Sign having a movable front plate

#The invention relates to a sign comprising a rear plate having at least two sections arranged in a row and a front plate movably arranged in front of the rear plate so that the front plate may be caused to cover or uncover one or more sections.

#Such a sign is known from e.g. DE-01-295 16 232 which shows a sign comprising a rear plate with two printed messages, a transparent cover plate and a front plate movably arranged between the rear plate and the cover plate. The rear plate is provided with two printed messages—“Unoccupied” and “Occupied”—and the movable front plate has a size such that it covers one message in its one extreme position, while it covers the other message in its other extreme position.

#Another sign is known from U.S. Pat. No. 5,255,462. This sign comprises a front plate, a rear plate and a movable indicator plate. At one end the movable indicator plate has printed thereon an arrowhead which points in a direction opposite to an arrowhead printed at the other end of the indicator plate. The movable indicator plate is provided with a handle so that it may be placed in a position in which it is covered completely by the front plate, where just one arrowhead is visible, while the other is covered by the front plate, and vice versa. A line is printed on the front plate so that the sign can show either just a line or one of two oppositely directed arrows.

#The invention will now be explained more fully with reference to the drawing, in which

#FIGS. 1a-1d show a sign according to the invention in a preferred embodiment with the front plate in the starting position (FIG. 1a) and displaced in different directions (FIGS. 1b-1d),

#FIG. 2 shows the sign of FIG. 1 in a disassembled state,

#A sign 1 according to the invention is shown in FIGS. 1a-1d. The sign 1 is primarily useful as a name sign outside an office, but other uses of the sign 1 are also conceivable, as it may e.g. be arranged as a sign to be placed on a table.

#The sign 1 comprises a rear plate 2 and a front plate 3, which is arranged in front of the said plate, and which may contain information in the form of text 4 on e.g. the name and the occupation of the person occupying that office. The front plate 3 is arranged to be movable in all directions relative to the rear plate 2 and may be caused, by moving, to expose one or more messages provided on the rear plate 2, as will appear from FIGS. 1b-1d. The messages may e.g. be text such as “Occupied”, “Unoccupied”, “At lunch”, “Meeting”, “The door is open”, etc.

#Various messages 5 and 6 are provided on the rear plate 2 and may be exposed, as desired, by moving the front plate 3. In the starting position shown in FIG. 1a, none of the messages 5, 6 is exposed, and the sign then just contains information on e.g. the name and the occupation of the person occupying the office, via the text 4 on the front plate 3.