Patent Application
20080060238
Throughout the following detailed description, the same reference numerals refer to the same elements in all figures.
Referring to
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After the process with vacuum forming, the edges of plastic are usually rough and jagged, and subsequent coating or painting thereon becomes relatively difficult because the surface is uneven. To solve this problem, laser cutting technology is applied. Laser cutting is famous for its preciseness, cleanness and silent. The plastic is processed based on the design programmed into the laser cutting machine and the edges of the plastic are much smoother than that after vacuum forming process, and the problem of coating or painting on uneven plastic surfaces is thus resolved.
Referring to
In a preferred embodiment, the simulated neon illumination sign comprises the sign panel 10 with the sign characters 70 and the light box 90 which provides light for the sign panel 10, wherein the sign panel is a board made of light transmitting material with the background portion and the protruding portion, while the light box 90 has the light source therein electrically connected to a power source and the light source generates the light towards the rear side of the sign panel 10.
The sign panel 10 made of light transmitting material (either transparent or translucent material) for light passing from one side to the opposed side. The background portion 1 of the sign panel 10 is preferably a flat surface with the blocking layer 3. The blocking layer is coated on either one or both sides of the background portion of the sign panel 10. A light blocking coating can be further coated at the rear side of the sign panel 10. The purpose of using the blocking layer and coating is to block the light from the light box passing through so as to define the sign characters at the protruding sign portion. The protruding portion of the sign panel 10 has a curved cross section formed by plastic injection. The cross section of the protruding portion of the sign panel 10 is semi-circle (or other shape if any). A highlight coating with different colors can be coated on the rear side of the protruding portion of the sign panel 10 to create neon illuminating effect when the light projects thereto or from the rear side of the sign panel 10.
The light blocking layer 3, which is overlappedly mounted on the front displaying side 11 of the sign panel 10 at the background portion 1 thereof, has a plurality of through shaping slots 301 shaped corresponding to the protruding portions 2 of the sign panel 10, wherein when the light blocking layer 3 is overlapped on the front displaying side 11 of the sign panel 10, the protruding portions 2 of the sign panel 10 are projected through the shaping slots 301, such that the light blocking layer 3 is only overlapped on the background portion 1 of the sign panel 10 for blocking the light from passing through the background portion 1 of the sign panel 10.
The highlighting element 40 is provided at the rear side 12 of the sign panel 10 and arranged in such a manner that when the light passes through the protruding portions 2 of the sign panel 10, the highlighting element 40 generates neon illuminating effect at the protruding portions 2 of the sign panel 10, such that the character signs 70 are illuminated at the front displaying side 11 of the sign panel 10 through the protruding portions 2 for simulating a three dimensional neon illumination effect of the sign panel 10. The highlighting element 40 is preferably ultraviolet ray phosphor coating coated on the rear side 12 of the sign panel 10.
According to the preferred embodiment of the present invention, the sign panel 10 is shaped and crafted to have a predetermined shape as a shape of the illumination sign which is to be displayed at a predetermined position. The sign panel 10 is made of light-admissible material so that when light passes through the sign panel 10, the sign panel 10 will be illuminated from the front displaying side 11 thereof.
The protruding portions 2 are formed on the front displaying side 11 of the sign panel 10 for forming a plurality of character signs 70 thereon. Accordingly, the sign panel 10 further has a corresponding number of channels 13 indently formed at a rear side 12 of the sign panel 10 for forming the protruding portions 2 at the front displaying side 11. It is worth mentioning that the shape of each of the channels 13 constitutes the contour of the corresponding character sign 70 so that the character signs 70 can be easily produced during the manufacturing process by pressing the channel 13 on the sign panel 10 or by making the sign panel 10 by conventional molding techniques.
It is worth mentioning that the light blocking layer 3 comprises a light inadmissible coating for blocking light from passing through the background portion 1 of the sign panel 10. According to the preferred embodiment of the present invention, the light blocking layer 3 comprises a black-colored light inadmissible coating for blocking light passing therethrough, and contrasting with the protruding portions 2 of the sign panel 10 so as to optimally highlight the character signs 70 at the front displaying side 11 of the sign panel 10.
Moreover, the light blocking layer 3 further has at least a through decorative slot 302 formed thereon and arranged when the light blocking layer 3 is overlappedly mounted on the front displaying side 11 of the sign panel 10 at the background portion 1 thereof, the sign panel 10 further forms a decorative portion 32 within the background portion 1 thereof through the decorative slot 302 such that not only the character signs 70 but also the decorative portion 32 are illuminated at the front displaying side 11 of the sign panel 10 for simulating the neon illumination effect of the sign panel 10. The decorative portion 32 therefore forms a decorative pattern on the sign panel 10.
