Patent Publication Number: US-2003230015-A1

Title: Louver card

Description:
FIELD OF INVENTION  
       [0001] This invention relates to the field of advertising and promotional techniques and, more particularly to a the field of louver cards. The louver card consists of a folding card made of two sections of essentially identical dimensions, one of them being fitted with an opening, and of an insert arranged between the sections with overlapping lamellae, a first image surface being visible through the opening. The lamellae are movable between an open and a closed position, being driven by a driving element protruding from the folding card and shaped as an iris diaphragm, so a second image carrying surface is made visible in the open position and becomes, respectively, covered in a closed position.  
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0002] Such a louver card is known from the DE 92 16 101 U1. The lamellae of this already known louver card are fastened to a slide shutter with equally spaced openings arranged on a circle. The openings of the slide shutter are approximately of the same size with the lamella openings. The slide shutter and the lamellae are interconnected in a second connection domain through a connecting piece entering the opening of the sliding shutter and the longitudinal opening of the lamellae, so they can be jointly shifted along the link enabling rotation with respect to one another.  
       [0003] Over a second connecting piece in the first pivoting center, whose design is identical with the connecting piece in the second connection domain, the lamellae are connected through a circular opening with a beneath arranged holder.  
       [0004] The holder has identical round openings in the places corresponding to the openings of the sliding shutter, through which openings the lamellae are pivot-connected to the holder. Rivets made of metal are used as connecting pieces. The rivets, which pass through the two openings of the lamellae and the respective opening of the holder and of the slide shutter, hold together the parts to be connected due to their enlarged ends.  
       [0005] The shortcoming of this already known louver card is the use of metal rivets to fasten the lamellae to the slide shutter, since insertion of such rivets in the said louver card is a very labor-consuming operation.  
       [0006] Proceeding from this state-of-the-art, the goal of the invention is to develop a louver card, of the same kind, which could be made of merely one single material in a simple and cost-saving way.  
       [0007] The solution of this task envisages that, on the one hand, the lamellae are equally spaced in a holding piece and, on the other hand, the lamellae are connected with a driving element. The connection between the lamellae, on one hand, and the holding piece, respectively the driving element, on the other hand, is made through cuts in the lamellae, in the holding piece and in the driving element and the connections between these parts are of the plug-in type.  
       [0008] The louver card according to the invention features connections between the lamellae, on one hand, and the holder, respectively, the driving element on the other hand; this connection consist of two cuts in the lamellae and every time a cut in the corresponding parts of the holder, respectively of the driving element. Thus, the lamellae are suitable for plug-in connection with these component parts.  
       [0009] It is preferably envisaged that every lamella end to be connected with the driving element or the holder shall have two cuts arranged opposite to one another. Particularly, the arrangement of the cuts is collinear.  
       [0010] Another distinctive feature of the invention is the round-shaped form of the holder.  
       [0011] According to another distinctive feature of the invention, the holder has four lugs resting on the folding card. This secures the holder against rotation with regard to the folding card without any additional connecting elements, for instance, glued-on points or other things like that.  
       [0012] Another distinctive feature of the invention is the arrangement of the second image surface on a card element in such a way that it cannot rotate inside the folding card between the holder and the driving element.  
       [0013] The driving element is accommodated inside the folding card by means of a central strap in the card element that enters a slot in the driving element in such a way, that the driving element can rotate restrictedly around the strap with respect to the card element.  
       [0014] This design makes unnecessary the use of rivets or like items made of other materials to fasten the two design components in this connection domain too.  
       [0015] Finally, according to another distinctive feature of the invention, it is envisaged that the card element shall be connected with the holder in order to enable simple manufacturing of the louver card from as few as possible components to be assembled.  
       [0016] Other distinctive feature and advantages of the invention can be derived from the description of the pertaining Figures in a preferably implementation of the louver card.  
