GB2365611A

GB2365611A - Illuminated outdoor signs

Info

Publication number: GB2365611A
Application number: GB0018767A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Andrew Michael English
Original assignee: DW OUTDOOR Ltd
Current assignee: DW OUTDOOR Ltd
Priority date: 2000-07-31
Filing date: 2000-07-31
Publication date: 2002-02-20
Anticipated expiration: 2020-07-31
Also published as: GB0018767D0; GB2365611B

Abstract

An internally illuminated sign, especially for outdoors, comprises a frame 3,7 and at least one transparent window 8 which together constitute a weatherproof housing which is downwardly open, a poster receiving and holding means 30 which is vertically slidable in the housing between a position in which it supports a poster within the housing so that it is viewable through the window and a position in which it has been withdrawn downwardly form the housing, and illumination means 20 in the housing to illuminate the poster from behind when the holding means is within the housing. As described the sign comprises vertical extrusions 7 having grooves to receive the edges of two windows 8 and of two holding means 30 in the form of flat or curved frames or panels. The holding means 30 may be retained in their position within the housing by locking tabs, and may have a floor which seals against a slot in the housing in this position. The sign may enclose a supporting post 2 and have reflectors 21. A light sensor may switch the illumination means 20 on and off.

Description

<Desc/Clms Page number 1> SIGNS This invention relates to advertising signs and, in particular, to internally illuminated signs which are designed to receive a translucent poster or the like within a protective casing. A wide variety of such signs is known. For internal fixed installations, e.g. in railway stations and the like, widespread use is made of internal illuminated signboxes to increase visual impact compared with a poster stuck on a wall or hoarding. Although the use of such signboxes is widespread, it tends to be in controlled environments out of the weather. Internally illuminated external signage is known. For example, International Publication WO 98/52180 discloses an internally illuminated sign structure for mounting on an existing street furniture post, for example on a street lamp. GB-A-2109607 discloses an internally illuminated set of post containing panels which are adapted to be mounted around e.g. a concrete stanchion in a garage forecourt. This specification also discloses the use of a frame which is to receive a poster and which can be swung out and down to facilitate

poster changing.

As indicated in this British specification, poster changing is important, particularly to the economics of an advertising operation. The activity is labour- intensive and its efficiency depends crucially on the ease with which a previous poster can be removed and a fresh one substituted. The constructions described in the specifications referred to above are not particularly convenient in this respect, even though the British specification is directed to facilitating poster changing. The requirements of weatherproofness (because of the presence of electrical equipment within the signbox) and ease of poster changing are often mutually conflicting since there is a tendency for the need for weatherproofing to result in fairly complex structures which have to be unsealed and resealed. While, by way of good design, this can be achieved at least when such a signbox is initially installed, there is a tendency during the service life of the signbox for e.g. seal strips or frame components to become damaged, twisted or buckled and accordingly for the integrity of any weatherproof seal to be lost.

In accordance with the present invention, there is provided an internally illuminated sign consisting of a base frame, at least one transparent window through which a poster may be viewed, means located between the base frame and window for receiving and holding a poster or the like and means located on the opposite side of the poster when so held providing illumination from behind the poster as seen through the window, and wherein the assembly of base frame and window(s) forms an internally illuminated box structure, the top and side walls of which, when the structure is installed in an advertising location, form a fixed weatherproof sealed housing which is downwardly open, and wherein the

poster receiving and holding means is in the form of a panel structure which can be slid vertically in a slot defined by the base and window structure from a position in which substantially the whole of the panel structure is located within the box structure and a poster held therein is viewable through the window to a position in which it has been withdrawn downwardly from the box structure. Preferably the panel structure is rendered captive within the box structure so that it can be withdrawn almost completely therefrom in a downwards direction when the structure is installed, but not entirely. Preferably the lower edge of the panel structure bears a floor which, when the panel is fully inserted into the box structure, seals against the base frame. It is highly preferable that such fixing and sealing can be effective using a small number of quick release fasteners of known type.

By operating in this way, it is possible to design internally illuminated signbox structures which are weatherproof and which, because the side walls and top of the structure remain undisturbed for many years, remain weatherproof. In contrast to known sign panel structures where a door or cover has to be swung away or removed physically in order to allow access to the poster within, the sign structures of the present invention, require only the poster carrier to be moved when the poster is to be changed. The carrier is moved vertically downwards in order to withdraw it from the sign box structure, and needs only be moved sufficiently far to enable the poster to be changed. While it is possible to withdraw the carrier completely and simply substitute it with a new one which has been pre-loaded with an appropriate poster, and this can lead to extremely quick changeover times, the investment in

