Patent Publication Number: US-5293706-A

Title: Multiple-image display device

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention is generally directed to display devices and, more particularly, to promotional displays having multiple viewable and, typically, related images. 
     OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION 
     It is the desideratum of the invention to provide a display device useful in the advertising or promotion of articles or services and enabling observer viewing of a plurality of images in a predetermined sequence and/or combination as a function of a changeable condition of the display device and/or of the observer&#39;s relative position or viewing angle vis-a-vis the device. 
     It is a particular object of the invention to provide such a display device that is movable between a first condition in which only a first image is viewable and a second condition in which a combination of the first and of a second image is viewable. 
     It is another object of the invention to provide such a display device which may be hand-held by an observer for selective, manually-effected manipulation between its first and second conditions. 
     A further object of the invention is to provide such a display device that may be easily fabricated of inexpensive and readily-available materials. 
     Other objects and features of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. It is to be understood, however, that the drawings are designed solely for purposes of illustration and not as a definition of the limits of the invention, for which reference should be made to the appended claims. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     In the drawings, wherein similar reference characters denote similar elements throughout the several views: 
     FIG. 1 is an elevated, front perspective view of a display device constructed in accordance with the teachings of the present invention and seen in a first, relatively closed condition of the device; 
     FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view, partially broken away, taken along the lines 2--2 in FIG. 1; 
     FIG. 3 is an elevated perspective view of the display device of FIG. 1 shown in a second, relatively open condition of the device; and 
     FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view, partially broken away, taken along the lines 4--4 in FIG. 3. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
     In its broadest sense, the present invention is directed to a display device useful, by way of example, in the advertising or promotion of articles or services and enabling observer viewing of a plurality of images in a predetermined sequence and/or combination as a function of a changeable condition of the display device and/or of the observer&#39;s relative position or viewing angle vis-a-vis the device. Described herein, and shown in the accompanying drawings, is a currently-preferred embodiment of the invention, in the form of a hand-held, folded card-like device that is manually and selectively-changeable between a first, substantially closed condition in which only a first image of the card is viewable and a second, generally open condition in which both the first image and a second image of the card are concurrently viewable by a holder or observer of the device. It is generally anticipated, in such an embodiment, that the first and second images will have some common theme or meaning or relationship so that, when the images are viewed concurrently in the second condition of the device, they may together impart a suitable or intended message or connotation to the viewer. Other and variously modified forms of a display device constructed in accordance with the invention are also contemplated, as should become apparent as this description proceeds. 
     With particular reference now to the drawings, there is shown a display device constructed in accordance with the teachings of the present invention and implemented in the specific form of a hand-held, user-manipulatable promotional card 10. The card 10 includes a first panel 12 having a front or outer face 14 and an inner face 16 on opposite sides of the substantially flat panel 12, and a second panel 18 having a rear or outer face 20 and an inner face 22 on opposite sides of the substantially flat panel 18. The first and second panels are integrally joined or connected at a respective edge of each to form a joint 24 about which the panels are relatively pivotable between a first or closed condition of the card 10, as depicted in FIG. 1, and a second or generally open condition illustrated in FIG. 3. In the illustrated card 10, and as is generally preferred, the first and second panels are of substantially the same size and dimensional extent so as to coextensively overlap in the first condition of the card. 
     It is generally intended that the card 10 be advantageously capable, in its first condition, of being fully closed so as to maximally flatten the card through substantial abutment of at least portions of the inner faces 16, 22 of the panels 12, 18. It is further contemplated that the card 10 may optionally be provided with a strap or the like (not shown) spanningly connecting the panels 16, 22, or with another functionally equivalent arrangement, for limiting the relative pivotal opening movement of the first and second panels about the joint 24 and thereby predeterminately delineating the maximum angular separation of the two panels in the second condition of the card. In any event, in a currently-preferred relationship of the first and second panels in the second condition of the herein-disclosed card 10, the inner surfaces 16, 22 of the panels 12, 18 are separated by an angle of approximately 90-degrees--although the preferred angle may significantly vary therefrom as general matters of design choice and of the intended operative functionality and/or utility of the inventive display device. In this open or second condition of the card 10, the panels 12, 18 define an interior space therebetween and bounded by their respective inner surfaces 16, 22. 
     The card 10 further includes a substantially flat third panel 26 disposed in the interior space between and in predetermined orientation to the first and second panels. The third panel has a first face 28 disposed in confronting opposition to the first panel inner face 16, and a second face 30 opposite the third panel first face 28 and disposed in confronting opposition to the second panel inner face 22. The third panel 26 is integrally joined, along one edge, to the inner face 22 of the second panel 18 at an offset spacing from the joint 24 for pivotal movement of the third panel 26 relative to the second panel 18 about the joinder line 32 and, along its opposite edge, is connected to the first panel inner face 16 by upper and lower arms 34, 36 which spanningly join the third panel to the first panel inner face. The arms 34, 36 are preferably dimensioned so as to maintain the third panel in a predeterminately-fixed relation to the first panel as the first and second panels 12, 18 are pivoted between the first and second conditions of the card 10. In the illustrated embodiment of the inventive display device, the arms 34, 36 are preferably of substantially equal length and are sized to maintain the third panel in substantially parallel relation to the first panel 12 or, more particularly, to the first panel inner face 16. 
     A substantially transparent window 38 defined in the first panel 12 permits a user or viewer of the card 10 to look or peer into the card interior through the window. Thus, an observer located proximate the outer face 14 of the first panel may look through the window 38 to view at least a predetermined portion of the interior of the card. In the illustrated embodiment of the invention, the window consists of a generally rectangular opening or cutout in and through the first panel 12, although the window may optionally assume other forms so long as it provides substantial transparency or viewability into the card interior from the exterior front face thereof. 
