US3613275A - Sign module - Google Patents

Abstract

A SIGN MODULE AND DISPLAY SIGN COMBINATION COMPRISED OF A PLURALITY OF SUCH MODULES IS DISCLOSED IN WHICH EACH MODULE IS A SELF-POWERED UNIT HAVING A FLEXIBLE TAPE FOR THE DISPLAY OF VISUAL INFORMATION. SELECTED DISPLAY AREAS SPACED IDENTICALLY ALONG THE LENGTH OF EACH TAPE ARE POSITIONED BEFORE A LAMP UNIT IN A PLANE TAPE FLIGHT. A PLURALITY OF SUCH MODULES CAN BE COMBINED IN HORIZONTAL ROWS

AND VERTICAL COLUMNS TO PROVIDE A FLEXIBLE SIGN DISPLAY WHICH CAN BE CHANGED AT WILL. CONTROL OF THE TAPE WITHIN EACH MODULE IS ENTIRELY MECHANICAL AND REMOTE OPERATION CAN BE ACHIEVED BY MANUAL OR AUTOMATICALLY OPERATED CONTROL UNITS UTILIZING ELECTRICAL SIGNALS.

Description

Oct. 19, 1971 CAFERRO I 3,613,275

SIGN MODULE Filed April 21, 1969 e Sheets-Sheet 2 E W 0000003000 aen fi H G N o O l n INVIL'NTOR.

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INVENTOR.

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Oct. 19, 19 71 S IGN MODULE 6 Sheets-Sheet 6 Flied April 21, 1969 A MN 0 @R WV 6 MN Q o r INVENTOR. Edwnad M. CnfERRo BY I 7/461 flrrys.

Oct. 19, 1971 Filed April 21, 1969 E.M.CAFERRO 5 IGN MODULE 6 Shoots-Shoot 6 INVENTOR.

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United States Patent Oflice 3,6l3,275 Patented Oct. 19, 1971 3,613,275 SIGN MODULE Edward M. Caferro, Spokane, Wash., assignor to American Sign & Indicator Corporation, Spokane, Wash. Filed Apr. 21, 1969, Ser. No. 817,825 Int. Cl. G09f 11/28 US. Cl. 40-31 2 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A sign module and display sign combination comprised of a plurality of such modules is disclosed in which each module is a self-powered unit having a flexible tape for the display of visual information. Selected display areas spaced identically along the length of each tape are positioned before a lamp unit in a plane tape flight. A plurality of such modules can be combined in horizontal rows and vertical columns to provide a flexible sign display which can be changed at will. Control of the tape within each module is entirely mechanical and remote operation can be achieved by manual or automatically operated control units utilizing electrical signals.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention in a sign module arises from the need to automate alpha-numerical sign displays such as are used at the entrances of theaters, auditoriums and sport arenas and other similar large scale displays. Announcement boards of this type are conventionally composed of lighted or unlighted letter supports used in conjunction With manually changed display units. This frequently requires that a person mount a ladder to change letters or words in the display.

Flexible tape displays have been used in limited applications, such as in the display of stations on railroad cars or buses. An example of such a manual unit is shown in Patent No. 782,994 to Simmons. Only a single unit is disclosed, and it is manually operated. Electric signs including a plurality of tapes lighted from a single light source are shown in US. Patent No. 1,695,895 to Goldsmith. The structure shown is a unitary sign involving the mounting of a number of tapes. A somewhat similar concept is shown in US. Patent No. 814,684 to Fleming et al.

A powered tape display is shown in Patent No. 1,073,- 927 to Popp. It again is concerned with only a single unit, and no lighting mechanism is disclosed in conjunction with this apparatus.

