Sheet holders

Abstract

A novel sheet holder either with or without a board. The sheet holder comprises a base angle plate and a holding angle plate, connected by extension springs for toggling said holding angle plate between a closed position for holding said sheet and an open position for removing said sheet. Two pegs and a rubber block with groove are installed for increasing the number of held sheets and more securely holding the mounted sheets. The present sheet holding board can be rotatably mounted to the back of a picture frame with locking feature. The sheet holder without board can be applied for holding advertisement sheet for indoor and outdoor display. Novel art hanging and control system will raise and lock the art for display, and lower it to a reachable level for display change. This art may include an art sheet, 3D art, or a computer monitor showing advertisement message. For outdoor display, a clear vinyl cover can be employed for holding an art sheet and protect it from UV radiation, rain and wind damage. A spring or weight load can be employed to maintain the art to be displayed in its uppermost position and leveled. Such spring and weight load can also be used in a flagpole for such benefit.

Description

This is a continuation-in-part of patent application Ser. No. 11/375,906, filed Mar. 15, 2006 and patent application Ser. No. 12/156,307, filed May 31, 2008

CLAIM PRIORITY

Provisional Patent Application No. 61008767, filed Dec. 24, 2007

Provisional Patent Application No. 61070973, filed Mar. 26, 2008

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates in general to holding and displaying sheet arts, and more specifically, to sheet holders for holding and displaying the sheet arts. Here the sheet arts may include art sheets, printer outputs, advertisement sheets, and any sheet materials that are to be displayed.

The most well-known type sheet holding board is a commonly termed clipboard. It is a thin board that is typically slightly larger than a pad of sheets of paper. Most pads used have a letter size of 8.5″×1″ (21.6 cm×27.9 cm) and A4 size of 21.0 cm×29.7 cm (8.27″×11.7″). Each clipboard has a large clip at the top for holding the sheet pad. In addition to holding the sheet pad, the clipboard also provides a good writing surface for writing any information on the sheet pad.

Such clipboard works fine for holding a sheet pad, but is not ideally suitable for holding and changing the display of a stack of loose sheets. The user must continuously press down the clip handle with one hand to keep this clip open, while inserting the loose sheets with the other hand. It is not an easy job with just one hand, to remove the existing sheet stack, resort the new loose sheet stack, insert the new loose sheet stack, and reposition the sheet stack to make it neat in appearance. For more extensive art sheet display changes one may have to perform the clipboard open-close cycle several times to get it right. Such display change is even harder to perform while the clipboard is hanging on a wall.

Partially due to the above-stated inconvenience, such clipboard is rarely used to display a stack of loose art sheets. Clipboards of size much larger than the letter size are rarely seen in the market place. Such a large clipboard would be very cumbersome to operate. Its clip also may not securely hold a stack of loose art sheets when the clipboard is hung on a wall.

Many large size art posters are displayed without a frame or mounting board. It is not necessary that users prefer to stick a poster on the wall using adhesive tape or thumbtacks. It is more likely they don't like to pay a high price for a frame, which is difficult to use, and not easily reusable because of frequent change of poster sheets' sizes.

Many art sheets of various sizes are needed for advertisement to be displayed indoor or outdoor. Due to lack of appropriate sheet holders for removably holding such advertisement, most advertisement art sheets must be custom glued to a thick rigid board for display. Often a worker must be physically raised to the display height for achieving the change of the advertisement display. Due to relatively large initial cost, the users are reluctant to change the content of such advertisement; even it should be ideally changed frequently for the business.

In a conventional flagpole, the rope used for holding a flag over a period of time tends to stretch to various degrees. As a result, the flag held in this flagpole will be shifted to a position below its normal uppermost position, an unsightly scene to the grace of the flag on display.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In the present invention a novel sheet holder either with or without a board is disclosed. A spring loaded holding plate in this sheet holder can be toggled between a closed position and an open position. When it is turned to the closed position it will remain closed for holding a stack of art sheets. When it is opened, it will stay opened for removing or loading a stack of art sheets.

In order to enhance the holding capacity of the sheet holder, a novel rubber block with a groove is installed beneath the holding plate. A stack of art sheets placed between the holding plate and the rubber block will be pressed under the spring force and be creased and seated deeply in the groove. The friction between the art sheets and the rubber surface may be greatly increased as a result, which would prevent the slippage of the vertically mounted art sheets.

One other measure for increasing the number of art sheets to be mounted in this sheet holder is to install two pegs on the base of the sheet holder. Many more art sheets with two matching mounting holes can therefore be held in these two pegs and mounted on the sheet holder.

For a sheet holding board, in addition to displaying the first sheet in the stack, any other sheet in the stack can also be displayed by simply turning over all sheets above this sheet to the backside of the board. A malleable wire hanger with two metal rings can be removably attached to two side holes in the board for vertically hanging the sheet holding board and displaying the first sheet or any sheet in the stack.

The white board is also suitable for writing erasable to-do list or any message either on the entire board or the spare space below the displayed art sheet. Many erasable marking pens of different colors can be used.

The present sheet holding board can be attached with a rotatable easel to become a tabletop easel board. It can be used to hold a sort of individual presentation sheets of different sizes, thicknesses, and materials including computer printed sheets, hand written or just plain sheets. The white board can also be included for writing erasable drawing/text in an interactive session, after turning over all presentation sheets to the back of the white board. The present sheet holding board can also be placed on a conventional easel for floor presentation.

Several sheet holding boards can be taped together for displaying an oversize engineering/architecture sheet, or acting as a bulletin board for holding and displaying two or more sheet stacks independently.

Joining devices including pegs, latches, and barrel bolts can be used to combine several sheet holding boards into a combined sheet holding board. The width of this combined sheet holding board is adjustable by simply adding/removing one or more individual sheet holding boards. A new kind of combined sheet holding board can be used for simultaneously displaying both sides of one sheet, or two back-to-back sheets, ideal for advertisement application.

A different kind of sheet holding board is also disclosed, in which the art sheet to be displayed is held between a rubber block with a groove and a round rod. Pressing force is applied to the rod by turning several screws, which causes some deformation of the rubber block. In the mean time, the friction created between the rubber block and the mounted art sheets is so high as to prevent any slippage of the mounted art sheet during its vertical display.

A novel sheet holding board system is disclosed, which comprises a sheet holding board and a cover rotatably mounted on the sheet holding board. The cover is essentially a picture frame but with a hollow space on its backside to accommodate the sheet holder of the sheet holding board and the art sheets stack held by the sheet holder once the cover is closed. This system has an outer appearance of a conventional picture frame with an elegant frame molding displaying an art sheet. But once the cover is opened, the user will be able to instantly view many more art sheets by flipping the art sheets stack mounted on the sheet holding board. The closed unit can also be locked so only the user can get access to this art sheets stack.

An US flag mounted on a sheet holder can be hung on a flagpole. One or more different flags can also be hung beneath the US flag, always stretched for displaying its flag content. A spring or weight load can be employed in a flagpole for ensuring the flag to be displayed in its uppermost position.

One important use of the present novel sheet holder may be the display of one or two back-to-back advertisement sheets. Several novel art display systems are disclosed. For indoor art display, each art display system comprises an art either by itself or mounted on a sheet holder, a fixture for supporting this art, and two ropes for raising, lowering and locking this art. Stretching means, either two extension springs or weights, are used for maintaining the displayed art at its uppermost position.

For outdoor art display, each art display system comprises an art, either by itself or placed in a clear vinyl cover, a fixture for supporting this art, two hanging ropes for raising and lowering said art, and two guiding ropes for guiding the raising and lowering of this art. Each of the above four ropes can be attached to an extension spring or loaded with a weight in order to ensure the art be securely held at its uppermost display position without dangling or swinging.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 57 is an elevational view showing a first embodiment of the sheet holding board of the present invention.

FIG. 57a shows the further details of an inset represented by a dash line circle shown in FIG. 57.

FIG. 58 is an enlarged side view of the top portion of the sheet holding board shown in FIG. 57.

FIG. 59 is a perspective view of the sheet holding board shown in FIG. 57 with an easel plate for supporting this sheet holding board vertically on a table.

FIG. 60 is an elevational view showing the top portion of the sheet holding board shown in FIG. 57 with a hanging rope for mounting a plurality of sheets and displaying one sheet on a wall with all sheets mounted above this sheet turned over to the back side of the sheet holding board.

FIG. 61 is an elevational view showing the top portion of the sheet holding board shown in FIG. 57 with a hanging rope, one end of which is temporarily removed from the board for facilitating turning over one or more mounted sheets.

FIG. 62 is an elevational view showing the top portion of the sheet holding board shown in FIG. 57 with a hanging rope and a plurality of mounted sheets, in which the top sheet is inserted through a loop formed by the hanging rope.

FIG. 63 is an elevational view showing the top portion of a new sheet holding board, a modified version of the sheet holding board of FIG. 57. In this figure, a metal hanging wire is shown with its one end removed from the sheet holding board for facilitating turning one or more mounted sheets.

FIG. 64 is an elevational view showing the same sheet holding board of FIG. 63, in which the metal hanging wire is reattached to the sheet holding board. In this figure, the lower portion of the sheet holding board is exposed for writing erasable message.

FIG. 65 is an elevational view showing two sheet holding boards of FIG. 57 taped together for holding and displaying an oversize sheet.

FIG. 66 is an elevational view showing a second embodiment of the sheet holding board of the present invention, in which two sheet holders are mounted side by side on a board for simultaneously and independently holding and displaying two stacks of art sheets.

FIG. 67 is an elevational view showing a third embodiment of the sheet holding board of the present invention for holding and simultaneously displaying a front advertisement sheet and a back advertisement sheet.

FIG. 68-1 is an elevational view showing a fourth embodiment of the sheet holding board, with a portion removed, of the present invention, in which a combined sheet holding board is disclosed for simultaneously displaying a front advertisement sheet and a back advertisement sheet.

FIG. 68-1a shows further details of an inset represented by a dashed circle in FIG. 68-1.

FIG. 68-2 is an elevational view showing a fifth embodiment of the sheet holding board, with a portion removed, of the present invention, in which a combined sheet holding board is disclosed for simultaneously displaying a front advertisement sheet and a back advertisement sheet.

FIG. 68-2a shows further details of an inset represented by a dashed circle in FIG. 68-2.

FIG. 69 is an elevational view showing a sixth embodiment of the sheet holding board of the present invention.

FIG. 70 is a side view of the top portion of the sheet holding board shown in FIG. 69.

FIGS. 71 and 72 are front and back elevational views showing a seventh embodiment of the sheet holding board of the present invention.

FIG. 73 is a perspective view, showing an eighth embodiment of the sheet holding board of the present invention.

FIG. 74 shows, among others, a perspective view of a ninth embodiment of the sheet holding board of the present invention.

FIG. 79 is a perspective view, showing an art sheet, covered by a clear vinyl cover, which is installed in a sheet holding board for outdoor display.

FIG. 80 is sectional views of the clear vinyl cover and the sheet holding board taken substantially on a vertical plane containing the line 80-80 of FIG. 79.

FIG. 81 is a perspective view, showing the art sheet and the clear vinyl cover of FIG. 79.

FIG. 82 is a perspective view, showing an US flag mounted on a sheet holding board.

FIG. 83 is an elevational view, showing the US flag of FIG. 82.

FIG. 84 is a perspective view of a combined sheet holding board, hanging on a horizontal rod, for displaying two back-to-back advertisements in an indoor retail store.

FIG. 85 is an elevational view, showing an US flag, California State flag, USC flag, and an art sheet mounted on a flagpole for outdoor display.

FIG. 86 is a perspective view, showing the sheet holding board, rope, and pulley of FIG. 85.

FIG. 87 is a perspective view, showing a portion of the art sheet and clear vinyl cover in details.

FIG. 88 is a perspective view of a sheet holding board system 4900, which is a modification of the sheet holding board system 4500 shown in FIG. 73.

FIG. 89 is a perspective view of a tabletop easel board of the present invention.

FIG. 90 is a perspective view of a sheet holder of the present invention.

FIG. 91 is an elevational view, showing a template for the sheet holder of FIG. 90.

FIG. 92 is an elevational view, showing some modification of the US flag, California State flag, USC flag and the art sheet of FIG. 85.

FIG. 93 is a perspective view, showing some details of the US flag of FIG. 92.

FIG. 94 is an elevational view, showing some details of the clear vinyl cover of FIG. 92 as it is viewed from its backside.

FIG. 95 is a perspective view, showing an advertisement sheet held by a sheet holder hung by two ropes, which can be moved up or down and locked at a desired height for display in a retail store.

FIG. 96 is an elevational view, showing three advertisement sheets, each is enclosed in a clear vinyl cover and held by a sheet holder hung by two ropes, which can be moved up or down and locked at a desired height for outdoor display at a commercial building's roof top or side wall.

FIG. 97 is a perspective view, showing a sheet raising, lowering, and locking system attached to a building for displaying an advertisement sheet held in a sheet holder positioned in parallel with respect to the outside wall of said building.

FIG. 98 is a perspective view, showing a sheet raising, lowering, and locking system attached to a building for displaying an advertisement sheet held in a clear vinyl cover positioned in parallel with respect to the outside wall of said building.

FIG. 100 is an elevational view, showing a bolt pulley of the present invention.

FIG. 101 is an elevational view, showing a rod clamp of the present invention.

FIG. 102 is a perspective view, showing a sheet raising, lowering, and locking system attached to a building for displaying an advertisement sheet positioned at right angle with respect to the outside wall of said building.

FIG. 103 is an elevational view, showing a flagpole system with its rope tied to an extension spring for maintaining the flag at its uppermost display position.

FIG. 104 is an elevational view, showing a flagpole system with a weight load for maintaining the flag at its uppermost display position.

FIG. 105 is an elevational view, showing a system for raising and lowering an advertisement or two back-to-back advertisement sheets, and for locking these sheets at a predetermined height for indoor display.

FIG. 106 is an elevational view, showing another system for raising and lowering an advertisement or two back-to-back advertisement sheets, and for locking these sheets at a predetermined height for indoor display.

FIG. 107 shows several arts that can be displayed in the art display systems of the present invention.

FIG. 108 is a perspective view, showing an art display system attached to a building for displaying a computer monitor showing videos and pictures for advertisement.

FIG. 109 is an elevational view, showing a bolt pulley of the present invention.

REFERENCE NUMERALS IN DRAWINGS

FIGS. 57-68

• 4000 sheet holding board
• 4002 sheet holder
• 4004 board
• 4006 Mona Lisa poster art
• 4008 transparent sheet
• 4010 first aluminum angle plate
• 4012 second aluminum angle plate
• 4014 first angle brackets
• 4016 rivets
• 4018 second angle brackets
• 4020 rivets
• 4022 rivets
• 4024 tension or extension springs
• 4026 rivets
• 4028 rivets
• 4030 spacers
• 4032 knob, knob position
• 4032′ knob position
• 4032″ knob position
• 4034 center hanging hole
• 4036 side hanging holes
• 4038 rubber block
• 4040 groove
• 4042 table top easel board
• 4044 easel plate
• 4046 easel hinge
• 4050 flexible rope
• 4052 wall nail
• 4054 first art sheet
• 4056 second art sheet
• 4058 hook
• 4060 sheet holding board
• 4062 sheet holder
• 4064 board
• 4066 wire hanger
• 4068 top hanging hole
• 4070 side hanging holes
• 4072 side slot passage
• 4074 metal ring
• 4076 crimping sleeve
• 4078 first art sheet
• 4080 second art sheet
• 4082 nail
• 4084 memo
• 4086 tape
• 4088 oversize sheet
• 4090 combined sheet holding board
• 4100 sheet holding board
• 4102 sheet holders
• 4104 board
• 4106 calendar sheet stack
• 4108 picture sheet
• 4110 soft transparent pocket
• 4200 sheet holding board
• 4204 sheet holders
• 4206 board
• 4210 front advertisement sheet
• 4212 back advertisement sheet, not shown
• 4224 long bolt
• 4226 ceiling hooks
• 4228 soft vinyl transparent sheets
• 4230 combined sheet holding board
• 4232 sheet holding board
• 4234 board
• 4236 sheet holder
• 4244 pegs
• 4246 latches
• 4248 matching holes
• 4250 loop part
• 4252 hook part
• 4254 long bolts
• 4256 ceiling hooks
• 4260 front advertisement sheet
• 4262 back advertisement sheet
• 4270 combined sheet holding board
• 4272 sheet holding boards
• 4274 boards
• 4276 sheet holders, not shown
• 4278 barrel bolts
• 4280 long barrel
• 4282 short barrel
• 4284 rivets
• 4286 round bolt
• 4288 handle
• 4290 handle
• 4291 opening
• 4292 opening
• 4293 cut-off slot
• 4294 cut-off slot
• 4295 cut-off slot
• 4296 eyelet pins
• 4297 ceiling hooks
• 4298 front advertisement sheet
• 4299 back advertisement sheet

FIGS. 69-72

• 4300 sheet holding board
• 4302 board
• 4304 holder assembly
• 4306 Mona Lisa art sheet
• 4308 soft transparent vinyl sheet
• 4310 rubber block
• 4312 groove
• 4314 round rod
• 4316 metal block
• 4318 screw holes
• 4319 threaded holes
• 4320 metal plate
• 4322 metal feed through holes
• 4324 board feed through holes
• 4326 screws
• 4400 sheet holding board
• 4402 front advertisement sheet
• 4404 back advertisement sheet
• 4408 sheet holder assembly
• 4410 board
• 4412 long bolts
• 4414 threaded holes

FIG. 73

• 4500 sheet holding board system
• 4502 sheet holding board
• 4504 cover
• 4506 sheet holder
• 4508 board
• 4510 first aluminum angle plate
• 4512 second aluminum angle plate or holding plate
• 4514 tension or extension springs
• 4516 rubber block
• 4518 art sheet
• 4520 art sheet
• 4522 pegs
• 4524 mounting holes
• 4526 hinges
• 4530 frame molding
• 4532 front glass (not shown)
• 4534 backing plate
• 4536 turn buttons
• 4528 hasp

FIGS. 74, 79-87

• 4600 sheet holding board
• 4601 sheet holder
• 4602 board
• 4603 first angle plate
• 4604 second angle plate
• 4605 tension or extension springs
• 4608 pegs
• 4609 matching holes
• 4611 Hillary campaign poster
• 4612 round metal rod or pole
• 4613 screw-nut pairs
• 4614 washers
• 4615 extension pole
• 4620 cardboard tube
• 4682 8 ft advertisement sheet
• 4684 combined sheet holding board
• 4700 clear vinyl cover
• 4702 front cover
• 4704 back cover
• 4706 mounting holes
• 4708 sleeve
• 4710 metal rod
• 4711 binder clips
• 4712 art sheet
• 4713 outside wall
• 4714 back hook
• 4716 screws and nuts
• 4718 washer
• 4720 pole
• 4722 U-plate
• 4724 screws
• 4726 holes
• 4728 spacers
• 4730 space
• 4732 extension pole
• 4734 top hole
• 4736 hose clamp
• 4738 metal ring
• 4740 eyelet pin
• 4742 rope
• 4744 plastic rod
• 4746 rope
• 4748 center slip
• 4749 side slips
• 4750 US flag
• 4752 top sleeve
• 4754 bottom sleeve
• 4756 top rod
• 4758 bottom rod
• 4759 sewing lines
• 4760 grommets
• 4762 center button hole
• 4763 side button holes
• 4764 rope
• 4770 combined sheet holding board
• 4772 advertisement sheets
• 4774 pole
• 4776 rod
• 4778 clear vinyl sheets
• 4780 flag pole
• 4800 flag pole
• 4802 pulley
• 4804 rope
• 4806 California State flag
• 4808 grommets
• 4810 center button hole
• 4812 side button holes
• 4814 hanging ropes
• 4816 loop rope
• 4820 USC flag
• 4822 hanging ropes
• 4824 loop rope
• 4830 USC art sheet
• 4832 clear vinyl cover
• 4834 front cover
• 4835 back cover
• 4836 Velcro female squares
• 4837 Velcro male squares
• 4840 hanging ropes
• 4842 loop rope
• 4844 center slips
• 4846 hose clamp
• 4848 metal ring
• 4850 rope

