Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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Dist~lav element for picture-changing signboards.
The present invention relates to bar-shaped display
elements which are intended to be mounted in picture-
s changing signboards and have three rectangular,
picture-bearing surfaces positioned as long sides of a
body with a cross section in the shape of an
equilateral triangle.
Such bar-shaped display elements intended for picture-
changing signboards usually comprise an oblong,
profiled bar core made of light metal, on which three
rectangular, picture-bearing or message-bearing surface
elements, so-called slats, are detachably fastened.
Pasted onto each of these is a section of a picture
which is to be displayed by the signboard. The
signboard can thus display three different pictures by
means of three stepped rotational movements of 120° of
each bar.
25
In order to change a message (picture) on these
signboards, it is as a rule necessary to exchange the
slats by removing the same from their holders (the bar
cores) and mounting new slats provided with the new
message.
Another, more complicated method of changing a message
on picture-changing signboards is to paste new picture
messages onto the side surfaces of the bar elements in
situ, either in the form of individual strips or as a
large picture surface which is cut into strip form
after affixing.
A further method of changing a picture message on
picture-changing signboards is to make each display
element in the form of a triangular bar in a single
piece and exchange the entire display element when
changing the message. This method is used in cases when
all three sides are to be changed simultaneously but is
relatively expensive, as a result of which it is most
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often used by those who change the message
infrequently.
It is a common feature of the abovementioned methods of
changing a message on picture-changing signboards that
they are on the whole relatively costly in terms of
labour and material, as a result of which the changing
of signboard messages does not usually take place more
than a few times per year at the most.
From EP-A2-0 379 311, a display element for picture-
changing signboards is also known, in which the element
comprises a printed cardboard blank which is folded
into the shape of a hollow bar prism of triangular
cross section, and two holders connected by means of a
central rod, which each have two wall portions and two
projections in order to secure the ends of the bar
prism in its triangular shape. In order to make it
possible to mount or demount these cardboard blanks in
their holders, one of the three longitudinal edges must
form an open slit through which the central holder rod
can pass, which makes mounting and demounting involved.
Such folded cardboard blanks cannot themselves form a
dimensionally stable display bar body for direct
mounting in the upper and lower bar holder in a
picture-changing signboard either.
Against this background, a requirement has arisen for
the production and exchange of the message-bearing
display elements for picture-changing signboards of the
type in question to be simplified and made less
expensive in order thus to create a more favourable
precondition for more frequent changing of messages on
the signboard. Such a requirement may exist in
particular in connection with smaller picture-changing
signboards, for example those for use as advertizing
signboards in shops and the like.
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For this purpose, it is proposed according to the
present invention that the display element of the type
in question is produced from a plane, sheet-shaped
piece of rigid material, which is bent to form a
dimensionally stable, hollow body with a cross section
in the shape of an equilateral triangle, two of the
long sides of the display element being fastened to one
another by means of at least one fastening flap which
is continuous with one long side and is folded in
inside the other long side and permanently attached to
the inside of the latter. In this way, a very simple,
inexpensive and dimensionally stable display element is
obtained, which can be mounted directly in rotatable
upper and lower holders in the signboard and which,
while still in the form of a plane blank, that is to
say before bending together to form a finished bar-
shaped display element, can be provided with three part
sections for three different picture messages,
preferably by means of a printing process. A corrugated
board with an outer plane layer suitable for printing
is then preferably used as the sheet-shaped material.
Alternatively, a rigid cardboard material can be used.
The invention also includes a blank for producing a
bar-shaped display element of the type in question for
a picture-changing signboard, the blank comprising a
sheet-shaped piece of rigid material with three
adjacent rectangular panels of identical size, which
are each either already provided with a part section of
a picture message, for example by printing, before the
bending together of the blank to form a finished
display element, or have a free surface to which a part
section of a picture message can be affixed after
bending together of the blank to form a bar-shaped
display element as a semi-manufactured article, at
least one of the two outer panels having one or more
fastening flaps with a means of attachment for
permanent attachment to the other outer panel.
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The invention is described in greater detail below with
reference to the appended drawing, in which:
Fig. 1 shows a blank for a bar-shaped display element
according to the invention for a picture-changing
signboard;
Fig. 2 shows in perspective a display element according
to the invention produced from a blank according to
Fig. 1, and
Fig. 3 shows diagrammatically an example of a bar
holder which is intended for engagement with the
display element in Fig. 2 and is mounted in a frame
part of a picture-changing signboard.
In Fig. 1, a blank for producing a bar-shaped, hollow
display element with a cross section in the shape of an
equilateral triangle for use in a so-called picture-
changing signboard is designated generally by 10. The
blank 10 preferably consists of a corrugated board with
an outer plane layer suitable for printing and has
three adjacent rectangular panels 12, 14, 16 intended
to form the three message-bearing long sides of the
finished triangular display bar element 18, as shown in
Fig. 2. The panels 12, 14, 16 are preferably each
preprinted at the blank stage with their part section
of the picture or the message which a number of
adjacent bars will display together in the picture
changing signboard.
Between the panels 12 and 14 and between the panels 14
and 16, the blank 10 is provided with creases 20 in
order to facilitate folding or bending of the blank 10
into the final triangular shape in Fig. 2. The blank 10
also suitably comprises a fastening flap 22 on one long
side of the same, which is intended, on bending
together of the blank, to be attached to the inside of
the panel 12, as shown in Fig. 2, so as to hold
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together permanently the sides or the panels 12 and 16
and thus the entire bar element 18. Other forms of
fastening means are also possible for holding together
the sides of the bar element. In this way, a very light
and inexpensive display element for picture-changing
signboards is obtained.
Although the panels 12, 14, 16 are most suitably
preprinted with their respective picture sections while
still at the blank stage, it is possible within the
scope of the invention to apply the printing after
folding together or, alternatively, to affix separate
printed "picture labels" to the panels 12, 14, 16
before or after folding together of the blank 10.
A set of , for example, eight bar elements 18 according
to the invention can be arranged so as to be mounted
releasably in rotatable bar holders in opposite frame
elements of a picture-changing signboard so as then
together to display three different messages on the
signboard. One of the opposite bar holders 24 (Fig. 3),
preferably the non-driving bar holder, can be
resiliently movable in the axial direction of the bar
element in the signboard, as indicated by an arrow in
Fig. 3. The bar holders 24 have a socket 26 for
positive engagement with a respective end portion of a
display element 18 according to the invention.
Alternatively, both bar holders may be axially
stationary, and the bar elements 18 can then first be
pushed into the socket in the upper bar holder and
subsequently lowered via the socket into the lower bar
holder.
