Abstract: A changeable scrolling web sign for selectively displaying a variety of menu items and pricing information in a viewing window includes a scrolling web adapted to receive interchangeable information panels. The mounts for mounting the information panels on the web permits the information panels to move relative to the web in a direction substantially parallel to the scrolling direction of the web for permitting the web and panels to be wound on and paid out from cylindrical take-up rolls. A cover is placed over the information panel when positioned in the viewing window of the menu board for maintaining the information panel in a flat, planar viewing position. The sliding movement permitted between the information panel and the web accommodates the varying radii created as the web and information panel are wound on and unwound from the web take-up rolls. The scrolling web sign is adapted to be backlighted to enhance the aesthetics of the display.

Abstract: A tape display device comprises a housing supporting a pair of parallel rollers between which a tape is adapted to be wound back and forth to display different visual information contained on the tape. The rollers are driven by a continuous belt via an electric motor. One of the rollers is a tension roller which maintains tension in the tape as it is wound back and forth between the rollers. The tension roller consists of a cylinder having end caps for providing bearing surfaces which bear on respective bushes in the housing to provide rotational mounting of the roller. A drive pinion on the outside of the housing has a stub-axle which extends through the bush and end cap and into the cylinder. A spiral tension spring is attached between the end of the stub-axle and a flange of the end cap.

Abstract: An information board includes display bands having information printed thereon mounted on wind-up rolls, the wind-up rolls being mounted on an axle. A wind-up motor is used to rotate the axle when the motor is rotated in a first direction to wind-up a display band, thereby changing the information shown on the display band. The information board further includes a mechanism which changes the rotational motion of the motor, when rotated in the opposite direction, to axial motion for moving the axle axially. Coupling elements are mounted on the axle to engage a selected wind-up roll when the axle is moved in the axial direction.

Abstract: A poster display apparatus winds a film carrying the posters between spools. The surface speeds of rotation of the spools are equalized by a rising and falling weight carried by a cord interconnecting pulleys carried by the spool axles.

Abstract: An information display system is disclosed having a housing with a viewing window. An elongated flexible sheet is contained within the housing and a plurality of discrete visual messages are provided at longitudinal spaced intervals along the sheet while a controllable motor is mechanically drivenly connected with the sheet to control the position of the sheet. A coded index is also associated with each discrete visual message on the sheet. A microprocessor based central control unit receives input from a user via a keyboard of the desired visual message to be displayed through the housing window. After the user inputs the desired message, the control unit outputs control signals to a motor control module associated with the controllable motor. The motor control module decodes the output signal and then selectively activates the controllable motor in the housing to change the positioning of the sheet until the desired or target visual message is positioned in alignment with the housing viewing window.

Abstract: A display module for displaying advertising images, is provided. The module may be independent or may constitute one of the elements in a display assembly. The module has a housing having an opening in its front face and a movable strip of images behind the opening in the front face. The strip is moved by two horizontal cylinders which are individually driven by two drive motors arranged between the cylinders and controlled by a control unit. The housing includes framework located close to its back face. The module is compact and light in weight for a large area of window. A removable stretcher is inside the module and is accessible through the opening because the strip is made up of a plurality of elements interconnected by slider fastening means. The display module has supports and handles so that it can stand alone and can be easily carried.

Abstract: A device for displaying a scrollable banner wherein the single banner pick-up roller used in prior art devices is replaced by a multi-roller spool. Each multi-roller spool comprises at least two rollers connected with spool belts which define a winding area much longer than that of any single roller. The spools are rotatably mounted within a display housing. Motors drive the multi-roller spools. Additional features include: convex style crowned pulleys for automatically centering each of the spool belts, a centrally located roller separator mechanism which gives a convex crown structure to the entire spool itself whereby the banner is automatically centered, and a display housing of far reduced depth.

Abstract: A scroll displaying mechanism suitable for use in moving advertising displays, chart recorders and tape readers uses a pair of D.C. motors wired to operate under slightly different speed-controlling voltages in order to maintain the displayed part of the scroll between two rollers taut. A simple belt and pulley drive mechanism for each roller assures quiet and vibration-free operation. The viewing time between frame-advance and the scroll direction reversal are controlled by detection of different length markers positioned along one edge of the scroll. Also disclosed is a simple, easily assembled and disassembled display apparatus which allows both vertical and horizontal adjustment of the size of the viewing window frame.

