Abstract:
A method of applying a sign comprising of raised characters to a surface using a template or pattern which provides a precise orientation and alignment of the characters. The method renders it unnecessary to separately align each character.

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     This invention pertains to a method of applying multiple individual letters to a surface to form a signing function, and in particular to a method of aligning individual characters which make up signs. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     Many types of informational, advertising and directional signs exist in public and commercial buildings and areas. Broadly speaking, signs can have stationary characters or moving characters (or groups of characters.) Moving-character signs include a variety of types wherein the characters can are moved electro-mechanically, as with certain billboards, or electronically, as for example when video display monitors are used. Stationary signs can employ printed posters which are directly affixed to a surface or billboard, characters directly painted onto a surface, characters formed from fluorescent electrical tubes, characters applied onto a transparent or translucent surface which can be back lit by either natural or artificial light, and raised characters which can be individually applied to a surface. Other possibilities will readily come to mind among individuals who practice the art. The choice of signage is determined by many factors including visibility and economic, commercial, esthetic and artistic considerations. 
     In stationary signs, it is important to have the characters precisely aligned and spaced with respect to each other. Even slight misplacements can be very apparent to the eye and can present a displeasing or jarring appearance, thus making it visibly distracting and therefore decreases the intentioned effectiveness. Even when pre-formed individual characters are themselves dimensionally acceptable, to reduce misalignment, it is typically necessary to go through painstaking procedures involving repeated trial and error positioning. This “space variability” between characters given the number of letters, numerals and symbols that exist can be almost limitless. 
     In addition, it is often desired to differ from the normal spacing or placement of these characters, case in point, Toys “R” Us. Characters may not only be turned around backwards but also raised vertically, stretched horizontally so on and so forth, as far as the imagination can take the variables. When a client wants to go out beyond the normal pre-determined guidelines, this improper/proper alignment makes installing these characters or signage even more difficult. This compounds the difficulty of keeping the spacing of these characters in sync with each other and strengthens the need for specific guidance during an on-site installation. 
     Therefore, a need exists for a method of installation of characters, wherein the alignment of the characters to themselves as well as a support surface is accurately and efficiently achieved. The need also exists for a system which can locate and orient characters in a predetermined relationship. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     This invention relates to the formation of signs from individual, raised characters which are affixed to any surface. In order to minimize the cost of labor necessary to affix signs of this type, it is desirable to have an exact positioning system which will greatly reduce the time to install such a sign while ensuring a satisfactory alignment of the characters. The designer of the fonts (set of specifically designed alphabet style) themselves cannot provide precise spacing patterns because of letter size differences along with available space provided for presentations, differs greatly and the letters themselves all will require variable spacing between letter combinations—again depending on their particular style, size and identity and thus compounding the space variability options in which letters are placed next to one another. The present invention provides for the location and installation of raised characters on a surface, such that the characters are correctly spaced and aligned without the expenditure of excessive time and labor. A raised characters may be formed by a computer-controlled laser-cutting process to shape a body piece from a chosen material of suitable thickness. 
     The body piece has fastening holes which allow it to be affixed to the surface with fasteners. A finishing layer is provided to match the shape of an underlying body piece, and can be made from another or the same material. A template is provided wherein each body piece nests within an outline of its shape. This nesting template is cut, also by a computer-controlled laser-cutting process, from a template material which correctly spaces and aligns the characters relative to each other. To ensure proper placing of characters on the surface, all that is now necessary is to properly attach the template to the surface, whereafter the characters are placed within their corresponding outline in the template and affixed to the surface. The template is then detached from the surface. 
     Another embodiment of the invention comprises the fabrication of a pattern which locates receiving holes in the surface to align with the fastening holes in the body pieces, the fastening holes being precisely positioned in the body pieces. 
     The invention thus provides for raised characters, and of a template or pattern, which are fabricated by a computer-guided tool, such that characters can be affixed with minimal effort to a desired position on a surface in pre-assigned spatial relationships with respect to each other. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a body piece and a cap piece of a raised character. 
     FIG. 2 is a side elevation of the components from FIG. 1, showing also a fastener and a surface. 
     FIG. 3 is a perspective view of part of a template. 
     FIG. 4 is a perspective view of part of a pattern. 
     FIG. 5 is perspective view of a body piece and fasteners in another embodiment of the invention; and 
     FIG. 6 is a side elevation view showing components of FIG. 1 assembled so as to stand off from a mounting surface. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
     For the purposes of this invention, the term “character” will be understood to refer to a tangible object in the form of a letter, a numeral or other symbol, in any chosen font or style as well as design, form or shape. The term “letter” will be understood to include upper or lower case letters, numerals and symbols when it is desired to refer to a shape rather than a tangible object. 
     As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, a character  10 , representing in this instance a lower-case letter “b”, is formed from a body piece  12  and a cap piece  14  which fits precisely on the body piece. The character  10  is intended for use in a sign to be attached to a surface  16 . The body piece  12  has a front surface  18 , a rear surface  20 , and two fastening holes  22  which are through holes. Depending upon how the body piece is to be attached to the surface  16 , the fastening holes  22  may be internally threaded or they may be smooth and have a countersunk area  24  at the front surface  18 . The body piece  12  and the cap piece  14  can be fabricated from dissimilar or like materials, as will be described later. 
