US2731747A - Reflector display device - Google Patents

Description

jam, 24, T1955 K. M. HAZELROTH ETAL 73h74? REFLECTOR DISPLAY DEVICE Filed July 19, 1951 MMM/$47 147 TO/Q/VEYSO REFLncTon ntsrtav nnvicn Kenneth Marshall Hazeiroth, Rivera, and Rudolf R. Diesen and James Melton, Los Angeles, Calif., assignors to R. R. Kellogg Advertising Services, inc., Los Angeles, Calif., a corporation of aiifemia Application `luly 19, 1951, Serial No. 237,622 2 Claims. (Cl. 1lll-4%) This invention relates to display devices, and more particularly it relates to a device for use in advertising bubbling beverages and for simulating the bubbling normally associated with such beverages.

it is among the objects of this invention to provide a new and improved bubbling display device for simulating the bubbling action of the advertised beverage, and by such action to attract consumer attention to the display.

Another object of the invention is the provision of new and improved means for economically and attractively achieving the desired results herein described.

Other objects of the invention include provision of new and improved realistic appearing display means, and for continuously effecting a desired simulated bubbling, preferably so that the bubbles will appear to expand in size as they rise from the simulated bottom of a glass or other transparent container, to increase the spread of the bubbles as they rise so that substantially the entire container will appear full of the bubbling effect; to provide new and improved economical and universally adaptable means for achieving a most realistic effect with a minimum of expense and labor; and to provide a novel association and combination of the various elements to achieve a new and improved effect and a new and improved economy of method of production and structural arrangement.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a front View this invention.

Figure 2 is a top view thereof.

Figure 3 is a vertical sectional View of a display device embodying as on a line 3-3 of Figure l.

Figure 4 is a plan sectional view as on a line 4 4 of Figure 3.

Figure 5 is a preferred form of reflector useful in this invention.

Figure 6 is an optional form of such reflector useful in Vthis invention.

Referring more particularly to the drawings, there is shown a base 10, as of wood, integral with or secured to a frame portion 11, defining a slot 12 into which a vertical display sign or panel 13 is supported.

Mounted on the base 1), as simulating a surface of a table, bar, or the like, is a transparent or translucent e. g. glass container 14, preferably of concave shape, as shown, but optionally of any desired shape, as will appear. Said container is cut out at 15, and is formed on both sides with slots 16 for the reception of the sign, display or panel 13 upon which and over which the glass is designed to be suspended and to which it is designed to be secured as at its edges 17 thereadjacent, as by glue, plastic cement, or the like. In this connection, it should be noted that the glass may be of plastic and may be integral, if desired, with said panel 13. Said panel 13 contains any desired advertising, and is preferably formed, at least in part with an opaque background through which transparent or translucent letters are illuminated through non- Sttes tent O by means of an electric lamp 1S disposed -in boxl 19, secured in any conventional manner to the backside of the panel 13 at the base thereof and adjacent and behind the base 10. The panel 13, as will readily occur to those familiar with the art, can be made of glass, plastic, or the like,` and painted to obtain opacity in the desired portions. One portion of the panel, however', i. e., that immediately behind the glass 14, is cut out or left transparent in the area 2li corresponding to the bottom portion of the glass in order that illumination from the lamp 1S may pass therethrough and illumine the interior of the glass 14, thereby also rendering visible through said glass Zlland said panel 13 a bubbling tube 22, of known construction, having a bulbous end 23 containing a fluid having a low boiling point, such as ether, Ztl, a gooseneck v25, and a stem 26 terminating, in a secondary bulb 27. The gooseneck portion of the bulb is painted black, ordinarily, so that heat from the lamp 18 causes the liquid 24 to bubble and rise in the tube portion 26.

A redactor shield, of any sheet metal, such as tin, aluminum, chrome-plated material, or similarly shiny and reliective bodies of foil, or plastic, and the like, is cut preferably in the form of a frusta-conical mirrorlike ser:- tion 2S, c. f. Fig. 5, and may be continuously curved, or formed with a plurality of' flutes forming flared facets 29, 39, 3l, and the like, as in Figure 6. Such reflective portions 23 (or optionally another form such as that of Fig.v 6) is secured as within the glass 14 by inserting the same axially into the glass with opposite side edges 32 and -33 positioned againstthe backside of the panel 13, and with the bottom end portion 34 of the mirrorlike reflector ZSeXtending downwardly into the notched-out area 15 of the glass to complement the interior surface of the glass and complete the same for optical purposes. It must be borne in mind, in this connection, that the section 2li of the panel corresponding to the notched-out area 15fis transparent, so' thatthe' bubbles 35 in the tube are visible at the front side of the display from the bottom ofthe glass upwardly as high as desired, for example, to a simulated foamline for beer 36.

A staple, or wire 37 holds the bubbling tube 26, the reflector 28, and the glass 14 in assembled relationship by means of openings 39 and itl-in the latter two respectively. ln this position the bulb 27 is hidden above the foamline 36, the upper portion of the glass being frosted-as at 4l, and optionally surmounted as by a chalklike cap 42. The bottom of the apparatus, is hidden behind the lower end of the reflector which projects below the visible interior of the glass.

