US2184721A

US2184721A - Scintillating sign

Info

Publication number: US2184721A
Application number: US262513A
Authority: US
Inventors: Wallace G Mcilvanie
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1939-03-17
Filing date: 1939-03-17
Publication date: 1939-12-26
Anticipated expiration: 1956-12-26

Description

Dec. 26, 1939. w; G. M ILVANIE SCINTILLATING SIGN Filed March 1'7,v 1939 3 re/I'M mama amen air/rule Patented Dec. 26, 1939 UNITED STATES SOINTILLATING SIGN 7 Wallace G. Mcllvanie, Yakima, Wash.

Application March 17,

7 Claims.

This invention relates to scintillatingsigns. An object of the, invention is the provision of a sign containing indicia in which the words or other matter are included upon a surface formed by a plurality of ro-ckable sections with means for rocking the sections alternately in opposite directions so that when the sign is illuminated it will appear in perfect form in alternation with a distorted form.

Another object of the invention is the provision of a sign having indicia thereon and decorations, if desired, in which the letters forming the indicia cover the flat surface of a reflecting sign which is illuminated by a lamp, the sign being formed of elongated sections superimposed upon each other in a vertical plane but rockably mounted upon horizontal axes, means being employed for rocking the sections alternately for alternately disclosing the sign and disfiguring the sign for attracting attention thereto, all of the elements of the sign and th operating means being. formed as a unit.

A further object of the invention is the provision of a sign having a surface disposed nor- 25 mally in a vertical plane with the sign being formed of superimposed sections in the same vertical plane and rockably mounted on a horizontal axis, the sections being removable so that signs of various types may be applied to a rockable means, the sections being formed of transparent material having a reflecting surface at the rear thereof with the letters or other ornae mentation being painted upon the surface of the sections so that when light rays are projected upon the sections the indicia on said sections will stand out, the sections being adapted to be alternately rocked for displaying the sign or for causing disfiguration of the same.

This invention will be best understood from a consideration of the following detailed description, in view of the accompanying drawing forming a part of the specification; nevertheless, it is to be understood that the inventionis not confined to the disclosure, being susceptible of such changes and modifications as define no material departure from the salient features of the invention as expressed in. the appende claims.

In the drawing:

Figure 1 is a front view in elevation of a sign constructed in accordance with the principles of my invention,

Figure 2 is a transverse vertical section taken along the line 22 of Fig. 1,

Figure 3 is a fragmentary end: view in eleva- 1939, Serial No. 262,513

tion of the operatingmeans for the sections of the sign, and

Figure 4 is an enlarged vertical section taken along the line 4-4 of Fig. 1.

Referring more particularly to the drawing, Ill designates a housing which may be formed of metal or any other suitable material. This housing is vertically disposed and elongated. The upper portion of the section, as shown at H, is curved outwardly from the back portion I2 and then downwardly, as shown at i3, where it terminates in a horizontal edge l4 below an elongated lamp of any suitable type.

The lower end of the housing, as shown at I3, is formed in a similar manner to that of the portion H. The front of the housing, as shown at H, is open.

' A bracket 20 is secured at 2i to the rear face of the housing Ill and has a flange 22 at its outer end to which is bolted the base member 23 of a motor 24. A pulley 25 is secured to the motor shaft 26.

A bracket 30 has a curved portion 3| neatly receiving the curved lower end It of the housing ID. This bracket is secured at 32 to the lower end of the housing and extends rearwardly from the back i2, as shown more particularly in Fig. 2. This bracket supports a shaft 33 and a large pulley 34 is rigidly connected to the shaft.

To one end of the shaft 33 is secured, a crank 35 while a crank 36 is secured to the other end.

A belt 31 is trained on the

pulleys

25 and 34 so that when the motor 24 is operated the pulley 35, shaft 33 and likewise the

cranks

35 and 36 are operated. 1

Elongated

bars

40, 4t, 42, '43 are rigidly mounted upon horizontal shafts 4,4 and 45. It will be seen that the

bars

40 and 42 are carried by, the shafts 44 while thelbars 4! and 43 are carried by the shafts 45. These shafts are mounted in bearings formed in the end walls 46 and 4! of the housing I0. I

, A plurality of elongated plates 50, 5|, 52 and 53 are respectively, connected tothe outer faces of the bars 40 to 43, inclusive, by means of screws 54 although any other suitable fastening means may be employed forthe purpose. v v

The plates 50 to53, inclusive, have reflecting surfaces at their rear faces and'these faces may be corrugated as shown at 55 in Figs, 2, 3 and 4 although any other suitable form'of deformation of the rear faces of said plates may be had in order to give different effects when the vrays of the lamp 15 are projected upon the outer faces of said plates A curved link 60 has one end pivotally connected at El to the outer rear end of a projection 58 on the bar 40 while the other end, as shown at B2, is connected to a similar projection 58 extending from the rear face of the bar 42. A rod 63 has pivotal connection with the crank 36 at one end and the other end is pivotally connected at 62 where the link 60 is connected to the projection at the rear of the bar 42.

A link 54 has pivotal connections at 65 and 66 with projections 59 at the rear faces of the bars 4| and 43. A rod 6'! has pivotal connections with the crank 35 and also with the pin 65 so that when the shaft 33 is revolved the link 60 will rock the plates 5|! and 52 in an opposite direction to that of the rocking of the plates 5| and 53 by the link 64.