     The body piece  12  and the cap piece  14  are each machined from a parent material with a computer-guided laser tool. Techniques of computer assisted machining and laser cutting are well known in the art and will not be described. It is sufficient to point out that the precise shape of a letter is programmed into the memory of a computer and that the cutter follows a prescribed path in shaping the body piece  12  and the cap piece  14  from their parent materials. The fastening holes  22  in body piece  12  are formed by computer-assisted drilling at points which are again programmed into the computer memory, and are consistently located in all body pieces  12  which represent any given character. 
     Typically, the material for the body piece is inexpensive, but the higher-quality material for the cap piece  14  can be quite expensive. By computer-assisted machining, the cap pieces  14  for a given set of characters are cut from a sheet of material in a pattern which achieves the least wastage of the material. 
     Having formed the characters necessary to produce a given sign, it is also necessary to prepare a template for correctly and precisely placing the characters  10  relative to each other. Proper placement requires not only that the characters  10  should be at consistent heights and angles, but that they should be appropriately separated from each other. 
     A template  26  is formed from a sheet of template material, such as chipboard, by a computer-controlled laser-cutting technique similar to that used in shaping the body pieces  12  and the cap pieces  14 . Preferably, the template has a sufficient thickness to receive and align the respective character. In addition, the template has sufficient integrity to maintain the relative spacing of the characters. The template may also be provided with a square reference edge  28 . In this case, the computer is programmed so that the cutter removes the outline of a first character  10  from the template to produce an opening  30  such as that shown in FIG. 3 for the letter “b”. This opening  30  is sized to receive the corresponding body piece  12  closely enough to determine a precise location but loosely enough to allow the template  26  and the body piece  12  to be separated when this is required. Once the outline of the first character  10  has been cut, the laser cutter proceeds to cut a second and succeeding characters  10  as programmed by the computer. This process provides a template  26  in which the characters of a sign are precisely and accurately outlined relative to each other and to the reference edge  28 , and in which the body pieces can be appropriately nested for attachment to the surface. It is emphasized that the cut surface  32  around the perimeter of opening  30  is perpendicular at all points relative to the plane of the template  26 . However, it is understood a bevel may be used to assist in inserting the character into the template. 
     The template  26  is now placed against the surface at a location chosen for the sign. The term surface includes any surface upon which the characters are to be retained. The surface may include a wall, a sign board, a display panel, a ceiling, or even a floor. For purposes of clarity the term surface is used in the description. Once the template  26  has been precisely positioned and leveled, it is now firmly but removably affixed to the surface by means such as screws or adhesive compounds. This part of the process affirms proper aesthetic positioning thus eliminating improper balancing with the sign&#39;s surroundings before permanent installation of the characters takes place. One of the body pieces  12  is nested into its position in template  26  and attached to the surface with fasteners  34 . The process is repeated until all required body pieces  12  have been so attached. The template  26  is unfastened from the surface and pulled away therefrom, leaving behind the newly affixed body pieces  12  in the positions determined by the template  26 . 
     A great advantage of the present invention is that the body pieces  12  can be affixed to the surface in any sequence and not necessarily in the order that their letters actually read, which greatly speeds the affixing process. Once the template  26  is in place, the presence or absence of any body piece  12  is irrelevant to the positioning of any other body piece  12 . The laser-assisted machining of the body pieces  12  and the template  26  serves to avoid painstakingly having to align each body piece in turn. The only step of the method which requires special care is the placing and leveling of the template  26  on the surface, and it can be readily appreciated that this represents a drastic saving in time and labor over prior art. 
     Once the body pieces  12  are in position, the cap pieces  14  are affixed to the appropriate body pieces  12  to conceal fastening holes  22  and to provide a decorative finish. Typically, this is achieved by having an adhesive material on the appropriate surface of either the body pieces  12 , the cap pieces  14 , or both. It should be noted that when fastening holes  22  have countersunk areas  24  and the fasteners  34  are conventional metal or plastic screws, the countersunk areas  24  are oversized, to allow the heads of the screws to be recessed relative to the front surfaces  18  of body pieces  12 . This is to guard against the possibility of the screws thermally expanding beyond front surfaces  18  and forcing the cap pieces  14  away from the body pieces  12 . 
     In a further, and preferred, embodiment of this invention, a pattern  36 , shown in FIG. 4, is used in preference to the template  26 . The pattern is made from an inexpensive material such as chipboard. However, other materials such as plastics and thermoplastics may be employed. It will be recalled that the character openings  30  in the template  26  were cut by a computer-guided laser tool. Such a tool is also used to make the pattern  36 . In this case, however, the laser tool does not cut an opening in which an individual body piece nests. Instead, pattern holes  38  are made which precisely align with the fastening holes  22  of each body piece  12 . Since the fastening holes  22  are identically located in all body pieces which represent the same letter, the corresponding pattern holes  38  serve to properly define the positions of the body pieces  12 . The pattern holes  38  for successive body pieces  12  are placed so that they will properly locate the body pieces  12  relative to each other and a square reference edge  40  of the pattern  36 . By employing the same data to fastening holes as the hole in the character, alignment is assured. 