FIG. 88

• 4900 sheet holding board system
• 4902 sheet holding board
• 4906 sheet holder
• 4910 first aluminum angle plate

FIG. 89

• 5000 table top easel board
• 5002 board
• 5004 sheet holder
• 5010 easel plate
• 5012 hinge
• 5014 holes
• 5016 holes
• 5018 ribbon

FIG. 90

• 5100 sheet holder
• 5103 first angle plate
• 5105 second angle plate
• 5107 tension or extension springs
• 5109 rubber block with groove
• 5111 pegs
• 5113 hanging holes
• 5115 twelve screw-nut pairs
• 5115C four center screw-nut pairs
• 5115L four left screw-nut pairs
• 5115R four right screw-nut pairs

FIG. 91

• 5200 template
• 5202 small holes
• 5204 large holes

FIGS. 92-94

• 5300 US flag
• 5302 right sleeve
• 5304 left sleeve
• 5306 balancing weight represented by a rod
• 5310 middle button holes
• 5310L left middle button holes
• 5310R right middle button holes
• 5311 California State flag
• 5312 middle button holes
• 5314 middle button holes
• 5316 hose clamp
• 5318 hose clamp
• 5320 hose clamp
• 5322 hose clamp
• 5323 USC flag
• 5324 hose clamp
• 5326 hose clamp
• 5331 clear vinyl cover
• 5332 top rod
• 5334 grommets
• 5336 front cover sheet
• 5338 back cover sheet
• 5340 bottom rod
• 5342 male Velcro square
• 5344 female Velcro square
• 5346 dash line
• 5348 side slips
• 5350 middle slips
• 5352 hose clamp
• 5354 hose clamp

FIG. 95

• 5400 sheet holder
• 5402 base plate
• 5403 pegs
• 5405 advertisement sheet
• 5406 rope
• 5408 rope
• 5410 pulley
• 5412 control box
• 5420 pulleys
• 5422 stationary roller
• 5424 movable pinion
• 5428 rack
• 5430 stop bar

FIG. 96

• 5500 commercial building
• 5502 advertisement sheet
• 5504 advertisement sheet
• 5506 advertisement sheet
• 5508 clear vinyl cover
• 5510 clear vinyl cover
• 5512 clear vinyl cover
• 5514 fixture
• 5516 fixture
• 5518 fixture
• 5520 long vertical bar
• 5522 short vertical bar
• 5524 top horizontal bar
• 5526 bottom horizontal bar
• 5528 pulley
• 5530 pulley
• 5532 pulley
• 5534 eyelet bolt
• 5536 eyelet bolt
• 5540 rope
• 5546 hose clamp
• 5548 hose clamp
• 5550 rope
• 5552 extension spring
• 5554 control box
• 5556 control box

FIG. 97

• 5600 art sheet display system
• 5601 fixture
• 5602 vertical bars
• 5604 top horizontal bars
• 5606 bottom horizontal bars
• 5608 side horizontal bars
• 5610 advertisement sheet
• 5612 clear vinyl cover
• 5614 sheet holder
• 5616 top rod
• 5618 bottom rod
• 5620 rope
• 5622 rope
• 5624 rope
• 5626 rope
• 5628 hose clamps
• 5630 eyelet bolts
• 5632 pulleys
• 5633 hanging pulleys
• 5634 control box
• 5635 cleats
• 5636 weights
• 5638 open loop weight

FIG. 98

• 5700 art sheet display system
• 5701 fixture
• 5702 clear vinyl cover
• 5704 hose clamps

FIGS. 100-102

• 5800 art sheet display system
• 5801 fixture
• 5802 long vertical bar
• 5804 short vertical bar
• 5806 horizontal bar
• 5808 advertisement sheet
• 5810 clear vinyl cover
• 5812 top rod
• 5814 bottom rod
• 5820 bolt pulley
• 5822 pulley
• 5824 bolt
• 5830 rod clamps
• 5832 eyelet hole
• 5834 open cylinder
• 5836 flat end wing nut
• 5839 hole

FIG. 103

• 5900 US flag
• 5902 flagpole
• 5904 rope
• 5906 pulley
• 5908 flag snaps
• 5912 extension spring
• 5914 cleat
• 5916 cleat
• 5905 rope

FIG. 104

• 5930 flagpole
• 5932 US flag
• 5934 clear vinyl cover
• 5936 art sheet
• 5938 top sleeve
• 5939 top rod
• 5940 bottom sleeve
• 5941 bottom rod
• 5942 quick link
• 5943 quick link
• 5944 hose clamp
• 5946 hose clamp
• 5948 rope
• 5950 flag pulley
• 5952 control box
• 5954 pulleys
• 5956 cleat
• 5958 weight

FIGS. 105-106

• 5960 display system
• 5962 horizontal bar
• 5964 bolt pulleys
• 5966 double width sheet holder
• 5968 back-to-back art sheets
• 5970 pulleys
• 5972 rope
• 5974 rope
• 5976 extension springs
• 5978 rope
• 5980 cleat
• 5982 display system
• 5983 control box
• 5984 cleats
• 5986 clear vinyl cover
• 5988 weights

FIG. 107

• 6001 plastic model
• 6004 center eyelets
• 6006 side eyelets
• 6010 3D sign
• 6012 eyelets
• 6020 folded vinyl art sheet
• 6022 grommets
• 6030 folded vinyl art sheet
• 6032 grommets
• 6034 top rod
• 6036 bottom rod
• 6040 art sheets
• 6042 rigid board
• 6044 mounting holes

FIGS. 108-109

• 6050 art display system
• 6052 fixture
• 6054 long vertical bar
• 6056 long horizontal bar
• 6058 short horizontal bar
• 6060 short horizontal bar
• 6062 short horizontal bar
• 6064 short horizontal bar
• 6066 side horizontal bar
• 6068 bolt pulley
• 6070 bolt pulley
• 6072 bolt pulley
• 6074 bolt pulley
• 6076 bolt pulley
• 6078 bolt pulley
• 6080 upper cover
• 6082 pulley body
• 6084 lower cover
• 6086 screws
• 6088 bolt
• 6090 mounting rope
• 6092 mounting rope
• 6094 guiding rope
• 6096 guiding rope
• 6098 power cable
• 6100 signal cable
• 6102 control box
• 6104 pulleys
• 6106 TV or monitor
• 6108 hooks
• 6110 power receptacle
• 6112 signal receptacle
• 6114 power plug
• 6116 signal connector
• 6118 hanging pulleys
• 6120 knots
• 6122 computer

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

FIGS. 57-68

FIGS. 57, 57a and 58 disclose the first embodiment of the sheet holding board of the present invention. Shown in these figures is a sheet holding board 4000, which comprises a sheet holder 4002 and a board 4004. Also shown in these figures are a Mona Lisa art 4006 and a soft transparent sheet 4008, both of which are mounted on the sheet holding board 4000.

The board 4004 is a thin board made of solid materials such as wood or plastic. One preferred material is a medium-density fibreboard (MDF), which is an engineered wood product at low cost, but with desirable high strength, surface smooth properties. Its top surface can be laminated with a thin layer of smooth paper, paint or vinyl film for its beauty and cling property to be described later.

The structure details of the sheet holder 4002 are described here with the help from FIGS. 57, 57a and 58. The first component of this sheet holder 4002 is two aluminum angle plates 4010 and 4012. One desirable size of these angle plates is 1″×1″×24″ (2.54 cm×2.54 cm×61 cm). It has a uniform thickness of 1/16″ (0.16 cm). Such angle plate is typically made by metal extrusion process followed by cutting to desired length. The present length of 24″ (61 cm) is chosen for holding typical poster arts (24″×36″, 61 cm×91.4 cm) and movie posters (27″×40″, 68.6 cm×101.6 cm). Obviously, different lengths can also be chosen for holding sheets of different sizes.

As seen in FIGS. 57a and 58, a first angle bracket 4014 at each end of the first aluminum angle plate 4010 is provided. Two rivets 4016 or other fastening devices are used to mount each first angle bracket 4014 and each end of the first aluminum angle plate 4010 to the board 4004.

Two second angle brackets 4018, one on each end of the second aluminum angle plate 4012, are also provided. Two rivets 4020 are used for fastening each second angle bracket 4018 to the second aluminum angle plate 4012.

Each first angle bracket 4014 and the corresponding second angle bracket 4018 are joined together by a rivet 4022. Each rivet 4022 has a long stem for loosely holding the first angle bracket 4014 and the second angle bracket 4018 together, allowing these two angle brackets free rotation with respect to each other.

As seen in FIGS. 57a and 58, a tension or extension spring 4024 with two end hooks, which are mounted on a rivet 4026 on the first angle bracket 4014 and a rivet 4028 on the second angle bracket 4018, respectively. Both the rivets 4026 and 4028 have long stems with space enough to install several spacers 4030, essentially hex nuts, on the rivet stems, for centering the extension spring 4024 and allowing free rotation of the spring hooks with respect to the rivet stems. As seen in FIG. 57, a second and identical extension spring 4024 is also similarly mounted on the opposite end of the aluminum angle plates 4010 and 4012.

As seen in FIGS. 57 and 58, the extension springs 4024 will pull down the second aluminum angle plate 4012. This force will also be applied to the poster art 4006 and the transparent sheet 4008 mounted underneath the second aluminum angle plate 4012, and allow these two sheets securely mounted on the board 4004.

A knob 4032 is shown in FIGS. 57 and 58. A user can grab this knob 4032 and lift up the second aluminum angle plate 4012 against the force exerted by the extension spring 4024. The hand force will cause the counterclockwise rotation of the second aluminum angle plate 4012 with respect to the first aluminum angle plate 4010 until the knob reach the position marked as 4032′. This is a critical position, in which position the three rivets 4028, 4022, and 4026 are in alignment, and the spring 4024 is stretched to the maximum length.

Once the knob 4032 is further rotated just beyond the point marked as 4032′, the force by the extension spring 4024 will take over and cause the second aluminum angle plate 4012 to further rotate until it is stopped by the first aluminum angle plate 4010. Without further hand force, the knob 4032 will rest at this position marked as 4032″ indefinitely.

To rotate the second aluminum plate 4012 back to the initial holding position the use can grab the knob at the 4032″ position and rotate it clockwise against the spring force. Once the second aluminum angle plate 4012 rotates beyond the critical position marked as 4032′, the force exerted by the extension spring 4024 will cause the second aluminum angle plate 4012 to continue its rotation clockwise until it is stopped at the original holding position, firmly holding the poster art 4006 and the transparent sheet 4008 in place.

It is clear from the above discussion that the second aluminum angle plate 4012 can be termed as a holding plate 4012 because it is the plate that actually holds the mounted sheets in its mounted position. This holding plate 4012 can also be called a toggle plate 4012 because it can be toggled between a closed or holding position and an open position. Once it is open, it will stay at the open position indefinitely. This will allow a user ample time to remove the existing art sheets, resort the art sheets to be inserted, insert the new art sheets, reposition the stack to make it neat in appearance. Only when everything is to the user's satisfaction the holding plate 4012 can then be pushed to its close or holding position for firmly holding the new art sheet stack in its mounted position.

The region between the knob position 4032 and the knob position 4032′ is termed first zone. The region between the knob position 4032′ and the knob position 4032″ is termed second zone. When the holding plate is manually moved by hand to the first zone and then let go the hand, the holding plate 4012 will be pulled by the extension spring 4024 and rotate clockwise until stopped by the mounted sheets 4006 and 4008. This is the holding or closed position of the holding plate. When the holding plate 4012 is moved by hand to the second zone and then let go the hand, the holding plate 4012 will be pulled by the extension spring 4024 and rotate counterclockwise until stopped by the first aluminum angle plate 4012 or the sheet holding board 4000. This is the open position of the holding plate.

For vertically hanging the sheet holding board 4000 a center hole 4034 is provided. Two additional side hanging holes 4036 can also be provided to assure the sheet holding board 4000 is properly leveled.

Based on the disclosure disclosed so far the number of art sheets that can be vertically held in the mounted position by the holding plate 4012 will be largely dependent on the properties of the art sheets including its size, thickness, weight, surface structure, etc., as well as the tension force exerted by the extension springs 4024. An invention will now be disclosed which may significantly increase the number of art sheets to be securely held by the present holding plate 4012 in their vertical hanging position.

As seen in FIG. 58, located beneath the holding plate 4012 is a formed rubber or elastic block 4038. This rubber block 4038 has a length same as that of the holding plate 4012. It is glued to the board 4004 by any suitable adhesive means. On the top of this rubber block 4038 is a “U” or “V” shaped groove 4040 with its centerline in alignment or in parallel with the bottom of the holding plate 4012.

As the flexible art sheet 4006 is placed on top of the rubber block 4038 and the holding plate 4012 is lowered toward this art sheet, the portion of the art sheet in contact with the holding plate 4012 will be pressed by the exerted spring force and bent into a shape outlining the groove 4040. The creation of this bent in the art sheet, as well as the surface property of the rubber, coupled with the strong pressing force by the extension spring 4024, will result in a strong friction between the art sheet and the rubber block which will prevent the slippage of the art sheet as it is vertically mounted on the sheet holding board.

Rubber is one of a few materials that can achieve strong friction and prevent slippage of a sheet in contact with the rubber. It is well known that the achieved friction between any two contact surfaces is strongly dependent on the applied force. This friction is also greatly enhanced due to the elastic property of the rubber block. As the force is applied through the holding plate 4012 to the art sheet and the rubber block, a portion of the rubber directly under the holding plate will deform thus forming a valley not presented before. This valley will take on the shape of the bottom edge of the holding plate. Such intimate contact between the rubber and the art sheet in this valley region will literally cause the microscopic hills on the surface of the art sheet to be imbedded into the rubber surface, and prevent the slippage of the art sheet.

In addition to holding just one art sheet, the rubber block 4038 with its groove 4040 of the present invention is also intended to securely hold a stack of more than one art sheet. It is important that the size of the groove 4040, and more specifically, its width and depth, must be large enough to accommodate the bent portion of the art sheet stack. It is also preferable that each art sheet in the stack be individually creased as it is mounted and pressed by the holding plate. It is also suggested that additional hand pressing force be applied to the holding plate so that each art sheet is tightly packed and creased in the stack. Once the crease is formed and the hand force is removed, this crease will maintain its shape indefinitely.

As more and more art sheets are added to the stack, the crease formed on the top sheet will get shallower. A point will be reached when the crease formed on the top sheet is so shallow that a heavy shaking of the holding board 4000 may cause the top sheet to fly out. Clearly, this is the upper limit on the number of art sheets in this stack that can be safely mounted on the sheet holding board 4000.

When a sheet holding board 4000 of the present invention is equipped with an easel plate a new product termed tabletop easel board 4042 as shown in FIG. 59 is created. It can be placed on a table top for holding and displaying a stack of sheet papers in an office or group presentation.

As seen in FIG. 59, the backside of the board 4004 is attached with an easel plate 4044. A conventional easel hinge 4046 is used to rotatably join the easel plate 4044 to the board 4004. This easel hinge 4046 has a mechanism, which will limit the rotation of the easel plate 4044 to a certain angle with respect to the board 4004 suitable for resting the tabletop easel board 4042 on a table.

It is possible that the tabletop easel board 4042 can be made long enough so that it can also be used as a floor easel board for floor presentation. But it is more desirable to simply use the sheet holding board 4000 and rest it on a conventional floor easel for floor presentation.

Most conventional tabletop and floor easels are mainly used to hold a conventional matching easel pad. This pad is simply a stack of white sheets of same size bound together. The user typically uses a mark pen to hand write or draw the presentation materials on each white sheet either prior to or during the presentation. The user must be careful in preparing these sheets in sequence same as the actual presentation sequence. If one sheet is out of the place, it must be torn off the pad and inserted into the right place using glue or adhesive tape. If one sheet is to be designed using a computer software and be printed in a printer, this sheet must also be added into the pad using glue or adhesive materials.

On the other hand, in the present tabletop easel board 4042 and the sheet holding board 4000 applied for floor presentation, respectively, all the sheets to be presented can be independently prepared. Such sheets may include a newspaper front-page sheet, computer printout, company brochure, advertisement, hand written paper, and white sheet. All these sheets can be of different sizes, materials, thickness, as long as they are all flexible and can be turned, if needed, during the presentation. Once prepared and sorted out in right order they can be mounted on the present table top easel board 4042 or the sheet holding board 4000. If any sheet is found out of the right order, it can be easily removed and reinserted into its right place.

FIGS. 60-62 show the use of a flexible rope 4050 for hanging the sheet hanging board 4000 on a wall nail 4052. Here the first art sheet 4054 of the stack is turned over to the backside of the board 4004. This allows the second art sheet 4056 of the stack to be displayed.

As seen in FIG. 60, one end of the rope 4050 is running through one side hole 4036 and forming a knot. The other end of the rope 4050 is attached to a hook 4058 removably hooking the other side hole 4036. A household pole or stick may be needed to lift up this flexible rope 4050 and rest it on the wall nail 4052.

FIGS. 61 and 62 show two ways to turn the art sheets in the art sheet stack in order to select the art sheet to be displayed. In FIG. 61, the rope 4050 and its hook 4058 are temporarily removed from the side hole 4036 to free up the turning of the art sheet(s). Once one art sheet is selected for display and all art sheets above it have been turned over to the backside of the board 4004, the hook 4058 can then be connected to the side hole 4036. The rope 4050 will now be ready for hanging.

In FIG. 62, the rope 4050 is always connected to the board 4004 forming a closed loop there in between. Any art sheets to be turned over simply enter this loop and rest on the backside of the board 4004. The sheet holding board 4000 is then ready for hanging.

FIGS. 63-64 show a new sheet holding board 4060 of the present invention, which is a modification of the sheet holding board 4000 of FIG. 60. This sheet holding board 4060 comprises a sheet holder 4062, similar to the sheet holder 4002 shown in FIG. 57, a board 4064, and a wire hanger 4066.

In addition to two top hanging holes 4068 located at two top corners of the board 4064, similar to the two top hanging holes 4036 of the sheet holding board 4000 shown in FIG. 57, two side hanging holes 4070 are also provided on the board 4064. These two side hanging holes 4070 are located about one quarter of the length of the board 4064 way down from the top of the board 4064. A left side slot passage 4072 is provided on the lower left side of the left side hanging hole 4070. A right side slot passage 4072 is similarly provided on the lower right side of the right side hanging hole 4070. These two side hanging holes 4070 and two slot passage 4072 will be provided for holding the wire hanger 4066 to be described below.

The wire hanger 4066 may be a conventional picture hanging wire. It is a braided metal wire consisting of multiple strands of galvanized steel wire. It is strong and flexible. Yet it is also malleable and can be formed and retained in a shape ideally suitable for hanging a picture frame or the present sheet holding boards 4000 and 4060.

As seen in FIG. 63, each free end of the wire hanger 4066 will enter a metal ring 4074, or other suitable means such as a hook, and be bent back crimped within a crimping sleeve 4076. The metal ring 4074 may be a conventional key ring or other formed ring. The crimping sleeve 4076 is readily available commercially serving this type of function.

In FIGS. 63-64, a stack of art sheets comprising a first art sheet 4078 and a second art sheet 4080 is mounted on the sheet holding board 4060. Here the first art sheet 4078 is turned over to the backside of the board 4064 in order to allow the second art sheet 4080 to be displayed.

After the placement of the art sheets 4078 and 4080, the sheet holding board 4060 is ready for hanging. Before hanging, one metal ring 4074 will enter one side slot passage 4072 and into one side hanging hole 4070. At this time the wire hanger 4066 should be placed behind the board 4064, and the first art sheet 4078, not in front of the board 4064 as shown in FIG. 63, which is shown only for the sake of demonstration.