extra sliding panel units is substantial and the tolerance requirements as between the panels and the remainder of the structure are quite high. There is also the risk that if a bent or otherwise damaged panel is attempted to be inserted into a signbox structure from which a previous panel has just been removed, there is a risk of damage to the signbox structure itself. This is generally avoided if the panel is captive. The illuminated sign of the present invention may contain a single panel for receiving a poster or the like, or may, for example, if adapted for mounting around a street furniture post, contain two such sliding panels. The construction of the sliding panels themselves may vary quite widely. In its simplest, the sliding panel may consist of some form of frame and means for attaching a poster to span the frame. The frame does not need to have (though it may have for convenience) an overall extending flat or curved panel e.g. of a transparent or translucent plastics material such as polyethylene terepthalate, polycarbonate, or an acrylic polymer such as polymethylmethacrylate. Alternatively, the sliding panel may be substantially more complex or sophisticated. For example, the panel may have means for moving a poster mounted thereon, or for selectively illuminating or highlighting portions thereof, or it may have other built-in visual effects which can, of course, be powered if electrically driven from the power supply which is provided for the internal illumination-in the signbox anyway. The space in the base frame and e.g. the rails or the like on which the sliding panel may run may be designed appropriately to the type of panel to be used. Wide variations may be made without departing from the

invention. The invention is illustrated by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings which show diagrammatically possible illuminated sign constructions in accordance with the present invention. In these drawings: Figure 1 is a front view of a street furniture column having mounted thereon an advertising signbox in accordance with the present invention, Figures 2 and 3 are respectively top and bottom views of the signbox of Figure 1, Figure 4 shows a cross-section along lines A-A of Figure 1, on an enlarged scale, Figure 5 is a vertical section through the structure shown in Figure 1 along the lines B-B on Figure 4, Figures 6 to 10 are views corresponding to those of Figures 1 to 5, but of an alternative construction, Figure 11 is a front view of a sliding poster-supporting member for use in the illuminated signbox shown in Figures 1 to 5, and Figures 12 and 13 are end views of the top and bottom of the sliding poster-supporting member as shown in Figure 11.

Referring to Figures 1 to 5, an internally illuminated advertising signbox generally indicated at 1 is located on a post 2 which, for example, may be a pre-existing street lamp or other piece of pre-existing street furniture, or it may, of course, simply be a post whose

sole object is to hold up the advertising box in accordance with the invention.

The signbox consists essentially of a steel framework 3 which is clamped via a central clamp assembly 5 around column 2. The outer vertical edges of the signbox are formed by two vertical extrusions 7 fixed to the steel frame 3 near the top and bottom of the signbox.

Attached to the top of the frame is a split generally elliptical shape cover formed of two halves 9, each of which has a generally semi-circular aperture so that when fitted on to the top of the frame and tops of the extrusions 7, they surround post 2 and compress a sealing ring 11 to seal the upper end of the signbox against ingress of water against the post 2. Two smaller plates 13 are attached to the lower portion of the steel frame 3 at the bottom of the signbox and end plates 14, 15 close off the lower ends of the extrusions 7.

Mounted on the extrusion 7 to the left as shown in Figure 1 is a so-called gear tray 18, i.e. a sub- assembly containing the necessary circuitry for operating vertically mounted fluorescent tube lights 20 which extend from the top portion of frame 3 to the bottom.

The shaping of each of the extrusions 7 provides four slots running the length of each extrusion. Fitted into the two outer slots is a curved, clear plastics window 8, the outer edges of which are provided with an opaque usually black border 10 so that each of windows 8 constitutes a viewing window to the interior of the signbox.

The other pair of slots in each extrusion 7 act as slotted tracks for a sliding poster supporting member

which is described in more detail below with reference to Figures 11 to 13. In order to promote the efficient use of light emerging from fluorescent tubes 20, the portion of post 2 which is located internally of the signbox when installed is shielded by two reflectors 21 which act to spread the light when the box is internally illuminated. Control of illumination may be effected using suitable circuitry together with a light sensor to tell whether it is daytime (in which case the poster in the signbox may be entirely adequately illuminated by ambient light) or nighttime in which case the fluorescent tubes are lit in order to illuminate posters in the signbox from inside. As shown in Figure 3, a light sensor 24 is mounted at the bottom of one of the extrusions 7 on closure plate 15. Figures 11 to 13 show in greater detail the panel structure which forms part of the sign of the present invention. This consists of a curved translucent or transparent plastics panel, preferably made of PETG (polyethylene), denoted 30 in the drawings, having bonded to each of its long edges a hard polyvinyl chloride rail 31 which is dimensioned to slide in one of the inner pair of slots in extrusions 7. At its top end, a strap 33 spans the majority of the width of panel 30 to assist stability. Adjacent strap 33 is a pair of clips 34 which enable a top edge of a poster to be clipped to the top of the panel assembly. Fixed to the lower end of panel 30 is a base plate 40. This is attached to the panel by means of two brackets 42, each of which is riveted to the base plate 40 and has three upstanding tabs, each tab being riveted to the curved diffuser panel 30. Base plate 40 also carries a quarter turn lock assembly 45 which has a locking tab 46