The present apparatus as disclosed herein is structured as a complete sign module. Each module is self-contained, and includes its own lamp unit, reversible motor, and control indicating switches by which the motor and lamp unit are operated in conjunction with remote selective controls. The module is designed so that it can be readily set in place in a sign display as required to provide an adequate number of modules in each horizontal row and vertical column of the display. It is further designed to facilitate maintenance of the sign by permitting the removal and substitution of modules, which can then be repaired at a shop remote from the sign site.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The invention comprises a sign module or combination of such sign modules in a sign display. Each sign module includes a pair of side walls, a sprocket shaft that intermeshes with the flexible tape of the module, a lamp unit, means for guiding the tape in a path between the wall members and across the lamp unit, yieldable drums for anchoring the tape ends, and reversible motor drive means to rotate the sprocket and drums to step the tape incrementally across the lamp unit.

One object of this invention is to provide an alphanumerical sign module which permits considerable flexibility in display sign design wherein such modules are used adjacent to one another in horizontal rows and vertical columns.

Another object of this invention is to provide such a sign module which is entirely self-contained, including an individual lamp unit and reversible electric motor drive apparatus.

Another object of the invention is to provide such a sign module wherein each module is provided with mechanically controlled switches to indicate the operating condition of the module during use in a sign display.

These and further objects will be evident from the following disclosure of a specific embodiment of the module plus a general description of an example of the type of control system usable in conjunction with the module.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram of the present sign display and an example of a control unit;

FIG. 2 is a front view of a single sign module;

FIG. 3 is a top view of the module shown in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a cross sectional view taken along line 44 in FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is an enlarged view of the control cam assembly;

FIG. 6 is a side view of the cam assembly as seen from the bottom of FIG. 5;

FIG. 7 is a somewhat exploded schematic view of the drive train for the module;

FIG. 8 is a side view of the module taken from the left of FIG. 2;

FIG. 9 is a side view of the module taken from the right of FIG. 2;

FIG. 10 is an enlarged cross sectional view through the center of a single drum assembly; and

FIG. 11 is a sectional view taken along line 1111 in FIG. 10.

GENERAL DESCRIPTION The following discussion relates to a visual sign display wherein the display elements comprise individually powered sign modules arranged in horizontal rows and vertical columns as shown generally in FIG. 1. The sign shown at the top right hand corner in FIG. 1 consists of a plurality of backlighted sign modules 10. The number of sign modules 10 in each row or column is dependent upon the type of message to be displayed and space requirements or limitations at a particular installation.

Each module 10 contains a movable tape 25, (FIG. 4) that is selectively positioned relative to the visual display area of the module. The tape 25 might have any type of visual indica imprinted thereon, including alpha-numerical symbols (as illustrated) or complete Words, phrases or sentences. Examples of sign displays where such an apparatus might be used include theatre displays, outdoor or indoor advertising displays, sports arena score boards, airline departure and arrival displays etc.

FIG. 1 attempts to illustrate in functional block form an example of the control apparatus for operating the modules 10. Where a large number of modules 10 is utilized, it is desirable to interrelate the controls and provide minimum duplication of elements. In such an installation, the modules 10 are wired in a cross grid system. The vertical wires indicated at the top of the sign in FIG. 1 control forward and reverse tape movement of the mod ules in each vertical column. The horizontal wires indicated generally at the left of the sign in FIG. 1 control homing of the modules and common motor and lamp activating circuits for the modules of an entire horizontal row.

The control module 11, which normally is remote from the sign, contains all of the manually operated mechanisms used to operate the modules 10. These include row selector switch means used to direct the controls to the several rows of modules by connections schematically illustrated at 12. In the sequence of resetting the modules within a row, it is necessary to first move all of the tapes of the modules to a home or reference position, from which all other display areas are referenced. In the example of a module shown in FIGS. 2-11, the reference area is a blank visual area at the center of each tape 25, with letters and numbers arranged at each side of the reference area in both directions. As an alternative, the reference area might be at one end of the tape or at any other location within the ends of the tape. The homing of the modules in a row is generally controlled by the home circuits shown at 13. The individual tapes of all modules in a row are moved to home position simultaneously and then simultaneously started toward their respective desired positions, each module being stopped when this position is attained.