       SUMMARY  
       [0017] In accordance with the present invention, the Louver card consists of a folding card made of two sections of essentially identical size, where one of the sections has an opening whereby an insert is arranged between the sections with overlapping lamellae and with a first image surface being visible through the opening. Through the use of a driving element which protrudes from the folding card and which is shaped as an iris diaphragm, the lamellae are enabled to move between an open and closed position, whereby a second image carrying surface becomes visible in the open position and is covered in the closed position.  
       DRAWINGS  
       [0018] The Figures show:  
       [0019]FIG. 1 General view of a louver card in the first position.  
       [0020]FIG. 2 The louver card according to FIG. 1 in the second position.  
       [0021]FIG. 3A folding card for the louver card according to FIGS. 1 and 2.  
       [0022]FIG. 4A holder with a card element and a second image surface for the louver card according to FIGS. 1 and 2.  
       [0023]FIG. 5A driving element for the louver card according to FIGS. 1 and 2.  
       [0024]FIG. 6A lamella for the louver card according to FIGS. 1 and 2.  
       [0025]FIG. 7 An assembly of six lamellae according to FIG. 6 in the first open position.  
       [0026]FIG. 8 An assembly of six lamellae according to FIG. 7 in a second, half-open position.  
       [0027]FIG. 9 An assembly of six lamellae according to FIGS. 7 and 8 in more open position.  
       [0028]FIG. 10 The holder with the card element and the second image surface according to FIG. 4 together with the six lamellae according to the FIGS. 7 through 9 in assembly. General view.  
       [0029]FIG. 11 The holder with the card element and the second image surface together with the installed lamellae according to the FIG. 10. Front view.  
       [0030]FIG. 12 The holder with the card element and the second image surface and the lamellae. Rear view.  
       [0031]FIG. 13 The insert for the folding card according to FIG. 3.  
       [0032]FIG. 14 The insert according to FIG. 13 in the first mounting position.  
       [0033]FIG. 15 The insert according to FIGS. 13 and 14 in the second mounting position.  
       [0034]FIG. 16 The insert according to FIGS. 13 through 15 in the first lamellae position.  
       [0035]FIG. 17 The insert according to FIG. 16 in the second lamellae position.  
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION  
     [0036] A louver card  1 , according to FIGS. 1 through 17, shows a first image surface  3  and a second image surface  4  made of the overlapping lamellae arranged inside a folding card  5 . The folding card  5  consists of two sections  6  and  7 , essentially of the same size, which are interconnected along a fold. Both the sections  6  and  7  have a recess  9  in the middle of the fold  8 .  
     [0037] The section  7  shows also folding tongues  11  on the three free outer edges  10 , which tongues are skewed on their narrow ends in such a way, that the folding tongues  11  are applied over the surface of the section  7 . They can be connected with the folded-on section  6  in order to form a hollow space between the two sections  6  and  7 , suitable to accommodate one of the inserts  12  shown in the FIGS. 13 through 17.  
     [0038] The folding card  5  features also an opening  13  in the central zone of the section  7 .  
     [0039] An observer can activate the sliding shutter  14  arranged at one side of the louver card  1  in order to affect the first image surface  3  and, thus, to cover, and respectively, to uncover the second image surface arranged beneath. The slide shutter  14  is arranged in the zone of the recess  9  of the folding card  5 , in such a way that it protrudes from the recess  9 .  
     [0040] The changeable first image surface  3  is located in the zone of the opening  13  being made of separate lamellae  2 , that are shaped as iris diaphragm in the considered implementation form.  
     [0041] The insert  12  whose component parts are described hereinafter is enclosed in the folding card  5 .  
     [0042] The insert  12  has a holder  15 . The holder  15  is essentially a ring-shaped element having a central opening  16  and two pairs of lugs  17 , which are diametrically disposed.  
     [0043] Further, in the zone of the rim  18 , surrounding the opening  16 , the holder  15  has for each lamella  2  a circular-arc cut  19  opened outwards. Within each cut  19  there is another cut  20 , square to the first one, and located approximately in the middle of the first cut  19 . This cut extends from the cut  19  in the direction of the center of the opening  16 . A card element  21 , which makes one piece with the holder, can fold over the folding edge  22  being hinged to the two lugs  17  of the holder  15 .  
