GB2519083A

GB2519083A - Suspended display

Info

Publication number: GB2519083A
Application number: GB1317762.1A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Mark Schottlander
Original assignee: Bay Media Ltd
Current assignee: Bay Media Ltd
Priority date: 2013-10-08
Filing date: 2013-10-08
Publication date: 2015-04-15
Also published as: GB201317762D0

Abstract

A suspended display is disclosed for displaying an image carried by a substrate made of flexible sheet material 26. The display comprises an open frame formed of members 20 that are jointed to one another at corners of the frame. Formations, e.g. grooves 24, are provided on the members for gripping edge regions of the substrate. Suspension cables 12 are provided for suspending the display, which cables pass through an aperture in the upper member of the frame and are secured to a lower frame member, such that the weight of the display is supported by the lower member. The display is preferably double sided with substrates sheets attached to both sides of the frame. An LED lighting system is preferably housed in the frame. The suspension cables 12 may be wound directly onto a winch or may be attached to a bar 14 that is suspended by further cables 16 from a remotely controlled hoist 18.

Description

SUSPENDED DISPLAY

Field of the invention

The presenc invention relates to a display intended to be suspended from a high ceiling.

Background of the invention

In large enclosed spaces, such as shopping malls, a prominent way to advertise goods and services, or display information, is to suspend a banner or a poster from the ceiling. In order to avoid the need to erect scaffolding whenever the displayed material is to be changed, it has previously been proposed in EP 1 672 608 to mount a remotely controlled motorised hoist on the ceiling, to allow the structuro on which tho bannor or postor is mountcd to bo lowered and raised.

For maximum effect, it is desirable to have a display with as large an area as possible. If advertising material or any other image to be displayed is printed on a fabric, plastics or paper substrate, a substantial frame is reguired in order to maintain the substrate taut. However, a limit is placed on the size of the support frames by the weight that the ceiling can withstand and the capacity of the hoist.

Object of the invention The preseno invention seeks therefore to provide a light yet rigid frame on which a substrate bearing an image to be displayed may be supported.

Summary of the invention

According ro the present invention, there is provided a display for displaying an image carried by a substrate made of flexible sheet material, wherein the display oomprises an open frame formed of members that are jointed to one another at corners of the frame and formations are provided on the members for gripping edge regions cf the substrate, and wherein cables That are provided for suspending the display pass through an upper member of the frame and are secured to a lower frame member, such that the weight of the display is supported by the lower member.

Because the substrate is stretched over an open frame, rather than being mounted on a solid board, the weight of the display in The present invention is kept to a minimum for any given display size.

With any conventional suspended display, suspension cables are attached to the upper edge of the display and the weight of the display is relied upon to maintain the display in a vertical plane. However, if a large reotaugular open frame were to be suspended in this manner, there would be a tendency for the upper frame member to bow upwards and for the lower member to sag under the weight of the frame and the substrate srretohed over the frame. Such problems are avoided in the present invention by suspending the frame from a lower member and passing the suspension cables through an upper member to steady the display and maintain it in a vertical plane.

In some embodiments of the invention, the display is double sided, substrate sheets being secured to both the front and rear faces of the frame.

Conveniently, the frame members are made from extrusions, preferably of aluminium, having grooves on their front and rear faces for receiving the edge regions of the two substrates.

In some embodiments, the display is rectangular but this is not essential.

The space bounded by the frame members and the two substrate sheets may conveniently be used to house a lighting system, to enable the substrates to be backlit.

To provide even illumination, without any shadows and with minimal addition to the weight of the display, the lighting system may comprise a chain of light emitting diodes (LED'S) supported on a fine net. More preferably, the lighting system may comprise a plurality of double sided LED boards plugged into supply cables that serve additionally to support the weight of the LED boards. In either case, the individual LED's may bo positionod in ouch a mannor as to avoid shadows being cast onto the substrates by the suspension cables which pass through the space within the open frame.

To allow maintenance of the displace, the suspension cables may be directly wound onto a remotely controlled hoist to allow uhe display to be raised and lowered, or they may be attached to a bar that is itself suspended by different cables from a remotely ccntrollable hoist.

Brief description of the drawings

The invention will now be described further, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 is a schematic representation of a display of the invention, and Figure 2 is a partial section along the line II in Figure 1.

Detailed description of the embodiment(s)

In Figure 1, there is shown a display 10 suspended by means of cables 12 from a bar 14 that is itself suspended by cables 16 from a hoist 18. The hoist 18 is mounted on a ceiling and may be constructed in the manner taught in EP 1 672 608, which allows the display 10 to be raised and lowered.

