Speech prompter

#1. Field of the Invention

#The field of art to which this invention pertains may be generally located in the class of devices relating to speech prompters. Class 40, Card, Picture and Sign Exhibiting, United States Patent Office Classification appears to be the applicable general area of art to which the subject matter similar to this invention has been classified in the past.

#2. Description of the Prior Art

#FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a speech prompter made in accordance with the principles of the present invention.

#FIG. 2 is a top view of the speech prompter illustrated in FIG. 1.

#FIG. 3 is an elevation section view of the speech prompter illustrated in FIG. 2, taken along the line 3--3 thereof, and looking in the direction of the arrows.

#Referring now to the drawings, and in particular to FIGS. 1, 2 and 4, the numeral 10 generally designates a speech prompter made in accordance with the principles of the present invention. As best seen in FIG. 1, the speech prompter 10 includes a pair of laterally spaced apart, elongated support frame side members indicated by the numerals 12 and 14. The support frame side members 12 and 14 are rectangular in vertical cross section with the longer dimension being vertically disposed. A light source or light box, generally indicated by the numeral 16, is mounted between the support frame side members 12 and 14.

#As illustrated in FIG. 3, the light box 16 includes a front transverse end wall 18, and a rear transverse end wall 20 which is spaced apart from the front end wall 18. The light box front and rear end walls 18 and 20 are fixedly connected to the support frame side members 12 and 14 by any suitable means, as by suitable screws 22, illustrated in FIG. 1. As shown in FIG. 3, the lower end of the light box 16 is enclosed by a bottom wall 24, which is releasably secured to the lower ends of the front and rear end walls 18 and 20 by suitable screws 26. The support frame side members 12 and 14 function as the side walls for the light box 16. The support frame side members 12 and 14, the light box front and rear end walls 18 and 20, and the light box bottom wall 24 may be made from any suitable opaque material, as for example a suitable plastic, a lightweight metal or wood. As shown in FIG. 3, a plurality of suitable lamps, such as fluorescent lamps 33, are operatively mounted in the light box 16 and are provided with a suitable power supply cord indicated by the numeral 35 (FIG. 2). As shown in FIGS. 1 and 3, the top side of the light box 16 comprises a lighted window area which is enclosed by a top wall 28, having a flat plane transparency surface, and comprising a suitable translucent material which functions as a very white diffuser of the light provided by the plurality of fluorescent tubes 33. The light box translucent top wall 28 is releasably mounted in place on the front and rear light box walls 18 and 20, respectively, by any suitable means, as by a plurality of L-shaped retainer clips 30 that are secured to said light box walls 18 and 20 by suitable screws 32 (FIGS. 1 and 3).

#Slidably mounted on the flat plane transparency wall 28 of the light box 16 is a transparent film 34 which is approximately full size in width (81/2 inches wide). The text of the notes or speech material for a speaker is printed on the transparent film 34 by any suitable means, as by a computer. The transparent film 34 with the text material thereon is positioned over the light box 16, in an upside down position. A suitable transparent film 34 is a transparent film sold by the Visual System Division of the Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company of Austin, Tex., under Model No. PP2200.