notwithstanding, the neon sign suiers from a number of drawbacks, the most important one being the high price thereof, which is due int. al. to the complicated high-voltage equipment and the costs of mounting it. Another drawback is that for production-technical reasons the tubes can be given but a limited length and Width so that the sign and the individual letters have to be composed of several tubes. In daytime, the sign therefore is of a less pleasing appearance. The high-voltage equipment makes it necessary to call an expert whenever faults occur, however trivial these may be.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The primary object of the present invention is to provide a sign that displays the advantages of the neon sign with regard t the possibility of reading the sign both at a distance and from a lateral direction and that, as distinct from the neon sign, is inexpensive and simple and also designed in such a way as to permit any one to exchange burnt-out lamps and effect other minor work on the sign. To this end, the sign suggested by the present invention is characterised in that the box or body which preferably is in the shape of a letter and comprises two mating trough-shaped portions, on the face to be viewed has transparent portions in the form of projections, such as beads or ribs, extending from the box surface and having a width smaller than that of the said face, and counted from the said face a height approximately equal to the width of the projections.

These features of the invention will become more fully apparent from the following description of an embodiment, chosen by way of example, of the advertising sign with reference to the accompanying drawing in which:

FIG. 1 is a section of part of a letter sign;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing the entire sign;

FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view illustrating two sections of the sign.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION The letter sign illustrated in the drawing comprises a front portion 1 and a rear portion 2. The rear portion is of opaque synthetic plastics and houses a holder 3 for fluorescent tubes 4. It has a bottom 5 and side walls 6 which are directed obliquely outwardly from the bottom 5.

The front portion 1 has identical side walls 7 the rearwardly facing edges 8 of which correspond to the forwardly facing edges 9 of the rear portion 2. Like the rear portion 2, the side Walls 7 are made entirely from an opaque synthetic plastics. 'The front face 10 of the front portion 1, which is to be viewed and is glued to the side walls, has its edges provided with outwardly extending bead-shaped or channel-shaped portions or ribs 11 of transparent, preferably colored material. The portions 12 between the said beads or channels may be of non-transparent material, but in the embodiment illustrated the entire front face 10 is of transparent material, the areas 12 intermediate the ribs 11, however, having been made opaque by means of, for instance, metal foil 13 applied to the inner sides of the said areas 12. As the whole of the front face consists of one and the same material a surface of the same color will be obtained, when viewed in daytime. With the lamps 4 in the interior of the sign lighted, only the outwardly projecting ribs 11 at the edges of the sign will be penetrated by light, which gives the same effect in point of easy readability both at a distance and from obliquely in front, as with a neon sign equipped with neon tubes.

Moreover, according to the invention, the front portion 1 and the rear portion 2 of the sign are connected together with the aid of strips 14 of channel section which are engaged over projecting anges 15 and 16, respectively, at the abutting edges 8 and 9, respectively, of the sign side walls. To permit simple assembly of the sign portions the strip 14 of channel section is attached alternately to the flanges of the one and the other portion. Along certain of the side walls of one portion strip segments are thus attached to the ilange 15, while the ange is devoid of strip segments at the remaining side walls. The ilange 16 of the rear portion 2, which flange corresponds to the strip carrying iiange parts of the front portion 1, is devoid of strip segments, While the flange 16 of the rear portion 2 has associated to it a strip of channel section opposite those ilange parts of the front portion 1 which are devoid of strip segments. The flange parts of the two sign portions 1 and 2 that are respectively provided with strip segments and devoid of strip segments, are so located in relation to each other that the sign portions 1 and 2 can be fitted together, the ilange parts devoid of strip segments being received, like in grooves, between the inner side of the strip 14 of channel section and the outer side of the flange carrying it. In the sign illustrated, the rear portion 2 (see the lower half of FIG. 3) of which is arranged to be secured to a suitable support, strips are attached to the ange parts extend-V ing along the downwardly facing lateral or transversely extending surfaces 17 of the sign and those surfaces 18 thereof which are vertical or face inwardly and downwardly, while strips are attached to the flange 15 of the detachable front portion 1 (see the upper half of FIG. 3) at the upwardly facing or transversely extending sides 19 and the outwardly and upwardly facing sides 20 of the sign which converge towards each other.

Of course, the sign described above and illustrated in the drawing is useful not only as a one-sided sign. It can also be made double-sided, readable from two directions, the opaque bottom of the rear portion 2 being replaced by a further face which is provided with transparent ribs.

While the invention has been described in a single embodiment in the foregoing it will be readily understood by those skilled in the art that many variations and modifications can be resorted to within the scope of the appended claims.

'What is claimed is:

1. A sign comprising in combination: hollow front and rear sections having corresponding peripheral outwardly extending flanges adapted to be interengaged when the sections are assembled together, releasable connecting means for securing said flanges together to hold said sections assembled, said front section including a face comprised of a central opaque portion and a peripheral transparent portion surrounding said opaque portion and projecting outwardly from said opaque portion, a source of light mounted in one of the sections for transmitting light solely through said transparent portion whereby said transparent portions simulates a tube of a neon sign or sections havingr corresponding peripheral outwardly ex- 45 4 tending flanges adapted to be interengaged when the sections are assembled together, releasable connecting means for securing said flanges together to hold said sections assembled, said releasable connecting means including a plurality of channel strips respectively secured to portions of the flanges of each section with other portions of each of the anges being free of such channel strips and with the channel strips of onel section being positioned for registry and restraining engagement with the flange portions of the other sections that are free of channel strips.

44. The sign defined in claim 3 wherein said flanges include first and second straight portions converging towards each other and extending along opposite sides of the sign, and third and fourth portions extending transversely between said first and second flange portions, and wherein the channel strips of one section are secured to said first, second and third ange portions thereof while the fourth ange portion thereof is free of channel strips, and the channel strip of the other section are secured to said fourth portion thereof with the first, second and third portions thereof being free of channel strips.

5. The sign defined in claim 4 wherein said fianges include fifth and sixth generally straight converging portions spaced inwardly from said first and second portions, and wherein said fifth and sixth iiange portions of said first sign section are free of channel sections and wherein said fifth and sixth fiange portions of the other sign section have channel strips secured thereto.

6. A sign defined in claim 5 having a generally A-shape.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 742,309 10/1903 Goenst 40-130(D) 2,614,207 10/1952 Smith 40-1'31(A-UX) FOREIGN PATENTS 509,418 3/1952 Belgium.

41,849 3/1930 Denmark. 1,157,329' 12/1957 France.

270,793 5/ 1927 Great Britain.

ROBERT W. MICHELL, Primary Examiner R. CARTER, Assistant Examiner

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