In order to strengthen the illumination effect of the sign characters 70, each of the protruding portions 2 of the sign panel 10 has a curved cross section integrally protruding from the flat background portion 1 of the sign panel 10 at the front displaying side 11 thereof to create the sign character 70 in a three dimension manner.
The operation of the present invention is as follows: the illumination sign is erected or supporting in front of a light source, such as a conventional light box 90. When light passes through the illumination sign, only those portion of light which impinges on the protruding portion 2 of the sign panel 10 and the decorative portion 32 is allowed to penetrate the entire illumination sign so that the character signs 70 and the decorative patterns are lit up by the light source to produce a three-dimensional illumination at the illumination sign. It is particularly important to note that the present invention is capable of producing illumination of character signs 70 and decorative patterns having three-dimensional illumination performance without utilizing any harmful substances, such as argon gas or mercury.
Hence, it is important to mention that the present invention may well be incorporated with a light source, which may be embodied as a light box 90 comprising a plurality of LEDs 91 emitting illumination of a predetermined color, mounted at the rear side 12 of the sign panel 10 so as to produce the neon illumination effect at the character signs 70 and the decorative patterns of the illumination sign of the present invention.
In other words, the illumination sign further comprises a backlight arrangement for providing illumination to the sign panel 10, wherein the backlight arrangement comprises a light box 90 mounted at the rear side 12 of the sign panel 10 and a plurality of illuminators embodying as LEDs 91 which are spacedly supported within the light box 90 and are electrically connected to a circuit control 93 for generating the light towards the sign panel 10. Each of the LEDs generates light with a wave length matching an ultraviolet wave length of the ultraviolet ray phosphor coating (i.e. highlighting element 40) on the sign panel 10.
One common concern regarding conventional neon signs is the use of harmful substances such as mercury or argon. The present invention completely gets rid of this requirement in that the light source of the illumination sign can be LEDs 90, which is diode with specific crystals.
Moreover, it is important to state that the sign panel 10 is arranged to be cut with laser so that it will have precise shape and smooth edges.
As shown in
The display panel 10′ has an attachment side 12′, an opposed displaying side 11′, a background portion 1′ for blocking light passing through display panel from the attachment side 12′ to the displaying side 11′, one or more contour openings 15′ spacedly formed at the background portion 1′ for communicating the attachment side 12′ with the displaying side 11′, and a plurality of protruding portions 2′ protruded from the displaying side 11′ to form a corresponding number of character signs 70′ at the displaying side 11′, wherein the protruding portions 2′ is adapted for the light passing through display panel 10′ from the attachment side 12′ to the displaying side 11′.
Accordingly, each of the protruding portions 2′ of the display panel 10′ has a curved cross section integrally protruding from the background portion 1′ of the displaying side 11′ of the display panel 10′ to create the sign characters 70′ in a three dimension manner.
The base housing 90′, which is mounted to the attachment side 12′ of the display panel 10′, comprises a backlight arrangement for providing the light towards the display panel 10′, wherein the base housing 90′ has one or more boundary openings 901′ aligned with the contour openings 15′ of the display panel 10′ respectively to form a skeleton of the character signs 70′.
Accordingly, a conventional neon sign comprises an elongated glass tube bent to form the character sign such that the spaces are formed within the character sign. In other words, the spaces are the areas that allow the conventional neon sign to be seen through from one side to another side. The simulated neon illumination sign of the present invention simulates the skeleton of the conventional neon sign by configuring the contour opening 15′ of the display panel 10′ to align with the boundary openings 901′ of the base housing 90′ to form the skeleton of the character sign 70′ as shown in
Referring to
The background portion 1′ of the display panel 10′ is coated with the black color blocking layer 3′ so that the light can not go through the background portion 1′ and the protruding portion 2′ of the displaying side of the display panel 10′ forms sign characters 70′. Applied to all embodiments in the present invention, the black color blocking layer 3′ can be formed by spreading black paint to the light-inadmissible areas based on the design.
According to the preferred embodiment, the display panel 10′, having a uniform thickness, further has a plurality of channels 5′ indently formed at the attachment side 12′ of the display panel 10′ to correspondingly form the protruding portions 2′ at the displaying side 11′, wherein a shape of each of the channels 5′ constitutes a contour of the corresponding character sign 70′.
