Moving display scissors

A display scissors having two elongate members which are movable with respect to one another. The first elongate member has one end portion configured to represent a first blade element of a scissors and an opposite end portion configured to represent a first loop element of the scissors. The first loop element is curved in a clockwise direction. The second elongate member has one end portion configured to represent a second blade element of the scissors and an opposite end portion configured to represent a second loop element of the scissors. The second loop element is curved in a counter-clockwise direction. The second blade element is positioned generally parallel to the first blade element and points in a similar direction to that of the first blade element. The display scissors includes mounting means for pivotally moving the first elongate member in one direction and simultaneously and pivotally moving the second elongate member in an opposite direction about a common axis.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
The invention relates to a moving scissors display that opens and closes 
and, more particularly, to a moving display neon scissors. 
HISTORY OF THE PRIOR ART 
Most retail shops have window signs which are designed to inform 
pedestrians at a glance as to the nature of the business conducted by the 
shop. Hopefully passersby will be attracted by the window sign, step into 
the shop and eventually become a customer of it. Window signs are, thus 
vital to the survival of many small retail shops and often their only 
means of advertising. A mundane window sign will rarely attract the 
attention of preoccupied pedestrians who are most often in a hurry to get 
to their destination. Unless something strongly attracts their attention 
to a particular shop, they will neither notice it nor become its 
customers. Beauty salons and barbershops are no different from other 
retail shops in this respect that their survival depends on the number of 
customers they attract. The more customers who notice them and stop by, 
the better their business. 
Historically, a barber pole display has been used as a symbol of a 
barbershop and as a means to attract customers. A barber pole is usually 
constructed as a vertical rotating pole covered with red and white or red, 
white and blue diagonal stripes. Such barber poles have been in existence 
for so long a time and have been so extensively used that they have lost 
their uniqueness. They tend to blend in with other backgrounds and 
building decorations. Unless passersby are specifically looking for a 
barber pole, they are unlikely to even notice its existence. Barber poles 
have simply lost their ability to attract the attention of passersby and 
to serve as an effective attention getting advertising medium for hair 
salons. The animated display of the present invention overcomes this 
shortcoming. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
The display scissors of the present invention includes two elongate members 
which are movable with respect to one another. The first elongate member 
has one end portion configured to represent a first blade element of a 
scissors and an opposite end portion configured to represent a first loop 
element of the scissors. The first loop element is curved in a clockwise 
direction. The second elongate member has one end portion configured to 
represent a second blade element of the scissors and an opposite end 
portion configured to represent a second loop element of the scissors. The 
second loop element is curved in a counter-clockwise direction. The second 
blade element is positioned generally parallel to the first blade element 
and points in a similar direction to that of the first blade element. The 
display scissors includes mounting means for pivotally moving the first 
elongate member in one direction and simultaneously and pivotally moving 
the second elongate member in an opposite direction about a common axis. 
In another aspect, the moving display scissors of the present invention 
comprises a pair of elongate members, each having a loop at one end, and 
each being a mirror image of the other. In operation, the two elongate 
members pivotally move in opposite direction about a common axis and 
create the appearance of the movement of the opening and closing of a pair 
of scissors. 
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an 
eye-catching moving scissors display that opens and closes to be used as a 
storefront sign. 
Another object of the present invention is to provide a pair of moving 
display neon scissors that opens and closes, symbolizing the hair-cutting 
system. 
Still another object of the present invention is to provide a pair of 
moving display scissors that opens and closes to identify a shop as a hair 
salon and to create a visual imprint of the location of the shop. 
A further object of the present invention is to provide a pair of moving 
display scissors that is free-standing, powered by household current and 
can be displayed in most store-front windows, salon trade shows, hair 
style shows, and other exhibits.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
Referring first to FIG. 1, there is shown a perspective view of a moving 
display scissors 15 constructed in accordance with the teachings of the 
present invention. The display scissors 15 is shown in a closed 
configuration and consists of two eleongate members 11 and 14. The first 
elongate member 11, the left elongate member, has its upper elongate end 
portion configured to represent a first blade element of a scissors and a 
first loop 12 located at the lower end and configured to represent a first 
loop element of the scissors 15. The left loop 12 curves in a clockwise 
direction. The second elongate member 14, the right elongate member, has 
its upper elongate end portion configured to represent a second blade 
element of the scissors and a second loop 16 located at the lower end and 
configured to represent a second loop element of the scissors. The right 
loop 16 curves in a counter-clockwise direction. Looking at the scissors 
15 from the front and from a distance, the left elongate member 11 and the 
right elongate member 14 appear as the two cutting blades of a scissors 
while the two loops 12 and 16 appear as two finger receiving loop elements 
of a scissors. In this particular embodiment, the left member 11 is 
positioned slightly in front of the right member 14. The left elongate 
member 11 and the left loop 12 are oriented in a plane in close proximity 
and in parallel to the plane containing the right elongate member 14 and 
the right loop 16. The two planes are normally spaced a few inches apart 
from one another. Both the left elongate member 11 and the right elongate 
member 14 point upwardly in this particular embodiment. 
