Title of Invention

AN ECONOMICAL BACK LIGHTED EYE CATCHER

Abstract

The invented device is meant for attracting the attention of consumers to the prices of commodities or service rendered at a sales location. The invented device facilitates display of prices of commodities, especially those of petrol and diesel at gas station/retail outlets employing numerals 0 to 9 dots and commas made by polycarbonate segments molded in shapes of segments of a 7 or 8-segment electronic display digits and plugged into the back lighted cavities of similar shapes on an opaque MS base to make any numeral 0 to 9, with any character height between 1” to 25”. The device offers to effect the price changes instantaneously ion most economically way. In short, the device is BACK LIGTHTED PRICE DISPLAY UNIT manual price change unit with yellow or white or any color digits plugged on a base plate of contrast color

Full Text

(1) FIELD OF INVENTION This invention relates to an economical back 1ighted eye catcher. (2) PRIOR ART It is known to provide two extremities of showing the price of a product/services at a retail sales location^ one of very low cost and with very poor aesthetics and another of high cost with programmable electronic displays offering exceptionally high aesthetics. 1. The price list or prices of commodities/services is permanently painted/written on a board or on wall. This is of very low cost and at the same time lacks any aesthetics commensurate with that of a modern sales outlet. It is most inflexible system and requires a long time do re-do a price change. 2. In the other type^ prices are displayed on electronically programmable display digits with extremely high quality and aesthetics. Various types of electronic displays such as LCDi LED» bistable electromagnetic flip digitsi roller blind digits* etc.« are used to convey the price of the product under this category. This is very expensive to afford- LED displays offer very attractive aesthetics but character height is limited to about 6"» is very expensive and suffers from short 1 ife t as it consumes a lot of electrical energy and» therefore, the operating temperature rises. Alsa» LEDs are not visible in day time under sunshine. LEDs9 especially red color LEDs are not visible because of the light spectrum and presence of infrared rays emitted by sun. Especially in the post administered price mechanism era* petrol and diesel prices are changing quite frequently and there is need to put up unambiguous« clear and instantaneous disp1ay of the fuel prices to the consumers on large format digits. Presently used hand painted price list will not extend convenience to do price changes economically and instantaneously9 as the digits have to be re-painted. Also* painted price lists cannot be back lighted to match the color combination used in retail visual identity program of retain outlets of oil companies. The electron ic disp1ays are not affordab1e. Thus9 the known disadvantages of the prior art may be summarized as follows: a) With the painted permanent price listf flexibility to change the price as and when required does not exist though preparation of such price list is economical in the first instance. Also? it is time consuming to do a price change. b) No back lighting of the digits to illuminate the price list is possible. c) Though the electronic price change mechanism offers complete flexibility to instantaneously change the prices, these are very expensive. Further, outdoor mounted electronic systems are prone to failure, as the devices have to face hot and humid summers, cold and dusty winters and pouring rains in monsoon. 3. OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION An object of this invention is to propose an economical backlighted eye catcher; Another object of this invention is to propose an economical back1ighted eye catcher which, obviates the disadvantages of the known art; Sti11 another object of this invention is to propose an economical backlighted eye catcher having digits with any color combination, character heights of standard electronic style with 2", 4",6",8",10",12",15",18", and 24" digits- Yet another object of this invention is to propose an economical backlighted eye catcher which is very adaptable and economical. A further object of this invention is to propose an economical backlighted eye catcher and which is not effected by change of environmental temperature or humidity. A sti11 further object of this invention is to propose an economical backlighted eye catcher and wherein infrared light contained in sun light does not affect the performance of the catcher. AN ECONOMICAL BACKLIGHTED EYE CATCHER DETAILED DESCRIPTION According to this invention there is prov ided an economical back 1ighted eye catcher for displaying a matter such as the price of a product at a retail out let comprising a) a base plate having a plurality of cavities* b) said cavities selectively d isposed along the horizontal and vertical axis* c) a plurality of horizontal sigments disposed in the horizontal cavitiesf d) a plurality of visible vertical sigments disposed in the vertical cavities. The invented device is meant for attracting the attention of consumers to the price of commodities or services rendered at a retai1 sales location. The device faci1itates display of prices of commodities9 especially those of petrol and diesel at a gas station/retai1 outlet employing numnerals 0 to 9 and dots and commas made of polycarbonate segments molded in shapes of seg- ments of a 7/8-segment electronic display digits and plugged into the back lighted cavities of similar shapes on an opaque MS base to make any numeral. The character heights between 1" to 25" can be made to offer visibility from a distance of 10 mtr to in excess of 250 mtr. The device offers to effect the price changes instantaneously in a most economical way. In short» the invented device can be called Back 1ighted Display Unit - Manual Price Change Unit with yellow or white or any color digits plugged on contrasting color base. 4. