US2048040A

US2048040A - Illuminating device

Info

Publication number: US2048040A
Application number: US21550A
Authority: US
Inventors: Wagner Erwin
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1935-05-13
Filing date: 1935-05-13
Publication date: 1936-07-21
Anticipated expiration: 1953-07-21

Description

July 21, 1936. E R 2,048,040

ILLUMINATING DEVICE Original Filed Feb. 16 1934 2 Sheets-Sheet l ii-A- July 21, 1936. E. WAGNER ILLUMINATING DEVICE Original Fild Feb. 16, 1954 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented July 21, 1936 UNITED STATES IIJIUMINATING DEVICE Erwin Wagner, Chicago, Ill.

Continuation of application Serial No. 711,497,

February 16, 1934. This application -May 13,

1935, Serial No. 21,550

tomatically and wherein suitable illuminating means will produce an even illumination eflect on the panel and on the letter or character means appearing in silhouette thereupon. Other objects of my invention will appear from time to time throughout the specification and claims which are to follow.

Generally, my invention comprises an opaque, normally weather-proof box having a translucent 20 or opalescent front or display panel of glass or other similar material. In front of this panel is provided supporting or carrier means upon which letters or characters may be mounted removably or permanently and in substantially locked position relative to the panel.

It is understood that the terms letters and characters are meant to comprise any designation, figure, character and/or sign that may be used for display, either singly or in conjunction so with others, of similaror of different structure. The carrier means for these letters or characters, are preferably arranged in front of the panel so that if it is desired to make changes in the sign or message, that may be done without chan ing-the relationship of the parts, e. g., without opening the device and exposing its contents to the elements.

Extending preferably longitudinally of the device which comprises a box enclosing various control means and forms a compact unit, and preferably located behind a plurality of panels or a plu- I rality of characters may be a light source which may be a neon tube, a mercury vapor light tube 45 or any suitable light source or sourcesarranged to produce a substantially continuous illuminating eilect relative to the panel. There may be one or more of such light sourcesan'd they may be of the same or different character and/or 50 color; The light source or sources may also be arranged difierently, e. g., near the sides of the panel and in front thereof, so as to produce a somewhat indirect illuminating efiect, which arrang'ement is particularly indicated in case it is desired to employ an opalescent panel adapted to .in my structure. For instance, three or four light reflect light thrown upon it rather than radiate light projected through it.

I have found that if such a light source, in the case of the first mentioned embodiment, is properly' spaced behind the opaque characters, the i1- luminating efiect will be uniform on each character or each figure, with no suggestion of the light. source producing this effect. The same is true in case of an indirect light source in connection with an opalescent panel or the like.

By manipulation of the light source or sources and by the use of different colors which may be turned on or off and by the blending of the colors of the opalescent characters itself and the colors of the light source or sources and/or of the panel or panels, a great variety of color schemes may be obtained. One of the great disadvantages of the conventional type of luminous sign employing usually a plurality of separate light bulbs in back of each character is that if one or more of the bulbs should go out, then one character is difierently illuminated either in color or intensity or both, thus resulting in an exceedingly unsightly appearance. This disadvantage may be-avoided sources, e. g., neon tubes may be associated with a plurality of characters in my sign, and if one of the light sources fails to function, the change of the illumination of each character will be uniform and while the sign under those circumstances will appear somewhat changed or different, it will not give an unsightly effect.

My invention is illustrated more or' less diagrammatically in the accompanying drawings, wherein- Figure 1- is a front elevation of one embodiment of a sign made according to my invention with parts cut away to show the interior thereof;

Figure 2 is a horizontal section through Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a section on the line 33 of Figure 1;

Figure 4 is a partial front view of a variant form;

Figure 5 isa section along the line 5-4 of Figure 4';

Figure 6 is a section along the line 6-6 of Figure 4;

Figure 7 is a partial front view similar to Figure 4 of a further embodiment; and

Figure}; is a section taken along the line 8-8 of Figure 7.

Like parts are indicated by like reference characters throughout the drawings.

A is an opaque receptacle. It is closed by a translucent or opalescent removable panel A of glass or other suitable material. The panel may be removably mounted in any desired way but preferably in such a way as to-make the device weather-proof. A plurality of panels may be used, if desired, either on one or on several sides of the box.

B, B 13 may be light sources'such, e. g.. as

luminous tubes mounted at their ends in the box sources are mounted in brackets 13 and supplied and extending throughout the length thereof so that each light source is located behind one or behind a plurality of the letters or characters. The latter may be made in this embodiment preferably of opaque material. These tubes or light placed close to the panel, in case of a translucent plate, each separate tube even though not visible through the panel, might still be so near to it that the light source will be at least sensed by the observer. This can be avoided in the embodiment shown by properly spacing the luminous tubes or other light sources at a distance from the rear side of the panel as indicated.

In front of the panel may be provided a plurality of carrier rods or wires C C suitably anchored at their ends, for instance, on the box and disposed sufliciently in front of the panel so that the supports or spring hooks C C on the characters C may readily pass between these supports and the panel. The letters are thus re- 1 movably secured. The hook C grips preferably the supporting rods with sufilcient force to guard the letters against inadvertent longitudinal displacement while the shape of the hook prevents accidental vertical displacement. In other words, the corresponding character is locked to the supporting means. The opaque letters will appear in silhouette against the translucent or opalescent background The supporting rods should be sufliciently small in orderto avoid inter- F ference with the letters orcharacters either structurally or functionally.