     When the required pattern holes  38  have been made, the laser tool is used at a reduced power to lightly mark around given pattern holes the outline  42  of the corresponding letter. This is to visually indicate to an installer which character belongs at which location, since the pattern holes  38  by themselves do not provide any ready visual indication. 
     The pattern  36  with all the required pattern holes  38  is firmly but removably attached to the surface in a chosen alignment, and pattern holes  38  are used as a guide for drilling receiving holes  44  in the surface to receive fasteners  34 . After removal of the pattern  36  from the surface, the body pieces  12  are attached to the surface or maybe offset as desired with spacers producing an offset appearance satisfying a client&#39;s particular choice. The cap pieces  14  are placed on the body pieces as in the previous embodiment. Once again, the precise positioning and alignment of characters  10  does not depend on their being affixed to the surface  16  in any particular sequence. 
     Returning now to the fasteners  34 , they may take forms other than that of conventional screws. In the preferred embodiment of the invention, each fastener comprises a selected length of threaded nylon rod  46  which engages a corresponding internal thread  48  of the fastening hole  22  in the body piece  12 . The thread is formed by a normal tapping method after the fastening hole  22  is made by the aforementioned computer-guided laser tool. FIG. 5 shows a body piece  12  corresponding to the upper-case letter “A”, with three fastening holes  22 , at each of which is shown a nylon rod  46  in different stages of insertion. The nylon rod  46  has at one end a hexagonal recess  50  to permit its engagement with an Allen wrench. The rod  46  is screwed from the front surface  18  into hole  22  until it no longer projects outside the plane of the front surface  18  of the body piece  12 . At this point, the rod  46  extends outwardly from the rear surface  20 . 
     With this fastening system, it is common to undersize the receiving holes  44  in surface  16  relative to the diameter of the threaded nylon rod  46 . The rods  46  of a given body piece can be forced to a selected depth into the appropriate receiving holes  44  in the surface  16 . The body piece  12  may contact the surface  16 , or it may be spaced away from it by passing the rods  46  through a spacer  52  to produce a different visual effect. Optionally, when the body piece  12  is spaced away from the surface  16 , the rods  46  may be used without the spacer  52  if they are unobtrusive enough. The flexibility and elasticity of the nylon rod material allows for secure placement in the surface while allowing for adjustment of the spacing from the surface if necessary. Furthermore, if an occasional receiving hole  44  cannot be drilled as far into the surface as normal, perhaps because of an obstruction such as a pipe, the rod  46  can be cut correspondingly short. Once all body pieces  12  are correctly placed, the cap pieces  14  are then appropriately attached to the body pieces to form the final characters  10 . Yet other fastening means may be employed which are not a critical part of this invention. 
     It is obvious that spacers such as  52  can be employed in either embodiment of the invention. It is understood that the body piece, the cap piece, the template and the pattern can be made from a wide variety of materials and within a wide range of dimensions while remaining within the scope of the invention. The template and the pattern are made from materials selected based on their cost and their ability to hold their shape, with chipboard being among the most common. Typically, characters may fit within areas 6″ high and 5½″ wide, or 5″ high and 4″ wide, with typical thicknesses of body pieces including {fraction (3/16)}″ and ⅜″ or any sizes as needed on a specific job. The body piece  12  is usually cut from plastic stock and the cap piece  14  is cut from a sheet of plastic or metal about {fraction (1/16)}″ thick. The cap piece  14  normally has a decorative finish. A plastic cap piece can have a metalized surface, or it can have a different color from the plastic of the body piece for visual effect. The plastic stock for the body piece and the sheet for the cap piece may each have a surface adhesive protected by a peel-off layer of paper. It is understood that the foregoing dimensions and materials as described herein are not limiting, other dimensions and materials may be selected as required. 
     Successive intermediate pieces may be interposed between the body piece and the cap piece when, for example, it is desired to achieve the effect of different layers with different colors. If intermediate pieces are used, they may be optionally be offset or differ in size from the first body piece to achieve distinctive visual effects. It is obvious that such an offset or difference in size can be accommodated by suitably programming the machine control computer. For example, fastening holes in the intermediate pieces can be located to allow the assembly of final characters to produce a desired visual effect. 
     With respect to each other, it is understood that the signage characters can be removeable as well as permanent. 
     A great advantage of the invented system is that it provides the simple replacement of individual parts should they be damaged or vandalized, without the necessity of realigning the any of the other characters. 
     While a preferred embodiment of the invention has been shown and described with particularity, it will be appreciated that various changes and modifications may suggest themselves to one having ordinary skill in the art upon being apprised of the present invention. It is intended to encompass all such changes and modifications as fall within the scope and spirit of the appended claims.