The other metal ring 4074 on the free end of the wire hanger 4066 is next placed in the other side hanging hole 4068. FIG. 64 shows the finally placed wire hanger 4066. It is seen here that the center portion of the wire hanger 4066 is visible from the front side.

To hang the sheet holding board 4060 with the first turned over art sheet 4078 on a nail 4082 nailed on a wall, the user must hold the sheet holding board 4060 with both hands placed over the two side hanging holes 4070. The user's hand fingers must hold the wire hanger 4066 and maintain it behind the board 4064 with its center portion visible as shown in FIG. 64. The user will then walk to the wall and place the wire hanger 4066 on the nail 4082.

After hanging, the turned over art sheet 4078 is firmly held between the board 4064 and the wire hanger 4066. This is an ideal way to hang the sheet holding board 4060 of the present invention, regardless whether the first art sheet or any other art sheet in the stack is to be displayed. Only one nail is needed for hanging. Because the wire hanger 4066 can retain its shape, the user most often doesn't need to stand on a chair to reach the nail 4082 higher up on a wall.

The boards 4004 and 4064 of the sheet holding board of the present invention are preferably painted white or with white lamination. The surface of these boards can be made very smooth. This will allow erasable mark to be written on these boards. Many conventional erasable marking pens of various colors can be used for this purpose.

In FIG. 64, the second art sheet 4080 is shorter in length than that of the board 4064. Some unused white space can then be used for writing erasable memo. For example, a memo 4084 A “visit Mike tonite 8 PM.” is written here. A portion of this sentence is erased to demonstrate the erasability of such written memo. This is a novel and efficient way to utilize the sheet holding board of the present invention. It is recommended that the length of the sheet holding board be made slightly longer than that of the most popular art sheets, such as the 24″×36″ (61 cm×91.4 cm) art posters, intended to be held by this board. In such case there will always a small white space be available for writing such erasable short memo.

Of course, when all art sheets mounted on the sheet holding board 4060 are removed or turned over to the back side of the board, the entire board will be available for writing one or more memos. For example, a rather length To-Do list can be erasably written on this board.

In the above discussion in connection with the tabletop easel board 4042 shown in FIG. 59, the sheet holding board of the present invention can also be used to hold a group of different presentation sheets for a presentation session. Now the white erasable board 4064 can also be added to the presentation. Typically, after a formal presentation using the presentation sheets, an interactive session will follow. This session may often involve adding or deleting materials as the session progresses. The presenter can turn over all presentation sheets to the back of the board 4064 and reveal the white board 4064 which may either show some pre-drawn erasable materials or just a white board for later writing and erasing. Such an informal and lively discussion will encourage group participation and just may become the highlight of the entire presentation.

FIG. 65 shows the use of two sheet holding board 4000 for holding an oversize sheet 4088. Here these two sheet holding boards 4000 are placed side by side in touch of each other. A long white or transparent tape is applied to both side of the joining region of these two sheet holding boards 4000. Obviously, more than two sheet holding boards 4000 can also be combined together for displaying an even larger art sheet or engineering/architecture sheet. For the sake of discussion, any sheet holding board formed by combining two or more individual sheet holding boards will be termed as combined sheet holding board. In FIG. 65, the two sheet holding boards 4000 are thus combined to form a combined sheet holding board 4090.

Just the same as a sheet holding board, a combined sheet holding board can also removably hold a stack of art sheets of different sizes. To change the display of the existing sheet the user simply open all sheet holders one by one and then remove this stack of art sheets. The user will have ample time to insert a new stack of sheets, carefully position these sheets. Only when every thing is to the user's satisfaction, all the sheet holders can then be closed one after the other.

The above described operation reveals an important fact in the use of a combined sheet holding board with two or more sheet holders of the present invention for mounting or removing a stack of sheets. Because each sheet holder can be opened and stay open, and can be closed and stay closed, two or more sheet holders can be operated in sequence to achieve the job of mounting and removing a stack of sheets. This is simply impossible if two or more conventional clips are to be used in sequence as a one-man operation.

FIG. 66 shows a second embodiment of the sheet holding board of the present invention. In this figure a novel sheet holding board 4100 is disclosed. This sheet holding board comprises two sheet holders 4102 and a board 4104 for mounting these two sheet holders thereon.

For the sake of discussion, each sheet holders 4102 could be similar to the sheet holders 4002 shown in FIG. 57. These two sheet holders 4102 can be spaced apart just like the two sheet holders 4002 shown in FIG. 65. Therefore, the sheet holding board 4100 can be used just like the combined sheet holding board 4090 for removably holding the oversize sheet 4088.

FIG. 66 shows that the sheet holding board 4100 of the present invention can also be used as a bulletin board. This bulletin board is defined as a wall mounted board capable of simultaneously and independently holding and displaying a plurality of sheet stacks each of which is held by one sheet holder of the present invention.

The sheet holding board 4100 in FIG. 66 is shown displaying a sheet stack 4106 of calendar and a picture sheet 4108 of Mona Lisa. The picture sheet 4108 is placed in a soft transparent pocket 4110. At the end of each month the top sheet of the sheet stack 4106 can be removed for showing the calendar of the next month. The picture sheet 4108 can also be replaced by one other picture sheet at any time if desired. Obviously, the combined sheet holding board 4090 can also be used as a bulletin board just like the sheet holding board 4100.

FIG. 67 discloses a third embodiment of the sheet holding board of the present invention. This sheet holding board 4200 is mainly intended to be hung from the ceiling of a shopping store. It can hold a sheet printed with advertisement message on both sides. It can be viewed by a store shopper facing either side of the sheet. It can also hold two back-to-back advertisement sheets 4210 and 4212, both of which are viewable simultaneously. The back advertisement sheet 4212 is not shown, but can be similar to the back advertisement sheet 4262, shown in FIG. 68, to be described below.

The sheet holding board 4200 comprises a board 4206 and a plurality of sheet holders 4204 lined up as shown in FIG. 67. The sheet holders 4204 are similar to the sheet holder 4002 shown in FIG. 57. The board 4206 has a very short length, barely extends downward beyond the sheet holders 4204. This will allow both the front advertisement sheet 4210 and the back advertisement sheet 4212 to be fully visible, or almost fully visible, simultaneously.

It is also desirable to mount two soft transparent vinyl sheets 4228 on the sheet holding board 4200. It will serve to cover the front advertisement sheet 4210 and the back advertisement sheet 4212. Since these two vinyl sheets are slightly larger than the two advertisement sheets, the edge portion of the vinyl sheets will cling to each other and seal the advertisement sheets in between. The weight of these two vinyl sheets 4228 will also keep the two advertisement sheets to stay flat vertically, not easily swayed by the indoor circulating air flow.

The two topside edges of the board 4206 can be mounted with two long bolts 4224. The two long bolts 4224 can be hung on two ceiling hooks 4226 for displaying these two advertisement sheets 4210 and 4212.

FIG. 68-1 shows a fourth embodiment of the sheet holding board of the present invention. It discloses a combined sheet holding board 4230, which is combined from four sheet holding boards 4232. Each sheet holding board 4232 comprises a board 4234 and a sheet holder 4236. Each sheet holder 4236 is not shown, but can be similar to the sheet holder 4204 shown in FIG. 67 and the sheet holder 4002 shown in FIG. 57.

There is a functional difference between the combined sheet holding board 4090 shown in FIG. 65 and the combined sheet holding board 4230 shown in FIG. 68-1. The combined sheet holding board 4090 is intended to display the front side of one sheet, while the combined sheet holding board 4230 is intended to display two images simultaneously, regardless whether these two images are printed on two sides of a sheet or two back-to-back sheets.

The four sheet holding board 4232 are combined together using conventional pegs 4244 and latches 4246. As seen in FIG. 68-1a, matching holes 4248 are provided on two sidewalls of each sheet holding board 4232. A peg 4244 is inserted in these matching holes 4248 for joining two adjacent sheet holding boards 4232. It is important that the diameter of each matching hole 4248 be slightly larger than that of the peg 4244 in order to achieve the desired frictional fit. The depth of each matching hole 4248 should be slightly longer than one half of each peg's length so that the two joining side walls will be butt joined together.

The latch 4246 shown in FIG. 68-1a is of a straight loop type. It comprises a loop part 4250 and a hook part 4252, mounted on the right sheet holding board 4232 and the left sheet holding board 4232, respectively. As the two sheet holding boards 4232 are held together with the peg 4244 properly placed, the loop of the loop part 4250 is rotated and latched onto the hook part 4252. It will fasten the two boards 4232 together and prevent it from falling apart through heavy handling.

It is seen in FIG. 68-1 that in order to combine four sheet holding boards 4232 into one combined sheet holding board 4230, only three pegs 4244 will be needed. The two unused outer matching holes 4248 can then be mounted with two long bolts 4254. These two long bolts 4254 can be hung on two ceiling hooks 4256 for displaying two advertisement sheets 4260 and 4262. The advertisement sheet 4260 is not shown, but can be similar to the front advertisement sheet 4210 shown in FIG. 67.

The width of the combined sheet holding board 4230 is adjustable by simply adding or removing one or more sheet holding boards 4232 in order to match the need of the advertisement. It can be disassembled for shipping in order to meet the size requirements in most commercial shipping companies.

FIG. 68-2 shows a fifth embodiment of the sheet holding board of the present invention. It discloses a combined sheet holding board 4270, which is combined from four sheet holding boards 4272. Each sheet holding board 4272 comprises a board 4274 and a sheet holder 4276. Each sheet holder 4276 is not shown, but can be similar to the sheet holder 4204 shown in FIG. 67 and the sheet holder 4002 shown in FIG. 57.

The difference between the combined sheet holding board 4230 shown in FIG. 68-1 and the combined sheet holding board 4270 shown in FIG. 68-2 lies in the materials used for the boards 4234 and 4274 and the means for joining two adjacent boards together. The board 4234 is made of wood with thickness of ¼″ (0.64 cm) or thicker. It is thick enough to enable a peg 4244 to be used for combining two adjacent boards 4234 together. The board 4274 can be made of thinner board materials such as MDF typically of thickness of ⅛″ (0.32 cm). For such thinner board 4274 a different kind of joining means will be needed.

Shown in FIG. 68-2a are two novel barrel bolts 4278. These barrel bolts are different from conventional barrel bolts, which are mainly installed on a hinged door and a door frame for locking the door in the locked position. The present barrel bolts 4278 can be used to hold two boards side-by-side together in order to extend the width of the resulting board.

In FIG. 68-2a, two barrel bolts 4278 are used to hold the two adjacent boards 4274 together. For the sake of explanation, the top barrel bolt 4278 is shown in an un-locked position, while the bottom barrel bolt 4278 is shown in a locked position. Just as a conventional barrel bolt, this barrel bolt 4278 comprises a long barrel 4280, and a short barrel 4282, mounted on the two facing edges of the two boards 4274, respectively, using rivets 4284 or other suitable fastening means. Covered underneath the two barrels 4280 and 4282 is a round bolt 4286. Two handles 4288 and 4290 are integrally joined to the round bolt 4286. An opening 4291 is formed on the long barrel 4280, while an opening 4292 is formed on the short barrel 4282. These openings 4291 and 4291 form a slide opening for clearing the handles 4288 and 4290 through this slide opening and allowing the round bolt 4286 free linear slide movement underneath the slide opening. Three cut-off slots 4293, 4294, and 4295 are provided along the slide opening on the two barrels 4280 and 4282.

In the top barrel bolt 4278, the round bolt is moved to the leftmost position as the handle 4288 is stopped at the left end side of the slide opening. At this position, the round bolt 4286 is located underneath the long barrel 4280 only. In this position the handles 4288 and 4290 can also be rotated 90 degree downward and be seated in the cut-off slots 4293 and 4294, respectively, and be locked in the open position.

In order to move the top barrel bolt 4278 to the closed position, the two handles 4288 and 4290 must first be rotated to the position as shown in FIG. 68-2a, if not already there. These two handles 4288 and 4290 can then be slide to the right until the handle 4290 is stopped at the right end side of the slide opening. In this position, the two handles 4288 and 4290 can then be rotated 90 degree downward, and be seated in the cut-off slots 4294 and 4295, respectively. This is the locked closed position as shown by the bottom barrel bolt 4278 in FIG. 68-2a.

In the locked closed position the two barrel bolts 4278 will prevent the two boards 4274 from separated away from each other. Further more, due to the presence of the two round bolts 4286, the two boards 4274 will also be aligned and maintained straight without bending.

Two eyelet pins 4296 can be mounted on the two top edges of the combined sheet holding board 4270. These two eyelet pins 4296 can be hung on two ceiling hooks 4297 for displaying two advertisement sheets 4298 and 4299. The advertisement sheet 4298 is not shown, but can be similar to the front advertisement sheet 4210 shown in FIG. 67.

FIGS. 69-72

FIGS. 69-70 discloses a sixth embodiment of the sheet holding board of the present invention. The sheet holding board 4300 in FIG. 69 comprises a board 4302 and a holder assembly 4304 mounted on the board 4302. Also shown in FIG. 69 are a Mona Lisa art sheet 4306 and a soft transparent vinyl sheet 4308 mounted on the sheet holding board 4300.

FIG. 70 shows the details of the holder assembly 4304, which is disassembled for more clarity. The centerpiece of the holder assembly 4304 is a rubber block 4310, which has a groove 4312 in the shape of a near half circle in cross section. This groove 4312 runs the entire length of the block 4310. The bottom of this rubber block 4310 is glued to the board 4302 by any suitable adhesive means.

Rest above the rubber block 4310 is a round rod 4314 of same length as that of the rubber block 4310. This rod 4314 has a diameter slightly less than that of the groove 4312. This rod is preferably made of metal for its strength and rigidity.

Attached beneath the board 4302 at each end of the rubber block 4312 is a metal block 4316 with two screw holes 4318. Rest above each end of the round rod 4314 is a rectangular shaped metal plate 4320 with two feed through holes 4322. The center portion of this metal plate 4320 is contoured to conform to the circular shape of the outline of the round rod 4314. Two feed through holes 4324 are also provided on the board 4302 right above the screw holes 4318 of the metal block 4316. Finally, two screws 4326 with wing nut screw heads are provided at each end of the rubber block 4310.

For mounting the Mona Lisa art sheet 4306 and the transparent sheet 4308 on the sheet holding board 4300, the user can place these two sheets on the board 4302 with the top portion of these two sheets resting right above the rubber block 4310 as shown in FIG. 70. The rod 4314 is next placed above the sheets 4306 and 4308 in alignment with the groove 4312 of the rubber block 4310. The weight of the round rod 4314 will press on the sheets and deform these two sheets into alignment with the inside wall of the groove 4312.

The two metal plates 4320 are next placed above the round rod 4314 at its ends. Each of the four wing nut screws is inserted through the metal plate feed through holes 4322, board feed through holes 4324, and into the screw holes 4318. All four screws 4326 are gradually tightened while maintaining the metal plate 4320 well balanced.

As all four screws are further tightened, downward force will be applied to the rubber block 4310 and cause some deformation of the rubber block 4310. At the same time, the friction created between the rubber block 4310 and the art sheet under such pressure is so high as to prevent any slippage of the art sheet during its vertical display.

In the present disclosure, a large friction is created between a circular groove of a rubber block and the mounted art sheet due to the presence of a large pressing force transmitted through a round rod. The creation of such large friction makes the present sheet holding board an excellent sheet holding device. But it should be pointed out that as long as a large friction can be created between a rubber groove and an art sheet due to the presence of a large pressing force transmitted through a rod in contact with the groove, it doesn't matter whether the groove is of circular shape and the rod is a round rod. For example, a “V” shaped rubber groove and a triangular rod can also transmit a large pressing force and create a large friction between the rubber groove and the art sheet.

As seen in FIG. 69, a multiple strains metal wire hanger 4330, similar to the wire hanger 4066 shown in FIGS. 63-64, and above described, is also provided for the sheet holding board 4300 of the present invention. Each end of this wire hanger 4330 is attached to a metal ring 4332, similar to the metal ring 4074, again as above described.

A side hanging hole 4336, with a passage 4338, is provided on each side of the board 4302, about one quarter of the length of the board 4302 way down from the top of the board 4302. This wire hanger 4330 can be removably mounted in the two side hanging hole for hanging the sheet holding board 4300 on a wall.

A threaded hole 4319 is also shown on the side of the metal block 4316. This threaded hole 4319 can be used for mounting a long bolt, similar to the long bolt 4224 of FIG. 67, if it is needed.

FIGS. 71 and 72 show a seventh embodiment of the sheet holding board of the present invention. In these figures, a novel sheet holding board 4400 is shown, which holds a front advertisement sheet 4402 and a back advertisement sheet 4404, positioned back-to-back.

The sheet holding board 4400 is shown comprising a sheet holder assembly 4408 and a board 4410. The sheet holder assembly 4408 is similar to the sheet holder assembly 4304 shown in FIGS. 69-70, except for its rather long length. But the board 4410 is quite different functionally from the board 4302 of FIG. 69. While the board 4302 is designed for displaying only the front side of one art sheet, the board 4410 is designed for displaying a front side and a back side of one sheet simultaneously, or a front advertisement sheet and a back advertisement sheet simultaneously, positioned back- to-back.

It is seen in FIGS. 71 and 72, the length of the board 4410 barely extends downward beyond the holder assembly 4408. This will allow both the front advertisement sheet 4402 and the back advertisement sheet 4404 to be fully visible, or almost fully visible, simultaneously.

A long bolt 4412, similar to the long bolt 4224 of FIG. 67, is shown on each end of the sheet holder assembly 4408. Similar to the holder assembly 4304 shown in FIG. 70, the sheet holder assembly 4408 also has, on its each end, a metal block with one threaded hole 4414, just like the threaded hole 4319 in the metal block 4316 shown in FIG. 70. The long bolt 4412 can thus be mounted on this threaded hole 4414 for hanging the sheet holding board 4400.

FIG. 73

FIG. 73 discloses a novel sheet holding board system 4500 of the present invention. This sheet holding board system 4500 comprises a sheet holding board 4502 and a cover 4504 rotatably mounted on the sheet holding board 4502.

The sheet holding board 4502 is very similar to the sheet holding board 4000 shown in FIG. 57. It comprises a sheet holder 4506 and a board 4508, also similar to the sheet holder 4002 and the board 4004, respectively, shown in FIG. 57.

The major components of the sheet holder 4506 may include a first aluminum angle plate 4510 attached to the board 4508, and a second aluminum angle or holder plate 4512 rotatably mounted on the first aluminum angle plate 4510. Two extension springs 4514 connecting these two plates 4510 and 4512 allow the holding plate 4512 to be toggled between an open and closed positions.

A rubber block 4516 with a groove is shown glued to the board 4508. Placed above this rubber block are two art sheets 4518 and 4520. When the holding plate 4512 is rotated to the closed position, the force exerted by the extension spring 4514 will press the holding plate 4512 onto the art sheets 4518 and 4520. It will allow the art sheets 4518 and 4520 to be creased and locked in the groove, and prevent the vertically hung art sheets from slippage.

Also shown in FIG. 73 are two pegs 4522 integrally attached to the board 4508. These two pegs are shown inserted into two matching holes of each of the art sheets 4518 and 4520. Once the holding plate 4512 is rotated to the closed position, these two art sheets will be pressed by the holding plate 4512, and firmly retained by the two pegs 4522.

For art sheets with matching mounting holes, both the pegs 4522 and the rubber block 4516 with groove are two different and effective holding means. As a matter of fact, probably only one of them is adequate for holding such art sheets. Of course, for art sheets without mounting holes, the rubber block with groove will be the only one to be needed. But if there are too many sheets, such as fifty (50) or more are to be held, the groove on the board 4508 may not be adequate for securely holding such many sheets. It is recommended that in this case at least some sheets be provided with two mounting holes each, in order for the two pegs 4522 to assume the sheet holding function.