In the modified form of the invention, the letter or character means may take the form of channel shaped or flanged elements D, having a flange on both sides. Each of these flanges may be notched at D D, the notches being inclined or tapered so that the letter will grip the supporting wire owing to the force of its weight pulling the letter down to wedge thewire or carrier rod into the corresponding notch and thereby pre- I venting any inadvertent movement of the letter with respect to the support. The letter or character is thus brought close to the face of the panel and will appear to be directly on the opalesin front of .the panel. It may be desired to dis- .pense with the lower U and to suspend the upper one on a hook or the like.-

It will be understood, of course, that an important phase of my invention lies in the use of a substantially uniformly illuminated panel with letter or character means appearing in silhoutte thereupon. The appearance will be uniform regardless of outside influences. characters will always appear in silhouette against the panel even without illumination. The sign will thus serve its purpose in daylight as well as at night. Inadvertentdisplacement of the characters is avoided owing to the locking means I on each character which engages the carrier means in looking relation thereto.

Changes may be made within the scope and spirit of the appended claims.

What I claim as my invention is:

1. A luminous display device wherein a plurality of characters each consisting of an integral substantially rigid member having a uniformly finished substantially unbroken face are removably mounted in front of a display panel and appear in substantially clear silhouette thereupon comprising, means for variably illuminating said panel, relatively thin rod-like carrier means disposed in front of said panel substantially parallel thereto and spaced therefrom, marginal supporting flanges on each of said characters projecting The letters or substantially contiguous from the back thereof, and means in said supporting flanges for locking said characters against displacement perpendicular to said panel, said marginal supporting flanges being integral with said characters.

2. In a sign structure of the class described, the combination comprising, a panel, means for illuminating said panel, a horizontally disposed supporting rod extending parallel with and in front of the panel, substantially rigid integral character means each having a substantially uniformly finished .unbroken face disposed substantially parallel with the panel, a peripheral substantially contiguous flange carried by said char acter means and extending perpendicular thereto, and notches in said flange for engaging said supporting means in locking engagement therewith.

3. A sign device of the class described comprising, anopaque box, a translucent display panel closing the side thereof, a plurality of light sources, each of them continuous from end to end of the panel and arranged within the box at a pointremote from the panel, a plurality of characters having the visual surface thereof parallel with the panel and flanged about their periphery, and means for holding said characters in position in front'of the panel including a transverse support carried by the box and flanges carried by said characters, said flanges being notched to engage said support with the rearmost boundaries of the flanges immediately adjacent said panel. a

4. A sign device of the class described comprising, anopaque receptacle, a translucent display panel closing the side thereof, a plurality of light sourcesarranged within the box remote .from the panel for illuminating said panel, a

plurality of characters having the visual surface thereof parallel with the panel and flanged about their periphery, and means for holding said characters in position in front of the panel with the rearmost boundaries of the flanges immediately adjacent thereto, said means comprising support- .ing rods in front of the panel, the flanges beingnotched to engage said-rods.

5. An illuminated sign comprising, a display panel, alight source for illuminating said panel, and a character consisting of an integral sub-- stantially rigid body of substantial thickness having an unbroken uniformly finished face, substantially contiguous marginal flanges projecting peripherally from said face toward the back thereof and being integral therewith, and inclined notches in said flanges whereby said character may be individually and independently mounted in front of said display panel.

, 6. A sign comprising, in combination, adisplay frame, relatively thin stationary supporting rods disposed in said frame and extending horizontally thereto, and character means carried by said rods, each of said character means consisting of an integral substantially rigid body of substantial thickness and weight having an unbroken substantially uniformly finished face, integral substantially contiguous flanges projecting from said face uniformly toward the back thereof, and notches in said flanges for engaging said supporting rods in looking engagement therewith, whereby each of said character means may be independently and individually attached to and removed from said supporting rods.

7, The structure defined in claim 6, wherein said notches are inclined and tapered in the direction of the face of said character so as to lock said character means on said supporting rods solely by the weight thereof and with the back of said face near said supporting rods.

8. An illuminated sign comprising, in combination, an opaque receptacle, a translucent display panel closing the side thereof, illuminating means disposed in said receptacle in back of said panel and spaced therefrom whereby said panel is substantially evenly and uniformly illuminated, rod-like mounting means disposed in front-of said panel substantially parallel thereto and sub- 7 stantially uniformly spaced therefrom, and spe cific shaped character means individually and 10 independently removably and exchangeably secured on said mounting means in front of said panel in perpendicular sliding relation relative to said mounting means, said character means coinprising, an opaque body having a visual face disposed substantially in parallel with said panel but spaced therefrom when said character is secured in front thereof, and peripheral substantially contiguous flanges projecting substantially uniformly from said face toward the back thereof, the rearmost boundaries of said flanges being disposed immediately adjacent said Panel when said character means is mounted in front thereof, whereby said character means appears in sharp and substantially clearly defined silhouette outline against said uniformly illuminated panel.

9. The sign structure defined in claim 8, wherein said character means is secured on'said mounting means in looking engagement therewith.

ERWIN WAGNER.