Abstract: A device comprising a box having a transparent wall illuminated from the inside. The advertisements are joined to form a single flexible strip support which is wound and unwound between two parallel rollers. One of the rollers is fitted removably to the frame of the device, for enabling the support to be changed, and is rotated intermittently by an electric geared motor. The other roller is rotated by a torsion spring which provides for constantly tensioning the support.

Abstract: An illuminated advertising media display assembly comprising an elongated group of viewing modules through which to display advertising indicia. An elongated, translucent banner is adapted to be horizontally scrolled between a pair of drive rollers. The banner includes a plurality of receiving enclosures adapted to compactly store translucent advertising media. Each module is bounded by a pair of idler rollers for orienting the banner and advertising media into position with respect to the viewing aperture. A pair of modules are pivotable with respect to the supporting assembly to provide access to the interior of the enclosure formed by the modules and for changing the visual orientation of a viewing aperture relative to an adjacent module. When the drive rollers are rotated, the banner will be dynamically scrolled from one to the other, each advertisement being sequentially visible at the adjacent viewing apertures.

Abstract: A display sign for use on vehicles such as taxis and the like, includes dispensing and takeup rollers containing a strip of material having a series of advertising and/or other messages thereon. The housing for the device has a three dimensional planform, with the advertising display strip being installed immediately within the transparent peripheral sides of the device and thereby providing for the omnidirectional display of messages on the display strip. At least one motor provides power for the takeup and dispensing reels, allowing the device to display a series of messages from one end of the rolled display strip to the other, before being reversed. An automated timer device may be included to cause the display strip to pause intermittently, thereby allowing a message displayed thereon to be communicated to viewers. The device may include internal illumination and a translucent display strip to provide for the backlighting of the messages.

Abstract: A changeable scrolling web sign for selectively displaying a variety of menu items and pricing information in a viewing window includes a scrolling web adapted to receive interchangeable information panels. The mounts for mounting the information panels on the web permits the information panels to move relative to the web in a direction substantially parallel to the scrolling direction of the web for permitting the web and panels to be wound on and paid out from cylindrical take-up rolls. A cover is placed over the information panel when positioned in the viewing window of the menu board for maintaining the information panel in a flat, planar viewing position. The sliding movement permitted between the information panel and the web accommodates the varying radii created as the web and information panel are wound on and unwound from the web take-up rolls. The scrolling web sign is adapted to be backlighted to enhance the aesthetics of the display.

Abstract: A public display apparatus that provides a relatively large, high-quality visual image by using a sheet of flexible transparent material with high-quality images on it suspended between a driven roller and a tension roller inside a container body. The rollers are parallel with a distance between them creating a display area. A driving source is connected to the driven roller to rotate the driven roller and move a sheet with the images either forward or backward. A tension source is connected to a tension roller to maintain the tautness of the sheet with high-quality images and the visual images distortion free.

Abstract: A scrolling sign apparatus is suitable for incorporation in existing sign enclosures. Brackets are inserted in the enclosure. A web and web roll assembly is removably fastened to the brackets. The web and web roll assembly include a pair of spaced web rolls with a web extending between them. The web may extend between a pair of transparent sheets for displaying graphic or alpha-numeric information provided on the web. The information may be provided on separate sheets that are taped to the web. Or an inner transparent sheet is mounted in the module behind the web. Guide flanges are mounted on the other side of the web to form a gap through which the web extends between the rolls. The gap has a narrowed portion along the path. The slack occurring in the sheets when said panel appears in the window is forced to the ends of the panel by the narrowed portion of the gap, thereby to present a highly aesthetic appearance to the sign.

Abstract: A numeral display device having at least one visible face. Each segment of the device has a transparent outer pane and a spaced, parallel inner pane forming a pocket, a first portion of the pocket being aligned with and visible through an opening in the face. A flexible film is received in each pocket. A mechanism is provided to insert and withdraw each film from the first portion of each pocket so that each segment will either contrast with or match the face.