The presently described novel groove-pegs dual feature is also applicable for the sheet holding boards 4000, 4042, 4060, 4100, and 4200 shown in FIGS. 57-68. Such feature will allow art sheets either with or without mounting holes to be held on the sheet holding board. It will also extend the number of sheets to be mounted.

It is also clear based on the present disclosure that if all art sheets to be displayed have two mounting holes at a given distance apart on each sheet, the sheet holding boards 4000, 4042, 4060, 4100 and 4200 can be modified by replacing the groove on each board by a pair of pegs similar to the two pegs 4522 shown in FIG. 73. Such modified sheet holding boards will each likely be able a stack of larger number of art sheets than what is possible by the use of groove.

Four mounting holes 4524 are provided on the four corners of the board 4508. This will allow the sheet holding board 4502 to be firmly fastened to a vertical wall.

As seen in FIG. 73, the cover 4504 is rotatably mounted on the sheet holding board 4502 with two hinges 4526. Once the holding plate 4512 is rotated to the closed position, the cover can be closed. A hasp 4528 can be used to fasten the cover 4504 in its closed position.

The cover 4504 is essentially a picture frame, which comprises a frame molding 4530, front glass 4532, backing plate 4534, and a plurality of turn buttons 4536. An art sheet can be mounted in this frame and be displayed once the cover 4504 is closed. The main difference between the cover frame 4504 and a conventional picture frame is that the provided frame molding 4530 creates on its backside a hollow space to accommodate the sheet holder 4506 and the stack of art sheets 4518 and 4520 once the cover frame 4504 is closed.

Once the cover 4504 is closed, the whole sheet holding board system 4500 appears just the same as a conventional picture frame showing an art sheet. The elegant design in the frame molding makes it a nice decoration piece anywhere in the home or office. But once the cover is opened, the user will be able to view instantly many more art sheets by flipping the art sheets stack mounted on the sheet holding board 4502.

Due to the nature or value of the art sheets stack, the user may want to keep these art sheets as a secret. This can be easily achieved by placing a padlock on the hasp 4528, so the user is the only person to have access to these art sheets.

Unlike a conventional picture frame, which can be easily lifted away from the wall, the sheet holding board 4502 is mounted on a wall using its four mounting holes 4524. Once the cover 4504 is closed and locked up, this sheet holding board system 4500 cannot be easily removed from the wall. It will provide an additional protection to the mounted art sheets as well as any precious belongings that are stored in the compartment between the cover 4504 and the sheet holding board 4502.

FIGS. 74, 79-87

FIG. 74 shows a ninth embodiment of the sheet holding board of the present invention. It discloses a sheet holding board 4600, which comprises a sheet holder 4601, and a board 4602. The sheet holder 4601 is similar to the sheet holder 4004 of FIG. 57 and the sheet holder 4506 of FIG. 73. Each sheet holder 4601 comprises a first angle plate 4603 and a second angle plate 4604. The second angle plate 4604 is rotatable with respect to the first angle plate 4603. Extension springs 4605 are provided for exerting the force in holding art sheets held between the two angle plates 4603 and 4604.

Similar to the two pegs 4522 shown in FIG. 73, two pegs 4608 are also provided on the sheet holding board 4600. All art sheets to be mounted on the sheet holding board 4600 may have two matching holes 4609 insertable by these two pegs 4608. These two holes are usually provided by the makers of the art sheets. But it can also be made by the users of these art sheets using any conventional punches capable of punching round holes on the sheet materials.

As shown in FIG. 74, a Hillary campaign poster 4611 is mounted on the sheet holding board 4600. This poster 4611 may have image and text printed on both sides. This poster 4611 and the sheet holding board 4600 can be carried by a person using a round metal rod or pole 4612. This pole 4612 is fastened to the back of the sheet holding board 4600 with the use of four screw-nut pairs 4613 and a washer or gasket 4614. The pole 4612 is inserted between the board 4602 and the washer 4614. The washer 4614 is made of soft and elastic material such as rubber sheet. Once the nuts 4613 are tightened, the washer 4614 is deformed and wrapped around the pole 4612 for it to be firmly held in place.

When an art sheet such as the poster 4611 is to be carried by a person during a parade or large crowd gathering an additional extension pole 4615 can also be used in addition to the pole 4612. It will increase the visibility of this poster 4611. When this extension pole 4615 is rested on the shoulder of the person at an inclined position, the sheet holding board 4600 will also be similarly tilted. But the poster 4611, due to its flexibility, will still be vertically positioned.

Also shown in FIG. 74 is a cardboard tube 4620. Due to its short length, the sheet holding board 4600 can be placed in this cardboard tube 4620 for storage and shipping. The mounted sheet or loose sheet, once rolled up, can also be stored in this tube 4620.

Also shown in FIG. 74 is an 8 ft wide advertisement sheet 4682 to be displayed in a retail store. This sheet can be mounted on four 2 ft sheet holding boards 4600 of the present invention. These four sheet holding boards are combined together into a combined sheet holding boards 4684 using wide household tape. Before installation of this Ad sheet the user should check to make sure eight properly positioned punched holes have been made at the top of this ad sheet.

To start the installation, the combined sheet holding board 4684 is placed face up on a table. All four holding plates of the four individual sheet holding boards 4600 are turned to the open position exposing all eight pegs 4608. The advertisement sheet 4682 is then placed on the opened combined sheet holding board 4684. Once all pegs 4608 are inserted in the eight punched holes, the four holding plates can now be closed, which completes the present sheet installation procedure.

This combined sheet holding board 4684 with the installed advertisement sheet 4682 can be hung to the ceiling of the retail store by running a wire through each of the two exposed mounting holes at the end of the combined sheet holding board 4684.

In FIG. 73, both the rubber groove 4516 and the pegs 4522 are installed on the board 4508. But in FIG. 74, the pegs 4608 are directly installed on the first angle plate 4603 of the sheet holding board 4600. It is generally more preferable that both the rubber groove and the pegs be installed on the aluminum angle plate due to its stronger holding strength. This will require that the aluminum angle plate with larger width be provided.

In the following section several improvements and additions are disclosed which may enable the sheet holding board 4600 of the present invention to be more useful. One new area of application will be the outdoor use of this sheet holding board 4600.

FIGS. 79-81 disclose a clear vinyl cover, which may allow an art sheet to be displayed outdoor. After a description of this cover, the discussion on the protection of such art sheet by such cover against damage by three outdoor environments, namely, UV radiation, rain and wind will be provided.

FIGS. 79 and 81 shows the perspective view of a clear cover 4700 while FIG. 80 shows the side cross sectional view of this cover 4700. This clear cover 4700 is preferably a vinyl sheet, but other clear soft plastic materials can also be employed. As seen in FIG. 81, this clear vinyl cover 4700 is basically a long vinyl sheet folded at the middle, forming a front cover 4702 and a back cover 4704 with the length of the back cover 4704 slightly shorter than that of the front cover 4702.

As seen in FIG. 81, two punched holes 4706 framed and sealed by grommets are provided near the top of the clear vinyl cover 4700. These two holes are to be mounted on the two pegs 4608 of the sheet holding board 4600 for mounting the vinyl cover 4700 on the sheet holding board 4600.

The portion of the vinyl cover 4700 above the two mounting holes 4707 is essentially a sleeve 4708. A metal rod 4710 is shown inserted in this sleeve 4708. Once the vinyl cover 4700 is mounted on the sheet holding board 4600, the metal rod 4710 is also rest on the two pegs 4608 for supporting the vinyl cover 4700.

An art sheet 4712 with both sides printed with one Bible Scripture is placed between the front cover 4702 and the back cover 4704 of the clear vinyl cover 4700. To avoid shifting of this sheet 4712, it can be taped with a transparent tape onto the clear vinyl cover 4700.

As seen in FIG. 81, the clear vinyl cover 4700 has a width wider than that of the art sheet 4712. If the art sheet 4712 has a size of 24″×36″ (61 cm×91 cm), the size for a standard poster art, then the width of the clear vinyl cover 4700 can be made at 28″ (71 cm). After placing the art sheet 4712, two side edges of the front cover 4702 and the back cover 4704 at the 1″ (2.54 cm) line can be folded back as seen in FIG. 79. After the folding lines are properly creased, several conventional binder clips 4711 can be applied along these two folding lines.

FIGS. 79-80 disclose a novel back hook 4714 for removably mounting the sheet holding plate 4600 and displaying its installed art sheet 4712 on an outdoor wall 4713. This back hook 4714 is attached to the sheet holding board 4600 with the use of four sets of screw and nut 4716 and a flexible washer 4718. Also held by these screws, nuts, and washer is a pole 4720 as seen in the figures.

Also shown in FIGS. 79-80 is an U-plate 4722. This U-plate 4722 is mounted on the wall 4713 using four screws 4724, which enter four holes 4726 on the U-plate 4722. Four spacers 4728 are used, which are held by the four screws 4724 in order to create a space 4730 between the U-plate 4722 and the wall 4713.

As implied by the name “back hook”, the upper section of the back hook 4714 is bent back to form a hook. As seen in FIG. 79, this hook will be rest on the U-plate 4722 for hanging the sheet holding board 4600 along with the mounted clear vinyl cover 4700 and the art sheet 4712 against the outside wall 4713.

An extension pole 4732 with a top hole 4734 can also be provided. As seen in FIG. 79, this extension pole 4732 can be used by the user to engage it with the pole 4720 and lift the back hook 4714 high enough for hanging the back hook 4714 on the U-plate 4722. Once the back hook 4714 is properly hung on the U-plate 4722, the extension pole 4732 can be removed, as shown in FIG. 80.

Once the sheet holding board 4600 and the art sheet 4712 are properly mounted, additional measures are needed to protect them against harsh outdoor environments including heavy wind and rainstorm. As seen in FIGS. 79-80, a hose clamp 4736 is clamped onto the pole 4720 for securing a metal ring 4738. An eyelet pin 4740 is driven into the wall 4713. A rope 4742 is tied between this eyelet pin 4740 and the metal ring 4738. It will hold down the pole 4720 and prevent the back hook 4714 from shaking out of the U-plate 4722 in heavy wind.

A plastic rod 4744 is attached to the front clear vinyl cover 4702. It can be achieved by applying a wide clear tape adhered to the rod 4744 and the front cover 4702 around the rod 4744. This plastic rod 4744 is preferable a PVC rod which will keep the front cover straight and make the printed message spread flat and clearly visible.

One small center slit 4748 and two side slits 4749 can be made by punching the front clear cover 4702 immediately above and below the rod 4744. A rope 4746 can run through these two center slits 4748 and the metal ring 4738. The two free ends of the rope 4746 will then be tied together into a knot.

The rope 4746 will loosely tie the clear vinyl cover 4700 to the pole 4720. It will still allow the cover 4700 to swing back and forth lightly in the wind to make it lively, but will prevent it from violent shaking or even turn over during heavy wind.

It should be pointed out that the bottom of the clear vinyl cover 4700 is still open and not taped together. This is desirable because the vinyl cover 4700 is intended for repeat use and frequent change of the displayed art sheets. This opening will allow for air circulation and escaping of moisture from inside of the clear cover 4700.

The use of the rope 4742 will also maintain the clear cover 4700 pointing downward. No rainwater will flow into the cover 4700. This rope 4742 will also prevent or minimize the damage of the cover 4700 from heavy wind or rain.

In spite of the above-described protection measure, it is still not enough protection facing a thunderstorm or freezing rain. It is suggested that the display be taken down prior to such events.

It should be pointed that the sheet holding board 4600 of the present invention can hold vinyl cover of width much larger than the width of the sheet holding board, provided that the metal rod 4710 of adequate length and diameter is used. But for displaying art sheet larger than twice the width of the sheet holding board 4600. It is recommended the two or more sheet holding boards be combined together for such purpose. FIG. 84 and its description show one such application.

It is recommended that the clear vinyl sheet containing ingredient providing protection against UV radiation be used for making the clear vinyl cover 4700 of the present invention. Most consumer grade paper and/or ink used in color printers are not UV protected. Both such paper and ink will decay under extended outdoor sun exposure. Proper UV protection can thus be achieved if such print can be displayed behind the clear vinyl cover of the present invention.

In addition to UV protection, the clear vinyl cover 4700 of the present invention may also provide one other advantage when used for displaying art sheet printed by average household printers. Such printers are generally not able to print art sheet as large as the size of a poster art. More than one printed sheet must be taped together using clear adhesive tape. This clear adhesive tape mark will be less visible if the final art sheet is displayed under the present clear vinyl cover 4700.

FIG. 82 shows an US flag 4750 mounted in the sheet holding board 4600, a second major application for the sheet holding board of the present invention. In this figure, the sheet holding board is also equipped with a back hook 4714, which is mounted on an U-plate 4722, with the help of a pole 4720, all of which have been described in the previous section and illustrated in FIGS. 79-81.

FIG. 83 again shows this flag 4750 but without the sheet holding board 4600 and its associated mounting components. Different from a paper art sheet, such as the art sheet 4712, which must be protected within the clear vinyl cover 4700 for outdoor display, this flag 4750 is made of strong fabric, suitable for both indoor and outdoor display.

The present novel flag 4750 has a top sleeve 4752, and a bottom sleeve 4754, on its top and bottom sides, respectively. A metal rod 4756 is inserted in the top sleeve 4752, for maintaining the flag's weight. A metal or plastic rod 4758 is inserted in the bottom sleeve 4754, to hold down the flag once it is vertically hung.

After the insertion of the rods 4756 and 4758, all ends of the sleeves 4752 and 4754 are sealed off as shown by the sewing lines 4759 in FIGS. 82 and 83. This will prevent the sliding of the rods out of the sleeves. And it will also keep both two sleeves as well as the entire flag always stretched.

Similar to the clear vinyl cover 4700 shown in FIG. 81, the US flag 4750 has two mounting holes with grommets 4760. After the second angle plate 4604 is opened, the flag 4750 can be laid on the first angle plate 4603 with the two pegs 4608 inserted through the two grommet holes 4760. Once the sheet holding board 4600 is vertically positioned as shown in FIG. 82, the top rod 4756 will also be rest on the two pegs for supporting the weight of the flag 4750.

As seen in FIG. 82, the width of the flag 4750 is much wider than that of the sheet holding board 4600. This is the advantage of the sheet holding board of the present invention. But the metal rod 4756 employed must be strong enough to support the weight of the flag 4750. Otherwise, the edge of the flag 4750 may be sagging and ruin the beauty of the flag.

Most conventional flags are side mounted, which is not adequate for evenly supporting the weight of the flag. As a result, most of the time this flag is collapsed. The viewer will not know what this flag is unless it is a famous flag and familiar to the viewer. The only exception is when the flag is hung outdoor and there is heavy wind blowing. But this is rare except for some coast windy areas.

As a compromise, sometimes this flag is hung sideway because most conventional flags have two mounting holes on its side. This is OK if the flag only contains graphic design. If it also contains words, the viewers may find it difficult to read the text sideway.

On the other hand, in the present concept all flags must be hung in its nature orientation, upper side up and bottom side down. The anchor point must be on its topside. A strong rod is provided as part of the flag. Once it is hung, its weight will be evenly supported by this rod. All flag sign will be clearly displayed and viewed, as it should be.

The second novel feature in the flag 4750 of the present invention is the provision to maintain this clear display and view of the flag details even in the presence of heavy wind. The present flag 4750 also comes with a bottom rod 4758 inserted into the bottom sleeve 4754 of the flag. This rod 4758, coupled with the top rod 4756, will maintain the flag flatly stretched with clear view when it is vertically positioned.

But these two rods are still not enough in the presence of heavy wind, which may blow the flag up, flip over or upside down. This problem is solved by providing a center button hole 4762 and two side button holes 4763 on the flag fabric just above the bottom rod 4758. A rope 4764 can run through the center button hole 4762 and tie the bottom rod 4758 to some solid anchor point nearby. In this way, the flag may swing in the wind, but it will not flip over unless the flag is ripped apart or the rope is broken.

In the present case, the anchor point could be the eyelet pin 4740 driven into the nearby wall 4713 as shown in FIG. 80. The rope 4764 is used to tie the bottom rod 4758 to the metal ring 4738 anchored to the pole 4720. As shown in FIG. 80, the rope 4742 will then tie this metal ring 4738 to the eyelet pin 4740. In this way, not only the flag 4750 is prevented from flip over, the pole 4720 will also be held down and the back hook 4714 be prevented from shaking out of the U-plate 4722 in heavy wind.

FIG. 84 discloses one more use of the back hook 4714 of the present invention. In this case, it is used for hanging a combined sheet holding board 4770, in displaying two back-to-back advertisement sheets 4772 in an indoor retail store.

The combined sheet holding board 4770 can be made by tapping two sheet holding boards 4600 as similarly described previously and shown in FIG. 65. Alternatively, two barrel bolts 4272 as described previously and shown in FIG. 68-2 can also be used to combine two sheet holding boards 4600 to form a combined sheet holding board.

In FIG. 84, a back hook 4714 is attached to each sheet holding board 4600 as described previously and shown in FIG. 79. A pole 4774 can also be attached behind each back hook 4714, just as the pole 4720 shown in FIG. 79. But this pole 4774 is much shorter than the pole 4720 for reason to be clear in the below description.

A metal rod 4776 can be installed in an aisle higher up in a retail store. This combined sheet holding board 4770 along with its displayed advertisement sheets 4772 can be hung on this rod 4776 using the two attached back hooks 4714. These two back-to-back advertisement sheets can be viewed by shoppers walking down the aisle from either end. The advertisement example shown here is a copyrighted DVD promotion by RCA.

A clear vinyl sheet 4778 can be optionally employed for covering each of the two advertisement sheets 4772. These two vinyl sheets 4778 will stay flat and hold the advertisement sheets in place and prevent it from blowing apart in the presence of indoor circulating air.

In order to lift the combined sheet holding board 4770 up for hanging it on the horizontal rod 4776, and taking it down from the hanging position, two long extension poles 4780 can be provided. On top of the extension pole 4780 is a blind hole 4782 for removably receiving the pole 4774 for lifting and lowering the combined sheet holding board 4770. Once the combined sheet holding board 4770 is properly hung on the rod 4776 as shown in FIG. 84, the extension poles 4780 can be removed. Obviously, the pole 4774 doesn't have to be long, and not to block the view of the displayed art sheet.

FIG. 85 discloses a novel way for displaying multiple arts/flags on a conventional flag pole. Many business and individuals are interested in installing a flag pole for displaying a national and State flags out of patriotic feeling. But a business may also be interested in displaying a flag related to its business as well as some advertisement for promoting its business. As an individual, he may also be interested in displaying a flag representing a group or cause he is part of or believes in. Of course he may also be interested in displaying some art sheets such as Christmas greeting or birth announcement, etc. It would be desirable that all these flags/art sheets can be displayed on one outdoor flag pole. All displayed items should be clearly viewed in various outdoor environments, and easily changeable if desired.

Shown in FIG. 85 is a conventional outdoor flag pole 4800 equipped with a pulley 4802 and rope 4804. In FIG. 86, one end of this rope is shown attached to a sheet holding board 4600 using four screw-nut pairs 4613 and a washer 4614 in the same manner as previously described and shown in FIG. 74. This free end of the rope 4804 may be ties to itself to create a knot to avoid slippage of the mounted sheet holding board 4600 in a windy day.

A US flag 4750, just like the one shown in FIGS. 82-83, is mounted on the sheet holding board 4600. Mounted below the US flag 4750 is a California State flag 4806.

Except for the flag graphic design, The California State flag 4806 may have the same size, fabric material, fabric sleeves, top and bottom rods as that of the US flag 4750. This flag 4806 may also have two grommets 4808, a center button hole 4810, and two side button holes 4812 located in the same locations as their counterparts in the US flag 4750.

The US flag 4750 and the California State flag 4806 are connected by two hanging ropes 4814, each of which is tied between a grommet 4808 of the California flag 4806 and a side button hole 4763 of the US flag 4750. These two tied ropes must be of equal final length in order to evenly hang the California State flag 4806 spaced apart below the US flag 4750.

