GB2052124A - Display apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

Slats (5) are hinged together at adjacent lateral edges to form an endless belt formed so that any slat can be removed by an endwise sliding motion, the belt passing round guides (7) provided at the top and bottom of a frame (1), and having finger holes (13) to enable the belt to be rotated on the guides. The frame has a section (25) which can be swung out of the way to enable a sat to be removed and another one inserted; means (27) being provided to hold the remaining slats in place during sat removal. Each sat has an elongate flap 15 in which one or more lengths of a marker strip may be inserted to mark time divisions representing deployment of a work force on different tasks, for example. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Display apparatus The present invention relates to apparatus for displaying information.

It is an object of the present invention to provide an apparatus for displaying information, which is simple, reliable and easy to operate.

There is provided by the present invention an apparatus for diplaying information, comprising a plurality of slats made up in an assembly such as to permit any slat to be withdrawn from the assembly, means being provided to maintain the remainder of the slats in position, the assembly being movable in a direction normal to the length of the slats and each slat being adapted to hold thereon one or more markers.

The assembly may be such as to permit withdrawal of a slat by an endwise sliding movement thereof; and, in one embodiment of the invention, the slats are hinged together at adjacent lateral edges by interengaging formations such as to permit any slat to be withdrawn by an endwise sliding movement.

Preferably, the assembly is arranged so that said direction of movement is vertical i.e. the slats being arranged horizontally; and, again preferably, the assembiy is in the form of an endless band supported on guides or rollers to permit rotation of the band. The means for maintaining slats in place may comprise apposed channels to receive the respective ends of the slats, and, in the case where the slats are arranged horizontally, a locking device to station the slat above or below the one removed or the top or bottom one when a plurality thereof are removed, in the channel.

When slat removal is by endwise movement, at least one of the channels is formed with a section thereof which is displaceable to a position in which it lies clear of the respective slat ends to permit the slat removal to be effected.

The slats are conveniently formed by a proprietory hollow plastics extrusion of substantially rigid plastics material, in which one lateral edge of the slat is formed with a flange of hook-shape section and the other lateral edge of the slat with a turned over lip to seat in the flange of another like extrusion with the flange hooking round the lip. The engagement of a lip of one slat in the flange of another slat is by relative endwise sliding movement of the two slats; and the connection thus formed is in the nature of a hinge permitting a sufficient turning of adjacent slats around the axis of the hinge to enable an assembly of the slats to be formed as an endless band which can be trained round guides or rollers to permit rotation of the band.

The faces of the slats may be formed with ledges, flaps or pockets to receive one or more markers, which may be in the form of plastics strips. The strips may be differently coloured for coding purposes, and the faces of the slats may be marked with reference data, for instance, a time scale.

The apparatus may further comprise a slat receiving member providing a plurality of channels to receive slats removed from the assembly; the member being marked with reference data to which markers placed on a slat relate.

The present invention will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: Figure 1 is a partly broken away perspective view of an apparatus of the present invention, and Figure 2 is an end elevation of connected slats employed in the apparatus of Figure 1.

The illustrated apparatus comprises a rectangular frame 1 in which is mounted an endless band 3 consisting of a plurality of slats 5 hinged together at adjacent lateral edges. The band passes round guide members, one of which, 7, is seen in Figure 1, located at the top and bottom and at each side of the frame; and the ends of each slat are received in opposed channels 9, 11 supported in the lateral members of the rectangular frame. Some of the slats are formed with finger holes 13, or shortened slats may be used, so that the user may insert his fingers therein and, by drawing the band up or down, rotate the band on the guide members.

Each slat other than one providing finger holes or a shortened one, has secured thereto, for instance, by adhesive, a flap 1 5 passing along its length so that a strip marked 1 7 can be inserted into the flap to lie against the face of the slat with the upper edge of the marker strip underlying or abutting on the underside of the lower edge of the flap of the slat next above. The flap may consist of a flexible plastics preferably of transparent material.

