Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
CA 02305859 2000-04-14
Title: Decorative plate for use with vehicle front license
plate
Background of the Invention.
l.Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a decorative plate
suitable for mounting directly behind, and partly underneath,
a vehicle front license plate, and serving to decorate or
personalize the vehicle, or to carry advertising.
2.Prior Art
In the past many special license plate holders have been
made with decorative features. Examples are shown in
U.S.Pat.No.4,445,291, which issued May 1, 1984 to Easley, and
U.S.Des.Pat.No.366,441, issued Jan.23, 1996 to Wu. These
special holders are relatively expensive, and usually require
the removal of the standard holder.
It is an object of the invention to provide an inexpensive
decorative plate which can easily be installed at the front of
a vehicle using a standard license plate mounting means,
including a standard plate holder. The decorative plate allows
for self-expression by the vehicle owner using many different
types of decorations, or for advertising, etc.
The prior art also includes Can. Pat.No.2,173,661, issued
Oct. 10, 1997 to DeGreeve (corresponding to U.S.Pat.
No.5,815,965 issued Oct.6, 1998) which shows a license plate
holder having an associated advertising strip. This device is
not intended for fixedly mounting on a vehicle; rather it is a
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carrier for a temporary dealer license plate and is attached to
the vehicle by a strap.
Summary of the Invention
In accordance with the present invention, there is
provided a decorative plate suitable for fixedly mounting on a
vehicle directly behind the vehicle front license plate, the
plate being substantially flat, and comprising:
a normally covered portion suitable for being fixed behind
and being located under a major part of the front license plate
and which includes four apertures corresponding to apertures in
the license plate for accepting screws which normally hold the
license plate to the front of the vehicle; and
an upper portion above the covered portion and situated so
as to project above a license plate positioned over the covered
portion, the upper portion having decoration such as pictorial
representations or symbols or advertising matter.
The decorative plate is sufficiently stiff that the upper
portion is self supporting in areas out of contact with the
vehicle parts.
The decorative plate may also comprise a bottom portion
below the covered portion positioned to be visible below the
license plate and which also carries decoration.
Preferably, the plate is formed as a laminate of printed
paper held between two lamination layers each having a
thickness (including adhesive) of at least 10 mil. The printed
paper preferably has a basis weight of at least 60 pounds, and
is coated with ultraviolet light absorbers.
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Where the license plate is mounted on a substantially flat
surface, the decorative plate may be placed directly on this
surface. However, the license plate is often held in a recess,
which may be the recess in a frame-like license plate holder;
in which case there would normally be surfaces projecting in
front of the license plate. In such cases, a spacer is used
behind the decorative plate so that the plate can lie flat
against these projecting surfaces. The spacer is between 1/8
and 1/4 inch in thickness.
Brief Descriptioa of the drawiaga.
A preferred embodiment of the invention will now be
described by way of example with reference to the accompanying
drawings, in which;
Fig.l is a view of a portion of the front bumper of an
automobile showing the decorative plate of this invention
installed behind, and projecting above, the license plate:
Fig.2 shows an enlarged view of the decorative plate by
itself;
Fig.3 is a vertical section through a license plate holder
showing how a spacer may be used to allow the decorative plate
to lie flat against the front surface of the holder; and
Fig.3a is an enlarged sectional view of an edge portion of
the decorative plate.
Detailed Descriptioa.
Referring to Fig. l, this shows an automobile front bumper
FB with the standard license plate P, behind which is mounted
the decorative plate 10 of this invention. In this arrangement,
the bumper is relatively flat, and the decorative plate has
been installed simply by removing the four standard screws 12
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which normally hold the license plate, and replacing these
after the decorative plate 10 has been positioned.
Fig.2 shows details of the decorative plate of this
invention. This is generally rectangular, having a central,
normally covered portion A having four holes 14 positioned to
correspond to the positions of the holes in the license plate
P so as to allow passage of the screws 12. The holes are
normally spaced with their centers about 7 inches apart
horizontally and about 4 7/8 inches apart vertically. Above
portion A is an upper, exposed portion B which carries the main
decorative surface. This may have pictures, for example of a
flag as shown, or it may have other types of decoration, for
example pictures or symbols, or advertising. Below the portion
A is a narrower portion C, which may also be decorated. The
portion C however is optional, and it is envisaged that some
versions of the plate may not have the lower portion C.
It will be seen that portion A, although normally
concealed by the license plate, also has decoration shown at
16; this is advertising or trade mark material for the
decorative plate itself, visible in a store display.
The decorative plate 10 is formed as a plastic laminate,
by placing a printed sheet of paper 20 between two layers of
plastic 22, and heat sealing the edges of the plastic around
the paper; the edge construction is shown in Fig.3a. The
plastic layers are preferably polyester plastic, which is
scratch resistant. Suitable pouches for forming the laminations
are so-called "Premium Pouches" made by GBC Corporation of
Northbrook, Illinois, U.S.A. Initially, each lamination layer
of the pouch is at least 10 mil thick, made up of 7 mil of
polyester and 3 mil of adhesive. Although somewhat pliable, the
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laminate is sufficiently stiff for the upper portion B to
remain upright when not in contact with any vehicle part. The
paper is preferably relatively heavy stock of good quality, for
example hammermill paper, of around 60 pounds or more basis
5_ weight. The paper sheet can conveniently be a standard 8 1/2
inch by 11 inch sheet, the plastic laminate being formed from
a standard pouch of suitable size, about 9 by 11 1/2 inches.
The paper sheet, before lamination, is punched with holes 14a
which are slightly larger than the holes 14 in the plastic, so
that the plastic surrounding these holes can be heat sealed to
prevent any ingress of moisture at these points.
The decorations on the plate are provided by printing the
paper sheet by any convenient method. Ink jet printing, and
laser printing or Xerox printing are suitable for small
quantities of special designs; larger runs of one design can be
produced by off-set printing or other standard methods. In each
case it is highly desirable that the printing be coated with an
ultraviolet light absorber (ULVA) to prevent deterioration of
the printing in sunlight . A suitable ULVA is "Optima Millennium
XE" (TM) produced by Optima International of Denver, Colorado,
U.S.A.; this incorporates a fungicide so that it prevents
fungal growth, as well as fading. The coating can be applied by
various means including brushes or rollers, or by spraying.
Fig.3 illustrates how the decorative plate can be
installed in front of a surface, such as the surrounding frame
part of a license plate holder, which projects in front of the
usual license plate position. The license plate holder includes
a channel 24 which normally surrounds the edges of the license
plate; the license plate normally lies on the inner recessed
surface 25. After removal of the license plate, a spacer or
shim 26 is placed inside the plate holder. This spacer is a
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parallel sided, rectangular plate member, about 8 1/2 long and
about 5 1/2 inches high and having four apertures matching
those of the decorative plate. It has a thickness, usually from
1/8 to 1/4 inch, similar to, or slightly more than, the amount
by which the channel 24 projects beyond the surface 25, so that
the decorative plate 10 can be held between this spacer and the
license plate P without being bent against the outer surface of
the channel 24. Suitable material for the spacer is a hollow-
core extruded plastic sheeting having inner and outer layers
connected by parallel ribs; this is sometimes known as "fluted"
plastic.
The invention is not limited to the use of a plastic/paper
laminate. Instead, a solid sheet of plastic could be used.
However, this requires special printing means, may be liable to
scratches, and may be more liable to fading.
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