GB2270408A - An information display device. - Google Patents

Abstract

An information display device comprises a mount 12 which can be secured to a support in the form of a post by screw fixings or straps 21. The mount has a front face with two opposite facing channels defining grooves for receiving opposite edges of rectangular information - bearing plates 24 which can be assembled on the mount to display information which can be readily changed as circumstances dictate by removal of the plates and replacement thereof with fresh plates bearing different information. The mount 12 may be an off-cut of an Aluminium Section or may be a plastic section. In alternative forms (Figures 4 and 5), posts (40, 50) are provided with seats (42, 52) for information sheets held in position by flanges (45, 55). The display device may be used to indicate parking restrictions on highways or the contents of pipelines or containers. <IMAGE>

Description

INFORMATION DISPLAY DEVICE The present invention relates to an information display device intended particularly for use in providing a semipermanent display of information relating to a particular locality, such as, for example, parking restrictions on a highway or the contents of pipelines or containers in manufacturing plants where this information needs to be made available to employees or to the general public.

The invention has been devised particularly in order to overcome certain problems which have been encountered in the use of current roadside information displays in which the information is usually provided on a metal plaque attached to a post. The problems arise when a local authority changes the restrictions at a particular location and the information displayed must be up-dated.

At this time, the entire plaque and its fastenings must be removed from the post which can be difficult and tedious if a plaque has been in situ for a long time and/or in adverse weather conditions. The plaque must then be replaced by a different plaque carrying the new information and it follows that the new plaque must be especially made for this purpose or a large range of such plaques must be kept in store, either option being relatively expensive in overall terms. Also the old plaques are often scrapped, adding to the expense of such systems.

The object of the present invention is to provide an information display device that can enable information to be changed more readily than the prior art devices described above and which enables a range of information to be provided more cheaply.

Accordingly, the present invention provides an information display device including a mount adapted to be supported in a display position and at least one information carrier readily releasably engageable with the mount in the display position and arranged to display the information carried thereby when so engaged. It will be appreciated that, in use of such a device, when it is wished to change the information displayed, the mount itself may be left in situ and only the information carrier or carriers need be replaced. These may be of very simple design, such as flat rectangular plates which are cheap to manufacture and easy to store, any complexity of shape or fastening being reserved for the mount which will be left in situ semi-permanently. Such carriers may also be readily reusable.

For use in the field for which the device is particularly intended, the mount is adapted for attachment to a support such as post so as to enable use to be made of the supports currently in situ. For this purpose, the mount preferably has a front face on which the information carrier is supported and a rear face adapted to cooperate with the post, the rear face preferably including a shaped seat portion adapted to seat against the post in order to locate the mount firmly in position.

The mount may be arranged to be riveted or welded to the post or fixed in some other substantially permanent manner but preferably releasable fastening means are provided for attaching the mount to the post in its desired position and in particular to prevent the mount from sliding down the post. The fastening means may include apertures for receiving screws or bolts which can be screwed through them into the post itself or apertures for receiving clamps or straps which can be secured tightly around the post. Alternatively, integral fastening means may be provided.

The front face of the mount is intended to display the information and for this purpose is adapted to support the or each information carrier releasably engaged therewith. The information carrier may, for example, be screwed or clamped to the mount but preferably, for cheapness of manufacture and ease of replacement, the mount defines a seat in which the carrier is engageable without the need for such fixing means. The carrier may, for example, be snap engageable with the mount, either by means of the resilient yielding of part of the mount or by the resilience of the carrier. Preferably, however, the carrier is simply slidable into or out of the seat, retaining means being provided for retaining it therein once inserted. The retaining means may be defined by the shaping of the seat itself and/or by readily releasable stops, clips or end closure members for the seat.

The information may be provided on a single such rectangular carrier which occupies substantially the entirety of the front face of the mount or it may be provided on smaller plates, each of which carries part of the information to be displayed and which can be slipped into the seat in sequence in order to make up the entirety of an information display. The invention further comprehends an information display device as described above together with a set of information carriers releasably and interchangeably engageable with the mount.

It will be apparent that for the particular use of providing road signs, the display device of the invention must be of weather-resistant material. Both the mount and the information carriers may thus be of suitable metal or plastics material. For durability and ease of attachment to the post, the mount is preferably of metal whereas, for cheapness, the information carriers may be of plastics material. Such plastics carriers may be made and stored in relatively large numbers thus reducing the overall costs of providing such signs compared with those in current use.

In addition to their use for roadside signs, information display devices of the invention would also be particularly suitable for providing labels for pipelines for example in industrial plants and could be used whatever the orientation of the pipeline. By suitable adaptation of the mount, they may also be attached to supports such as stanchions or girders or to support surfaces of any other shape.

