USRE14679E - wiley - Google Patents

Description

R. R. WlLEY.

ILLUMINATED SIGN.

APPLICATION man FEB. 6. 191;.

Reissqed July 1, 1919.

R. R. WiLEY.

ILLUMINATED SIGN.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. 6. Ian.

Reissued July 1, 1919 H will," u

UNITED STATES PATENT one, on...

ROY RODNEY WILEY, 0F BIIFFALO, NEW YCIRK, ASSIGNOR, BY MESNE ASEiIGIlSl'MENTS,

TO FLEXLUME SIGN COMPANY, OF BUFFALO, NEW YORK, A. GURIORATIGN' OF YORK.

ILLUMINATED SIGN.

S ecificatien 01" Reissued Letters Patent. s}

filed February 6, 1917. Serial No. 143,018,

To all whom it may concern,-

Be it known that I, Roy RODNEY W 1 .1w, a

citizen of the United States, residing at Buffalo, in the county of Erie and State of New York, formerly of St. Catlntrines, in the Province of Ontario and Dominion of Canada, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Illuminated Signs, of -which the following is a full, clear, con.- cise, and exact description, reference being had to theaccompanying drawings, formin%4a'part of this specification.

y invention relates to illuminated signs, and particularly to electrically-illuminated signs, and shows an adaptation of. my invention or discovery more fully set forth in a divisional reissue application of even date herewith, Serial No. 14?,019.

The object of my invention is to provide in one design a sign which combines the features of flexibility, moderate cost, legibility,-.and durability, together with great simplicity of construction and operation.

The sign in the simplest form consists of a body containing the lamps and having the front open, before which opening interchangeable letter-plates may be inserted, the body of the letter-plates being comparatively opaque, while the letters are transparent and are raised or pressed from the letter-plates, which are formed in relief from plates or planes or sheets of glass. With this construction a sign of any size can be quickly and cheaply assembled.

In assembling the sign the only operations necessary would be the insertion or extraction of fiat plates withraiscd glass characters, and to allow any one character to be put in place or removed Without disturbing the others I adapt these plates to be inserted in the sign from the front.

As a sign of this construction'need not accommodate itself to the size of standard lamps, these signs may be riadily constructed on a reduced scale and adaptable for such places as show-windows or other limited areas. Also by employing the raised glass characters the sign will be extremely legible by day or night. In the day-time the aised glass letters will stand out with great clearness and contrast from their darlwrcolo-red background, and at night-the transparent characters appear to consist of solid masses of light, all of lized in illun'iinating the 0 us raised characters also render the sig" :ally legiblcfrom the front and the i Instead of employing; an abundance of conductors I. needbut two conductors or bus-bars, which pass through the interior of the sign and which may be completely insulated, and thus render the e n absolutely fireproof. On account of the lamps being entirely inclosed within the body the sign may also be rendered absolutely waterproof. Only one' illuminant, such as a Cooper-Hewitt tube, may serve for the entire sign, or one or more incmidesceut lamps may serve as illuininatixz for the letters. Each character also may be provided with one or more lamps, the incandescent lamps being preferably attached directly to the bus-bars to eliminate the necessity of additional wiring. Deflectors may also be cmployed at the interior of the sign to direct the light to the letters and to intensity the illumination thereof.

In signs of very "large construction I preferably provide separate lamp and reflector for each character, While in smaller signs, as before stated, several characters may be illuminated from one source, and the characters may be subdivided into smaller sizes, and thus any size or length of legend produced. 5

other novel features of construction and arrangement are also incorporated in my in vention, which will be better understood by referring to the accompanying drawings. which will illustrate one form of sign of my 90 improved construction.

Figure 1 is a front View of a sign. showing the letters assembled therein to form legends. Fig. 2 is any enlarged front view of a sign, part of the front thereof being 're- 5 moved to more clearly show the interior arangemcnt of parts. Fig. 3 is a sectional view on line 3 3 of Fig. 2. Fig. ii: shows the trontwicw of a character-plate with a raised letter thereon. Fig. 5 is a cross-sectional 1 0 view taken on line 5 of Fig. i. Fig. 6 is a 'top view showing a light-tight connection Like reference characters refer to like parts throughout the various figures The body of the frmne has a rear wall 1 and a base-wall 2, the top 3 of the frame being hinged at l, as shown. The front of the box is cut away to leave an opening 5, in which are inserted the letterframes 'l' and 8.

An angle-iron 9 extends between the end- \secured to the top of the engledron 9, w iile the free end thereof is bent upwardly more readily to receive the pins on the letter "frames, and the nngledron 9 has slots ll,

through which the pins may puss. The lower part of tbe lettcr-frnme is disposed in the trough 12, and to insert a. frame within the opening'li the lower edge thereof is placed in the trougl'i l2 and the upper part thereof.

swung into the angle-iron 9, whereupon the spring-clasps engage the pins Ll. and securely hold the letter-frames in position. The upper and lower parts of the letterframes are provided with front "walls 18, provided with frictiomhinges 19, which hinged walls readily allow insertion of the letter-plates 20 20 from the front. of the frame.