Each slat, in this instance, is a proprietory hollow extrusion of the kind described above, of a substantially rigid plastics material. As may be seen from Figure 2, each extrusion is formed along one lateral edge with a flange 1 9 of a hookshaped section, and along its other lateral edge with a turned-over lip 21. This arrangement is such that the lip of one slat can be engaged in the flange of another slat by relative endwise sliding movement of the two slats to cause the flange to hook round the lip and form a hinge. This hinge permits sufficient turning of adjacent slats around the axis of the hinge to enable the endless band formed by the slats readily to be trained round the guide members.

One of the frame members 23 of the rectangular frame is formed with a hinged section 25 so that the section may be swung out of the way of the respective ends of the slats of the endless band to permit one or more slats to be removed from or replaced in the endless band. In slat removal, the one to be removed or the top one thereof as the case may be is positioned immediately below the level of the top edge of the hinged frame section and then slid out. To prevent displacement of the slats lying thereabove in this operation, a peg 27 is provided to station a slat lying above the ievel of the top edge of the hinged frame section; the peg passing through a bore in the rectangular frame to enter the hollow interior of the slat concerned. If several slats are being removed, they may be removed simultaneously.

A particular use envisaged for the illustrated apparatus is to provide control of bookings of mechanics time in carrying out work on motor cars. One slat is attributed to each mechanic up to a predetermined maximum number, the hinged section 25 of the rectangular frame being formed of a length to permit removal of that number of slats, and each slat has a scale marked along its length representing, say, 12 hours graduated in, say, half hour periods. Coloured plastics markers of lengths to represent, say, from half an hour to three hours in half hour increments are then positioned on a slat, in the flap thereof, beginning with the division marking the start of the working day, to represent the time it is estimated the mechanic concerned will take to do a particular job.Different coloured markers may be used to indicate classes of work, for instance, repair work, warranty work and test or inspection work. Since bookings of mechanics time are usually made in advance, a sufficient number of slats are used to represent, say, a working week, and each mechanics slat for each day is then provided with appropriate markers. The information thus displayed represents the estimated furture deployment of the available mechanics over the predetermined period. When the first day of this period becomes current, the slats concerned are removed from the endless band and replaced by a fresh set of slats, The slats removed are then mounted in a slat receiving member providing a channel for each slat to leave the slats spaced apart. The space between adjacent slats is marked with the time scale appearing on the slats and the slats are slidable in the channels.As the day progresses, and assuming a mechanic completes his work in less than the estimated time, his slat is moved, say, from right to left by the amount representing the time saved on that work. Likwise, if a mechanic takes longer than the estimated time, his slat is moved in the opposite direction by the amount corresponding to the time lost. By this means, the position can be seen at a glance, how well the booked work for the day is progressing; and if any mechanic has a period in which no work is booked he can immediately be directed to work on which time is being lost.

This permits an efficient current deployment of the staff of mechanics, and the display on the endless band permits appropriate scheduling of bookings already received but in respect if which the work has yet to carried out.

The illustrated embodiment may be modified to have the peg enter a slat below the one or ones removed, and the hinged frame section may be arranged to be hinged at its bottom edge to hinge away from the respective slat ends downwardly and in so doing contact the peg to move it into engagement with the slat concerned. In this instance, the peg may be resiliently biassed to its disengaged position. Further, a hinged frame section may be provided in each lateral frame member to permit simultaneous withdrawal of slats and insertion of replacement slats. In this case, the locking mechanism could be dispensed with.

The frame may be formed in, for instance, three sections, namely, a top and bottom section containing the respective endless band guides and a centre section whose length will depend on how many slats are to be used in the endless band, and which may be the section containing the hinged part of the frame.

The illustrated embodiment may also be modifed by replacing the slats with finger holes on the shortened slats by full length slats providing studs, for instance, one adjacent each end of the slat, which the user can grip to rotate the endless band. The band may also be rotated under power, for instance, by an electric motor drive.

Claims (26)

1. An apparatus for displaying information, comprising a plurality of slats made up in an assembly such as to permit any slat to be withdrawn from the assembly, means being provided to maintain, when a slat is thus removed, the remainder of the slats in position, the assembly being mounted to be movable in a direction normal to the length of the slats and each slat being adapted to hold thereon one or more markers.

2. An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the assembly is such as to permit withdrawal of a slat by an endwise sliding movement thereof.

