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US 4,005,535 AGranted
Progressively revealed display
OwnerJames F. Davisinventor
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
The display has a mask positioned in front of it so that an opaque part of the mask prevents viewing the display. There may be several masks for different parts of the display. The masks are preferably in the form of tapes having opaque and transparent areas. The tape-masks are intermittently and/or sequentially moved to progressively reveal the display. The display may consist of one or more lines of pictorial, textual, or three-dimensional matter.
Claims15
A device for progressively revealing a display comprising:
- a display having a viewable face;
- a stationary mask defining viewable areas of said face;
- first and second movable masks, each said movable mask having an opaque area and a clear area selectively positioned in front of the viewable face of said display, each said mask being movable across the face of said display, said masks being positioned adjacent each other and movable to cover and reveal adjacent portions of said display;
- and
- means connected to said movable masks for moving each said mask from a position wherein said opaque portion of each said mask is in front of said display, across said face so that said clear portion of said mask is in front of said face of said display so that said display is progressively revealed, said means for moving said mask comprising means for sequentially moving said first mask while said second mask is substantially stationary so that said first mask first progressively reveals a first one of said viewable areas of said display, and then moving said second mask while said first mask is substantially stationary so that said second mask progressively reveals a second one of said viewable areas of said display.
2 more elements
A device for progressively revealing
- a display comprising:
- a housing adapted to receive a display;
- a window in the front of said housing through which the progressive revealing of such viewable areas of said display can be viewed;
- a stationary mask defining at least first and second viewable areas of said display;
- at least first and second mask-tapes positioned within said housing and lying next to each other in substantially side-by-side relationship corresponding to said viewable areas, each of said mask-tapes having an active area positioned beneath said window, and each of said tapes having a transparent section and an opaque section longitudinally along the length of each of said tapes, said transparent section of said opaque section each being at least as long as the corresponding viewable area, said mask-tapes each being continuous and lying between said window and the display so that motion of the tapes causes the opaque section to be moved away from the window and the transparent section to be moved into the viewable area at said window to cause progressive revealing of said display, and sequential operation of said first and second tapes causes sequential revealing of said first and second viewable areas of said display;
- and
- motive means for sequentially and intermittently moving said tapes.
4 more elements
A device for progressively revealing a display comprising:
- a housing adapted to receive a display;
- a window in the front of said housing through which the progressive revealing of such viewable areas of said display can be viewed;
- a stationary mask defining at least first and second viewable areas of said display;
- at least first and second mask-tapes positioned within said housing and lying next to each other in substantially side-by-side relationship corresponding to said viewable areas, each of said mask-tapes having an active area positioned beneath said window, and each of said tapes having a transparent section and an opaque section longitudinally along the length of each of said tapes, said transparent section and said opaque section each being at least as long as the corresponding viewable area, said mask-tapes each being continuous and lying between said window and the display so that motion of the tapes causes the opaque section to be moved away from the window and the transparent section to be moved into the viewable area at said window to cause progressive revealing of said display, and sequential operation of said first and second tapes causes sequential revealing of said first and second viewable areas of said display;
- motive means for sequentially and intermittently moving said tapes, said motive means including a motor, first and second drive gears driven by said motor, first and second timing belts respectively driven by said first and second gears, said timing belts having a toothed interior surface for engagement with said first and second gears and each having an exterior toothed section extending only partly along the exterior circumference of said timing belts, and exterior teeth causing sequential intermittent motion of said first and second tapes;
- said exterior teeth on said first and second timing belts being positioned at different segments along the exterior circumference of said first and second timing belts so that said first and second timing belts sequentially drive said first and second mask-tapes;
- and
- first and second sprocketed rollers connected to be driven by first and second gears and exterior teeth on said timing belts respectively engage said first and second gears to intermittently drive the first and second sprocketed rollers, said first and second mask-tapes being respectively driven by said first and second sprocketed rollers.
5 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.