     On its first face 28, the third panel carries a first image 40 positioned so that, in the first or closed condition of the card 10, at least a portion of the first image is viewable through the window 38. A second image 42 is carried on at least one of the third panel second face 30 and the second panel inner face 22; in the illustrated card 10, various portions of the second image can be seen as being carried on each. As should be apparent, the position of the second image 42 is such that the second image cannot be seen through the window 38 in the first condition of the card 10; this limitation is notably preferred although embodiments in which a predetermined or limited portion of the second image can be seen through the first panel window in the first condition of the card are also within the intended scope of the invention. Finally, a mirror-like reflective surface or member 44--implemented, by way of example, as a thin film or sheet of reflective Mylar material--is carried on the inner face 16 of the first panel 12. In the herein-disclosed display card 10, the reflective surface 44 is carried on the first panel inner face in confronting opposition to the third panel first face 28 on which the first image 40 is carried. 
     The generally-contemplated utility and functionality of the multiple-image promotional display card 10 will now be described. In the first or closed condition of the card as seen in FIG. 1, at least a portion of the first image 40--and only the first image--is viewable through the window 38; that is, the second image 42 cannot be seen through the window 38 in the closed condition of the card 10. The front face 14 of the first panel 12 may also optionally bear appropriate text 46 and/or additional illustrations or images to provide a holder or viewer or observer of the card 10 with an intended message related to the promotional objective of the card and to the substance of the viewable first image 40. 
     The user then manipulates one or both of the first and second panels 12, 18 to relatively pivot the same about the joint 24 and thereby move the panels to the second or open condition of the card 10 that is shown in FIG. 3. As the first and second panels are thus relatively pivoted about the edge joint 24, the third panel 26 is concurrently pivoted about its joinder 32 to the second panel inner face 22 such that the third panel remains substantially parallel (in the illustrated embodiment) to the first panel 12. In the open condition of the card 10, a holder or user of the card, looking into the interior space defined between the first and second panels 12, 18, concurrently sees both the second image 42--which is carried on at least one of the third panel second face 30 and the first panel inner face 22--and a reflection 48, in the reflective surface 44, of the first image 40 from the third panel first surface 28. The viewer or user may thereby be imparted with a predetermined theme or message derived from the relationship between the first and second images 40, 42 and, if desired, from optional additional text 50 and/or illustrations or images viewable only in the second, open condition of the card 10. Such additional images may also take the form of one or more portions of the first image 40 that cannot be seen through the dimensionally-limited window 38 in the first, closed condition of the card but that are viewable in the second, open condition of the inventive display card 10, or of further images on the third panel first surface 28 that are positionally-associated with the first image 40 and are thereby viewable as a part of the reflected image 48, as for example indicated at 52 in FIG. 3. 
     Fabrication of the promotional card 10 may be carried out in any of numerous ways that will readily suggest themselves to those skilled in the art. A currently-preferred procedure forms the card 10 of only two elements--a single blank of a preferably medium-to-heavy weight paperboard stock or cardboard substrate, and a short, elongated strip of Mylar film material (to provide the reflective surface 44). As should be apparent from the drawings (see particularly FIGS. 2 and 4), a single elongated, substantially rectangular paper blank is folded overlappingly in half to form the primarily double-thickness first and second panels 12, 18, and is then folded in half once again to define the pivotal edge joint 24 between the panels. The third panel 26 and arms 34, 36 are formed by cutting them from a portion of the overlapping blank so that the first, second and third panels are fabricated as unitarily integral portions of the card 10. The formation of the third panel and arms--including scoring to define the necessary fold lines between the third panel and arms, and between those elements and the first and second panels--is preferably effected in the initial fabrication of the blank so that as the first, overlapping fold is made, the overlapped halves of the blank may concurrently be glued or otherwise affixed one to the other in surface-to-surface abutment to form the so-rigidified first and second panels 12, 18. Finally, the Mylar film strip is affixed, as with a suitable adhesive or the like, to the inner surface 16 of the first panel 12 to provide the reflective surface 44. This preferred fabrication procedure is, nevertheless, only one of many and all such variations are within the intended scope and contemplation of the invention. 
     Other and modified forms of multiple-image displays constructed in accordance with the broad concept and teachings of the present invention are also contemplated. For example, an enlarged, free-standing display device having the general form of the herein-shown and described promotional card 10 may be arranged such that the first, second and third panels are disposed in a positionally-fixed relationship substantially corresponding to the second or open condition of the card 10 illustrated in FIG. 3. In such an embodiment, it is intended that the viewer or observer will walk or otherwise move around at least a portion of the periphery of the positionally-fixed display device, starting proximate the front or outer face of the first panel for viewing of the first image through the first panel window and then proceeding to a position adjacent or proximate the interior space defined between the first and second panels at which the viewer will concurrently see the second image and the first image reflection. Such an arrangement may also merit or require positional relocation of the window 38 and/or reflective surface 44 and, to the extent that the relocated position(s) of the window and reflective surface overlap, the reflective surface may be implemented as a half-silvered or one-way mirror or reflective member that is substantially transparent as an observer looks inwardly through the window from the first panel front surface but is at least predominantly reflective when viewed from the opposite direction. These and numerous other modifications in the form and/or operation of display devices constructed in accordance with the present invention will readily suggest themselves to those ordinarily skilled in the art and having knowledge of this disclosure and teachings. 
     Thus, while there have shown and described and pointed out fundamental novel features of the invention as applied to preferred embodiments thereof, it will be understood that various omissions and substitutions and changes in the form and details of the devices illustrated, and in their operation, may be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit of the invention. It is the intention, therefore, to be limited only as indicated by the scope of the claims appended hereto.