From an inspection of Fig. 1 it will be seen that the letters of the words on the sign and also decorations, if any, are placed upon the outer faces of the elongated plates 50 to 53, inclusive, while these plates are located in a vertical plane and some of the letters of the words may extend across the entire faces of the plates while certain of the letters will extend only over a certain number of said plates. In any event the rocking of the plates and the respective bars 40 to 43, inclusive, will cause a distortion of the sign as shown in Fig. 3 when the

cranks

35 and 36 are disposed in a vertical plane; When the cranks, however, move to their horizontal plane, as shown in Fig. 2, the plates or sections of the sign will be in vertical alignment and the sign will appear in proper form.

The rotation of the shaft 33 by the pulley 34 will cause reciprocation of the rods 63 and 6'! in opposite directions and therefore the

links

60 and 64 will be shifted in opposite directions so that the sections of the sign will be rocked from the vertical position to angular positions with respect to each other and these sections 59 to 53, inclusive, will be moved from the vertical so that the lower edges of the sections 5| and 53 will be moved inwardly while the lower portions of the sections 50 and 5| will be moved outwardly with the crank 36 in the lowermost position and the crank 35 in the uppermost position. When the positions of the cranks are reversed in vertical alignment the lower edges of the

sections

50 and 52 will be moved inwardly from the vertical while the lower edges of the sections 5| and 53 will be moved outwardly. However, as the sections reach the vertical position between these two movements of the sections the sign will appear in proper form while in the other positions of the section the sign will be distorted.

Due to the fact that the sign is made up of sections as shown by plates 50 to 53, inclusive, and these plates are readily removable, other sections may be substituted for the sections which are in place very readily to give an entirely different picture to the public.

The letters 10 are formed of sections and these sections are included in a number of the plates 5|] to 53, inclusive. Said plates are reflectors and the sections of the letters are formed on the plates with opaque paint so that the plates on opposite sides of the sections of the letters will reflect the light with the letters appearing through the reflected rays.

Since the light rays from the lamp |5 are projected upon the surface of the sign at an acute angle to the surface, the light rays are then reflected downwardly at the same angle when all of the sections are in a vertical plane. However, when the sections are rocked from the vertical position, the light rays will be projected in difierent directions so that the constant rocking of the sections will give a scintillating effect to the sign. It will be appreciated that instead of the plates 50 to 53, inclusive, being the reflectors the letters 10 themselves may be the refiectorsin order to give a slightly different effect from that previously explained. In other words, the plates in this case would be formed of transparent material with a reflecting surface at the rear but the background may be painted out so that the letters only will reflect light rays.

The bars 4|) to 43, inclusive, may be formed of glass and they may be cylindrical in shape. The distance between the

cranks

35 and 35 should be as short as possible so that the rocking of the plates 50 to 53, inclusive, will give a scintillating effect instead of a complete distortion of the sign.

I claim:

l. A scintillating sign comprising a vertically disposed housing having a front window, a plurality of spaced horizontally disposed shafts mounted in the housing and located approximately in a vertical plane, an elongated reflecting plate secured to each shaft, said plates disposed normally in vertical alignment, indicia being applied to the plates so that the letters forming said indicia will extend over more than one plate, and means for rocking alternate plates in opposite directions for alternately deflecting and aligning the plates.

2. A scintillating sign comprising a vertically disposed housing having a front window, a plurality of spaced horizontally disposed shafts mounted in the housing and located approximately in a vertical plane, an elongated reflecting plate secured to each shaft, said plates disposed normallyin vertical alignment, indicia being applied to the plates so that the letters forming said indicia will extend over more than one plate, means for rocking alternate plates in opposite directions for alternately deflecting and aligning the plates, and means projecting light rays on to the plates.

3. A scintillating sign comprising a vertically disposed housing having a front window, a plurality of spaced horizontally disposed shafts mounted in the housing and located approximately in a vertical plane, an elongated reflecting plate secured to each shaft, said plates disposed normally in vertical alignment, indicia being applied to the plates so that the letters forming said indicia will extend over more than one plate, means for rocking alternate plates in opposite directions for alternately deflecting and aligning the plates, and means for removably connecting the plates to the shafts.

4. A scintillating sign comprising a housing having a front window substantially vertically disposed, a plurality of elongated rockably mounted reflecting plates disposed in vertical alignment at the window and having indicia applied thereto with the letters of the indicia extending over more than one plate, a lamp. confined in a post of the housing and projecting light rays on to the plates, and means for rocking alternate plates in opposite directions for alternately deflecting and aligning the plates.

5. A scintillating sign comprising a housing having a front window substantially vertically disposed, a plurality of elongated rockably mounted reflecting plates disposed in vertical alignment at the window and having indicia applied thereto with the letters of the indicia extending over more than one plate, a lamp confined in a post of the housing and projecting light rays on to the plates, and means mounted on the back of the housing for rocking alternate plates in opposite directions and forming a unit with the housing.

6. A scintillating sign comprising a housing having a front window substantially vertically disposed, a plurality of elongated rockably mounted reflecting plates disposed in vertical alignment at the window and having indicia applied thereto with the letters of the indicia extending over more than one plate, a lamp confined in the post of the housing and projecting light rays on to the plates, means mounting the individual plates for rocking movement, means connecting alternate plates for simultaneous rocking movement, and means causing rocking of alternate plates in opposite directions.

'7. A scintillating sign comprising a housing having a front window substantially vertically disposed, a plurality of elongated rockably mounted reflecting plates disposed in vertical alignment at the windows and having indicia applied thereto with the letters of the indicia extending over more than one plate, a lamp confined in a post of the housing and projecting light rays on to the plates, a shaft for each plate having bearings at the ends of the housing, a bar secured to each shaft, means removably securing the plates to the bars, means connecting alternate bars for simultaneous rocking movement, and means attached to the connecting means for causing rocking of alternate bars and the associated plates in opposite directions.

W. G. McILVANIE.