Still referring to FIG. 1, a bonnet 32 houses the mechanism for producing 
movement of the moving display scissors. The left elongate member 11 is 
attached to a bracket support arm 29, which is perpendicular to a bracket 
support plate 26 which mounts an upper tube bracket 19a and a lower tube 
bracket 19b. The tube brackets 19a and 19b roughly resemble the shape of a 
"C" while the upper tube bracket 19a faces toward the left while the lower 
tube bracket 19b faces toward the right. The upper tube bracket 19a mounts 
a resilient polyvinyl chloride ("PVC") shoe 18a which grips the upper 
portion of the left elongate member 11. Similarly, the lower tube bracket 
19b mounts a resilient PVC shoe 18b which grips the lower portion of the 
left elongate member 11. Each of the tube brackets 19a and 19b is secured 
by means of bolts 24 to the bracket support arm 29. The right elongate 
member 14 is attached to a tube-tee plate 13 by means of a large PVC shoe 
22. The tube-tee plate 13 is attached by means of a set screw (not shown) 
in a tube-tee shaft 27 to a front shaft 28 extending through a bearing 30 
into gear box half 31. The front shaft 28, which pivots the right elongate 
member 14, passes through a central aperture formed in the bracket support 
plate 26. The front shaft 28 is spaced approximately equally from the two 
tube brackets, 19a and 19b, supporting the left elongate member 11. Thus, 
the pivot points of both the left elongate member 11 and the right 
elongate member 14 are concentric with one another and pivot about a 
common axis. In operation, the left elongate member 11 moves to the right 
and the right elongate member 14 moves to the left and when viewed from 
the front, as illustrated in FIG. 7, the two elongate members 11 and 14 
appear to move past one another about a pivot near the tube-tee axis 27 by 
which they appear to be held together. 
Still referring to FIG. 1, the bonnet 32 is supported by a neck 33 which 
sits on a second base 56 (not shown). For aesthetic reasons, the base is 
usually draped over by a base cover 34. The entire display unit 15 is free 
standing and can be placed behind a storefront window, and may also be 
used in salon trade shows, hair style shows and other exhibits. In one 
embodiment, the entire display has a total height of about 6'6", and the 
two elongate members 11 and 14 open to about 3 feet wide. 
Both the left elongate member 11 and the right elongate member 14 can be 
made of 15 mm neon tubes. In operation, these neon tubes can be lighted by 
a 110 volt alternating current through a transformer which yields a 4000 
volts and 30 mA output. The power from the transformer is channelled to 
the electrodes within the neon tubes via high voltage gaseous-tube wires 
(such as GTO). For aesthetic and safety purposes, the gaseous-tube wires 
enter the bottom portion of the neck 33 and emerge from the top portion of 
the neck 33 so that the gaseous-tube wires are not exposed unnecessarily. 
Narrow glass tubes can be glued to the back of each of the neon tubes to 
channel twisted and parallel copper wires, preferably of the 16 AWG type. 
Each of the gaseous-tube wires makes a connection with the two copper 
wires to conduct the current to the electrodes protruding from each 
terminal end of each of neon tubes making up the left elongate member 11 
and the right elongate member 14. The two neon tubes are wired in series 
with each other. 
In an alternate embodiment, the terminal end of the left elongate member 11 
is further provided with a curvature bent at an angle and laying in a 
plane perpendicular to a plane defined by the left elongate member 11 and 
the left loop 12. Similarly, in this alternate embodiment, the terminal 
end of the right elongate member 14 is also further provided with a 
curvature bent at an angle and laying in a plane perpendicular to a plane 
defined by the right elongate member 14 and the right loop 16. In this 
embodiment, the electrodes from each of the elongate members will not be 
observable from the front. 
Referring now to FIG. 2, there is shown a front elevational view of the 
moving display scissors of FIG. 1. Here, only the left elongate member 11 
is visible from the front, with the sight of the right elongate member 14 
being obscured by the left elongate member 11. Portions of the bracket 
support plate 26 and the two gear box halves 31 are visible from the 
front. 
Referring to FIG. 3, there is shown a left side elevational view of the 
moving display scissors of FIG. 1. The bonnet 32 is supported by the neck 
33 through a pipe flange 36. The parallel arrangement of the two elongate 
member 11 and 14 is clearly shown in this figure. The left elongate member 
11 is fastened to two PVC shoes 18a and 18b, which, in turn, are attached 
to two tube brackets 19a and 19b. The right elongate member 14 is rotated 
about the tube-tee shaft 27 and the front shaft 28. 