Abstract: A numeral display device having at least one visible face. Each segment of the device has a transparent outer pane and a spaced, parallel inner pane forming a pocket, a first portion of the pocket being aligned with and visible through an opening in the face. A flexible film is received in each pocket. A mechanism is provided to insert and withdraw each film from the first portion of each pocket so that each segment will either contrast with or match the face.

Abstract: A scrolling display device which includes a first roller mechanism and a second roller mechanism opposed to each other with a web display extending between the roller mechanisms. A first motor drivingly engages with the first roller mechanism to rotate the first roller mechanism and wind the web thereupon. A second motor drivingly engages with the second roller mechanism to rotate the second roller mechanism and wind the web thereupon. A first brake mechanism is provided for the first motor and a second brake mechanism is provided for the second motor.

Abstract: A supporting assembly including a first and second reel defining a transport path therebetween of a transport band mounted rotatably on the reels. The first roller and a second rollers are bridged by an endless band spanning the rollers and movable in concert with the transport band. The transport band is provided with transverse, parallel clamps which serve to releasably retain a poster.

Abstract: A scrolling sign apparatus is suitable for incorporation in existing sign enclosures. Brackets are inserted in the enclosure. A web and web roll assembly is removably fastened to the brackets. The web and web roll assembly includes a pair of spaced web rolls with a web extending between them. The web may extend between a pair of transparent sheets for displaying graphic or alpha-numeric information provided on the web. The information may be provided on separate sheets that are taped to the web.

Abstract: A sign composed of modules mounted adjacent each other. Each module having laterally spaced apart side wall members and a pair of longitudinally spaced apart parallel rollers mounted between the side wall members for rotating. Opposite end portions of a web containing a series of indicia are wound on the rollers, respectively, such that a selected indicia can be positioned in viewing position by winding web on one roller while unwinding it on the other roller. There are motor means mounted inside of each of the rollers for rotating the rollers to translate the web. In the depicted embodiment, an electric motor means is mounted inside of one of the rollers and a constant force spring motor means is mounted on the inside of the other of the rollers. The motors oppose each other in such a way that the web is maintained taut between them.

Abstract: An improved guide means suitable for use in a scrolling sign having an internal frame work and a sign face with a window in which indicia may appear. A web containing serial indicia is wound on web rolls. The web extends along a path between the web rolls and across the window for selectively displaying indicia on the window as the web is unwound and rewound on the rolls by a motor. The guide means includes a pair of plate-like guide members lying normal to the path of the web and spaced along the path. The guide members receive the web, at least along their edges so that the web extends between the guide members and across the window in the sign face and may contain baffles to eliminate light leaks. The guide members may be formed of translucent or transparent material to avoid shadows on the sign face. A brace member and adjustment bar may extend between the guide members.

Abstract: The invention relates to a device for the display of advertising messages which comprises two rollers 7, 8 for winding and unwinding a flexible member (9), such as a sheet which bears advertising messages which can be seen through a front screen, within a body (1) with a transparent front screen (3) which is illuminated from the rear. Each roller (7,8) is driven by a transmission which includes an idling wheel (15, 16, 25, 26) so that when one roller winds up the flexible member the other roller idles thus permitting unwinding of the said member (9).

Abstract: A portable telescopingly collapsible map holder apparatus is set forth. An upper casing rotatably secures a first end of a secured map wherein a lower casing rotatably secures the other end of said map. The included map between the casings is selectively rotatably positionable, either manually or by electric motors, to present various portions of the included map between the upper and lower casings. An adapter engageable into a conventional automotive cigarette lighter socket is utilized for providing power for the motors secured within the upper and lower casings. The map holder apparatus has included suction means for securement of the apparatus to and automotive window to provide light for enhanced illumination of the included map.

Abstract: The display (12) comprises a band carrying a series of visual items of information and held taut between two rolls (5, 9) onto which it is rolled, the rolls being parallel to each other and rotatively mounted in a frame (1), and a synchronous driving mechanism (18) for the two rolls. The driving mechanism comprises a toothed belt or chain (21) driven by a motor (19) and cooperating with a first sprocket wheel (22) keyed on the first roll (5) and a second sprocket wheel (23) freely rotatable on the second roll (9) and connected to the latter by elastically yieldable means (25) for compensating for the tension of the band as a function of the variation in the diameter of the roll resulting from the rolling up of the band.

