Compartmentalized micromagnet display device

Abstract

A device adapted to provide a visual display under the influence of an exterior magnetic field which comprises a plurality of rotatable, multi-colored, non-magnetically interactive, permanently magnetized micromagnets disposed in a cavity within a body having a transparent surface and a plurality of relatively small compartments within the cavity. The device is illustrated by a sheet containing such micromagnets between the thin cavity of the front and rear surfaces of the sheet where the relatively even dispersion of the micromagnets in the sheet is maintained by such compartments whose barriers minimize displacement so that physical pressure exerted on the sheet, such as by a twist or flex, does not substantially alter the even dispersion of the micromagnets. In an embodiment, the visual display device is a sheet, preferably a substantially transparent or invisible polymer sheet, containing relatively small compartments therein which have cellular and/or structural barriers which prevent substantial displacement therefrom by holding in such compartments rotatable micromagnets which are surrounded with a suspension or carrier fluid which allows such rotation. In the preferred embodiment the suspension or carrier fluid is thixotropic.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.