which can be swivelled to the position shown in Figures 11 and 12 when the panel is to be able to slide freely up and down and to the position shown in Figure 5 when the panel is fully located within the box structure. As can be seen, it then rests on a member 48 of the steel frame 3. The power to operate the gear tray 18 and fluorescent lamps 20 may be provided in standard fashion, most conveniently via a power supply lead led up inside post 2 and fed through an appropriate aperture in the post and connected appropriately to the gear tray. All of the necessary wiring is omitted from the drawings for the sake of clarity. In the use of the signbox, the panel bearing the poster which may be back illuminated from fluorescent lights 20 is located in the upper position as shown on the left- hand side of Figure 5. As shown on the right-hand side, panel 30 may also be dropped right down by turning the quarter turn lock assembly to move tab 46 so that it no longer engages member 48. The panel unit then drops down with the side rails 31 sliding in the slots in extrusion 7 until strap 33 comes to rest on member 48. At this point, the poster clip 34 is adjacent the bottom of window 8, and a poster on the outside of main panel 30 may simply be pulled out from clips 34 and a new one inserted. The entire panel is then raised until its base plate 40 comes to lie against the lower edge of window 8, whereafter the lock assembly 45 is turned to move tab 46 over member 48 and lock the panel in place. It can be seen that changing the poster can accordingly be accomplished simply and quickly and without in any way affecting the overall weatherproofness and sealing of the enclosure.

The sign shown in Figures 1 to 5 is designed to have an

overall height of around 1.6 metres and a width overall of about .64 metres. This is convenient for many types of post mounted advertisement, but, as can be seen by looking at Figure 1, the general size and shape of the advertisement is, compared to standard portrait form advertisements, of rather greater height to width ratio than normal. If it is desired to use a more conventional aspect ratio poster, the sign of the present invention may be made somewhat wider relative to its height and such a construction is shown in Figures 6 to 10. For the sake of simplicity, the reference numbers on Figures 6 to 10 correspond to those shown in Figures 1 to 5, but increased by 100 in each case. The basic structure and operation of the sign shown in Figures 6 to 10 is accordingly identical with that of the sign shown in Figures 1 to 5, but, as can be seen, instead of a generally ellipsoid shape in horizontal section located symmetrically about post 2, the somewhat more elongate ellipsoidal shape is located unevenly about the post. Internally, the sign has two fluorescent tubes 120 located to one side of the post and one an the other side. In like fashion, plates 140 are attached to the bottom of each of the curved diffuser panels 130 via three brackets 142. Otherwise, the construction and operation are entirely analogous.

Claims

CIAIMS 1. An internally illuminated sign consisting of a base frame, at least one transparent window through which a poster may be viewed, means located between the base frame and window for receiving and holding a poster or the like and means located on the opposite side of the poster when so held providing illumination from behind the poster as seen through the window, and wherein the assembly of base frame and window(s) forms an internally illuminated box structure, the top and side walls of which, when the structure is installed in an advertising location, form a fixed weatherproof sealed housing which is downwardly open, and wherein the poster receiving and holding means is in the form of a panel structure which can be slid vertically in a slot defined by the base and window structure from a position in which substantially the whole of the panel structure is located within the box structure and a poster held therein is viewable through the window to a position in which it has been withdrawn downwardly from the box structure.
2. A sign according to Claim 1 wherein the panel structure is rendered captive within the box structure so that it can be withdrawn almost completely but not entirely therefrom in a downwards direction when the structure is installed.
3. A sign according to Claim 1 or 2 wherein the lower edge of the panel structure bears a floor which, when the panel is fully inserted into the box structure, seals against the base frame.
4. A sign according to Claim 3 wherein the fixing and sealing is effected using one or a few quick release fasteners fitted at the lower end of the panel.

<Desc/Clms Page number 11>
5. A sign according to any one of Claims 1 to 4 and adapted for mounting around a street furniture post and containing two sliding panels.
6. A sign according to any one of the preceding Claims wherein the or each sliding panel consists of a frame and means for attaching a poster to span the frame.
7. A sign according to Claim 6 wherein the frame is fitted with an overall extending flat or curved panel.
8. A sign according to any one of the preceding Claims wherein the base frame includes a pair of parallel rails on which the sliding panel may run.
9. A sign according to Claim I and substantially as described with reference to Figures 1 to 5 and 11 or I Figures 6 to 10 of the accompanying drawings.