After the modules of a row have been moved to home, each is stepped a number of times such as to present its chosen display. The type of input control can be manual or automatic. The input signal is preferably in the form of an electronic code. Code input means 14 is utilized to provide the coded signal for all modules in a row at the lines schematically shown at 20, this signal corresponding to the number of incremental steps necessary to move the tape 25 within each module 10 from the home or reference area on the tape to the desired display area. This signal is fed to a comparator 17. The comparator 17 also receives a pulsed signal from a pulser 15, designed to produce a master pulse in a periodic sequence as required for proper mechanical operation of the row of modules 10.

The pulses are received by a counter 16, which is reset as each row of modules is initially activated by the control module 11. The counted pulses are matched with respect to the signal from the code input circuitry 14 by the comparator 17.

The pulsed signal from pulser is passed through column operating circuits 18 which govern forward and reverse operation of the motors in each column of modules. When the comparator 17 senses that the master pulses have matched the requirement of the code input 20 for a chosen column, the column operating circuit 18 is conditioned to terminate movement of the module in the activated row. When movement of the tapes in a row has terminated, the process is then repeated to reset each succeeding row of modules.

THE SIGN MODULE The details of a sign module are shown in FIGS. 21 1. The structural elements of the module include two side walls 21, 22. The walls 21, 22 are parallel and rigidly joined by front spacer shafts 23 and rear spacer shafts 24. The terms front and rear, top, and bottom will be used herein in reference to the intended orientation of the module in a sign display, the front of the module being that portion which faces outwardly in the display.

' The sign indicia is imprinted on a length of tape 25 attached at opposite ends to drum assemblies 26, 27. The tape 25 includes a forwardly facing plane flight 28 which extends across a lamp unit 30 containing a suitable lamp and reflectors and including a plane translucent face 31 which defines the visual display area of the sign module. Indicia on tape 25 in flight 28 within this display area will therefore be backlighted by the lamp unit 30.

The tape 25 is moved by a geared drive mechanism including a Geneva movement shown in FIG. 8 at 32. Power is supplied by a reversible electric motor 33 mounted to the inside surface of wall 21. The output of motor 33 is delivered through a pair of stepped down idler gears 34, 35 on the inside surface of wall 21 to a driving disc 36 of the Geneva movement 32. Disc 36 includes 4 two driving pins 37 and is therefore rotated one half revolution to cause each incremental movement of the driven Geneva gear 38.

The gear 38 is used to rotate a cross shaft which has a small driving gear 40 on the outer surface of wall 21 and an enlarged driven gear 41 at its opposite end at the outer surface of wall 22. Gear 41 engages a gear 42 on the lower drum assembly 27. It operatively drives a gear 43 on the upper drum assembly 26 by means of an interposed idler gear 44'. The gears 41 through 44 are identical to one another. The gear 43 in turn drives a smaller gear 45 fixed solidly to the end of a sprocket shaft 46 (FIG. 4) which spans the space separating walls 21 and 22. At one end, the shaft 46 includes radially projecting sprocket teeth 47 (FIGS. 2, 3 and 7) which mesh with equally spaced apertures 48 formed along the corresponding edge of tape 25. The sprocket shaft 46 serves as the direct monitor of the movement and positioning of tape 25 for both driving of the tape and indexing of its position relative to the display area of the sign module.

The driving connections to the drum assemblies 26, 27 do not apply a direct rotating force to the periphery of the drums to which the ends of the tape 25 are secured. As seen in FIGS. 10 and 11, each drum assembly includes an outer drum 50 to which the ends of the tape 25 are respectively fixed and about which the tape is wound. The drum 50 is rotatably supported by hearings on the drum shaft 51 which in turn is fixed tothe driven gear 42 or 43. Rotational movement of shaft 51 about its axis is yieldably transmitted to the drum 50 by means of a spiral spring 49 fixed at its inner end to shaft 51 and at its outer end to drum 50. The winding of spring 49 is such as to always provide proper tension to the tape 25 so as to maintain tape 25 in a reasonably taut position across the front of the sign module. Springs 49 are wound oppositely and are pre-set at the tape reference position so as to maintain proper balance in the tension of the tape 25 as it moves across the front of the sign module. The movement of the tape 25 is at all times directly controlled by the intermeshing of teeth 47 on the shaft 46 with the film apertures 48.