In addition to the above-stated hanging ropes 4814, a third rope 4816 is used to enter the two grommets 4808 and form a loop with the two ends tied together behind the flag pole 4800. This loop rope 4816 will limit the swing of both the US flag 4750 and the California State flag 4806 away from the flag pole 4800 to within a distance defined by this loop rope 4816.

A USC (University of Southern California) flag 4820 is shown hung below the California State flag 4806. This USC flag 4820, in spite of its different graphic design and size from that of the US flag 4750 and California State flag 4806, is still equipped with fabric sleeves, top and bottom rods, two grommets, a center button hole, and two side button holes with same functions, if not sizes, as that of the US flag 4750 and California State flag 4806.

Just the same as the two hanging ropes 4814, two hanging ropes 4822 are created between the California State flag 4806 and the USC flag 4820 for evenly hanging the USC flag 4820 spaced apart from the California State flag 4806. A loop rope 4824, similar to the loop rope 4816, is created for connecting the two grommets of the USC flag 4820, looped behind the flag pole for limiting the swing of the California State flag 4806 and USC flag 4820.

The last item in the flag pole display chain is an art sheet 4830 listing the USC Rose Bowl record. This art sheet 4830 is placed inside a clear vinyl cover 4832, which is similar to the clear vinyl cover 4700 shown in FIGS. 79-81.

Just the same as the two hanging ropes 4814, two hanging ropes 4840 are created between the clear vinyl cover 4832 and the USC flag 4820 for evenly hanging the clear vinyl cover 4832 spaced apart from the USC flag 4820. A loop rope 4842, similar to the loop rope 4816, is created for connecting the two grommets of the clear vinyl cover 4832, and limiting the swing of the clear vinyl cover 4832 and the USC flag 4820.

Just the same as the clear vinyl cover 4700, the clear vinyl cover 4832 also has a center slit 4844 both immediately above and below a rod attached to the bottom section of the front cover of the clear vinyl cover 4832. As seen in FIG. 85, a hose clamp 4846 is clamped onto the flag pole 4800 for securing a metal ring 4848. A rope 4850 is running through the two center slip 4844 and the metal ring 4848 with the two ends of the rope 4850 tied up into a knot. This rope 4850 will limit the upward movement of the clear vinyl cover 4832 as well as all three flags 4750, 4806, and 4820 along the flag pole 4800 during a heavy wind.

There is one difference in the design of a clear vinyl cover. In the clear vinyl cover design shown in FIGS. 79-81, several binder clips 4711 are used to hold down the two folding lines along the side s of the clear vinyl cover 4700. But in the clear vinyl cover 4832 several Velcro squares are used instead. The details of this Velcro application is shown in FIG. 87.

In FIG. 87, a portion of the right top corner of the clear vinyl cover 4832 on its backside is shown. Here the clear vinyl cover 4832 is folded back to yield a front cover 4834 and a back cover 4835, similar to the front cover 4702 and back cover 4704 shown in FIG. 81. But in the case of the clear vinyl cover 4832, both the right side and left side of the back cover 4835 is trimmed off by about 1″ (2.54 cm). In FIG. 87 three female squares 4836 (0.75″×0.75 cm) are shown glued to the back cover 4835, and four Velcro male squares 4837 are shown glued to the front cover 4834 along its edge. Once the right side of clear vinyl cover 4832 is folded back along a line 2″ from the edge of the front cover 4834 or 1″ from the edge of the back cover 4835, the three Velcro female squares 4836 will meet the three matching Velcro male squares 4837 and form the seal. The one remaining shown Velcro male square 4837 will also meet a Velcro female square, not shown, glued to the opposite side of the front cover 4834. Many more Velcro female and male squares, not shown, are also glued to the right and left sides of the front cover and back cover to accomplish the task of sealing.

A chain of four flags/art sheet is shown in the present example. Depending on the height of the flag pole, even more items can be allowed. With the present novel design and structure, each flag or art sheet is fully stretched for displaying its graphic details. Both the swing and movement of all items are restricted in favor of the clear display.

For a flag pole of given height and wind condition, the allowable size of a flag is limited, depending on the strength of the flag pole. In the present design, although the total area of the display is large, its impact on the flag pole is not as severe as the case in which all total area were represented by a large single flag at the top of the flag pole. In the present design, the display is evenly distributed over a large height distance. The torque on the flag pole by a flag at lower height is much lower than the torque by the same flag at the top of the flag pole.

Due to the present unique way of display, in which all flags and art sheets are lined up in one straight line, they will rotate to align itself with the wind direction, the impact of the wind will be reduced. Because all displayed flags are fully stretched, which will reduce the amount of flag waving, the impact of the wind will be further minimized.

FIG. 88

FIG. 88 shows a sheet holding board system 4900, which is a modified version of the sheet holding board system 4500 shown in FIG. 73 and described above. This modification is mainly in the replacement of the first aluminum angle plate 4510 in FIG. 73 by a first aluminum angle plate 4910 in FIG. 88.

The sheet holding board system 4900 comprises a sheet holding board 4902 and the cover 4504, which has been previously shown in FIG. 73 and described above. In this sheet holding board 4902, a sheet holder 4906 is installed on the board 4508, which also has been previously shown in FIG. 73 and describe above.

The first aluminum angle plate 4910 is a part of the sheet holder 4906, and has a length much longer than that of the first aluminum angle plate 4510. This increased length will allow the pegs 4522 and rubber block 4516 to be installed directly on the first aluminum angle plate 4910 instead of the board 4508. The pegs 4522 and the rubber block will be more securely installed on the sheet holding board 4902 resulted from this modification.

In spite of the above modification, the sheet holding board system 4900 can be used just like the sheet holding board system 4500 shown in FIG. 73, as described above, and thus will not be repeated here.

FIG. 89

Shown in FIG. 89 is a tabletop easel board 5000 of the present invention. The main component of the easel board 5000 is a board 5002 and a sheet holder 5004, which is installed on the board 5002.

In FIG. 89, the sheet holder 5004 is largely hidden behind the board 5002. But this sheet holder 5004 is essentially identical to the sheet holder 4909 shown in FIG. 88 and described above.

As seen in FIG. 89, the backside of the board 5002 is attached with an easel plate 5010. A conventional hinge 5012 is used to rotatable join the easel plate 5010 to the board 5002. Two holes 5014 are shown drilled near the bottom of the easel plate 5010. Two matching holes 5016 are also shown drilled near the bottom of the board 5002. A ribbon 5018 is fed through these holes 5014 and 5016 and tied to itself forming a knot. This ribbon 5018 will allow the angle between the easel plate 5010 and the board 5002 to be easily adjustable.

FIGS. 90 and 91

FIG. 90 shows a perspective view of a sheet holder 5100 of the present invention. Although this sheet holder 5100 is very similar to the sheet holders 4906 and 5004 shown in FIGS. 88 and 89, respectively, this sheet holder 5100 is shown first time as a standing alone unit without a supporting board.

The major components of the sheet holder 5100 may include a first aluminum angle plate or base plate 5103 and a second aluminum angle plate or holding plate 5105. The holding plate 5105 is rotatably mounted on the base plate 5103. Two tension or extension springs 5107 connecting these two plates 5103 and 5105 allow the holding plate 5105 to be toggled between an open and a closed positions.

A rubber block with groove 5109 is shown glued to the base plate 5103. Two pegs 5111 are inserted and glued or attached to two holes in the base plate 5103. Two hanging holes 5113 are drilled on the base plate 5103 for hanging the sheet holder 5100 and attached art sheets on two wall nails.

FIG. 91 shows template 5200 that may be of help to the user of the sheet holder 5100. This template 5200 is preferably made of some clear plastics such as Mylar, which has a rigid and lay flat property. This template 5200 may have a length same as that of the sheet holder 5100. There are two small holes 5202 indicating the position of two nails to be placed on a wall for hanging the sheet holder 5100.

For an art sheet to be properly hung by the two pegs 5111 on the sheet holder 5100, obviously, there should be two hanging holes provided on this art sheet. If the diameter of these two pegs is 3/16″ (0.48 cm), then the size or diameter of the two hanging holes could be ¼″ (0.63 cm), which happen to be the most popular size of paper punchers available commercially.

In this template 5200 there are two large holes 5204 serving as a guide to the punching of two hanging holes on the art sheet to be held by the two pegs 5111 of the sheet holder 5100. To begin the punching process, the user simply lay the template 5200 on the art sheet with the top edge of the template 5200 lined up with the top edge of the art sheet. A hand held paper puncher is then brought in with the punch head lined up with one of the holes 5204. This punch head is then pushed through the hole 5204 and punching out one hole on the art sheet. The process is next repeated with the second hole punched out.

For art sheets with matching mounting holes, both the pegs 5111 and the rubber block with groove 5109 are two different and effective holding means. Obviously, for art sheet without the matching holes or with width smaller than the distance between the two pegs 5111, the rubber block 5109 is the only one way to hold this art sheet in the sheet holder 5100.

As described previously, the effectiveness of the rubber block 5109 in holding an art sheet in the sheet holder 5100 is due to the formation of a crease as the art sheet is pressed between the holding plate 5105 and the rubber block 5109. This crease increases the contact area between the art sheet and the rubber block 5109 and thus increases the friction against the slippage of the art sheet while hanging vertically.

When more art sheets are to be held in the sheet holder 5100, it is preferable that each art sheet be individually creased as it is added to the existing stack of art sheets. It is also suggested that additional hand pressing force be applied to the holding plate 5105 so that each art sheet is tightly packed and creased in the stack. Once the crease is formed and the hand force is removed, this crease will maintain its shape indefinitely.

As more and more art sheets are added to the stack, the crease formed on the top sheet will get shallower. A point will be reached when the crease formed on the top sheet is so shallow that a heavy shaking of the sheet holder 5100 may cause the top sheet to fly out. Clearly, this is the upper limit on the number of art sheets that can be safely held by the rubber block 5109.

If still more art sheets need to be added to the stack, these additional art sheets can be held by the two pegs 5111. Obviously, each of these added art sheets have two matching holes before mounting.

As more and more art sheets are added, a point will finally be reached as the stack gets so tall that any more art sheets added can no longer be held in the pegs 5111. This is the maximum number of art sheets that can be held by the rubber block 5109 and the pegs 5111.

A user with many art sheets to be mounted on the sheet holder 5100 may decide to have all of them held by the two pegs 5111 without the need of the rubber block 5109. In this case this user can simply load all art sheets on the pegs and then close the holding plate 5105. Since so many sheets are loaded in one operation, the holding plate 5105 will allow them to be held by the pegs 5111. No crease will be formed when many sheets are added together.

If the user has only one or two precious art sheets to be loaded onto an empty sheet holder 5100 and held by the pegs 5111, but does not want any crease to be formed, he can first place the template 5200 in the empty sheet holder 5100 and hold it with the pegs, and then loads the art sheets. The rigid template 5200 will prevent the formation of crease even only one art sheet is to be loaded.

Also shown in the sheet holder 5100 is a group of twelve screw-nut pairs 5115 mounted on twelve matching holes in the base plate 5103. Out of these twelve pairs, four center screws-nut pairs 5115C can be used for attaching the sheet holder 5100 to a pole or rope in a manner similar to what is shown in FIG. 74 and described above. The right and left four screw-nut pairs 5115R and 5115L, respectively, can be used for attaching the sheet holder 5100 to a rope for hanging it off-center as shown in FIG. 92 and to be described below.

FIGS. 92-94

FIGS. 92-94 disclose some modifications on the way of displaying the US flag, California flag, USC flag and the art sheet shown previously in FIGS. 85-87 and described above. The main goal of these modifications is to reduce the impact of heavy wind on these flags/art sheet.

The first item to be described is the US flag 5300. It is mounted on the sheet holder 5100 as seen in both FIG. 92 and FIG. 93. This sheet holder 5100 is mounted on the flag pole 4800 in the same manner as previously shown in FIG. 86 except that the sheet holding board 4600 is now replaced by the sheet holder 5100, which enables the sheet holder 5100 to be hung off-center.

It is seen in FIG. 93 that the sheet holder 5100 is tied to the rope 4804 using the four left screw-nut pairs 5115L and the washer 4614. This way of hanging will certainly cause an imbalance because the weight of the sheet holder 5100 to the left side as viewed on FIG. 93 or right side as viewed on FIG. 92 of the rope 4804 is heavier than the weight of the sheet holder 5100 to the other side of the rope 4804. The correction for this imbalance will be provided as described below.

There are many similarities between the US flag 5300 shown in FIG. 93 and the US flag 4750 shown in FIGS. 82-83. They both have a top sleeve 4752 imbedded with a top rod 4756, and a bottom sleeve 4754 imbedded with a bottom rod 4758. They both also have two grommets 4760 and two side button holes 4763. They both require the top grommets 4760 for it to be mounted on the sheet holder 5100 and the sheet holding board 4600, respectively.

As expected, there are also several differences between the US flag 5300 and the US flag 4750. The first difference is that the US flag 5300 also has a right sleeve 5302 and a left sleeve 5304, each having an opening at its top side.

For the sake of discussion, it is assumed that a person grabs the rope 4804 and lifts the US flag 5300 along with the sheet holder 5100 as seen in FIG. 93. The whole unit must tilt because the weight of the US flag 5300 and the sheet holder 5100 to the right of the rope 4804 as viewed on FIG. 92 is considerably heavier. In order to balance the whole unit some weight can be placed inside the left side sleeve 5304.

The amount of this weight can be calculated by calculating the difference in the moment or obtained experimentally by gradually adding weight to the left sleeve 5304 until the sheet holder 5100 or the flag 5300 is leveled. This balancing weight can be replaced by a piece plastic rod 5306 cut to certain length in order to yield the same weight balance. This rod 5306 can then be inserted into the left sleeve 5304 through its top opening. The US flag 5300 shown in FIG. 92 is hung off-center but is balanced due to the rod 5306 placed in the left sleeve 5304.

Just the same as shown in FIG. 85, the California flag 5311, USC flag 5323 and the clear vinyl cover 5331 are all hung beneath the US flag 5300 as seen in FIG. 92. Two each of the hanging rope 4814, 4822 and 4840 are also used in hanging these three items, respectively. They are all hung in balance just as their predecessors did in FIG. 85.

It is to be noted that all center button holes in the US flag, California flag and USC flag shown in FIG. 85 are now replaced by two middle button holes 5310 in the US flag 5300, two middle button holes 5312 in the California flag 5311, and two middle button holes 5314 in the USC flag 5323, respectively, as seen in FIG. 92. When the US flag 5300 is mounted on the sheet holder 5100 as seen in FIG. 93, one of the two middle button holes 5310, or 5310L, is seen in vertical alignment with the center of the four left screw-nut pairs 5115L, while the other one, 5310R, is in vertical alignment with the center of the four right screw-nut pairs 5115R.

As seen in FIG. 93, a hose clamp 5316 is tightly wrapped around the bottom rod 4758 imbedded within the bottom sleeve 4754. This hose clamp 5316 also holds and clamps another hose clamp 5318 at right angle to each other. It is seen that this hose clamp 5318 is loosely wrapped around the flag pole 4800. It is important to see that this clamp 5318 does not support the weight of the US flag 5300, it merely restrains the flag 5300 and prevents it from drifting away from the pole 4800 in the presence of heavy wind.

Since the US flag 5300 is supported off-center on the flag pole 4800 by its rope 4804, in the presence of steady wind, this flag 5300 will be forced by the wind to rotate itself until it becomes in alignment with the direction of the wind. Once it attains this orientation, it will retain this orientation as long as the wind continues in the same direction. In this orientation, the impact of the wind on this flag, as well as the flag pole will be minimized. Consequently, the damage to the flag and the flag pole by wind will also be minimized.

In a given geographic location, if the prevalent seasonal wind direction is northwest, then the flag pole can be installed with its poll-pulley line at right angle with respect to the north-west line. The flag rope can then be tied to the sheet holder 5100 in such a way so that the flag will be naturally pointed at a direction in parallel with the northwest line. This means that the flag will be stationary regardless whether there is a northwest wind or windless.

There are many similarities between the California flag 5311 shown in FIG. 93 and the California flag shown in FIG. 85. They both have a top sleeve imbedded with a top rod, two grommets, a bottom sleeve imbedded with a bottom rod, and two side button holes.

A hose clamp 5320 is inserted through one middle button hole 5312 in vertical alignment with the pole 4800 and is wrapped around the bottom rod of the California flag 5311. A second hose clamp 5322 is held by the hose clamp 5320 and is loosely wrapped around the pole to restrain the flag 5311 from drifting away from the pole 4800.

There are many similarities between the USC flag 5323 shown in FIG. 93 and the USC flag 4820 shown in FIG. 85. They both have a top sleeve imbedded with a top rod, two grommets 5334, and a bottom sleeve imbedded with a bottom rod, and two side button holes.

A hose clamp 5324 is inserted through one middle button hole 5314 in vertical alignment with the pole 4800 and is wrapped around the bottom rod of the USC flag 5323. A second hose clamp 5326 is held by the hose clamp 5324 and is loosely wrapped around the pole to restrain the USC flag 5323 from drifting away from the pole 4800.

There are many similarities between the clear vinyl cover 5331 in FIG. 92 and the clear vinyl cover 4832 in FIG. 85. Each of them is a long clear sheet folded at the middle, with a top rod imbedded between the top edge and the two grommets 5334. The design as shown in FIG. 87 is also applicable for the clear vinyl cover 5331 of the present invention.

The lower portion of the clear vinyl cover 5331 has been modified, which is detailed as shown in FIG. 94. Included herein are the front cover sheet 5336 and the back cover sheet 5338 of this vinyl cover 5331, as well as a bottom rod 5340. Six male Velcro squares 5342 and six female Velcro squares 5344 are shown also.

To assemble this clear vinyl cover 5331 the double-side printed art sheet or two back-to-back art sheets 4830 are placed between the front cover sheet 5336 and the back side sheet 5338. Make sure the top rod 5332 is properly inserted into the space between the top edge of the vinyl cover 5331 and the two grommets 5334. The bottom rod 5340 is next placed between the four male Velcro squares 5342 and the four female Velcro squares 5344, which is followed by folding the lower section of the front cover sheet 5336 back along a dash line 5346. This will bring the four male Velcro squares 5342 to meet the four female Velcro squares 5344 to form a seal. Finally, the right side and the left side of the front cover sheet are folded back along a two inch mark as seen in FIG. 87, or the dash line 5346 as shown in FIG. 94 to form the seal and complete the assembling steps.

As seen in FIG. 92, there two side slips 5348 and two middle slips 5350 are located near the bottom of vinyl cover 5331 and just above the imbedded bottom rod 5340. A hose clamp 5352 is inserted through one middle slip in vertical alignment with the flag pole 4800. This hose clamp 5352 firmly hold another hose clamp 5354 which is loosely wrapping the flag pole 4800 for restraining the vinyl cover 5331 from drifting away from the pole 4800.

One more measure is provided for further securing the flag chain and the vinyl cover 5331 in the flag pole 4800. A hose clamp 4846 is clamped onto the pole 4800 for securing a metal ring 4848. A rope 4850 is fed through the metal ring 4848 and one middle slip 5350 and tied to itself to form a knot. This will hold down the vinyl cover 5331 and prevent it from flying up the pole 4800 in a heavy wind.

It is seen in FIG. 92 that all flags 5300, 5311, 5323 and the vinyl cover 5331 are properly secured on the flag pole 4800. They are all lined up in alignment with the flag pole 4800. Because they are hung off-centered, in a windy day they will rotate to align them self with the direction of the wind and thus reduce the impact of the wind to a minimum. Due to the present unique design all flags and the art sheet 4830 are fully stretched for easy viewing of their content all the time regardless whether there is wind or not. They are also lively displayed and gently swinging in the wind.