In operatiomthe electric lamp 18 is illuminated, which illuminates the interior of the glass,particularly through the ltube 26 at the open end 43 ofthe reflector'. The light thus entering the glass is subdued and limited so that the interior of the glass is illuminated to a desired optimum extent, which may be increased if desired by cutting away a portion of the reflector at 44 adjacent the back of the panel 13. The light travels up the tube, however, and gives desired illumination to the bubbles, which is accentuated by the reflector.

As the bubbles rise in the tube, they appear to originate in the bottom of the glass when viewed from the front, as in Figure l. Moreover, the curved surface of the reflector 28, or, optionally, the individual facets 29, 30, 31, and the like, of the form of reflector of Figure 6, magnifies 4the bubbles and appears to spread them over the interior of the glass, so that they move outwardly and upwardly as well as directly upwardly in the tube their apparent size being progressively magnified during such ascent by the upwardly tapered reflective magnifying surface of the recctor so far as the observer is concerned.

opaque portions thereof lt is important in this connection to note that at the bottom of the glass, the tube is directly against the retlector 34. This fact, plus the limited dimensions of the base of this particular shape of glass, i. e., conica appears to give the bubbles a relatively closely compacted common origin at or in the stem of the glass, but as the tube rises, the expanded end 27 thereof engages the reflector in such a manner that such upper end of the tube is spaced forwardly from the reflector a greater distance at the upper end of said tube than at the lower end thereof. The tube thus diverges upwardly and outwardly away from the reector, tending to increase magnification of the size of the ascending bubbles to the eye of the observer and causing the centers of adjacent bubbles to appear relatively further separated from one another as they rise in the tube. If the bubbles were not multiplied by the rellector, or merely rose in straight parallel rows or if the reflector were not angulated or tilted forwardly relative to the reflector, such increasing magnification and relative spreading of the centers of the bubbles would not occur as desired. There is an optimum distance, depending on the curvature of the reilector, at which the maximum spreading of the bubbles at the top occurs. Once this is ascertained for any given application, the upper end 27 of the tube may be bent, or other- Wise shimmed, relative to the reflector, to create an optimum eiect corresponding to the degree of divergence of the bubbles required in glasses of varying ared proportions.

The use of the instant device is not conned to glasses of the character herein described, but may be applied to gobiets or glasses of any shape or description. In order to create the illusion of dispersion of the bubbles over the entire interior surface of the container, the distance between the bubbling tube and the reector need merely be adjusted at the top and the bottom to create the illusion of dispersion over the entire bottom area if the container be substantially cylindrical, and divergently outwardly toward the other side if the same be conical, as shown.

Many variations of the instant device will readily occur to one having knowledge of the disclosure herein. Thus, by way of example, but not of limitation, the reilector 28 may be wholly or partially painted on the interior or exterior surfaces thereof. Or the display may be conned merely to the upper portion thereof, above the notch 15. The tube may be rendered integral as a manufactured part of the display container, and so on. These innovations, while generally limiting the effectiveness of the display and increasing the cost of manufacture thereof, will nevertheless serve. Where the device is intended to advertise beer, the container should of course be tinted to give a beer color. This tinting will also tend to conceal any structure which otherwise might be rendered more clearly visible in a colorless container.

Although we have herein shown and described our invention in what we have conceived to be the most practical and preferred embodiment, it is recognized that departures may be made therefrom, within the vscope of our invention, which is not to be limited to the details disclosed herein but is to be accorded the full scope of the claims so as to embrace any and all equivalent structures and devices.

Having thus described our invention, what we claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. A display device comprising a vertically elongated transparent chamber simulating a liquid container, an enclosed bubbling tube containing a low-boiling liquid and having an eiongated stem thereof positioned inside the chamber adjacent an inside wall thereof with the upper portion of the stern spaced farther from the wall than the lower portion, a lower bulb thereof adjacent the lower end of the chamber and an upper bulb thereof adjacent the upper end of the chamber, a generally concave elongated inverted cone-shaped reflector positioned intermediate the stem and an inside wall of the chamber with the face thereof adjacent the stem for reflecting images of bubbles passing through the stem into the interior of the chamber, and a source of heat and light adjacent the bulb for forming gas bubbles in the bubbling tube and for transmitting light into the tube for internal transmission and reiiection through the stem thereof.

2. A display device comprising a transparent chamber having the general shape of an inverted cone and simulat- I ing a glass of effervescent beverage, an enclosed bubbling tube containing a low-boiling liquid and having an elongated stem thereof positioned inside the chamber adjacent an inside wall thereof with the upper portion of the stern spaced farther from the wall then a lower portion thereof, a lower bulb thereof adjacent the lower end of the chamber, an elongated reflector surface of curvature substantially coinciding with that of the inside wall of the chamber positioned intermediate the stem and the inside wall of the chamber with the face thereof adjacent the stem for reflecting images of bubbles passing through the stern into the interior of the chamber, and an electric light and heat source adjacent the bulb for forming gas bubbles in the bubbling tube and for transmitting light into the tube for internal transmission and reection through the stem thereof.

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 718.496 Meagher Jan. 13, 1903 888,569 Zarella May 26, 1908 1,068,875 Fielding July 29, 1913 1,807,966 Corcoran June 2, 1931 1,816,524 Gossart July 28, 1931 1,895,773 Scheprnoes Jan. 31, 1933 2,041,135 Kaufman May 19, 1936 2,288,956 Rosenkoetter July 7, 1942 2,383,941 Otis Sept. 4, 1945

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