Abstract: A scrolling sign has a sign face member with windows in which indicia appear. A framework is mounted proximate the interior surface of the sign face member. A pair of shafts are mounted on the framework to contain a plurality of web rolls between which webs containing indicia extend. Guides adjacent the windows guides the web and prevent light leaks. The guides are so formed as to avoid shadows on the sign face member. A drive mechanism simultaneously rotates the shafts. Clutches, interposed between the web rolls and the shafts, are selectively operable to move the webs in one or the other direction across the window to alter the displayed indicia. A constantly applied differential brake is also coupled to said web rolls to maintain tension on the webs and to assist in their movement.

Abstract: An image projection system is provided for projecting and displaying images at billboard or signboard scale in which a building display window defines the display aperture or viewing aperture of the image projection system for viewing projected images from outside the building. A deployable and retractible rear projection screen is positioned for deployment in the display aperture adjacent to the display window. A first timer is adjusted to actuate a screen motor and deploy the screen after daylight hours and actuate an image projector. Optical elements establish the focal plane of the projector at the display window aperture. A second timer sequentially advances the image projector for projection of sequential still images on the rear projection screen during selected time intervals of sufficient duration to avoid objectionable or distracting motion effects to viewers outside the building.

Abstract: A device having a housing with two columns of windows and a date window adjacent the top window of one of the columns. A roll of paper is disposed within the housing, with the opposed ends of the paper fixed to separate shafts. The shafts are rotatably connected to the housing and rotation of the shaft moves the midportion of the roll of paper past the windows. An end of each shaft protrudes from the housing to permit manual rotation of the shafts, and the opposed end of one shaft is fitted with an end member. The end member has a conical nose and radially outwardly extending projections. Adjacent to the end member is a clock having a bar attached to the hour shaft for rotation therewith. The bar has a sufficient length to contact the projections of the end member, thereby causing the paper to move from one shaft toward the other.

Abstract: An apparatus and method of storing sheets of film-like material has a substrate which is wound and unwound from two rollers. An exposed portion of the substrate extends between the two rollers. A sheet to be stored is placed on the exposed portion of the substrate. The substrate is then further wound onto one of the rollers and unwound from the other roller. A counter determines the portion of the substrate upon which the sheet is stored by counting the revolutions of a counting roller and accumulating a storage count. To retrieve a stored sheet, the substrate is unwound from the roller upon which it was wound when the sheet was stored until the portion of the substrate upon which the stored sheet was placed is exposed. A counter counts the revolutions of the counting roller and causes the unwinding to cease when the storage count determined when the sheet was stored is reached. A bed is urged upwardly against the rollers to maintain tension on the substrate as it is wound and unwound.

Abstract: A large sign mounted high on a supporting pole, tower or building is provided with changeable figure sections. Each changeable figure section includes an upper motor driven roller and a lower motor driven roller and an elongate panel of flexible material having digits 0 to 9 thereon with opposite ends of the panel fixed to and rollable on the respective rollers. A three wire motor control system is provided for each changeable figure section that extends therefrom to the ground and on to a remote location with a two way switch where the operator can watch the sign changes he is making. This makes it easier and safer for a person to change letters and numbers on billboards that are dangerous and/or inaccessable to climb up on and work on particularly with a sign high in the air facing the elements.

Abstract: A perpetual calendar, particularly a perpetual calendar that can be electrically operated to show the date, the week-day, and the month. The calendar comprises a round wheel or case driven by a gear to rotate one cycle per 24 hours, and the peripheral edge of the round case has a cam for contacting a micro-switch which can trigger a circuit to drive a motor for rotating an eccentric wheel. A retractable rod can be driven by a pin on the eccentric wheel and move downwards to pull the date pulling rod and the week-day pulling rod downwards, and then a ratchet wheel will be driven to rotate, and a positioning piece in the notch of the ratchet wheel will cause the loose-leaves showing date and week-day to advance.

