Card – picture – or sign exhibiting – Changing exhibitor – Shiftable display item or item support
Reexamination Certificate
1999-05-20
2001-11-27
Davis, Cassandra H. (Department: 3628)
Card, picture, or sign exhibiting
Changing exhibitor
Shiftable display item or item support
C040S510000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06321474
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to a sign apparatus and more particularly to an illuminated sign apparatus that has at least two sides wherein multiple, individual signs are capable of being stored and are interchangeable when in use.
2. Description of Prior Art
Most of the prior art in this area are devices that have signs that cannot specifically be chosen when they are to be displayed. Instead, the signs are in a predetermined order, sometimes even in stacks or lines, and are displayed according to the order in which they appear. Such is the case with he patent for a “Display Device” issued to Mathews, U.S. Pat. No. 4,006,545, which is directed to a display for advertisement cards wherein a card is displayed for a period of time and then withdrawn and another card is displayed. A card is displayed and then picked up, lifted over the remaining cards and lowered back down at the back of the remaining cards, hence rotating the card to the end of the rotation. In this device, the cards are picked up by blocks, which are connected to chains, and carried through a rotation before being placed at the end of the remaining cards which are queued for viewing. This device does not have a gripper element that actually grips a sign and lifts it from its stored location and places it in an aperture for viewing and then replaces the sign back in the same storage location as it was previously stored in as in the present invention.
The Cox patent, U.S. Pat. No. 3,327,417, entitled “Automatic Viewer” is directed to an advertising media that automatically displays advertisements in a sequential relationship to one another. The Cox device is a display that elevates one of a stack of signs into a window and then removes it to the back of the stack of signs while simultaneously replacing the sign being viewed. The signs are elevated with a series of roller elements.
The patent issued to Irasek, U.S. Pat. No. 3,313,055, discloses a “Random Access Storage and Retrieval Device” wherein a plurality of items in holders such as film chips or visual slides can be stored and retrieved for viewing upon command. The items are retrieved by a picker bar which engages and grips the holder of the selected item and withdraws the holder from the stack. When returned to the stack, the holder is placed either on the top or the bottom of the stack, thus the holders ultimately end up in a random orientation to one another. The holders are identified by address bars.
The “Display Device” described in the patent issued to Offsay, U.S. Pat. No. 3,264,766, is for a display that houses a series of cards which can be displayed. The cards are stacked in the lower part of the display and a movable arm is lowered wherein it drops the card that was previously displayed onto the top of the pile, pushes the pile up so that the card on the bottom of the pile comes into contact with the movable arm, then the movable arm lifts the bottom card up to the display position. At the end of the duration of displaying the card, the entire process is repeated, thus lowering the displayed card to the top of the pile and raising the bottom card to the display position. In this display, always the bottom card is raised to the display position and replaced to the top of the pile when no longer displayed. Therefore, the cards are always displayed in the order they are located in the pile.
While the above stated devices are a fair representation of the current prior art, there remains room for improvement as defined by the currently claimed invention.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
An objective of the present invention is to provide a sign apparatus that is capable of displaying numerous individual signs.
Another objective of the present invention is to develop a sign apparatus that can change individual signs numerous times and at desired intervals.
Still another objective is to have a sign apparatus that can display different individual signs concurrently.
Yet another objective of the present invention is to illuminate various individual signs in a visible manner.
And another objective of the present invention is to store numerous individual signs when not in use.
Another objective of the presently claimed sign apparatus is to automatically change numerous individual signs.
The aforementioned objectives will be accomplished as well as other features and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description of a sign apparatus having a magazine of cartridges that can be stored and retrieved as desired. An individual sign is located within each cartridge. A controller signals and controls a retrieval means to locate the desired cartridges from within the magazine, retrieve the cartridges using a gripper means, raise the cartridge out of the magazine, move it adjacent or within an aperture in a side wall of the sign apparatus and illuminate the individual signs within the cartridges with an illumination means. The individual signs are moved about within the sign apparatus by a retrieval means having an upper winch, a lower winch, a power supply
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, an upper horizontal track for the upper winch to navigate, a lower horizontal track for the lower winch to navigate and a vertical track therebetween upon which the gripper means is located. The description of the present invention discloses, in conjunction with the drawings which illustrate by way of example, the principles and objects of the invention.
REFERENCES:
patent: 963336 (1910-07-01), Tas
patent: 1059784 (1913-04-01), Tas
patent: 3201883 (1965-08-01), Schleisner-Meyer
patent: 3264766 (1966-08-01), Offsay
patent: 3313055 (1967-04-01), Irasek
patent: 3327417 (1967-06-01), Cox
patent: 4006545 (1977-02-01), Mathews
Davis Cassandra H.
Hardaway, III John B.
Hardaway/Mann IP Group
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