In an alternative form of the invention, the information display device further includes a support adapted to support the mount in its position of use. In this case the mount may be formed integrally with a support such as a post and, indeed, several mounts may be formed on a single support. The mounts may be moulded or cast with the support or formed by suitable working of the support.

Three embodiments of the invention will now be more particularly described, by way of example, with reference to the appended drawings, in which: Figure 1 is a perspective view of an information display device according to the invention attached to a post; Figure 2 is a cross-section of the device of Figure 1 taken on a line corresponding to line II-II of Figure 1 but without the pipe; Figure 3 is a perspective view of parts of the device of Figure 1 on an enlarged scale; and Figures 4 and 5 are cross-sections of second and third embodiments respectively of display devices of the invention.

With reference to the drawings, an information display device is shown generally indicated 10 attached to a cylindrical, upright post 11, only part of which is shown. The device 10 includes a mount part 12 which, conveniently, is constituted by an offcut from a profiled aluminium section but could be of plastics or other weather-resistant material made by a technology appropriate to that material, and a plurality of information-carrying sheets 24. Preferably the sheets 24 are of transparent plastics material with the information printed or otherwise provided on their back faces.

The mount 12 includes an elongate rectangular base plate 13 adapted on one face 14, termed the back, for attachment to the post 11 and on its front face 15 to receive the information to be displayed by the marking device 10. The back face 14 of the base plate 13 carries two integral projecting flanges 16 projecting symmetrically on opposite sides of a longitudinal central plane of symmetry through the mount 12 indicated by the line X-X in Figure 2. In its position of use shown in Figure 1, the mount 13 is arranged with this plane of symmetry vertical and extending radially of the post 11.

The flanges 16 project away from each other so as to define an outwardly-concave seat 17 between them for seating against the post 11. The seat 17 is in fact defined by a part-cylindrical surface 18 between two flat faces 19.

The two flanges 16 each have two longitudinally-extending slots 20 in corresponding positions near the top and bottom of the mount 12 for receiving straps 21 (see Figure 1) for attaching the device 10 to the post 11.

Each strap 21 passes through a corresponding pair of the slots 20 and round the post 11 where it is fastened by means of a buckle, not shown, of known type. The straps 21 may be of suitable metal, plastics or other weatherresistant material and may be fastened and tightened by any suitable means to retain the mount 12 at a desired height on the post 11.

With regard to the front face 15 of the base plate 13, this is generally planar but has L-section flanges 22 projecting from its opposite longitudinal edges to define longitudinal edge channels 23 which open towards each other. The channels 23 and the front face 15 of the base plate 13 together define a longitudinally-extending openended seat which can receive a plurality of the flat, rectangular sheets 24 carrying information to be displayed by the device 10.

In the embodiment shown, four sheets 24 can be housed in the seat and they are retained therein by the free edge portions of the flanges 22 which overlie the front edges of the sheets 24 and by bottom and top closure members 25, 26 respectively. The closure members 25, 26 are identical and are simply a force fit in the ends of the seat. As best seen in Figure 3, which shows the top closure member 26 together with part of an information display sheet 24, each member 25, 26 is integrally formed but includes two portions; the first comprises a rectangular section bar 27 which in use extends transversely across the face 15 of the base plate 13 with its ends engaged in the channels 23 while the second portion 28 is of such a length that it fits between the inwardly-facing free edges of the flanges 22 defining the channels 23.Furthermore the top faces of the portions 27 and 28 are flush with each other but the portion 28 has a greater vertical depth than the portion 27, in its orientation of use. When fitted in the seat, the portion 28 thus overlaps the upper edge portion of the top most information sheet 24, helping to retain the sheets 24 in the seat and also providing protection from weather.

It will be appreciated that, if the mount 13 were attached to a horizontal pipeline or if the mount 13 were modified so that the sheets 24 were slid horizontally into their seat, then the end closure members would not be essential. Alternatively, one of the end closure members could be formed integrally with the mount or fixed permanently in place.

It will also be appreciated that the device 10 of the invention enables any information displayed to be changed very readily since, for this to be effected, the sheets 24 in place at the time may simply be slipped out of their seat after the removal of the top closure member 26 and the new information sheets slipped in and secured by the replacement of the closure member. The tedious task of unfastening the mount from the post is completely avoided. The sheets removed are also reusable.

The sheets 24 shown in Figure 1 carry single letters and numerals which may be selected from sets of such sheets carrying letters of any alphabet, numerals and other symbols. Sheets may thus be chosen from the set to make up any desired message or code to be displayed by the device. In addition the letters may be of different colours and/or displayed against different-coloured backgrounds. Plain sheets, without symbols, may also be included in the set.