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It is worth to mention that when the display panel 10′ is mounted to the base housing 90′ to align the contour openings 15′ with boundary openings 901′, the through openings are formed. The through openings are designed to create inner boundaries and a wide variety of three dimensional features which are more outstanding than that in conventional neon illumination signs. More specifically, the sign characters 70′ appear more standing out when located at the displaying side 11′ defined by the inner boundaries and the outer boundaries which is the shape of the illumination sign. By creating one or more through openings in the illumination sign, the sign characters 70′ on the display panel 10′ appear more artistic and vivid, and the aesthetic value of the illumination sign is thus increased. Moreover, the sign characters 70′ will not be limited to the manufacturing processes because by placing the through openings in different places of the illumination sign, the feature designers have more degree of freedom to create the sign characters close to their desires. From the environmental point of view, the preferred embodiment in the present invention with through openings on the illumination sign consumes less plastic materials which are harmful to the environment because the plastic materials can take hundreds of years to break down. As they break down, they release poisonous materials into the water and soil. Thus, consuming less plastic materials is the current trend to protect our environment.
The display panel 10′ and base housing 90′ are both made by plastics and can be firmly snap fit. The LEDs 91′ and the circuit board 92′ are protected from falling apart by a seamless engagement between the display panel 10′ and base housing 90′. As can be seen in
According to the preferred embodiment, the display panel 10′ forms a front housing having a plurality of engaging rims 14′ extending from peripheral edges of the display panel 10′ and the contour openings 15′ to detachably engage with surrounding rims 93′ of the base housing 90′. Each of the engaging rims 14′ has a first snap hook 141′ integrally formed therealong, wherein each of the surrounding rims 93′ has a second snap hook 931′ which is integrally formed therealong and is interlocked with the first snap hook 414′ of the respective engaging rim 14′ to securely engage the display panel 10′ with the base housing 90′ through the snap fit engagement configuration.
In a preferred embodiment, a plurality of through holes 81′ for screws 80′ are located on the engaging rims 14′ of the display panel 10′ and the surrounding rim 93′ of the base housing 90′ in which the through holes are aligned. The display panel 10′ and base housing 90′ are engaged seamlessly when the screws are tightened. In addition, two hanging rings 110′ are located at the base housing 90′ so that when the display panel 10′ and base housing 90′ are engaged with each other, the illumination sign can be hung to display the neon simulated illumination sign characters thereon.
Alternatively, the sign characters 70′ can be seen on both sides. As shown in
The highlighting coating 5A comprises an ultraviolet phosphorus coating. The ultraviolet phosphorus coating is on the channel 5A of the attachment side 12A of the display panel 10A. It is worth mentioning that the light diffusion does not simply reply on the color of the LEDs 91A in the base housing 90A, but also fine tuned by the ultraviolet phosphorus coating process to achieve all spectrums of colors in current neon signs.
The background portion 1A of the display panel 10A is coated with the black color blocking layer 3A so that the light can not go through the background portion 1A and the protruding portion 2A of the displaying side of the display panel 10A forms sign characters 70A. Applied to all embodiments in the present invention, the black color blocking layer can be formed by spreading black paint to the light-inadmissible areas based on the design. Accordingly, the sign character 70A at the second display panel 10A is shaped corresponding to the sign character 70′ at the first display panel 10′ wherein the sign character 70A at the second display panel 10A is a reverse image of the sign character 70′ at the first display panel 10′.
The base housing 90A houses the backlight arrangement therein and electrically connects to a power source. The backlight arrangement a circuit board 92A which is shaped to have a contour corresponding to the skeleton of the character signs 70′, 70A and is supported in the base housing 90A, and a plurality of spaced apart light source which are electrically connected to the circuit board 92A for generating the light towards the display panels 10′, 10A. The light source can be a plurality of LEDs 91A, or conventional fluorescent light tubes to generate the light towards the attachment side 12′, 12A of the display panel 10′, 10A.
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The practical purpose of the present invention is to provide an alternative to conventional neon signs in terms of performance. Yet the present invention is made of light materials and utilizes diodes as a light source. As a result, the illumination sign of the present invention enjoys low transportation cost and energy consumption as additional advantages.
One skilled in the art will understand that the embodiment of the present invention as shown in the drawings and described above is exemplary only and not intended to be limiting.
It will thus be seen that the objects of the present invention have been fully and effectively accomplished. It embodiments have been shown and described for the purposes of illustrating the functional and structural principles of the present invention and is subject to change without departure from such principles. Therefore, this invention includes all modifications encompassed within the spirit and scope of the following claims.
This is a CIP application of a non-provisional application, having an application Ser. No. 11/786,966, and a filing date of Apr. 13, 2007, which is a non-provisional application of a provision application having an application Ser. No. of 60/843,459 and a filing date of Sep. 08, 2006.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 60843459 | Sep 2006 | US |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent | 11786966 | Apr 2007 | US |
| Child | 11811237 | US |