FIG. 95

Shown in FIG. 95 is another sheet holder 5400 of the present invention. It is mainly applicable for displaying large format advertisements or art sheets. It comprises two holding plates 5105 of FIG. 90 and one single base plate 5402, which is more than twice the length of the base plate 5103 shown in FIG. 90. Two sets of springs and associate supports used in the sheet holders 5100 are employed here for independently toggling these two holding plates 5105 between an open and a closed positions. Two pegs 5403 are installed on the base plate 5402 behind each holding plate 5105.

A double side ad sheet or two back-to-back advertisement sheets 5405 as shown in FIG. 95 are mounted on the sheet holder 5400. It can be hung in an aisle of a retail store to be viewed by shoppers coming from either side of the aisle. Two separate ropes 5406 and 5408 are used to hang this sheet holder 5400. Each of these two ropes can be tied to the backside of the of the sheet holder in a way similar to the details shown in FIG. 86 and described above.

A group of pulleys 5410 can be installed to lead these two ropes to a control box 5412 in the store at a height readily accessible to a store operator. For example, this control box 5412 can be individually lockable and mounted on a column right next to the aisle. If many ad sheets with many sheet holders 5400 are to be controlled, all these control boxes 5412 can be centrally located in a lockable control room.

Following items are installed in the control box 5412: two pulleys 5420, a stationary roller 5422, a movable pinion or serrated roller 5424, a stationary rack 5428, and a rigid stationary stop bar 5430. The two ropes 5406 and 5408 are first led into the control box 5412 and routed by the two pulleys 5420. These two ropes are then adapted to pass slidably over the stationary roller 5422 and fall downward between the stationary roller 5422 and the movable pinion 5424. After splitting around the rigid stop bar 5430 the remaining portion of these two ropes 5406 and 5408 are allowed to fall and rest on the bottom of the control box 5412.

The stationary roller 5422 and the movable pinion 5424 are shown in parallel with each other. The length of these two items are long enough to engage the two ropes 5406 and 5408 or more ropes positioned vertically there in between.

As seen in FIG. 95, the serrated outer layer of the pinion 5424 is engageable with the rack 5428 which also has one matching serrated surface but of straight form. The rack 5428 should also have a width matching the length of the pinion 5424.

The art sheet 5405 shown in FIG. 95 is at a height appropriate for display in the store. The two ropes 5406 and 5408 are sandwiched between the stationary roller 5422 and the pinion 5424. The weight of the sheet holder 5400 and the art sheet 5405 will constantly urge the two ropes 5406 and 5408 in the control box 5412 to move upward. This upward force will cause the sharp serrated teeth of the pinion 5424 to press into the surface of the ropes 5406 and 5408, which are engaging with the pinion 5424 and urging it rotate clockwise and preventing it from falling. The sheet holder 5400 and the art sheet 5405 are in effect locked in this displaying position.

To unlock this sheet holder and the displaying art sheet 5405, the user can simply pull the two ropes 5408 and 5406 to the left along the marked “Up-Down” arrow direction. One slight pull will initiate the counterclockwise rotation of the pinion 5424, which is followed by the free falling of the pinion 5424. This pinion 5424 will quickly settle on the center portion of the stationary stop bar 5430 free from the ropes and the rack.

Once free from the pinion 5424, the ropes 5406 and 5408 can be pulled or released to raise or lower the sheet holder 5400 and the art sheet 5405. During this time the ropes must still be held by hand to guide the ropes to slide over the stationary roller 5422, and move the ropes up or down along the marked line.

One common reason to free the ropes 5406 and 5408 from the locked position is to lower the sheet holder 5400 to a hand-reachable position for changing the art sheet display. Once the sheet holder 5400 is lowered to just a few inches above the desired height, the user needs to swing the ropes 5406 and 5408 to the other side along the other arrow marked “Lock”. At this position the ropes will partially wrap the left side of the pinion 5424. Now the user can release the holding force but still keep wrapping and thus engaging the pinion 5424. The weight of the sheet holder 5400 and art sheet 5405 will take over to raise the ropes, which in turn will cause the pinion 5424 to rotate clockwise up along the rack 5428.

It is noted that the rack 5428 is positioned inclined as shown in FIG. 95, such that when the pinion 5424 is rotated upward along the rack 5428, it will steadily move to the left. The stationary roller 5422 and the stationary rack 5428 are positioned in such a way that the upward motion of the pinion 5424 eventually must stop when it reaches at the position as shown in FIG. 95. This final upward movement of the several inches by the pinion 5424 will lower the sheet holder to its desired location.

Once the sheet holder 5400 is lowered to the desired position, the user can start the art sheet changing operation. The user can start opening one holding plate 5105 and keep it on its open position. He can proceed next opening the other holding plate 5105 and leaving it on its open position. Now the existing art sheet can be removed from the pegs 5403 of the sheet holder 5400. The new advertisement sheet with the hanging holes can be loaded on the pegs 5403. If two new sheets back-to-back are to be loaded, all old art sheets can still be kept on the pegs, but between the two newly added sheets. Now the holding plate 5105 can be closed one by one, which completes the sheet changing process.

Now the sheet holder 5400 is ready to be raised back to its displaying position. The ropes 5406 and 5408 are swung to the left to the “Up/Down” direction, and then pulled down until the sheet holder 5400 is raised to a few inches above the final displaying position. Swings the ropes to the right and engage it with the pinion 5424. Let the sheet holder 5400 to fall a few inches while guiding the pinion to rise along the rack 5428 until it stops at the position shown in FIG. 95. This completes the sheet changing and displaying operation.

The above operation illustrates two unique advantages of the sheet holder of the present invention. First, this sheet holder 5400 can maintain its hanging position, without removal, to do the sheet changing operation. Second, because each holding plate 5105 can be opened and stays open, and closed and stays closed, two or more holding plates can be operated in sequence to achieve the job of mounting or removing a large poster sheet. This is simply impossible if two or more conventional clips are to be used in sequence as an one man operation.

There is one other occasion in which one may need to unlock the sheet holder 5400. That is when the sheet holder in the hanging is not quite level and must be adjusted by raising or lowering just one of the two ropes 5406 and 5408. After the ropes 5406 and 5408 are swung to the left and the pinion 5424 drops off, these two ropes are still held in the user's hand. The user at this time needs to check which rope will need to be adjusted. Since these two ropes are separated by the stop bar 5430, it is a good idea to separate out these two ropes by holding one rope by the left hand and holding the other rope by the right hand. For the rope does not need adjustment, just hold it steady without movement. For the rope to be adjusted, the user pulls it or let go of it along the “Up/Down” marked arrow line until the displayed art sheet 5405 is leveled. Then return both ropes to one hand and adjusts the height if necessary. Finally locks the sheet holder 5400 at the desired displaying height to complete the operation.

The sheet holder 5400 of the present invention can be expandable to have three or more holding plates 5105 for holding and displaying an even larger art sheet or advertisement sheet. The base plate for such sheet holder can still be a single piece metal angle plate, but may need a thicker metal for handling such larger sheet weight. A two rope hanging and control system can still be used, but these two ropes must be tied to the back of the sheet holder near the two outer holding plates to properly control the level and height of the displayed art sheet.

FIG. 96

FIG. 96 shows a typical commercial building 5500 leased by many business each of which may desire an advertisement display designed for itself, and easily visible by walkers at street level and passengers in cars. Three such advertisement sheets 5502, 5504, 5506 enclosed in three clear vinyl covers 5508, 5510, 5512, respectively, are shown on this building 5500.

All three clear vinyl covers 5508, 5510 and 5512 are identical in design and are similar to the clear vinyl cover 5331 shown in FIG. 92 and described above. All these three covers 5508, 5510, 5512 are slidably mounted on three fixtures 5514, 5516, 5518, respectively. These three fixtures serve the similar function as other fixtures such as the rod 4776 in FIG. 84, and the flag pole 4800 in FIG. 92, described above, but of more complicated design. The fixture 5514 and 5516 are identical except that the fixture 5514 is facing the left side of the building 5500, while the fixture 5516 is facing the front side of the building. This is why the ad sheet 5504 is visible while the ad sheet 5502 is not visible in FIG. 96.

The fixture 5514, as well as the fixture 5516, comprises a long vertical bar 5520, a short vertical bar 5522, a top horizontal bar 5524, and a bottom horizontal bar 5526. The long vertical bar 5520 is longer because its lower portion is mounted on the ceiling floor of the building 5500 and not visible behind the building's top side wall. Such mounting is similar to the mounting of a flag pole on a ground, typically involving drilling a hole on the top floor followed by adding some cement. It can also be mounted by using several angle steel brackets with holes inserted with heavy concrete screws drilled into the top floor of the building 5500.

All four bars 5520, 5522, 5524, and 5526 are typically strong bars joined together by angle brackets into a rectangular shaped fixture. One commercially available bar may be an “U” shaped steel bar from Unistrut, at Wayne, Mich. Three pulleys 5528, 5530, and 5532 are mounted on the top horizontal bar 5524. The pulleys 5528 and 5530 are single channel pulleys, while the pulley 5532 is a double channel pulley capable of receiving two ropes in these two channels. Two eyelet bolts 5534, 5536, of equal or slightly different lengths are mounted on the short vertical bar 5522.

All three clear vinyl covers 5508, 5510, and 5512 are each mounted on a sheet holder 5100. A soft washer 4614 is held by four center screw-nut pairs 5115C for holding a rope 5540 in way similar to what shown in FIG. 86. This rope 5540 goes through the hole in the eyelet bolt 5534 and two pulleys 5528 and 5532. This rope 5540 will then fall down vertically without obstruction all the way down to the ground level of the building 5500.

As shown in FIG. 96, the clear vinyl cover 5508 is mounted on the sheet holder 5100. A hose clamp 5546 is clamped on the lower rod in the cover 5508. This clamp 5546 also securely clamps a second clamp 5548. A rope 5550 is tied to the clamp 5548 and is going through the holes of the eyelet bolt 5536 and two pulleys 5530 and 5532. This rope 5550, just like the rope 5540, will then fall down vertically without obstruction all the way down to the ground level of the building 5500.

At the ground level, each of the two ropes 5540 and 5550 is connected to an extension spring 5552. After the spring 5552, these two ropes will enter a control box 5554.

Inside the control box 5554, everything is the same as what is shown in the control box 5412 of FIG. 95 except that the two ropes 5408 and 5406 are now replaced by the two ropes 5540 and 5550, respectively.

In the control box 5554, as the ropes 5540 and 5550 are pulled away from the serrated roller 5424, this roller 5424 will fall to the stop bar 5430 and disengaged from the ropes 5540 and 5550. The user can pull the ropes up or down if needed. When he is ready to raise the sheet holder for displaying the art sheet he can continue to pull down the ropes 5540 and 5550 until the sheet holder 5100 and the vinyl cover 5508 are stopped at the eyelet bolts 5534 and 5536, respectively. At this point, the user can still continue pulling down the ropes 5540 and 5550. This will not change the position of the sheet holder 5100 and the vinyl cover 5508, but will stretch out the extension springs 5552 as far as possible but still within the range of extension allowable according to the spring specification. While still holding the ropes at this position by one hand, the other hand can lift the serrated roller 5424 up along the rack 5428 until the roller 5424 is in contact and engaging the ropes 5540 and 5550. Now the hand pulling the ropes can be removed, which is followed by removing the hand pushing the roller 5424. This completes the rope locking process.

After the above stated locking process, the sheet holder 5100 will stay locked at its secured position as shown in FIG. 96, but the spring 5552 still stays extended. Most ropes are known to be somewhat stretchable. After holding the sheet holder for some time, these ropes 5540 and 5550 may become somewhat longer, which would cause the sheet holder dangling in the wind. But with the stretched spring 5552, it will take up this slack by returning itself back to the unstretched state. The result is that the sheet holder 5100 will always be secured to the eyelet bolt 5534 even if the ropes have stretch somewhat after extended usage. It should be noted that such extension spring can also be incorporated in a flag pole such as the flag pole 4800 in order to prevent the hanging flag from falling from the tip of the pole.

The hanging of the clear vinyl cover 5510 is somewhat different from the hanging of the clear vinyl cover 5508. First, there is no spring along the ropes hanging the cover 5510. Second, the control box 5556 is also somewhat different from the control box 5554. Two new items are added to the box 5556. The first one is a hanger 5558. The second one is a weight 5560 with a long hanging loop 5562. At the beginning, this weight is manually lifted so its hanging loop 5562 is hung on the hanger 5558. At this position the weight 5560 does not touch the ropes, which allow the control box 5556 to operate just like the control box 5412 shown in FIG. 95.

After locking the ropes 5540 and 5550, the user can remove the weight 5560 away from the hanger 5558 and let it rest on the ropes 5540 and 5550 at the mid point between the pulley 5420 and the stationary roller 5422. This weight 5560 will always pull down the ropes 5540 and 5550 to secure the sheet holder 5100 on the fixture 5516 even the length of the ropes 5540 and 5550 have stretched longer after some extended usage.

One advantage in the use of weight 5560 is that the line between the pulley 5532 and the control box does not have to be a straight line without obstruction. The ropes 5540 and 5550 can route through many pulleys to avoid such obstruction.

It should be noted that the use of the weight can also be applied to a flag pole. A control box comprises a weight will need to be installed next to the flag pole.

The fixture 5518 is not much different from the other two fixtures 5514 and 5516. Because this fixture is to be mounted on the outside wall of the building 5500, the top horizontal bar 5524 and the bottom horizontal bar 5526 can be slightly shorter.

The hanging and control system for this fixture 5518 is basically same as that for the fixture 5516. It can be very useful because the fixture can be mounted anywhere on the outside wall of the building as long as it is big enough to display the advertisement sheet. The hanging ropes can be routed through any available space.

In FIG. 96, the fixture 5518 is mounted on the building's outer wall using two concrete screws holding the long vertical bar 5520 of the fixture 5518. More such screws can be used if the entire long vertical bar 5520 can be made in contact with the building's wall.

In FIG. 96, it is possible that the vinyl cover 5510 can also be used alone without the sheet holder 5100 for displaying that Burger King's advertisement sheet 5504. In this case, both the top rod and the bottom rod imbedded in the vinyl cover 5510 must each be clamped with a hose clamp just like the hose clamp 5546 clamping the vinyl cover 5508. Each such clamp will then clamp a second hose clamp, which is tied to a rope slidable along an eyelet bolt of the fixture. This is possible but the top rod and bottom rod imbedded in the vinyl cover must be strong enough to withstand the potential wind damage.

FIGS. 97-98, 100-102

FIGS. 97-98 and 100-102 disclose several innovative art sheet display systems for displaying advertisement sheets outdoor either in parallel with or at right angle with respect to a building's outside wall. The emphasis is on the ease of raising and lowering the advertisement sheet and locking it at a desired height for display.

The first member of the art sheet display system 5600 shown in FIG. 97 is a fixture 5601. It comprises two vertical bars 5602, two top horizontal bars 5604, two bottom horizontal bars 5606, and two side horizontal bars 5608. Several conventional angle brackets are employed for assembling these bars into the fixture 5601.

The vertical bars 5602 and the side horizontal bars 5608 can be attached to the side wall of a building using conventional fastening means such as angle brackets and concrete bolts or screws. This fixture 5601 can also be mounted by fastening the legs of the vertical bars 5602 on the top ceiling floor of the building using similar fastening means.

An advertisement sheet 5610 is enclosed in a clear vinyl cover 5612, and held in the fixture 5601, and on display on the building. The clear vinyl cover 5612 is shown mounted on a sheet holder 5614. Depending on the size of the advertisement sheet 5610, this sheet holder 5614 could be a regular sheet holder 5100 shown in FIG. 90 or a double width sheet holder 5400 shown in FIG. 95. If the fixture 5601 is mounted on one side wall of the building, this advertisement sheet 5610 is then displayed in parallel with this side wall.

The clear vinyl cover 5612, except for its size, essentially has the same design as the clear vinyl cover 5331, shown in FIG. 92. A top rod 5616 and a bottom rod 5618 are embedded within this clear vinyl cover 5612 to impart some rigidity in the displayed art sheet 5610 and the vinyl cover 5612. Two or more punched holes, with or without the matching grommets, are provided to be inserted by the pegs on the sheet holder 5614 for mounting the clear vinyl cover 5612 on the sheet holder 5614.

In the present art sheet display system, four ropes 5620, 5622, 5624, and 5626 are employed for raising, lowering, and locking the art sheet 5610 for its display on the building. As seen in the figure, the front end of each of the two ropes 5620 and 5622 is attached to the sheet holder 5614 with the use of a soft washer 4614 and four screw-nut sets in the manner as shown in FIG. 86. The leading end of each rope is tied to itself to form a knot to prevent the slipping of the rope.

As shown in the figure, two hose clamps 5628 are clamped on the bottom rod 5618. The front end of each of the two ropes 5624 and 5626 is tied to this clamp 5628.

As seen in FIG. 97, there is one eyelet bolt 5630 mounted on each of the two top horizontal bars 5604 and two bottom horizontal bars 5606. Each of the four ropes 5620, 5622, 5624 and 5626 will pass through one eyelet bolt 5630 and one or more pulleys 5632 and finally enter a control box 5634 near the ground level. Most of these pulleys 5632 are mounted on the outside wall of the building for redirecting the flow of these ropes. For simplicity, only one such pulley is shown for each rope.

After entering the control box 5634, each of the four ropes 5620, 5622, 5624, and 5626 will go through two pulleys 5632 spaced apart but located at the same height. There are four cleats 5635 installed in the control box 5634, one for each rope individually. After going through the two spaced apart pulleys, each rope is then tied down on one cleat dedicated for this rope.

FIG. 97 shows four weights 5636 inside the control box 5634, with two of them placed in idle. Each weight is in the form of an open loop, similar to a conventional quick link. Two of these weights are shown placed on the ropes 5620 and 5622. The weight of this weight 5636 will stretch the rope and pull down a section of the rope between the two spaced apart pulleys. Since these two ropes are tied to the sheet holder 5614, this sheet holder will be pulled and tightly secured to the eyelet bolt 5630 and the fixture 5601. Although over time the rope may stretch further, resulting in the downward shift of the weight 5636, the sheet holder will remain tightly secured on the fixture.

It is noted that as shown in FIG. 97, the other two ropes 5624 and 5626 are tied to the two hose clamps 5628. A hanging pulley 5633 is shown freely suspended on each rope between this hose clamp 5628 and the adjacent eyelet bolt 5630. A small open loop weight 5638 is also shown hung on a hole of each hanging pulley 5633. For the purpose of illustration, the other end of each rope is tied to its dedicated cleat 5635, but leaving with a small slack on the rope. This slack will be immediately taken up by the two hanging pulleys 5633 and the linked weight 5638 due to their weight, which causes the hanging pulleys 5633 to suspend at a height lower than the adjacent hose clamps 5628 as seen in the figure.

If the user frees up the ends of the ropes 5624 and 5626 tied to their cleats 5635, and continues feeding more slack, the suspended hanging pulleys 5633 will also freely roll down until they reach the ground. On the other hand, if the user pulls these ropes, the suspended hanging pulleys 5633 will roll up until each hanging pulley is snuggly fitted between the hose clamp 5628 and the adjacent eyelet bolt 5630. At this time the user can tie down each rope on its cleat 5635. One idle weight 5636 can then be placed on each rope between the two spaced apart pulleys 5632. After both ropes 5624 and 5626 are so tied down and loaded with the two idle weights, it will tightly hold the two hose clamps 5628 and the clear vinyl cover 5612 on the fixture 5601.

In the present art sheet display system, the art sheet 5610, the clear vinyl cover 5612, and the sheet holder 5614 are securely held by the fixture 5601 on four anchoring points. As long as the weight of the four weights 5636 is heavy enough to withstand the wind applied to the vinyl cover 5612, it may be wavering in the wind, but is still securely held in place on the four anchoring points. Even if the applied wind force is extremely strong and thus pull up the weights 5636, the displacement of the displayed art sheet 5610 is still very limited as long as all ropes are not broken and remain tied to the cleats 5635. Once the wind is died down, the art sheet 5610 will be restored to its original mounted position.

