Abstract:
Disclosed is a roof parapet mounted adjustable bracket for hanging a sign panel. The adjustable bracket is able to fit a variety of widths of parapets and allows a user to change a sign without removing the bracket from a parapet.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     This application claims the benefit and priority of U.S. Provisional App. Ser. No. 62/197,636 (filed Jul. 28, 2015) entitled “Roof parapet mounted adjustable bracket for hanging a graphic sign panel.” 
    
    
     STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT 
     Not applicable. 
     THE NAMES OF THE PARTIES TO A JOINT RESEARCH AGREEMENT 
     Not applicable. 
     REFERENCE TO AN APPENDIX SUBMITTED ON A COMPACT DISC AND AN INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE OF THE MATERIAL ON THE COMPACT DISC 
     Not applicable. 
     STATEMENT REGARDING PRIOR DISCLOSURES BY THE INVENTOR OR A JOINT INVENTOR 
     Reserved for a later date, if necessary. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     Field of Invention 
     The disclosed subject matter is in the field of roof parapet brackets for hanging signs. 
     Background of the Invention 
     Signs are used in a variety settings to notify a passerby or potential customer of a store, event, or promotion. With some buildings, a sign must be displayed from a parapet, which is a low wall along the edge of a roof. Generally, hanging a graphic sign panel from a building requires a lot of time, effort, and special lifting and drilling devices. In some instances, to fix a bracket to a wall, a user must obtain special lifting equipment to reach higher areas of a building and mounting brackets must be secured onto the building by drilling holes into the building&#39;s façade to accommodate the bracket&#39;s mounting bolts. Moreover, hanging signs from parapets has proven to be a difficult task because of the variety of widths and styles of parapets, so there is a need for an adjustable bracket that can fit on a variety of parapets. In fact, traditional mounting of a sign bracket to a building is usually done by hiring an outside contractor with special equipment to accomplish the mounting. 
     Additionally, signs need to be changed at times, but this, again, requires special equipment and drilling tools to remove the bracket and change signs. The present invention allows a user to change a sign without removing the bracketed mount. 
     Other inventors have tried to make hanging signs from parapets an easier task, however, the prior art contraptions do not allow a user to easily install a bracket on a parapet for hanging a sign that is easily adjustable and does not require drilling. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,664,626 to Sneller discloses a bracket for mounting decorations on a building front, however, adjusting Sneller&#39;s bracket requires tools and more time and effort than adjusting the present invention. U.S. Pat. No. 6,910,678 to Small discloses a bracket for supporting banners from a parapet, however, the amount of adjustability is limited to the length of a screw and the bracket does not allow for easily interchanging signs. These examples and other prior art fail to provide sturdy, seamless, and effortless apparatus and method of installing an adjustable bracket on a parapet and interchanging signs from the adjustable bracket. Furthermore, both of these examples and other prior art only allow a sign to be displayed very close to a wall. Thus, a need exits for a sign bracket that can be installed on a variety of parapets and allows for interchangeable signs without the need for special lifting or drilling. 
     In view of the foregoing, Applicant discloses an adjustable parapet sign bracket that eliminates the need to hire a contractor or use special lifting or drilling devices to install and hang a sign from a variety of parapet walls. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     In view of the foregoing, an object of this specification is to disclose an adjustable bracket for mounting signs from a roof parapet. 
     Another object of this specification is to disclose an adjustable bracket that can be secured to a variety of widths of parapets. 
     Another object of this specification is to disclose an adjustable bracket that allows a user to easily change a sign without removing the bracket from a parapet. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS 
       Other objectives of the disclosure will become apparent to those skilled in the art once the invention has been shown and described. The manner in which these objectives and other desirable characteristics can be obtained is explained in the following description and attached figures in which: 
         FIG. 1  is a perspective view of the parapet bracket for mounting signs; 
         FIG. 2  is a front view of the parapet bracket of  FIG. 1 ; and, 
         FIG. 3  is a back view of the parapet bracket of  FIG. 1 . 
     
    
    