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Drawing of the moulded horizontal segment i and another of vertical segment 2 are shown in Fig. 1. Fig. 1 also shows how the visible [transparent3 segments are made by covering the transparent polycarbonate segments with colored vinyl stickers. Any color vinyl as required such as yellowf whitef burgundy* blue 9 green9 etc.» can be used to match the color scheme of retail visual identity program of a sales outlet. Fig. 1 also shows how the opaque segments Csegments which should not pass light 1 are made. These are also made of transparent polycarbonate molded parts with black color stickers. These wi11 not show up the 1ight from the back 1ight- There are two types of segments 1 and 2, namely for horizontal and vertical positions of 7 or 8-segment digits and there is a definite relationship between the heights of the two types used. Both 7 and 8—segment versions can be made 9 as there is not much of a difference between them. By way of eKample5 for 10" charactger height digits in 7-seqment version; a) Horizontal segment 1 has dimension of 110 mm Ch3 ; mm Cwl b> Vertical segment 2 has dimension of 106 mm Ch ] x 30 mm Cwl. 5. DESCRIPTION OF INVENTION WITH REFERENCE TO ACCOMPANYING DRAWINGS. Fig. 1 shows the moulded vertical and horizontal sigments; Fig. 2 shows the base plate with cavities; and Fig. 3 shows the device with numerals 0 to 9. Referring to Figs. 2 and 3^ base plate 4 is punched with cavities of similar shape and accurate dimensions as that of the molded polycarbonate segments 2 and 3. MS base plate is mounted on a MS bracket* passivation plated and painted in black or any other color background to get the contrast between the illuminated segments. Normally used colors are black f wh ite or yellow- Polycarbonate is used to provide dimensional stabi1ity as wel1 as temperature stabi1ity, as there should not be any expan- 0 sion under normal operating temperatures between-10 C avoid any gaps between the edges of base plate and segment through which the background light will pass. Polycarbonate can withstand temperature upto 80^ C without any noticeable expansion and similarly MS also does not expand appreciably and? hence? there would not be any gap for the light to escape. Shown in the drawing are for segments suitable for building a 10" character height digit. Similar arrangement can be made for buiIding any character height digit. Standard height of digits as used in electronic ones are 1"» 2", 4"? 6"» 8"? 10",12", 15", 18" and 24". In the normal ambient light at a retai1 outlet« the contrast color combination of the base plate and the 7-segments will show up very well with high aesthetics. Therefore 9 during day time 9 there is no need for any extra illumination. However* to enhance the beauty of the retai1 outlet and improve the visibility during nights or fading lights^ a back light using fluorescent tube lights operating from 230 V+10*/* 50Hz. + SV* may be used at the rear of the digit for illuminating the display. When the tube light is switched on 9 the light will glow in the color of the vinyl that has been used whereas the black color segments wi 11 not show up the Iight- Depending on the numeral to be shown various color vinyl covered segments are plugged into the cavity andi therefore! those segments will only glow. Shown in Fig, 3 is a procedure to make 0-9 numerals. Similarly* 8-segment digits also can be made. When numeral 1 is to be written* segments 'b' and 'c' are plugged with color vinyl covered segments whereas al1 other positions* 'a', 'd'* 'e'* 'f' and 'g' are covered with opaque segments of black or of colors of background base plate art plugged. Locating pin 7 for firmly positioning the segments in the cavities of the MS plate 4 are located at regular intervals on either sides of the segments* as shown in Fig. 1. There are locating pins for a tool 8 to 'pluck and plug' the segments from the cavity* as shown in Fig. 2. A tool also has been designed to help removal and replacement of segments. The number to be displayed is built using transparent and opaque segments* as shown in Fig. 3. The segments which are required to glow are plugged with transparent segments in the cavity whereas into those cavities which need not glow are plugged with opaque segments. To effect a change in the numeral* the segments which have to be changed are plugged out of the base and the new segments Eopaque or transparent! are plugged in* as shown in Drawing No. 3. Therefore* in short* the numbers are made by employing on the basis of pluck and plug method to change or replace or add a segment in a position. Back light will enhance the looks during night whereas during day time, normal 1ight is adequate to show the digit. Specifications (examplary) 9. Back light Fluorescent tube 1ight operating from 230 V + 10%^3& Hz. +5% 10. Visibility 11. Additional sign 12. Type of dig i ts 8"ch.ht .digit 80 mtr 10"ch.ht.digit ..100 mtr 24"ch,ht-digit ..240 mtr Decimal points and comma can be built using the same technology. Can build both 7 or 8-segment digits. I CLAIM: 1. An economical back 1ighted eye catcher for displaying a matter such as the price of a product at a retail out let com prising a) a base plate having a plurality of cavities* b) said cavities selectively disposed along the horizontal and vertical axis* c) a plurality of horizontal segments disposed in the horizontal cavities* d) a plurality of visible vertical segments disposed in the vertical cavities. 2. An eye catcher as claimed in claim 1 wherein said segments comprise molded piastic 3. An eye catcher as claimed in claim 2 wherein the molded segments have coloured stickers. 4. An eye catcher as claimed in claim 2 wherein said molded plastic comprises molded polycarbonate* 5. An eye catcher as claimed in claim 1 wherein said segments have locking pins. 6. An eye catcher as claimed in claim 1 wherein said segments are of opaque or transparent. 7. An economical backlighted eye catcher substantially as herein described and illustrated.

Documents:

047-che-2004-abstract.pdf

047-che-2004-claims filed.pdf

047-che-2004-claims granted.pdf

047-che-2004-correspondnece-others.pdf

047-che-2004-correspondnece-po.pdf

047-che-2004-description(complete) filed.pdf

047-che-2004-description(complete) granted.pdf

047-che-2004-drawings.pdf

047-che-2004-form 1.pdf

047-che-2004-form 19.pdf

047-che-2004-form 26.pdf

047-che-2004-form 3.pdf