At any time the displayed art sheet 5610 is to be lowered for occasion such as changing the displayed advertisement, the first step to be performed is to lower the two suspended hanging pulleys 5633 and the two open loop weights 5638 to the ground following the procedure just given. The next step to be performed may require two or three persons. While one person will remove the two ropes 5620 and 5622 from the cleats 5635 and slowly releasing these two ropes, the other one or two persons will hold and guide the other two descending ropes 5624 and 5626, making sure the slowly descending art sheet and the vinyl cover are not browned away in the wind and hitting the adjacent building or passing by walker. It is advisable that all art sheet lowering and lifting work be performed in a windless day.

Once the art sheet and the vinyl cover are lowered to a hand reachable position, the person releasing the ropes 5620 and 5622 can stop releasing and tie these two ropes back to the two cleats 5635. The art sheet is now locked at this suspended position, ready for replacement. It is recommended that only the vinyl cover and the enclosed art sheet be removed together and taken to a table for further work.

The removal of the vinyl cover 5612 can be achieved first by loosening the two hose clamps 5628 and followed by removing the ropes 5624 and 5626 from the hose clamps 5628. The sheet holder 5614 is next opened to take out the vinyl cover. But if the sheet holder 5614 is also to be removed, one can loosen the four screw/nut pairs and remove the ropes 5620 and 5622 away from underneath the soft washer 4614.

Once a new art sheet or two back-to-back art sheets are loaded, the vinyl cover 5612 can be reassembled and ready for display again. This is normally achieved first by mounting the vinyl cover 5612 to the suspended sheet holder 5614. This is followed by reinserting the two ropes 5624 and 5626 into the loosen hose clamps 5628. Now these two hose clamps can be tighten making it ready for raising the whole assembly to the fixture 5601.

To begin raising the art sheet 5610 the user first needs to make sure that all four weights 5636 are placed in the idled position. The two ropes 5620 and 5622 are then removed from the cleats and pulled down slowly to raise the art sheet 5610. Once the ends of the two ropes 5624 and 5626 are pulled off the ground the second person, and the third person if available, can start holding these two ropes and guiding its rise. Make sure the art sheet and the vinyl cover do not rotate or heavily swing in the wind. This process will continue until the rise of the art sheet is stopped and the sheet holder 5614 is butted against the two eyelet bolts 5630 on the two top horizontal bars 5604. At this time the user can wrap the loose ends of the ropes 5620 and 5622 around the two matching cleats and tie it up. After this, he can pick up the ropes 5624 and 5626, pull down these ropes and watch the two hanging pulleys 5633 to roll upward, until they are snuggly sandwiched between the two hose clamps 5628 and the two eyelet bolts 5630. The user can proceed to wrap the loose ends of the two ropes 5624 and 5626 around their cleats 5635 and tie them up. Now all four idled weights 5636 can be placed each on one rope anywhere between the two spaced apart pulleys. This complete the mounting and locking of the art sheet and its vinyl cover on the fixture for display.

It is clear that the hanging pulleys 5633 and the link weights 5638 play an important role in the present art sheet lifting and lowering operation. Before lowering the art sheet, the two hanging pulley-weight pairs are first lowered to bring down the ropes 5624 and 5626 to the hands of the user in order to guide the lowering of the art sheet, as well as the later raising of the replaced art sheet. Once the replaced art sheet is fully raised and seated in its display position, these hanging pulley/weight pairs will be raised and returned to their original positions. For an art sheet to be displayed on a high rise building, this raising and lowering of the art sheet is a long journey. It is important to allow the user with full control in this journey.

The rolling action of the hanging pulleys 5633 is almost effortless during their arising and lowering. The link weights 5638 may not be needed especially if each eyelet bolts 5630 can be replaced by a bolt pulley 5820 shown in FIG. 100 and described below, to further reduce the friction retarding the motion of the hanging pulleys 5633.

In the present art display system 5600, it is possible to combine the four ropes 5620, 5622, 5624, and 5626 into just two ropes by tying both ends of each such rope to two anchoring points of the sheet holder 5614 and vinyl cover 5612. It is also possible that more than four ropes be used for displaying a larger art.

FIG. 98 discloses an art sheet display system 5700, which is essentially the same as the system 5600 shown in FIG. 97 as above described. The only main difference is in the use of a clear vinyl cover 5702, which is almost the same as the clear vinyl cover 5612 and described above, except for one difference described below. Here, the sheet holder 5614 is no longer needed, and the vinyl cover 5702 is used alone for enclosing the art sheet 5610 and be mounted and locked on the fixture 5701.

As seen in FIG. 98, the ends of the ropes 5620 and 5622 are tied directly to the vinyl cover 5702. This is achieved by using two hose clamps 5704 for clamping the top rod 5616 of the vinyl cover 5702 and the ends of the ropes 5620 and 5622, in the same manner as the use of the two hose clamps 5628 clamping the bottom rods 5618 of the vinyl covers 5612 and 5702, and clamping the ends of the two ropes 5624 and 5626.

The two holes punched on the vinyl cover 5612 for mounting it on the sheet holder 5614 is no longer needed here either. This is because the vinyl cover 5702 is no longer needed to be mounted on the sheet holder 5614. The removal of the vinyl cover 5702 from the fixture 5701 is achieved by simply removing the ropes 5620, 5622, 5624, and 5626 from the four hose clamps 5628 and 5704 once these hose clamps are loosen.

It is noted that the bottom horizontal bars 5606 is slightly shorter than the top horizontal bars 5604. This is desirable so that these bottom horizontal bars 5606 will not interfere with the raising and lowering of the clear vinyl cover 5702 and its associated top rod 5616. Furthermore, the lower eyelet bolts 5630 should also be placed slightly closer to the vertical bars 5602 than the upper eyelet bolts 5630. This is required due to the presence of the hanging pulleys 5633 if the clear vinyl cover 5702 is to maintain straight in its mounted position.

FIG. 100 discloses a novel bolt pulley 5820 designed for the present art sheet display application. Here, the term “bolt pulley” is defined as a pulley 5822 integrally joined to a bolt 5824. This bolt pulley 5820 can be used for replacing all eyelet bolts 5630 in the art sheet display systems shown in FIGS. 97-98. The rolling action in the bolt pulley 5820 may significantly reduce the effort in raising and lowering the art sheet. It also may enable the free falling of the hanging pulleys 5633 more effortless.

Shown in FIG. 101 is a novel rod clamp 5830, which is specially designed to replace all hose clamps 5628, and 5704 for holding the top rods 5616, and the bottom rods 5618, in the art sheet display systems shown in FIGS. 97-98. The top section of this rod clamp 5830 has an eyelet hole 5832 intended to be tied to a rope. Its mid section is in the form of an open cylinder 5834 for wrapping around the top or bottom rods. Its bottom section is an open passage having a wing nut 5836 with a round end on one side of the open passage. The other side of the open passage has a hole 5839 with its diameter smaller than that of the wing nut 5836. This rod clamp is preferably made of some plastics by injection molding.

This rod clamp 5830 can be easily mounted on the vinyl cover 5612 or 5702 by simply sliding this rod clamp through either end of the rod. Once the clamp is slid to the desired location on the vinyl cover, the wing nut 5836 can be turned to press the sheet portion of the vinyl cover. The wing nut 5836 is too big to enter the hole 5839. But the round end of the tip of the wing nut 5836 will press on the vinyl sheet in forming a dent on the portion of the vinyl sheet lodged in the hole 5839. In this way, the vinyl cover will be securely held in the rod clamp 5830 but without forming a pierced hole on the vinyl cover.

The clear vinyl covers 5612 and 5702 shown in FIGS. 97 and 98 will unavoidably have some punched slits or openings in order to install each hose clamp 5628 or 5704. Water from rain or dew may get in through these slits or openings and cause various degree of damages to the enclosed art sheets. But once these hose clamps are replaced by the rod clamps 5830, there is no more punched slits or openings on the vinyl cover and no more water damage to the mounted art sheet.

Instead of tying the rope directly to the rod clamp 5830, a conventional snap hook or spring link can be neatly tied to the rope first using a conventional rope clamp. This snap hook or spring link can then be snap or spring connected to the present rod clamp 5830 for easy connection and separation.

FIG. 102 discloses an art display system 5800, which comprises a fixture 5801. This fixture 5801 includes a long vertical bar 5802, a short vertical bar 5804, and two horizontal bars 5806. Just like the fixture 5601 shown in FIG. 97, this fixture 5801 can also be mounted on the side wall of a building or the top ceiling floor of the building.

Two back-to-back advertisement sheets 5808 are enclosed in a clear vinyl cover 5810, which is held in the fixture 5801, and on display on the building. If the fixture is mounted on the side wall of the building, these advertisement sheets 5808 will be positioned at right angle with respect to the side wall of this building.

Except for the difference in size, the vinyl cover 5810 is basically the same as the vinyl cover 5702 shown in FIG. 98. A top rod 5812 and a bottom rod 5814 are embedded within this vinyl cover 5810. Again, no punched mounting holes are needed since this vinyl cover 5810 will not be mounted on a sheet holder such as the sheet holder 5614 shown in FIG. 97.

Beside the fixture 5801, art sheets 5808, and the clear vinyl cover 5810, the art sheet display system 5800 of the present invention also employs many members for raising, lowering, and locking the art sheets 5808 at a desired location for display. These members include four ropes 5620, 5622, 5624, and 5626, numerous pulleys 5632, hanging pulleys 5633, and the control box 5634. All these members have been shown in FIG. 98 and described above.

But all hose clamps 5628 and 5704 used in FIG. 98 have now been replaced by four rod clamps 5830 in FIG. 102. As stated above, the use of these rod clamps 5830 will not involve piercing holes in the vinyl cover, which would let in rain water, and possibly cause some damage in the enclosed art sheets.

One other improvement is the replacement of four eyelet bolts 5630 used in FIG. 98 by four bolt pulleys 5820 in FIG. 102. Such replacement will reduce the friction retarding the movement of the two ropes 5620 and 5622 during the raising of the art sheets 5808. Such reduction of friction may also eliminate the need of an open loop weight 5638 added to each hanging pulley 5633.

For purpose of illustration, the hanging pulley 5633 on the rope 5626 is snuggly sandwiched between the rod clamp 5830 and the bolt pulley 5820. This is the final assembled position of this hanging pulley 5633, when the rope 5626 is fully stretched with the weight 5636 placed on the rope 5626. In the case of the hanging pulley 5633 on the rope 5624, some slack is purposely allowed, while the weight 5636 is placed in idle. This slack is taken up by the hanging pulley 5633, resulting in the falling of this hanging pulley 5633.

Since the two back-to-back art sheets 5808 are to be viewed by people coming down from either side of the street on which the building is located, it is important that the position of the ropes and pulleys should be placed in such a way not to block the view of these two advertisement sheets 5808.

FIGS. 103-104

FIGS. 103-104 discloses one innovation in the use of a conventional flagpole. In such a flagpole, the rope used for holding a flag over a period of time tends to stretch to various degrees. As a result, the flag held in this flagpole will be displayed at a distance below its normal uppermost position, an unsightly scene to the grace of the flag on display.

In FIG. 103, a US flag 5900 is shown hung on a flagpole 5902. This flag is attached to a rope 5904 by two conventional flag snaps 5908. The back end of the rope 5904 will go through a flag pulley 5906 and is tied to an extension spring 5912. The other end of the extension spring 5912 is tied to a second rope 5905.

To properly position the flag 5900 on the flagpole 5900, the user will pull the rope 5905 downward until the upper flag snap 5908 is firmly pressed against the pulley 5906 or its casing. This is the uppermost position the flag 5900 should be ideally hung on the flagpole 5902.

But at this point the user can still continue pulling the rope 5905. The position of the flag 5900 cannot go up any further. Instead, the extension spring 5912 will be stretched with this pulling. The user can continue pulling the rope 5905 until the extension spring is extended to a length slightly less than the maximum length allowable without damaging this spring 5912. The user can then wrap the excessive portion of the rope 5905 around a cleat 5014 and tie it up.

Now the user will slightly pull down the front portion of the rope 5904 and wrap it around another cleat 5916. But don't pull it too hard because it may further stretch the spring 5912 and cause some damage.

With time, this rope 5904 may become stretched and increase its length. But this slack will be taken up by the extension spring 5912 by slowly reducing its length. As a result, the flag 5900 will always maintain at its uppermost position for a long time. Of course, eventually the spring 5912 may restore to its original nature length and can no longer take up more slack of the rope 5904. The user needs to go back to pull down the rope 5905 and stretch the spring 5912 again to start another cycle.

FIG. 104 shows a flagpole 5930, which is designed for displaying long series of flags/art sheets such as the one shown in FIG. 92. For purpose of illustration, only a US flag 5932 and a clear vinyl cover 5934 with one enclosed art sheet 5936 are displayed on the flagpole 5930.

The US flag 5932 has a design similar to the one shown in FIG. 83. It has a top sleeve 5938 enclosing a top rod 5939, and a bottom sleeve 5940 enclosing a bottom rod 5941. But unlike the US flag 4750 shown in FIG. 83, the US flag 5932 does not need two grommets because it is to be hung on the flagpole 5930 without a sheet holder 5100. No button holes will be required either, since a different hanging mechanism will be employed for the flagpole 5930.

Both the top center and the bottom center of the flag 5932 are each mounted with a rod clamp 5830 as shown in FIG. 101 and described above. For obvious reason, the lower rod clamp 5830 must be placed upside down before it can be mounted on the flag 5932.

The clear vinyl cover 5934, except for its size, essentially has the same design as the clear vinyl cover 5331 shown in FIG. 92 and described above, but without the grommets 5334 and the slips 5348 and 5350. Both the top center and the bottom center of the vinyl cover 5934 are each mounted with a rod clamp 5830. In all four rod clamps 5830 shown in FIG. 104, each round end wing nut 5836 must be rotated tight to prevent its slippage in a windy day.

As seen in FIG. 104, the two adjacent rod clamps 5830 mounted on the US flag 5932 and the vinyl cover 5934 are joined by a conventional quick link 5942. The nut on this quick link 5942 can be rotated to open a gap for the entry of a hose clamp 5944 or ring movable along the flagpole 5930. This hose clamp 5944 can limit the drifting of the flag and the vinyl cover to within a short distance to the flagpole 5930 during a windy day.

The lower rod clamp 5830 mounted on the vinyl cover 5934 is also connected to a quick link 5943. This quick link 5943 is also connected to a hose clamp 5946 or a ring slidable along the flagpole 5930. The hose clamp 5946 can also be tightened around the flagpole if needed.

The eyelet hole 5832 of the upper rod clamp 5830 mounted on the US flag 5932 is tied to a rope 5948 preferable by a conventional rope clamp for its neat appearance. After entering a flag pulley 5950 this rope 5948 will fall all the way down into a control box 5952 attached to the flagpole 5930. In this control box 5952, the rope will pass through two pulleys 5954 as seen in the figure.

To properly hang the US flag 5932 and the art sheet 5936 on the flagpole 5930, the user can pull the free end of the rope 5948 downward until the upper rod clamp 5830 on the US flag 5932 is firmly pressed against the flag pulley 5950 or its casing. This is the uppermost position the flag 5932 should be ideally hung on the flagpole 5930.

After done pulling, the rope 5948 is wrapped around a cleat 5956 in the control box. At this point, the rope 5948 is appearing horizontally between the two pulleys 5954 in the control box 5952. The user can now place a weight 5958 on this rope between the two pulleys 5954. The weight 5958 will bend the rope 5948 down to some degrees. Apparently, the rope 5948 is stretched somewhat, but the flag 5932 still remains at the same location unchanged. Now the US flag 5932 and the vinyl cover 5934 are hanging freely next to the flagpole 5930. The user can next tighten the hose clamp 5946 around the flagpole 5930 to prevent the vinyl cover 5934 from flying upward along the flagpole in a windy day. If a ring is used instead of the hose clamp 5946, or if the hose clamp 5946 is located too high up to be reachable by hand, a second rope can be tied to the quick link 5943 and wrapped around the cleat 5956 in the control box.

With time, this rope 5948 may become stretched and increase its length. But this slack will be taken by the weight 5958 by lowering itself in the control box 5952. As a result, the flag 5932 will always maintain at its uppermost position for a long time. Of course, eventually, the weight 5958 may fall to the bottom of the control box 5952 and can no longer take up the slack of the rope 5948. The user needs to go back to take out the weight 5958 from the rope 5948, and then rewrap the rope around the cleat 5956. Again he places the weight 5958 back on the rope to start another cycle.

FIGS. 105-106

FIGS. 105-106 disclose two different systems for raising and lowering an advertisement or two back-to-back advertisement sheets, and for locking these sheets at a predetermined height for indoor display.

The display system 5960 shown in FIG. 105 includes a horizontal bar 5962 attached to the ceiling of a store building. Two bolt pulleys 5964 are mounted on the horizontal bar 5962 spaced apart as shown in the figure.

Hung below the horizontal bar 5962 is a double width sheet holder 5966, which is essentially the same as the sheet holder 5400 shown in FIG. 95 and described above. Two back-to-back advertisement sheets 5968 are shown mounted on this sheet holder 5966.

Two ropes 5972 and 5974 are used for hanging these art sheets 5968 on the horizontal bar 5962. One end of each rope is ties to the sheet holder 5966 in a way similar to the manner shown in FIG. 86 and described above. The other end of each rope is passing through one said bolt pulley 5964. One pulley 5970 is attached to the building for redirecting each rope downward as shown in the figure. The lower end of each rope is tied to an extension spring 5976. The other end of each extension spring 5976 is tied to another rope 5978.

The art sheets 5968 are raised by pulling both ropes 5978 downward, until the sheet holder 5966 is stopped by the bolt pulleys 5964 as shown in the figure. This is the uppermost display position of the art sheets 5968.

At this point, the user still continues pulling the ropes 5978 downward. The art sheets 5968 will not change its display position, but instead the spring 5976 will be stretched. Just before reaching to the spring's allowable stretching limit, the user will stop pulling and tie each rope 5978 to a cleat 5980 as shown in the figure.

After the above description of the present art display system 5960, two points need to be made. First, before the extension spring runs out of its spring force, the art sheets 5968 will always display at its uppermost display position. Second, the art sheets are always evenly displayed with no leveling problem. These points, coupled with the present novel sheet holder, and the ability of easy art sheet raising, lowering and replacement, will certainly make the present system one desirable indoor art sheet display choice.

The art sheet display system 5982 disclosed in FIG. 106 is very similar to the display system 5960 shown in FIG. 105 and described above, except for the replacement of the two extension spring 5976 by a different rope extension method described below.

In FIG. 106, the two ropes 5972 and 5974 for hanging the art sheets 5968 will go through the two bolt pulleys 5964 and two other pulleys 5970, which redirect the ropes 5972 and 5974 downward to a control box 5983. Each of these two ropes in the control box will go through two spaced apart pulleys 5982 and is then tied to a cleat 5984.

The back-to-back art sheets 5968 are covered by a clear vinyl sheet 5986 on each side of the art sheets. Just like the art sheets 5968, this clear vinyl sheet, with a size slightly larger than the art sheet, also has several punched holes for it to be mounted on the pegs of the sheet holder 5966. It serves as a good protection to the displayed art sheet, and adds a touch of beauty and surface shine to the overall display.

The sheet holder 5966 and the back-to-back art sheets 5968 are shown held at a lower position ready for art sheet replacement. Such replacement can be done without taking down the sheet holder 5966. Once the two holding plates are opened in sequence, all art sheets and vinyl sheets can be removed for replacement.

Before raising the replaced art sheets for a new display, the user will first remove the ropes 5972 and 5974 away from the cleats 5984. With both ropes pulled downward, the replaced art sheets and the sheet holder 5966 will be raised until stopped by the two bolt pulleys 5964, just like what is shown in FIG. 105. At this point, both ropes 5972 and 5974 can be tied to the cleats 5984. Each of the two idled weights 5988 can be placed on one of the two ropes between the two spaced apart pulleys 5982.