     [0044] The card element  21  has an essentially round card surface  23  with a strap  24  in the middle formed by the circular-arc cut  25 , particularly, of sickle-shaped form. The card element  21  features another card surface  26  disposed on its lateral surface looking towards the holder  15 . This card surface  26  carries a second image surface and is also connected with the card element  21  by the folding edge  27 , so the card surface  26  can fold along the folding edge  27  with respect to the card element  27 .  
     [0045] Finally, the card element  21  features other folding elements  28 , whose free ends can fold around the folding edges  29 .  
     [0046] Another component of the insert  21  is the driving element  30  shown in FIG. 5. The driving element  30  is essentially star-shaped and has a number of equally spaced tips  31  corresponding to the number of lamellae. Each tip  31  has an essentially half-ring-shaped folding element  32 , which can fold along the folding edge  33  in the direction towards the center of the driving element  30 .  
     [0047] A cut  34  is made in the free middle zone of each folding element  32  in the direction towards the center of the driving element  30 .  
     [0048] Finally, it can be seen that the sliding shutter  14  is disposed between two neighboring tips  31  of the driving element  30 .  
     [0049] Six sickle-shaped lamellae  2 , according to FIG. 6, can be fastened to the driving element  30 , and each lamella  2  in conformity with the FIG. 6 is essentially sickle-shaped. Each lamella  2  has a half-circular end  35  and a sharp end  36 . In the zone of the half-circular end  35 , each lamella has two collinearly arranged cuts  37 .  
     [0050] The FIGS. 7 through 9 show the arrangement of the lamellae  2  with respect to one another. FIG. 7 shows the arrangement of the lamellae in a closed position, which enables the observer to view the first image surface  3 . Then, the lamellae  2  are shifted to the position according to FIG. 8 by moving the slide shutter  14 , thus enabling the observer to view a part of the second image surface  4 . Moving further the slide shutter  14  results in enlarging the opening between the lamellae  2 , so a larger part of the image surface  4  can be seen.  
     [0051]FIG. 10 shows the connection of the lamellae  2  to the holder  15 . With respect to the holder  15  the lamellae  2  are arranged with their sharp ends  36  in the direction of the opening  16  in such a way that a cut  37  enters the cut  19  and subsequently the cut  20  and is seized there. The holder  15  with the inserted lamellae  2  is shown in FIGS. 11 and 12 twice, in front view according to FIG. 11 and in rear view according to FIG. 12. After having fastened the lamellae  2  to the holder, the driving element  30  is fitted to the card element  21  in such a way that the strap  24  is inserted in the corresponding slot  38 . This results in a restricted rotation ability of the driving element with respect to the card element  21 .  
     [0052] Now, the lamellae  2  are on the surface of the holder  15  and the driving element  30  on the opposite surface of the card element  21 . The next step is to fold the insert  12  formed this way along the folding edges  22  and  27 .  
     [0053] Thus the card surface  26  becomes folded at first over the card surface  23 . The card surface  26  is put on the very card surface  23 , which is opposite to the surface resting on the driving element  30 .  
     [0054] Subsequently, the card element  21  with the already folded-on card surface  26  is folded in the same direction over the surfaces of the lamellae  2  along the folding edge  22 . The card surface  26  is now positioned between the card surface  23  and the lamellae  2 , which are partially covered by the holder  15 . Then the folding elements  32  of the driving element  30  are folded in the direction of the half-circular ends  35  of the lamellae  2  in order to insert the cuts  34  into the still free cuts  37 .  
     [0055] The insert  12  formed this way is shown in FIGS. 16 and 17 in two positions, with closed and open lamellae  2 . The insert  12  can be then introduced into the folding card  5  so that the slide shutter protrude through the opening formed by the activation recess  9  of the lamellae  2 .  
     [0056] For this purpose, the sections  6  and  7  of the folding card  5  can be glued-on in the zone of the folds  11 . It goes without saying, that the insert  12  is fitted into the folding card  5  in such a way, that the lamellae  2  are arranged directly in the zone of the opening  13 .