Abstract: A scroll apparatus formed as a box-like framework with a front view area which houses a pair of rollers upon which a message web is wound in a scroll manner such that an exposed portion of the web extends between the rollers along the view area. A drive strap has each of its opposite ends fixed to a respective roller with its respective end portions each wrapped about itself in a circumferential direction opposite the direction that the message web is wound about the associated roller. The drive strap and web thus form a loop drive assembly for the rollers. Tensioning structure is provided for the drive assembly to keep the web taut and to remove slack due to variations in winding diameters. A color panel is positioned adjacent the message web on a side thereof opposite the view area, and the apparatus is internally lit so that the message web is illuminated by light passing through the color panel. Several apparatus, in modular form, may be used to construct a larger display sign.

Abstract: Improved apparatus is provided for examining large quantities of documents and, particularly, x-rays, positioned in front of a viewing station. The present invention utilizes an elongate sheet of plastic which can be power controlled to move in a generally horizontal direction across the viewing station. In the area of the viewing station, the plastic sheet is tilted backward, so that gravity assists in retaining the documents on the plastic sheet. Novel means are provided for retaining the film on the plastic sheet between the idler rollers and drums. Improved methods are disclosed herein for viewing large quantities of documents such as x-rays.

Abstract: The invention relates to a viewer for reading and/or displaying information recorded on written or printed tape.The viewer includes a supporting housing formed with two seats for removably accommodating two motor-driven rotatable spools or reels, one of which carries a roll of written or printed tape material, e.g. paper, wound thereon, the other being adapted to rewind the tape as it unwinds from the first reel. The tape winding/unwinding on/from the reels is controlled by a drive circuitry for operation by the user, e.g. through a push-button control. Above the tape portion extending between the two reels, there is arranged a magnifying lens for reading the information on the tape. Advantageously, the reel-accommodating seats are located on a drawer structure, which facilitates removal and replacement of the reels.The viewer may be connected to a recorder to create an audio-visual didactic aid therewith.

Abstract: A viewing device for X-ray films or the like automatically masks the areas of the viewing screen not in registry with the film to be viewed responsive to the insertion of a film. The device includes a dimension sensing mechanism which aligns a selected mask with a positioned film automatically in accordance with the sensed dimension.

Abstract: A present position display device suitable for use on automobiles or the like vehicles, having a head member provided with a light-emitting element and a light-receiving element; a driving mechanism for driving the head member in the directions of an X and Y-axes; a mechanism for rotationally driving the driving mechanism; a sheet pack detachably mounted in the vicinity of and in parallel with the plane of movement of the head member; and a map transferrably disposed in the sheet pack; whereby the present position of the vehicle is indicated by the light coming from the light-emitting element on the map. Means are provided to read codes of specific positions marked on the map and to make an indication of the specific position as desired.

Abstract: Briefly, a preferred embodiment of the present invention includes an electronic gaming apparatus including an outer housing having a front panel hingedly attached to form a housing closure. The outer surface of the front panel provides a playing surface including windows which various indicators may be viewed and switches enabling player interaction. The rear side of the front panel is in the form of a printed circuit board including a network of printed circuit conductors disposed thereon. Also affixed to the rear side of the first panel and supported thereby are various switches, electronic components, indicators, lights and facsimile display modules, all of which are electrically interconnected by means of the printed circuit conductors. The facsimile display modules each include a pair of web carrying reels which are reversibly driven by a single reversible motor and a coil spring for maintaining constant tension in the web as it is wound and unwound upon the respective reels.

Abstract: A control system utilizing prerecorded photographic film in a miniature mage terminal device as both a display and memory medium for applications requiring interactive operator processing of rigidly structured messages, and particularly, from lists of allowable multiple choice entries.

Abstract: A manual and power motivated drive apparatus, wherein a web is advanced by a drive means, such as a motor comprises; a driven means mounted on an output shaft coupled to the drive means; a manually rotatable input shaft; a first motion transmission means mounted on the input shaft; and a second intermediate motion transmission means engaging the first transmission means and rockable about the input shaft upon the rotation of the first transmission means. The second transmission means is rocked about the input shaft upon rotation thereof in a manner to be brought into engagement with the driven means, whereby the driving force of the input shaft is transmitted by way of the first and second transmission means and the driven means to the output shaft.