     It is to be noted, however, that the appended figures illustrate only typical embodiments of this invention and are therefore not to be considered limiting of its scope, for the invention may admit to other equally effective embodiments that will be appreciated by those reasonably skilled in the relevant arts. Also, figures are not necessarily made to scale but are representative. 
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
     Disclosed is an adjustable bracket for mounting signs on a roof parapet. 
       FIG. 1  is a perspective view of the adjustable bracket for mounting signs on a parapet. Referring to  FIG. 1 , in a preferred embodiment, an adjustable beam  1  features a perforated beam with through holes  8  and a removable assembly  2 . The adjustable beam  1  also features a support shaft  9  that has a plate  10  that comes into contact with the outer wall of a parapet  3  (see  FIG. 2 ). In one embodiment, a support shaft  9  extends from the adjustable beam  1  at an acute angle. Additionally, the plate  10  is orientated on the support shaft  9  to in a manner that accommodates being pressed flush against the outside wall of a parapet  3 . The acute angle allows a sign panel  5 , 6  to be displayed farther away from a wall. The acute angle of the support shaft  9  also provides leverage to pull the plate  10  against the outside wall of a parapet  3 . The invention also features a removable assembly  2 , which is a beam that may slide into one end of the adjustable beam  1 . The removable assembly  2  may feature a hole  20  (see  FIG. 2 ) and fastening brackets  23 ,  24 ,  25 ,  26  to hold sign panels. In one embodiment, the fastening brackets  23 ,  24  may be hinged to support a swinging sign. 
     Still referring to  FIG. 1 , an adjustment column  14 , which features an adjustment rod  15  with a handle  16  and a wall stop  17  and a sliding module  11  that may slide along the adjustable beam  1 . The sliding module  11  may feature a hole, wherein an adjustment column pin  12  is inserted through the sliding module  11  and into a through hole  8  on the adjustable beam  1  when the desired width is selected to fit the width of a parapet  3 . The adjustable beam  1  may also feature a removable assembly pin  21  that secures the removable assembly  2  to the adjustable beam  1  when a desired length is selected. In a preferred embodiment, the components of the invention are made of steel or other rigid metal. 
       FIG. 2  is a front view of the adjustable bracket for mounting signs to a parapet. Referring to  FIG. 2 , in use, a user will insert the removable assembly  2  into the adjustable beam  1  through the end closest to the support shaft  9 . When the desired protrusion length of the removable assembly  2  is reached, a user will match the removable assembly&#39;s hole  20  with a through hole  8  of the adjustable beam  1  and insert the removable assembly pin  21  through the removable assembly hole  20  and adjustable beam&#39;s through hole  8  to secure the removable assembly  2  to the adjustable beam  1 . To mount the bracket on a parapet  3 , a user may slide the sliding module  11  to point where the desired width between the support shaft&#39;s plate  10  and adjustable column&#39;s wall stop  17  is slightly larger than the width of the parapet  3 . The user may insert the adjustment column pin  12  through the hole in the sliding module  11  and a through hole  8  to secure the adjustment column  14  to the adjustable beam  1 . A user may then press the plate  10  of the support shaft  9  flush against the outer wall of a parapet  3  and adjust the adjustment rod  15  so that the wall stop  17  presses firmly against the inside wall of the parapet  3 . Accordingly, unlike prior art, there are two points of adjustment to accommodate a variety of parapets  3 . There is one point of adjustment along the perforated beam of the adjustment assembly  2  and there is another point of adjustment with the adjustment rod  15 . This additional point of adjustment gives the bracket more stability without sacrificing additional adjustability because it does not rely on longer screws to secure the bracket to a parapet  3 . 
       FIG. 3  is a back view of the adjustable bracket and depicts one embodiment of the adjustable bracket firmly secured to a parapet. In one embodiment, an upper panel  5  may be secured by bolts attached to fixed brackets  27 ,  28 . In another embodiment, a lower panel  6  may be secured to brackets  23 ,  24 , so that the lower panel  6  may be displayed. In an alternative embodiment, the brackets  23 ,  24  may be hinged so that a sign may swing without coming into contact with a building. In one embodiment, the sign, or upper and lower panels  5 ,  6 , may be changed without removing the adjustable beam  1  from the parapet  3  by removing the pin  21  from the removable assembly  2  and sliding the removable assembly  2  out from the adjustable beam  1 . In one embodiment, the pins  12 ,  21  may be clevis pins. 
     Although the method and apparatus is described above in terms of various exemplary embodiments and implementations, it should be understood that the various features, aspects and functionality described in one or more of the individual embodiments are not limited in their applicability to the particular embodiment with which they are described, but instead might be applied, alone or in various combinations, to one or more of the other embodiments of the disclosed method and apparatus, whether or not such embodiments are described and whether or not such features are presented as being a part of a described embodiment. Thus the breadth and scope of the claimed invention should not be limited by any of the above-described embodiments. 
     Terms and phrases used in this document, and variations thereof, unless otherwise expressly stated, should be construed as open-ended as opposed to limiting. As examples of the foregoing: the term “including” should be read as meaning “including, without limitation” or the like, the term “example” is used to provide exemplary instances of the item in discussion, not an exhaustive or limiting list thereof, the terms “a” or “an” should be read as meaning “at least one,” “one or more,” or the like, and adjectives such as “conventional,” “traditional,” “normal,” “standard,” “known” and terms of similar meaning should not be construed as limiting the item described to a given time period or to an item available as of a given time, but instead should be read to encompass conventional, traditional, normal, or standard technologies that might be available or known now or at any time in the future. Likewise, where this document refers to technologies that would be apparent or known to one of ordinary skill in the art, such technologies encompass those apparent or known to the skilled artisan now or at any time in the future. 
     The presence of broadening words and phrases such as “one or more,” “at least,” “but not limited to” or other like phrases in some instances shall not be read to mean that the narrower case is intended or required in instances where such broadening phrases might be absent. 
     Additionally, the various embodiments set forth herein are described in terms of exemplary block diagrams, flow charts and other illustrations. As will become apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art after reading this document, the illustrated embodiments and their various alternatives might be implemented without confinement to the illustrated examples. For example, block diagrams and their accompanying description should not be construed as mandating a particular architecture or configuration. 
     All original claims submitted with this specification are incorporated by reference in their entirety as if fully set forth herein.