Once placed on the ropes, these weights will stretch the ropes but not change the display location of the art sheets. With time, these ropes will continue taking up the slack in the stretched ropes and always keeping the art sheets displayed at its uppermost display position and leveled.

FIG. 107

Shown in FIG. 107 are several arts that can be displayed in the art display systems of the present invention. All the arts shown in this figure are to be displayed in the present display systems by itself without the need of sheet holders 5614 or the clear vinyl cover 5702. Most of them can be displayed outdoor safely.

FIG. 1007A shows a plastic model 6001 of a Tesla Roadster electric car to be marketed in 2008 by Tesla Motors, California. Such a plastic model can be built by injection molding for the purpose of advertisement, and designed to be displayed on the fixture 5701 shown in FIG. 98.

This plastic model 6001 may have an outer appearance and even size just like a real Tesla Roadster electric car. Two center eyelets 6004 and two side eyelets 6006 are provided for hanging this model on the fixture 5701.

The eyelet holes of the two center eyelets 6004 are of equal height. The two ropes 5620 and 5622, after passing through the two eyelet bolts 5630 or the replaced bolt pulleys 5820, will be tied to these two center eyelets 6004.

The eyelet holes of the two side eyelets 6006 are also of the same height, but lower than that of the other two eyelet holds of the center eyelets 6004. The ropes 5624 and 5626, after passing through the eyelet bolts 5630 or the bolt pulleys 5820 and the two hanging pulleys 5633, are tied to these two eyelet holes of the side eyelets 6006.

After all four ropes 5620, 5622, 5624, and 5626 are tied to the four eyelets 6004 and 6006, the plastic model 6001 is ready to be raised and mounted on the fixture 5701 for display. While two persons are pulling the ropes 5620 and 5622, two other persons can hold the ropes 5624 and 5626 to guide the raising of the plastic model 6001.

It is noted that during the arising, the plastic model 6001 should stay balanced without tilting. But caution is still required to make sure the plastic model will not spin, swing or hit the surrounding building. Finally, the model 6001 will be stopped at its mounted position as both two eyelets 6004 are pressed against the two top eyelet bolts 5630. The persons holding the ropes 5620 and 5622 can now wrap the ropes and tie it to the cleats 5635.

These same two persons will next pick up the two loose ropes 5624 and 5625 in the control box 5634, and start pulling these two ropes. The two hanging pulleys 5633 will roll and rise in response the pulling of these two ropes 5624 and 5626. This arising will finally stop as the hanging pulleys 5633 are sandwiched between the eyelets 6006 and the eyelet bolts 5630. The two ropes 5624 and 5626 can now be wrapped around and tied to the cleats 5635.

At this time all four idled weights 5636 can be placed on the four ropes each between the two spaced apart pulleys 5632 in the control box. This completes the mounting process and the plastic model 6001 is ready for display on the fixture 5701. The stretching of the four ropes 5620, 5622, 5624 and 5626 by the four weights 5636 will assure that the plastic model 6001 always be securely mounted on the fixture 5701, without dangling or swinging while on display.

It is noted that the two bottom horizontal bars 5606 are shorter than the two top horizontal bars 5604. It allows the two lower eyelet bolts 5630 to be positioned closer to the vertical bars than the two upper eyelet bolts 5630. This difference enables the plastic model 6001 to be mounted on the fixture at a balanced position.

The lowering of the plastic model 6001 will be just the reverse of the above stated mounting process. First, the ropes 5624 and 5626 are released to allow the hanging pulleys 5633 to roll down to the ground. The ropes 5620 and 5622 are next loosen to allow the plastic model 6001 to descend slowly while guided by the persons holding the ropes 5624 and 5626.

FIG. 107B shows a 3D sign 6010 commercially available from TurboSquid, LA. Two eyelets 6012 can be attached to this 3D sign 6010 to be hung by the ropes 5972 and 5974 of the display system 5960 shown in FIG. 105, or the display system 5982 shown in FIG. 106, and displayed in an indoor retail store.

The mounting of the 3D sign 6010 is simply by tying the ropes 5972 and 5974 to the eyelets 6012. Pay attention to the leveling of the 3D sign in its suspended position. The raising, lowering and locking of the 3D sign are essentially the same as in the case of the art sheet 5968 and shown in FIGS. 105 and 106 and described above. The use of the extension springs 5976 or the weights 5988 will assure the secured display of the 3D sign 6010 for a long time.

FIG. 107C shows a folded vinyl art sheet 6020 directly printed with art images. The ink used in these images can be UV resistant and suitable for outdoor display.

The folded vinyl art sheet 6020 is shown with four punched holes with grommets 6022 on its four corners. These grommets 6022 will also serve to bind its front sheet and back sheet together.

This art sheet 6020 can be readily mounted on the fixture 5701 of the display system 5700 shown in FIG. 98 or the fixture 5801 of the display system 5800 shown in FIG. 102. For example, in the display system 5700, this art sheet 6020 can be mounted on the fixture 5701 with the use of four hose clamps 5704 and 5628 clamping the holes of the grommets 6022 to the four ropes 5620, 5622, 5624, and 5626. The raising, lowering, and locking of this art sheet 6020 is essentially the same as in the case of the clear vinyl cover 5702 shown in FIG. 98 and described above.

Unlike the clear vinyl cover 5702, this art sheet 6020 doesn't have an enclosed top rod and bottom rod. It purely relies on the fixture 5701 and the four ropes for stretching itself. Its width cannot be extended much beyond the four grommets 6022.

It is possible to have a folded vinyl art sheet with larger width than that of the art sheet 6020. This is achieved by adding more grommets on its top and bottom sides. It will also call for a wider fixture with more ropes for its display.

FIG. 107D shows a folded vinyl art sheet 6030 directly printed with art images. Again, the ink used in these images can be UV resistant and suitable for outer display.

Just like the folded vinyl art sheet 6020 shown in FIG. 107C, this folded vinyl art sheet 6030 also has four grommets 6032. In addition, this art sheet is reinforced by a top rod 6034 and a bottom rod 6036. Consequently, its width can be extended much beyond the four grommets 6032.

The mounting of the art sheet 6030 on the display system 5700 in FIG. 98 or the display system 5800 in FIG. 102 is also the same as that of the art sheet 6020 above described. Obviously, due to its increased width, this art sheet 6030 may also demand a fixture of larger width for its display.

FIG. 107E discloses two advertisement sheets 6040 attached to the front and back sides of a rigid board 6042 using adhesive or other means. Four mounting holes 6044 are provided on the four corners of this rigid board 6042.

The mounting of the art sheet 6040 on the display system 5700 in FIG. 98 or the display system 5800 in FIG. 102 is also the same as that of the art sheet 6020 as above described. But in view of the weight of the rigid board 6042, the two ropes tied to the two top mounting holes 6044 may need to be connected to a motorized rack for raising and lowering this rigid board 6042.

FIGS. 108-109

FIG. 108 discloses another art display system for mounting an outer flat screen TV or monitor for displaying advertisement text and graphic art. The flat screen TV and monitor have been developed recently as a super light, super bright, high definition displaying means. It is proposed that such TV or monitor be mounted on a fixture on the roof or outside wall of a commercial building for showing short video files and/or slide shows for outdoor advertisement.

The first member of this display system 6050 is a fixture 6052. This fixture 6052 is very similar to the fixture 5601 and 5701 as shown in FIGS. 97-98 and described above. The main difference is in the replacement of the eyelet bolt by a novel bolt pulley and adding features for handling the power and signal lines of the TV or monitor.

The present fixture 6052 comprises two long vertical bars 6054, two long horizontal bars 6056, four short horizontal bars 6058, 6060, 6062, 6064, and two side horizontal bars 6066. Mounted on the horizontal bars 6056, 6058, 6060, 6062, 6064 are bolt pulleys 6068, 6070, 6072, 6074, 6076, and 6078, respectively.

FIG. 109 shows a bolt pulley of the present invention, to be used in the fixture 6052, as well as all previously described fixtures, if needed. It is enlarged for better view, and disassembled to reveal its details. This bolt pulleys has three parts. The top part is an upper cover 6080. The middle part is the pulley body 6082. The bottom part is the lower cover 6084, which also includes an integrated bolt 6088. These three parts can be assembled using four screws 6086 into a single bolt pulley.

The assembled bolt pulley has two holes through which a rope can enter. But sometimes, the end of a rope is attached to a bulky component, which is too bulky to enter the holes of the bolt pulley. This could be a snap hook or spring link permanently tied to a rope with a rope clamp, or an AC power plug on the end of a cable. The present bolt pulley can be easily disassembled for the entry of such rope or cable into either one or both holes of this disassembled bolt pulley, and followed by reassembling them into one single pulley.

In the present system 6050, there are two mounting ropes 6090, 6092, two guiding ropes 6094, 6096, passing through four bolt pulleys 6070, 6068, 6072, and 6078, respectively. There are also one power cable 6098, and one signal cable 6100, passing through the bolt pulley 6074 and 6076, respectively. All these ropes and cables will finally enter a control box 6102.

All above-stated ropes and cables, each may go through one or more pulleys 6104 before it finally rests in the control box 6102. But some of these ropes and cables, each may have its end tied to a bulky component, thus preventing it from going through these pulleys 6104. It is thus proposed that each of these pulleys 6104, may also be modified, similar to the bolt pulley shown in FIG. 109, to consist of three parts, disassemblable, and assemblable, to facilitate the entry of these ropes and cables into the pulleys 6104.

In FIG. 108, a TV or monitor 6106 is shown with its backside. Four hooks 6108 are provided to be tied to four ropes 6090, 6092, 6094, and 6096 for supporting this TV or monitor 6106 on the fixture 6052. Some commercially available tilting device may be used to tilt this TV or monitor 6106 downward. In this case some fastening member similar to the hooks 6108 on the tilting device will be needed.

Also shown on the backside of the TV or monitor 6106 are a power receptacle 6110 and a signal receptacle 6112. The power receptacle 6110 is shown connected to the power plug 6114 of the power cable 6098, while the signal receptacle 6112 is shown connected to a signal connector 6116 of the signal cable 6100. It is important that both these connections must be secured by certain restraining features in order to prevent accidental disconnection when the cables 6098 and 6100 are under load.

It is seen in FIG. 108 that there is a hanging pulley 6118 placed on each rope and cable, positioned between the TV or monitor 6106 and the bolt pulleys 6068, 6070, 6072, 6074, 6076, and 6078. Each hanging pulley 6118 will respond to the release of each corresponding rope or cable by rolling itself downward, just like the hanging pulley 5633 in FIG. 102, responding to the releasing of the rope 5624 by rolling itself downward, as described above. In this case, the hanging pulley 5633 will roll all the way down to the ground level so that the rope 5624 will also drop to the hand of the user for guiding the lowering of the clear vinyl cover 5810. For the present case, all the dropping of the six hanging pulleys 6118 will also serve the similar purpose as will be described later. For the purpose of illustration, the rope 6090 holding the hanging pulley 6118 is not connected to the nearby hook 6108, but is rather tied to itself to form a knot 6120. Its use will also be described later.

During the initial construction of the fixture 6052, the worker(s) must be raised to the height of this fixture 6052. In addition to the construction of the fixture 6052, the worker must also complete the installation of all pulleys 6104 and the bolt pulleys 6068, 6070, 6072, 6074, 6076, 6078, and feed all four ropes 6090, 6092, 6094, 6096, and two cables 6098, 6100 all the way from the control box 6102 to the point beyond each corresponding bolt pulley. In the next step, he needs to feed the end of each of the four ropes 6090, 6092, 6094, 6096 through a hanging pulley 6118 and tie the end of this rope to form a knot, just like the knot 6120 illustrated in FIG. 108 and described above. He also needs to feed each end of the cables 6098 and 6100 through one hanging pulley 6118. A knot may also be needed for each cable unless the power plug 6114 and the signal plug 6116 are bulky enough and not escapable through the holes of the hanging pulley 6118. After completion of all above work, the worker may come down and never have to climb higher up there again.

At this point, the present display system can be considered entering an initial idle stage. During this stage, the preparation work has been completed. But the display system has not been put to use for displaying an art or the TV or monitor 6106.

It is true that all other display systems, especially the system 5600, 5700, and 5800 shown in FIGS. 97, 98, and 102, each also has gone through an initial idle stage. But this initial idle stage may be very short, and each display system is soon employed for mounting and displaying an art sheet. During this initial idle stage, there is no need to tie each loose end of the four ropes to itself to form a knot, and carry a hanging pulley and suspend it in mid air, similar to what is shown by the hanging pulley 6118 attached to the rope 6090 shown in FIG. 108.

Just prior to the completion of the construction of the fixture of each display system, and the worker(s) is still raised at the height of the fixture, he can pull the loose end of each rope down to the ground level and leave it there during the subsequent short initial idle stage. At the end of this stage, each art sheet, along with the accompanied sheet holder 5614 or the vinyl cover 5702 or 5810, is tied to the four ropes available at the ground level. Now the art sheet can be raised by hand pulling the two upper ropes, while the two lower ropes are hand held to guide the raising of the art sheet. Once the art sheet is pulled to its mounting position, the two lower ropes will then be pulled to secure the art sheet to the fixture. It is seen in FIGS. 97, 98, 102 that there is no hanging pulley needed for the two upper ropes, but such hanging pulleys are still needed to be placed on the two lower ropes.

Now the TV or monitor 6106 is taken to the site and ready to be mounted on the fixture 6052. The first step to do is to release all four ropes 6090, 6092, 6094, 6096 and two cables 6098, 6100, to allow all six corresponding hanging pulleys 6118 to roll down to the ground. This will also bring all above four ropes and cables to the ground. The four knots 6120 on the four ropes can now be loosen and tied to the four hooks 6108. The power plug 6114 and the signal connector 6116 are next connected to the power receptacle 6110 and the signal receptacle 6112, respectively.

The users near the control box 6102 can now pull the two ropes 6090 and 6092 to slowly raise the TV or monitor 6106. At the same time two persons will hold the other two ropes 6094 and 6096 near the TV or monitor 6106 to guide the raising of the TV or monitor 6106, making sure it will rise steadily without spinning or hitting the surrounding building. Finally the TV or monitor will be stopped with the two hanging pulleys 6118 neatly sandwiched between the TV or monitor and the bolt pulleys 6068 and 6070. The two users will next wrap and tighten the ropes 6090 and 6092 around the two cleats 5635, and then place two weights 5636 on these two ropes.

The next step to do is for the users near the control box 6102 to pull the two ropes 6094 and 6096 to raise the two hanging pulleys 6118 until these two pulleys are sandwiched between the TV or monitor and the bolt pulleys 6072 and 6078. The users will then wrap and tighten the ropes 6094 and 6096 around the two cleats 5635, and then place the remaining two weights 5636 on these two ropes. This completes the mounting of the TV or monitor on the fixture 6052 by securely holding it on the four anchoring points.

There are still more work to do after mounting the TV or monitor, because at this time the two cables 6098 and 6100 as well as the two connected hanging pulleys 6118 are still laying on the ground. It is just a matter of pulling these two cables and raising the two hanging pulleys 6118 up to a recessed position next to the bolt pulleys 6074 and 6076. The excess portion of these two cables can be gently wrapped around the two cleats 5636 nearby. There is no need to force or stretch these two cables because these two cables are not needed for supporting the TV or monitor, and just to be sure the hanging pulleys 6118 will stay close to the two bolt pulleys.

The bottom ends of these two cables are seen plugged into a computer 6122 which will supply the power and programmed video and/or picture signal to the TV or monitor 6106. This computer is seen placed in the control box 6102 only for the sake of illustration. In reality, this computer is more likely placed on an office desktop along with a monitor and associated devices. The TV or monitor 6106 is simply served as a second monitor to this computer.

Compared with a static advertisement picture, this TV or monitor 6106 may display more vivid and dynamic advertisement message. If this TV or monitor is located at a busy city intersection with frequent stopped cars, or in a shopping area with many pedestrian, the owner of this TV or monitor may even consider selling its advertisement time to many business.

This TV or monitor 6106 can be easily lowered for service or replacement by an advertisement sheet. The first step to do is to release the ropes 6094, 6096 and the cables 6098, 6100 to lower the four connected hanging pulleys 6118 to the ground. The next step is to release the ropes 6090 and 6092 to lower the TV or monitor 6106, while hand holding the ropes 6094 and 6096 for guiding the lowering of the TV or monitor 6106. If the cables 6098 and 6100 are no longer needed, the power plug 6114 and signal connector 6116 can be disconnected and raised and stored at their recessed position.

It is interesting to note that the ropes 6090, 6092, 6094, and 6096 are shown as four independent ropes. But it is possible to merge any two of them together as one rope, while merge together the other two as another rope. These merging will happen inside the control box 6102 without reducing the length of the ropes, and without affecting the operation of all ropes for raising and lowering the TV or monitor 6106.

Claims

1. An art sheet display system for displaying an art sheet, comprising:

(A) a sheet holder, having (a) a base, (b) a holding member rotatable with respect to said base, and (c) two spaced apart extension springs for toggling said holding member between (i) a closed position for holding said art sheet, and (ii) an open position for mounting or removing said art sheet.

2. The art sheet display system of claim 1, in which said base includes two pegs for holding said art sheet.

3. The art sheet display system of claim 2, in which said base includes a resilient groove engageable with said holding member for holding said art sheet.

4. The art sheet display system of claim 1, in which said base includes a board.

5. The art sheet display system of claim 1, in which said holding member includes an elongated angle plate.

6. The art sheet display system of claim 1, also comprising: (B) a fixture, and

(c) a rope hanging said sheet holder on said fixture, for (a) raising said art sheet to a first position for displaying said art sheet, and (b) lowering said art sheet to a second position for removing said art sheet.

7. An art display system, comprising:

(A) an art,

(B) a fixture, and

(C) mounting means for (a) raising said art to a mounted position for mounting said art to said fixture, and (b) lowering said art to a reachable position for removing said art.

8. The art display system of claim 7 also comprising:

(D) a first guiding rope for hand guiding the raising and lowering of said art, said first guiding rope having (a) a front portion tied to said art, and (b) a back portion pullable for holding said art at said mounted position, and releaseable for lowering a portion of said first guiding rope to said reachable position, while keeping said art at said mounted position.

9. The art display system of claim 7 also comprising:

(D) a first movable weight, and

(E) a first guiding rope for hand guiding the raising and lowering of said art, said first guiding rope having (a) a front portion tied to said art, and (b) a back portion (i) pullable for holding said art and said first movable weight at said mounted position, and (ii) releaseable for lowering said first movable weight and a portion of said first guiding rope to said reachable position, while keeping said art at said mounted position.

10. The art display system of claim 9, in which said first movable weight is a first pulley.

11. The art display system of claim 7, in which said mounting means includes a mounting rope.

12. The art display system of claim 11, also comprising:

(D) an extension spring for maintaining said art at said mounted position.

13. The art display system of claim 12, in which said extension spring is attached to said mounting rope.

14. The art display system of claim 13, in which said fixture includes a flagpole.

15. The art display system of claim 11, also comprising:

(D) a stretching weight for maintaining said art at said mounted position.

16. The art display system of claim 15 in which said stretching weight is placed on a horizontally positioned section of said mounting rope.

17. The art display system of claim 11, in which said art includes an art sheet having two mounting holes engageable with said mounting rope for raising and lowering said art sheet.

18. The art display system of claim 11, in which said art includes a computer monitor engageable with said mounting rope for raising and lowering said computer monitor.

19. The art display system of claim 11, also comprising:

(D) a sheet holder (a) for removably holding said art in said sheet holder, and (b) engageable with said mounting rope for hanging said art on said fixture.

20. The art display system of claim 18, in which said sheet holder includes a foldable clear cover for holding said art inside said clear cover.