The lettenflame may extend entirely across the opening 5, or it may be subdivided into smaller letter-frames 8 8 as Shown at the left of Figs. -1 and A and in section. in Fig. 3. l.hcso smaller letterframes ere also provided with hinged front walls and may be readily secured together by means of pins and adapted lot-insertion within the angle-iron and trough in the seme manner as the larger 'hfitl'l'lv 8. The letter-plates are ihtcrchungreablo and each readily inserted from the front of the signframe without disturbing other letter-plates. In arranging the legends ol the sign the various .lotter-l'mmes are removed there; from, and upon opening the hinged .l'ront walls thereof the letters may be wry readily Zpluccd tl'icrein and arranged to Form suitnble legends. The hinged walls bein now closed to hold the letter-plates in position, the letter-'lrzunes maybe bodily placed lll'llll,

,trough l2 and Within the angle-iron .l and will be held therein by tho spriilg-clasps 1.71. 'llheletter'pletes themselves may be directly inserted between the angle-iron and trough Without the use of letter-lrmncs. i

.1 form the letters or clumuatcrs from plates or planes of glass which have been made by the Renal and well-lnuiwn processes oi glossmllklng, by hosting. such plates until the were are ductile, but not not enough to de- 'stroy the glaze or luster characteristic of .sheet glass. and then, by application of pres and the letters themselves are transparent,

While thebody of the plate is rei'ulcrcd opaque. The plate may also he of one color and the lettero't a different color.

When the glass plates are thin, they may ,be strengthened and protected by surroundingthem with a tin reinforcing rim 21, but when made Oftlllfili glass this is unncces snry, the plates being then of sullicient strength. To prevent escape oflight be tween adjacent letter-plates, a rib 22 is pro vided for each lettenplatc, which may be secured to the rim, as shown, the rib being placed, to overlap the edge of the adjacent letter-plate, and these ribs also serve to more securely hold the letter-plates together and in lace within the letter-fin-n1e.

ny illuminant may be placed within the sign-frnme behind the letter-plates and the .entire light will be utilized, as the rays thereof can puss only through the transparent letters. which will stand out boldly and appear blocks of light. A single lump, such as e Cooper-Hewitt lamp, may extend throughoutthe entire length of the sign, or a plurality of'incandescent lamps may be used, as shown,

tactscrews 28 are secured to the lowerbus-bar 24 end extend upwardly through enlarged o ienir" "l9 and beyond the upper bus'bar 22), being uiliLPllQd for ei'igagement' with one terminal of incmidcsccnt lamps 30 30, and the other tern'lil'iul of the lamps is connected with the'upper busbzir 23 upon screwing the lamp down. ,A source of current 31 is connected with the bus-bars by means-of terminal conductors '31, 32, which may pass through insulsting-bushings 33 in the wall of the sign-frame. Instead of using bus-bars, its shown, hoop-sockets might be used and suitably connected togetherby conductors. i

To intensity the light and to direct the rays thereof through the trnnspamnt raised letters, I provide reflector mcnns, which may be in. the shape of a continuous reflector :54. extend i no; throughout the sign-Hume, or a plurality of reflectors may be uscd-onu for each lamp, for instance. The reflector practically incloses the opening 5, and the lamps extend through opening 85 in the base of the reflector upwardly, so that the light centers of the lamps are disposed in the focus of the reflectors, and thus all the rays of the light are confined and deflected out wardly through the transparent letters.

To allow ready insertion of the lamps and 'to render them more accessible to repairs, I

provide a removable top 36 for the reflector, the rearedge 37 thereof being engaged by the upper edge 38 of the lower part of the reflector, as shown, and upon the opening of the swinging cover of the sign-frame the reflector-top may be readily removed and the interior of the sign-frame opened for inspection 01' repairs.

To prevent undue heating of the sign, vcntilatlug-openings 38 38 are provided in the bas 0f the frame and openings 39 are provided in the reflector, and to prevent entrance of insects I dispose screens 40 over the openings.

1 thus provide an extremely flexible illuminated sign of a very simple and durable construction in which a maximum efliciency or lcgibility is obtained with minimum current consumption.

Owing to the easy manner in Which the indhidual letter-plates may be interchanged and inserted froin the front, a

sign with any legend may be quickly assembled, and as the letters may be madeof any size the sign may be very small and adaptable for limited spaces, such as showwindows, show-cases, 0.1- the like. The let i ters also being pressed from glass and prismatic are extremely legible both by day andnight and from all directions. Tl'e ar rangenicnt of the lamps and reflectors also insures all of the light being thrown through the raised glass characters, and thusthere is absolutely no waste. I

The sign, owing to the construction described, is entirely waterproof, and as the construction material used may all be fireproof the sign is protected against fire in- .jury from both within and W thout.

I claim as new and desire to, secure by Letters Patent 1. In an illuminated sign, the combination With a box-like support]ng-framc havmg a front opening and parallel channels extending along the edges of the front ()Pl'lling, of lamps sposed within the frame to th rear of said opening, a letter-frame disposed between said channels, spring means for locking said letter-fran'ie within said channels, and interchangeable letter-plates held in said letter-frame, the edges 011 said plates having overlapping edges for preventin escape of light between adjacent plates. Y

2. In an illuminated sign, the combina raised letters formed by being) pressed there" in, the body of the plate eing rendered opaque and the letters translucent.

ROY RODNEY WILEY.

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