FIG. 7 schematically illustrates the drive train used in the sign module and the manner in which the various driving elements are interconnected across the two side walls of the module. All of the various moving components which control the operation of tape 25 are operated from the common drive source, so that accurate indexing is possible by use of the single sprocket shaft 46 without the necessity of additional positioning monitoring devices.

The tape 25 in one embodiment of this invention has imprinted on it the letters of the alphabet and the num hers I through 9, plus several common symbols used for display purposes. These are arranged in any desired order on the tape within a plurality of tape areas that are repeated along the length of the tape in equally spaced positions. One of these areas is utilized as a pre-selected reference area, which will be referred to herein as the home or reference area of the tape. As an example, the reference area might be at the center of the tape and the various letters and numerals arranged outwardly from the center in the order in which each letter or numeral would most often appear in the material being displayed. Certain letters of the English alphabet are used generally with much greater frequency than others. To minimize the number of steps needed to move the tape 25 from the reference area to the desired sign display, one can make use of the statistical frequency in which the individual letters are used in the language by arranging the letters at both sides of the reference area in a descending order in relation to usage.

The design of the gearing disclosed is such that each one half revolution of the disc 36 will result in the sprocket 46 being rotated an amount adequate to shift from one tape area to the next across the module display area at lamp unit 30. Thus the controls for the module must operate motor 33 for a period of time adequate to achieve the number of incremental steps corresponding to the position of the desired tape area relative to the reference area. This period can be related to a repetitive pulsed signal. With a reference area at the center of the tape, such movement must also take into account whether it is necessary to move the tape in one direction or the other from the reference area, referred to herein as either forward or reverse directions.

One method by which the instant module can be controlled is by simply providing a manually operated switch apparatus capable of selectively moving motor 33 in either the forward or reverse directions, relying solely upon visual inspection of the sign module to determine the proper placement of indicia before the module display area. This is entirely satisfactory in small installations and in those which are changed rather infrequently. It provides the greatest economy in control design.

Where more extensive controls are desired, certain position indications are necessary in order to operate control mechanism that would be automatically moving the tape by energizing the motor 33. Essentially the indications relate to the position of the tape 25 relative to the reference area, the direction in which the tape 25 has been moved from its home position, and the angular position of the pins 37, which include some free movement when they are disengaged from the Geneva gear 38.

Electrical signals are provided by switches mounted on the walls 21, 22 and operated by the various unit members. A pair of switches 52, 53 (FIG. 4) are operated by a first cam 54 having a pair of diametrically opposite lobes about its periphery. Cam 54 rotates with disc 36. The lobes of cam 54 and the positions of switches 52, 53 are such in relation to the Geneva movement 32 that the switch 53 is activated at position (when a tape area is centered at the module display area). Switch 52' is also activated simultaneously at position.

A larger diameter geared cam 55 (FIG. 9) is mounted at the outer surface of side wall 22. The drive train design is such that cam 55 will be turned less than one complete revolution during maximum tape movement across lamp unit from one end of tape 25 to the other. It is provided with an inwardly facing arcuate cam having an outer peripheral surface selectively engaged by arcuately spaced switch assemblies 56, 57. The switches 56, 57 and the cam surfaces on cam 55 are positioned such that the switch 56 will be activated when the tape has been moved in a forward direction from the central reference area and the switch 57 will be activated when the tape has been moved in a reverse direction from the same reference area. When the tape 25 is in its home position with the reference area centered in the module display area, both switch assemblies 56, 57 will be de-activated. In addition, a single pin 58 which extends inwardly beyond cam '55 is used to activate a switch 60 mounted on wall 22. The angular position of. pin 58 and the position of switch 60 is such that the switch 60 will be operated only when the tape 25 is at the home position. Switch 60 is used to turn off the lamp unit 30 when the module is at the home position.

