US1004807A - Illuminated sign. - Google Patents

Description

nnrrn strane en E FICE.

ILLUMINATED SIGN.

Specification of 'Letters Patent.

raient-ea ont. 3, 1911'.

Application led March 22, 1909. Serial No. 484,957

l To all whom 'it may concern:

.Beit known that I,.Lioivn'n I-I. Morse, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of the city and county of San Francisco',

. State of California, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Illuminated Signs, of which the following is a specification.- i

This invention relates to improvements Amade in illuminated signs of the type Ior description in which each letter is 'painted'in contrasting colors, in, its principal elements, upon a plane surface, so as to be well defined and legible by day; and by means of incandescent electric lamps fixed in its face the letter is illuminated and made legible by night.

The letter is surrounded on all sides by a standing rim conforming in shape to the characteristic outline of the letter and projecting from the plane surface on which the body of the letter is produced, so as to inclose the illuminating elements and thereby prevent the rays that illuminate one letter from interfering with those from the illuminating elements of the contiguous letters Athat compose the sign.

The standing rim is formed and arranged with the view to secure the effect of a shade by which diffusion or interference of rays between the illuminating elements of the letters is prevented; and as a defiector, to concentrate and direct the rays of individual illuminating elements upon the parts of -the letter itself, without distortingyor otherwise detracting from the legibility of the letter when viewed by day from'diit'erent positions.

The present invention has as its object the production of an illumniated sign letter ofl a highlyornamental cliaraeteiVboth when l viewed by daylight and also Awhen illumian illuminated sign.

' The accompanying. drawing illustrates the application of my said invention to the production of the capital letter K, and as emi bodied therein a description of it will enV able a person familiar With thev manufacture of illuminated signs of this type or description to produce any letter or character for the production of a sign or a combination of letters or characters to be illuminated.

Figure l of the drawing represents in perspective the capital letter K embodying my invention. Fig. Q is a cross-section taken on vthe line .vv-m Fig. l.

The body of the letter of my invention is painted on the surface p in a color contrastL ing to the color of the remainder of the surface p. The body of the letter is-preferably painted in a light or high light .refiecting color and the remainder of the surface in a dark or low light reflecting color so that the body of the letter will appear to 'stand out from the surface. The shade elements are painted preferably in a'eolor intermediate between the colors of the body of the letter and of the back-ground.

Within the outlines of the letter the sock 'y ets 'c for the light bulbs are Wired or connected in any Well known manner at'the back. In the drawing the light bulbs or lamps are left out of the sockets and the wiring is not shown, for the reason "that the electrical connections between the lamps and the source of current do not differ from those em loyed in othersigns'of the same.'

type, an the proper connections can be facture of electrical signs Without further explanation. y

rhe shading and reflectingy elements lin the signof my invention confine and con'- centrate the rays from the lamps Within the borders of the letterl in a similar manner to the corresponding reflecting elements in other signs of like character, being arranged to conform or follow the particular outline of the letter. But instead of standing generally perpendicular to the letter bearing surface asin previous constructions 0f similar letters the shading and reflecting elements on one side of the letter of my invention are placed or arranged at anangle'more or less acute to' the lletter bearing surface p, or at.such an angle from the perpendicular as to bring' to View from the front the inner face cl2 of the element al", or'that side of itduce a shadow or darkened back-ground on the panel immediately behind" the element.

As embodied in the form or style of letter which l have represented in the drawing by way of illustration, the shading and reflecting elements cl on one side stand perpendicular or substantially at right angles to the piane of the letter bearing surface and are situated on the right side of the letter and over the tops of the stems or perpendicular members, -whereas, the shade forming elen'ients IZ are situated on the left or the opposite side of the body a, and at the bottom of the letter. As to the effect of this'construction, it will be seen. that those portions or members of the reflector which are generally perpendicular to the face of. the letter prevent the rays of the lamps on one, side from striking the back-ground which separates the letter from the adjoining letter in the complete sign, and concentrate the rays 'upon the body of the letter, but the shade hearing or shade forming portion on the opposite side of the letter on the contrary preseats their illuminated surfaces to the front and .combine with or join the saine to the. body forming elements of't'heletter itself iiith the effect to give it the appearance of a beveled letter, or to cause the letter to stand out from the back-ground in high relief, according to the degree of contrast or the differencein color between the face of the element and the body of the letter7 or accordi ing to the distance at .which the element (ZX itself stands away from the surface of the panel; dilferenteffects being secured and a .highly ornamental character of letter being letter meet or intersect.

receso? obtained ivith the standing reector in Which all the elements stand perpendicularly out from the face of the letter bearing surface.v

The reiecting elements in an illuminated letter of my invention thus have the double function or purpose of cutting off or shielding the background from the lateral rays, and of constituting a part or member ci the letter itself, in which last mentioned relaarranging the reliecting elements in an illuminated sign letter according to my invention, for the reason principally that it shows how the peipendicular and the inclined reflecting elements are satisfactorily set or arranged under conditions Where'perpendicular and slanting elements or members in a Other forms and styles of letters, characters or symbols for illulninatedsigns can be body, and means arranged on the letter body for illuminating the letter.

LIGNEL H. MOISE. Witnesses EDWARD E. Osman,- M. REGNER.

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