With reference now to Figure 4 of the drawings, this shows an alternative form of the invention in which a post generally indicated 40 is formed with integral seats for receiving information sheets which may be similar to the sheets 24 of Figures 1 to 3 and are not therefore shown in this drawing. The post 40 of Figure 4 comprises a square-section aluminium tube 41 but is could be of other section, such as that shown in Figure 5, or could be of plastics or other material appropriate to its position of use.

The post 40 is formed with an information display seat 42 on each of three sides, each defined by an external face 43 of the tube 41 and two edge channels 44 formed by Lsection flanges 45 extending along opposing edges of each face 43. Each seat 42 is thus similar to the seat defined by the edge channels 23 and the face 15 of the mount 10 of Figure 1 and accommodates information sheets in the same manner.

The post 40 is formed with seats 42 on three faces, one face46 being flat for location, for example, against a building. Posts may, however, be provided with seats 42 on all four faces or on only one or two faces. Also the edge flanges 45 may be formed individually, with simple L-sections as shown at 45a or, at edges between two seatdefining faces 43, the two flanges may be formed integrally with an interconnecting corner part as shown at 45b and 45c: the corner of the section may be rounded as shown at 45b or square as shown at 45c. Alternatively, flanges 45 may be set inwardly of the edges of the post 40 so that a seat 42 occupies only part of a face 46 of the post 40. The flanges 45 may alternatively extend transverse the length of the post to define a horizontal seat in use or the seat may be provided on a cross-bar carried by the post.

The seats 42 may extend the full length of the post 40 or only along part of this length, normally the uppermost part in its position of use. The post 40 may be intended to be sunk in the ground in its position of use or may be provided with an alternative supporting base. If the lower ends of the seats 42 are closed by the ground or other support then no end stops, such as the closure member 25 of Figure 1, need be provided.

A top closure member, such as the member 26, is however preferably provided. Furthermore, it is preferable also to provide a cap (not shown) for the top of the post 40 and this may be formed integrally with top closure members for the seats 42.

With reference to Figure 5 of the drawings this shows a post 50 with integral seats 52 for information sheets which differs from the post 40 of Figure 4 essentially only in that its tubular section 51 is trapezoidal instead of square. Features similar to those of Figure 4 are shown by the same numerals increased by ten and will not be described in detail. The edge flanges 55 are angled and shaped appropriately to define the rectangular-section channels 54 needed to form the seats 52.

A potential use of the post 40 is thought to be for information on coastal footpaths. This may include information on a particular location, maps of an area and directions. A particular use for the square post 50 is thought to be for identifying fire hydrants but each has many alternative uses.

Claims (1)

1. An information display device including a mount adapted to be supported in a display position and at least one information carrier readily releasably engageable with the mount in the display position and arranged to display the information carried thereby when so engaged.

Amendments to the claims have been filed as follows 1. An information display device including a mount adapted to be supported in a display position and at least one information carrier readily releasably engageable with the mount in the display position and arranged to display the information carried thereby when so engaged.

2. An information display device as claimed in Claim 1, in which the said information carrier is formed as a flat rectangular plate.

3. An information display device as claimed in Claim 1 on said mount is adapted for attachment to a support in the form of a post whereby to enable use to be made of existing posts.

4. An information carrier as claimed in any preceding Claim 1, wherein the said mount has a front face on which said information carrier is supported, and a rear face adapted to cooperate with the said support, said rear face including a shaped seat portion adapted to seat against said support whereby to locate said mount firmly in position.

5. In information display device as claimed in any preceding Claim, wherein the said mount is secured to the said support by releasable fastening means.

6. An information display device as claimed in Claim 5, wherein said releasable fastening means include one of clamps and straps attachable to said support.

8. An information display device as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein said mount defines a seat n which said carrier is snap engageable by means of the resilient yielding of one of said mount and said carrier.

9. An information display device as claimed in any preceding Claim, wherein said carrier has two opposite parallel edges slidably engageable with cooperating slots in said seat, there being provided retaining means for retaining said carrier in said seat when inserted therein.

10. An information display device as claimed in any preceding Claim, wherein a plurality of said carriers are engageable insaid seat, each said carrier of said plurality of carriers bearing a portion of the information to be displayed by said information display device.

11. A pipeline identification device comprising a mount adapted to be attached to the said pipeline, the siad mount having a cylindrically curved face of cooperating shape to that of said pipeline whereby to engage in mating juxtaposition therewith, means for securing said mount in position on said pipeline with said mating faces in contact, and means on said mount for receiving removable information carriers carrying information identifying said pipeline.

12. An information display device in the form of an elongate support post aving first face; means on said first face defining a mount for at least one information carrier, said mount-defining means comprising means defining opposite parallel facing slots for receiving the opposite edges of a rectangular information carrier; and means for a releasably retaining said information carrier in place on said mount.

13. An information display device substantially as herein before described with references to, and as shown in, the accompanying drawings.