FIG. 4 shows a rear elevational view of the moving display scissors of FIG. 
1. Viewed from the rear, the right elongate member 14 blocks the left 
elongate member 11 so that the left elongate member 11 is not visible. 
Referring now to FIG. 5, there is shown a right side elevational view of 
the moving display scissors of FIG. 1. The bonnet 32 is shown to be 
supported by the neck 33 via the pipe flange 36. 
FIG. 7 shows a perspective view of the moving display scissors shown in 
FIG. 1 with two members 11 and 14 in an open configuration in phantom and 
in a closed configuration in solid lines. In the closed configuration, 
only the left elongate member 11 is visible from the front since the view 
of the right elongate member 14 is blocked by the left elongate member 11. 
In the open configuration, shown by phantom lines, the two elongate 
members 11 and 14 appear as two cutting blades of a pair of scissors 
moving past one another on a pivot near the center by which they are held 
together. In operation, the two elongate members 11 and 14 continuously 
oscillate in an opening and closing fashion in the directions shown by 
arrows 37, symbolizing the working scissors, namely, the continuous 
opening and closing of the two cutting blades of a pair of scissors. 
Referring now to FIG. 8, there is shown a top view of the base 58 taken on 
the line 8--8 of FIG. 7. To one side of the base 58, a neon transformer is 
shown as a block 43. A second narrower base 56 is located near the central 
region of the under base 58. The second base 56 is secured to the base 58 
by a plurality of thread nuts 44, washers 46 and threaded shafts. The neck 
33 is represented as a circle 33 in the central region of the narrower 
base 56. The circular motion, indicated by arrow 52, of the motor 57 turns 
the motor arm 54 which pushes the drive arm 51 and causes the shaft arm 48 
to pivot back and forth on the drive shaft 49. Thus, the drive shaft 49 
oscillates through an arcuate motion, alternately clockwise and then 
counter-clockwise, approximately 60.degree. each way as indicated by arrow 
53. 
Referring now to FIG. 9, there is shown a cross-sectional view of the 
bonnet 32 taken along the line 9--9 of FIG. 7 and illustrating the 
rotational mechanism of the two elongate members 11 and 14. As a further 
support, a bonnet base 74 is provided on the bottom of the bonnet 32. The 
alternating clockwise and counter-clockwise arcuate motion of the drive 
shaft 49 is transferred to the front shaft 28 and the back shaft 86 via 
three gears, 92, 79 and 76. The back shaft 86 is directly connected to the 
back gear 79, while the front shaft 28 is directly connected to the front 
gear 76. The drive shaft 49 is directly connected to the drive gear 92. 
Suitable gears are 16 pitch miter gears with a 20.degree. pressure angle, 
manufactured by Martin Gear Co. Gear box bolts 81 are used to hold the two 
gear box halves 31 together, holding three gears into place. The gear box 
is also bolted to the bonnet base 74. The back gear 79 and the front gear 
76 face one another and both have a common rotational axis oriented 
horizontally. The drive gear 92 has its rotational axis oriented 
vertically and the drive shaft 49 is driven by a motor 57 (not shown). The 
three gears, 79, 76 and 92, are directly connected with one another. Both 
the front gear 76 and the back gear 79 are perpendicular to the drive gear 
92. Because of the engagement of the teeth of these three gears with one 
another, when the drive gear 92 rotates, it rotates the front gear 76 in 
one direction and, at the same time, rotates the back gear 79 in an 
opposite direction. 
Still referring to FIG. 9, the oscillating clockwise to counter-clockwise 
arcuate motion in the front shaft 28 makes the right elongate member 14 
move in the same manner as the tube-tee axis 27 which supports the right 
member 14. Similarly, the clockwise to counter-clockwise motion of the 
back shaft 86 moves the bracket assembly comprising 29, 26, a bracket 
support clamp 82, and the left elongate member 11. The left elongate 
member 11 always moves in a direction which is opposite to that of the 
right elongate member 14. The left elongate member is supported by the two 
tube brackets 19a and 19b. The bracket support assembly (29, 26, and 82) 
is also supported by a bearing 30 situated between the bracket support 
plate 26 and the front shaft 28 while the tube-tee shaft 27 is bolted to 
the front shaft 28 by set screw 78. 
As discussed above, it is clear that the elongate members of the present 
moving display scissors can open and close giving the appearance of the 
opening and closing of the blades of a pair of giant scissors. The display 
of the present invention can be used as an attractive storefront sign to 
attract the attention of passersby and to indicate the presence of a 
hair-cutting shop. The moving display scissors may also be used in salon 
trade shows, hair style shows and other exhibits. 
It is thus believed that the operation and construction of the present 
invention will be apparent from the foregoing description. Although the 
method and apparatus shown and described has been characterized as being 
preferred, it will be obvious that various changes and modifications may 
be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the 
invention as defined in the following claims.