Weight constraints are place on the display 10 suspended in this manner both by the load bearing capacity of the ceiling and by the strength of the hoist 18. The display 10 in the drawings is designed to minimise weight and avoid sagging, in order to maximise the area of the display while remaining within the weight constraints.

In order to achieve these objectives, the display 10 is formcd as an opcn framo, that is to cay a framc having members that are joined to one another at the corners of the frame and bound an open space. This is in contrast to a closed frame where the area bounded by the sides of the frame would be occupied by a rigid body, such as a board.

The illustrated frame is rectangular with long horizontal upper and lower members 20 and shorter vertical side members 22. Each of the members 20, 22 is formed as an extrusion having, for example, the cross section shown in Figure 2. The extrusions are conveniently made of aluminium, which offers the advantage of strength combined with low weight. In cross section, each extrusion is essentially a box with converging front and rear walls (to avoid casting a shadow on the substrate sheet) and one side wall thicker that the other Three walls. The increased thickness of one side wall allows the front and rear faces of the extrusion to be formed wiTh grooves 24 for receiving reinforced edges of substrate sheets 26 stretched over the frames. As an alternative, a bead may be forced into the grooves 24 to clamp a fold of the edge region of the substrate 24 within the groove after the substrate sheet 26 has been stretched to overlie the groove, excess substrate then being trimmed.

The frame members 20, 22 are joined to one another at each corner by mitring the two members 20, 22 and inserting an elbow piece into their box sections. As the stretched substrates 24 also act to hold the members together, no other reinforcement is needed.

The suspension cables 12 pass throrgh the upper horizontal member 20 of the frame and through the inner space 30 bounded by the frame members 20, 22 and the substrates 26, no be attached securely to the lower horizontal member 20. In this way, the weight of the display is supported from below and any tendency for the frame to sag is avoided. As the suspension cables 12 pass through the uppor mombor 20, thoro is no tondoncy for thc display to move out of the vertical plane. If desired, the upper member 20 may also be clamped to the cables 12 so long as the sections of the cables 12 lying within the space 30 remain under tension by supporting the weight of the display.

The two substrate sheets 26 bearing the images to be displayed are baoklit in the illustrated embodiment of the invention. To enable the lighting system to be seen in Figure 1, the front substrate 26 is shown in Figure 1 as partially transparent and part of it has been cut away to reveal the lighning system clearly.

The lighting system comprises a ladder-like structure of which the rungs are double-sided LED boards 30 and the stiles 32 are cables supplying DC power to the LED boards 30 and also serving to support their weight. This arrangement achieves even illumination and because the suspension cables 12 are arranged to lie flat against the LED boards 30, as shown in Figure 2, their shadow is not cast onto the substrates to mar the displayed images.

As an alternative, LED's may be wired in a chain, as used for example for Xmas decoration, and a lightweight net or mesh may be attached to the frame member to allow the individual LED's to be positioned at will.

The DC cables may, if desired, be connected to a plug that registers with a socket only when the display 10 is raised into its operating position. In this way, when the display is lowered for maintenance work to be carried out, such as replacement of the substrate sheets 26, the electrical power to the lighting system will be disconnected automatically.

Claims

CLAIMS1. A display for displaying an image carried by a substrate made of flexible sheet material, wherein the display comprises an open frame formed of members that are jointed to one another at corners cf the frame and formations are provided on the members for gripping edge regions of the substrate, and wherein cables that are provided for suspending the display pass through an upper member of the frame and are secured to a lower frame member, such that the weight of the display is supported by the lower member.
2. A display as claimed in claim 1, wherein the display is double sided, substrate sheets being secured to both front and rear faces of the frame.
3. A display as claimcd in claimcd in claim 2, wherein the frame members are made from extrusions and wherein the formations for gripping edge regions of the substrate are grooves on the front and year faces of the extrusions.
4. A display as claimed in claim 3, wherein the frame members are made of aluminium.
5. A display as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the display is rectangular with upper and lower horizontal members and two shorter vertical side members.
6. A display as claimed in claim 2 or any claim appended thereto, wherein a lighting system is housed in the space bounded by the frame members and the two substrate sheets, to enable the substrate sheets to be backlit.
7. A display as claimed in claim 6, wherein the lighting system comprises a chain of light emitting diodes (LED's) supported on a fine net.
8. A display as claimed in claim 6, wherein the lighting system comprises a plurality of double-sided LED boards plugged into supply cables that serve additionally to support the weight of the LED boards.
9. A display as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the suspension cables are directly wound onto a remotely controlled hoist to allow the display to be raised and lowered.
10. A display as claimed in any of claims 1 to 9, wherein the suspension cables are attached to a bar that is suspended by different cables from a remotely controllable hoist.
11. A display constructed, arranged and adapted to operate substannially as hereinbefcre described with reference to and as illustrated in the accompanying drawings.