Two limit switches 61, 62 are mounted to walls 22 (FIG. 9) in the path of movement of pin 58. They are located so as to be respectively activated by contact with pin 58 when the tape 2'5 has been moved to its limit in either the forward or reverse direction respectively. They are preferably included in the control circuitry for motor 33 to deactivate the motor '33 and prevent the tape 25 from being pulled from either the drum assemblies 26, 27.

Various automatic and semi-automatic control assemblies can be used to drive the tape 25 to the home position and then to the desired display position so as to project the required indicia at the front of the module. In addition, position indicators can be added to the module for feedback purposes to provide positive signals relating to the position of the tape across the module face. The details of such devices are beyond the scope 6 of this description and would not necessarily involve the modification of the physical structure illustrated.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

1. A sign module of the type utilizing a flexible tape having indicia imprinted thereon within identically spaced areas along its length, comprising:

a pair of side wall members fixed relative to one another in spaced positions;

a sprocket shaft rotatably journalled at its respective ends by said wall members, said sprocket shaft having radial teeth projecting therefrom adapted to mesh with complementary apertures formed along the tape;

a lamp unit fixed between the wall members;

a flexible tape having indicia imprinted thereon within identically spaced areas along its length;

guide means for movingly supporting the tape between the wall members in such a fashion as to present a plane flight across said lamp unit;

yieldable drum means rotatably journalled between said wall members and anchoring the tape ends;

and reversible motor driven means mounted to said wall members operatively connected to said sprocket shaft and to said drum means for stepping the tape along said plane flight by incremental distances'equal to the spacing between successive areas of said tape;

said motor driven means comprising:

a motor mounted to the wall members and having a rotatable output shaft;

a gear train drivingly connecting the sprocket shaft and said drum means;

and a Geneva movement having an intermittently movable output member operatively interposed between the output shaft of the motor and said gear train, the intermittent motion imparted through the Geneva movement resulting in incremental motion of the tape;

rotatable cam means drivingly engaged by the gear train for rotational movement in an amount less than a complete revolution during maximum tape movement;

and switch means on said Wall elements operatively engaged by the cam means adapted to be activated upon rotation of the cam means from a preselected reference position in a preselected direction of rotation about its cam axis.

2. A sign module of the type utilizing a flexible tape having indicia imprinted thereon within identically spaced areas along its length, comprising:

a pair of side wall members fixed relative to one another in spaced positions;

a sprocket shaft rotatably journalled at its respective ends by said wall members, said sprocket shaft having radial teeth projecting therefrom adapted to mesh with complementary apertures formed along the tape;

a lamp unit fixed between the wall members;

a flexible tape having indicia imprinted thereon within identically spaced areas along its length;

guide means for movingly supporting the tape between the wall members in such fashion as to present a plane flight across said lamp unit;

yieldable drum means rotatably journalled between said wall members and anchoring the tape ends;

and reversible motor driven means mounted to said wall members operatively connected to said sprocket shaft and to said drum means for stepping the tape along said plane flight by incremental distances equal to the spacing between successive areas of said tape;

said motor driven means comprising:

a motor mounted to the wall members and having a rotatable output shaft;

a gear train drivingly connecting the sprocket shaft and said drum means;

and a Geneva movement having an intermittently movable output member operatively interposed between the output shaft of the motor and said gear train, the intermittent motion imparted References Cited through the Geneva movement resulting in UNITED STATES PATENTS mcrememal the tape; 658,375 9/1900 KennedyMcGreg0r 40 31 X. a rotatable member drlvingly engaged by the gear 1 218 082 3/1917 Han 4O 31 UX train adapted to rotate less than a complete 5 1,363,061 2/1921 Senmeyer 4O 31 revolution during maximum tape movement; 1,719,606 7/1929 Hamel 4031 and switch means on said Wall elements operatively 3,255,541 6/ 1966 Bettcher 40-31 engaged by the rotatable member adapted to be activated at a pre-selected angular position 10 ROBERT MICHELL Pnmary Examiner thereof. R. CARTER, Assistant Examiner

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