3. An apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the slats are hinged together at adjacent lateral edges by interengaging formations such as to permit any slat to be withdrawn by an endwise sliding movement.

4. An apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the slats are each formed of a hollow plastics extrusion of substantially rigid plastics material, in which one lateral edge of the slat is formed with a flange of hook-shape section and the other lateral edge of the slat is formed with a turned over lip to seat in the flange of another like extrusion with the flange hooking round the lip on engagement of a lip of one slat in the flange of the other slat by relative endwise sliding movement of the two slats, the connection thus formed being in the nature of a hinge permitting a sufficient turning of adjacent slats around the axis of the hinge to enable an assembly of the slats to be formed as an endless band.

5. An apparatus according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the assembly is mounted so that the slats are disposed horizontally, and said direction of movement is vertical.

6. An apparatus as claimed in any of the preceding claims, wherein the assembly is in the form of an endless band supported on guides or rollers to permit rotation of the band.

7. An apparatus according to any of the preceding claims, wherein said means for maintaining slats in place comprises opposed channels to receive the respective end of the slats, and, in the case where the slats are arranged horizontally, a locking device to station the slat above or below the one removed or the top or bottom one when a plurality thereof are removed, in a channel.

8. An apparatus according to claim 7 as dependent on claim 2, wherein at least one of the channels is formed with a section thereof which is displaceable to a position in which it lies clear of the respective slat ends to permit slat removal to be effected.

9. An apparatus as claimed in claim 8, wherein said section is hinged with the hinge axis passing in the length of the respective channel member.

10. An apparatus as claimed in claim 9, wherein each slat is hollow, and the locking device comprises a peg received through a hole in a channel so that an end of the peg is disposed inwardly of the channel and enters into the respective slat.

11. An apparatus as claimed in claim 8, wherein said section is hinged with the hinge axis passing in the width of the channel and so that the section opens downwards.

12. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1 1.

wherein each slat is hollow, and the locking device comprises a peg received through a hole in the channel to provide an end disposed inwardly of the channel; the hole being positioned so that, when the section opens downwardly, the section engages the peg to cause said end to enter the respective slat; the peg being biassed so as normally to keep said end out of the slat.

13. An apparatus according to claim 2 or any of the preceding claims 3 to 6 as dependent thereon, wherein the means for maintaining the slats in place comprises opposed channels to receive the respective end of the slats; each channel being formed with a section which is displaceable to a position in which it lies clear of the respective slat ends to permit simultaneous insertion of a slat from one lateral side of the assembly and removal of a slat in the direction of the opposite lateral side of the assembly.

14. An apparatus as claimed in any of the preceding claims, wherein the faces of the slats are formed with ledges, flaps or pockets to receive one or more markers.

1 5. An apparatus as claimed in claim 14, comprising a set of the markers.

16. An apparatus as claimed in claim 15, wherein each marker is in strip form.

1 7. An apparatus as claimed in claim 16, wherein the face of each slat is formed with a flap passing along its length, and each marker strip is such that, when inserted in a flap, its edge at the open lateral side of the flap lies adjacent to or abutting against the the. opposite side of the flap of an adjacent slat.

18. An apparatus as claimed in any of claims 1 5 to 17, wherein each marker is flexible.

19. An apparatus as claimed in any of claims 1 5 to 18, wherein each marker is formed of a plastics material.

20. An apparatus as claimed in any of claims 1 5 to 19, wherein each marker is formed of a transparent material.

21. An apparatus according to any of claims 1 5 to 20, whereih the markers are of different colour for coding purposes.

22. An apparatus according to any of claims 14 to 21, wherein each slat is marked with reference data.

23. An apparatus according to claim 22, wherein the reference data consists of a time scale.

24. An apparatus according to claim 19, as dependent on claim 11, wherein the marker strips are graduated in length to represent different time periods on the scale marked on the slats.

25. An apparatus as claimed in any of the preceding claims, wherein the apparatus further comprises a slat receiving member providing a plurality of channels to receive slats removed from the assembly, the member being marked with any reference data to which markers placed on a slat relate.

26. Display apparatus substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.