Abstract: This device is of the type comprising a frame and two rollers which are mounted to rotate on the frame, about parallel axes. The band is fixed at both ends to the rollers. Means for driving in rotation at least one of the rollers and means for regulating the tension of the band between the rollers are provided. The means for driving in rotation are constantly engaged with the corresponding roller and means for regulating the tension of the band are means for relaxing the tension of the active part of the driving means and means for simultaneously increasing the tension of the passive part of the driving means.

Abstract: A device for displaying the definition of words listed alphabetically in sequence on a continuous roll of tape. The tape is rolled past a display window between two rollers each linked by a belt to a reversible motor. A cursor is externally slidably mounted on the housing so as to travel under manual pressure transversely to the direction of travel of the tape, with an electrical contact brush internally mounted to the cursor above the tape which makes contact with a metal idler roller under the tape when the cursor is positioned so that the brush passes through a hole in the tape. A hole is located in the tape at the beginning of each set of words of each letter of the alphabet, with the transverse location of such holes corresponding to markings on the housing to which the cursor may be aligned.

Abstract: A machine is provided for use by draftsmen, illustrators and artists in making various axonometric or three dimensional drawings, such as isometric, dimetric, trimetric as well as perspective views. The machine includes a flat working surface which supports drafting paper or the like placed thereon. Provided along the borders of the working surface and visible to the draftsman are changeable construction guide lines along with ellipse angle selection data by use of which the draftsman may prepare various types of three dimensional views. The construction guide reference lines in one embodiment are provided by means of a printed chart on a roll which moves under the working surface, and by moving the chart in one direction or the other the reference lines may be moved according to the requirements of the drawing to be made.

Abstract: A changeable printed alphanumeric display module is disclosed for displaying one character at a time in a viewing window. Each tape of a set of tapes is printed on both front and back surfaces with character segments and is connected between a driving roller and a driven roller in a manner to display one front surface segment and one back surface segment at a time. The tape segments which carry the respective character segments are progressively longer from one end of the tape to the other and the set of tape segments which are displayed together in the window all bear different character segments of the same character so that an entire character is displayed. All tapes in the set are driven in unison to successively present the character segments of each tape in registry with respective window segments.

Abstract: This display panel for a plurality of posters to be displayed sequentially comprises a pair of spools, namely a feed spool and a take-up spool, and drive means for causing each spool to become by turns the feed spool and the take-up spool, and means for automatically correcting the lateral shift of the poster band by reducing the tension exerted on the paper on the side opposite the buckling side, or, in other words, for creating on the side opposite said observed buckling another compensating effect buckling so as to change the orientation of said shift, which in any case is detected by means known per se; the correction means are such that they modify the inclination of one spool in relation to the other in the poster plane in order to reduce the distance between the axes of the two spools on the side opposite the buckling of said poster band which is due to a reduction in the paper tension.

Abstract: A readout cassette comprises a preferably two-part plastic casing in which two coil shafts are rotatably mounted. The coil shafts serve to receive a thin paper web or the like printed on at least one side. The web is unwrappable manually by means of a rotary knob or through the intermediary of an electric drive from one coil shaft to the other and vice versa in opposite directions behind two readout panels. The readout panels consist of a highly transparent plastic material and cover viewing apertures provided on the front and rear sides of the casing.

Abstract: A sign cabinet having a scroll movably mounted on rollers for movement past a display opening in the cabinet. A torsion spring acts on one of the rollers to compensate for differences in the rate of movement of the scroll at the two rollers. An electronic control circuit automatically senses the position of the scroll and is actuated by the position information for controlling the operation of the scroll. The modes of operation include: continuously moving back and forth between preselected end points within the scroll; moving back and forth within a predetermined section within the end points, stopping at preselected frames within the section; and, advancing from one frame or section to another.

Abstract: A changeable alphanumeric sign with printed characters is disclosed. The sign is universally changeable in the sense that any combination of alphanumeric characters may be displayed by selectively positioning a set of display tapes in each character window. Each set of tapes forms a broken-character display in the respective character window and all character windows are independently controlled to form a broken-word display. This arrangement minimizes the length of display tapes required. An open-loop positioning system is provided whereby all sets of tapes are concurrently but independently positioned to change the characters of the sign.