Patent Publication Number: US-9892665-B2

Title: Polygonal unibody pole sign

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     Provisional Application No. 62/049,653 
     Receipt Date: 12 Sep. 2014 
     Non-Provisional application Ser. No. 14/850,898 Receipt Date: 10 Sep. 2015 
     STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT 
     Not Applicable 
     THE NAMES OF THE PARTIES TO A JOINT RESEARCH AGREEMENT 
     Not Applicable 
     INCORPORATION-BY-REFERENCE OF MATERIAL SUBMITTED ON A COMPACT DISC OR AS A TEXT FILE VIA THE OFFICE ELECTRONIC FILING SYSTEM (EFS-WEB) 
     Not Applicable 
     STATEMENT REGARDING PRIOR DISCLOSURES BY THE INVENTOR OR A JOINT INVENTOR 
     As of the sixth day of May two thousand and sixteen, there has been no public disclosure of the Polygonal Unibody Pole Sign (PUPS) by the Inventor or Co-Inventor. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     
       
         
           
               
            
               
                   
               
               
                 U.S. PATENT DOCUMENTS 
               
            
           
           
               
               
               
               
               
               
            
               
                   
                 Document Num- 
                   
                   
                   
                   
               
               
                   
                 ber Country 
                   
                   
                 CPC  
                 US  
               
               
                   
                 Code-Number- 
                 Date 
                   
                 Classi- 
                 Classi- 
               
               
                   
                 Kind Code 
                 MM-YYYY 
                 Name 
                 fication 
                 fication 
               
               
                   
               
               
                 A 
                 U.S.-646,630 A 
                 04-1900 
                 Watson, C. L. 
                 A47F5/112 
                 206/485 
               
               
                 B 
                 U.S.- 
                 04-1934 
                 WOLF 
                 B65D85/ 
                 206/423 
               
               
                   
                 1,954,006 A 
                   
                 EDWARD C 
                 52 
                   
               
               
                 C 
                 U.S.- 
                 01-1954 
                 MULFORD 
                 B65D75/ 
                 2061423 
               
               
                   
                 2,664,670 A 
                   
                 MARION R 
                 54 
                   
               
               
                 D 
                 U.S.- 
                 11-1960 
                 SIERK 
                 B65D5/ 
                 206/446 
               
               
                   
                 2,959,339 A 
                   
                 RAYMOND 
                 0254 
                   
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 H 
                   
                   
               
               
                 E 
                 U.S.- 
                 10-1982 
                 Jennings; 
                 G09F7/22 
                  40/431 
               
               
                   
                 4,353,179 A 
                   
                 Hugh F. 
                   
                   
               
               
                 F 
                 U.S.- 
                 01-1997 
                 Wu; Gordon 
                 B65D5/ 
                 206/419 
               
               
                   
                 5,597,070 A 
                   
                 K. H. 
                 504 
               
               
                   
               
            
           
         
       
     
     BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The Polygonal Unibody Pole Sign (PUPS) solves the problem of how to suspend a message high upon a long wood, metal, or concrete object, such as flag pole, light post, column, etc, without requiring additional support in the form of adhesives, attachments, or additional parts or pieces; and because a Polygonal Unibody Pole Sign is made from a single blank of semi-rigid material, which requires no additional parts to assemble, giving it a low cost advantage. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWING(S) 
         FIG. 1 —Is a plan view of an embodiment of the present invention. 
         FIG. 2 —Is a perspective view of  FIG. 1 , which is joined and partially folded 
         FIG. 3 —Is a perspective view of  FIG. 1 , which is joined and completely folded. 
         FIG. 4 —Is a perspective view of an alternate embodiment of the present invention consisting of one flap without folds, and one panel. 
         FIG. 5 —Is a perspective view from the front of a second alternate embodiment of the present invention consisting of two top flaps, two bottom flaps, and two panels that are completely folded. 
         FIG. 6 —Is a perspective view from the rear of  FIG. 5 . 
         FIG. 7 —Is a perspective view of  FIG. 1 , with longer vertical panels, which is installed. 
         FIG. 8 —Is a plan view of the top of  FIG. 4  displaying an alternate flap design to provide variable apertures for multiple diameter poles. 
         FIG. 9 —Is a perspective view of  FIG. 8  displaying potential use. 
         FIG. 10 —Is a plan view of the flap of a third alternate embodiment, consisting of three panels, three top flaps and three bottom flaps, to create a triangular shaped figure. 
         FIG. 11 —Is a plan view of  FIG. 10  with an alternate square shaped aperture 
     
    
    
     DRAWING NUMBERING 
     
         
         
           
             1)  1   a =top tab 
               1   b =bottom tab 
               1   c =tab notch 
             2)  2   a =tab panel, top flap 
               2   b =tab panel 
               2   c =tab panel, bottom flap 
             3)  3   a =central panel, top flap 
               3   b =central panel 
               3   c =central panel, bottom flap 
             4)  4   a =additional panel, top flap 
               4   b =additional panel 
               4   c =additional panel, bottom flap 
             5)  5   a =slot panel, top flap 
               5   b =slot panel 
               5   c =slot panel, bottom flap 
             6)  6   a =top slot 
               6   b =bottom slot 
             7)  7 =tongue 
             8)  8 =variable height axis 
             9)  9 =tab bend 
             10)  10 =flap bend 
             11)  11 =flap hole 
             12)  12   a =flap fold 
               12   b =flap fold 
             13)  13 =flap cut 
             14)  14 =panel bend 
             15)  15 =tongue bend 
             16)  16 =perforation 
             17)  17 =pole sign 
             18)  18 =light pole 
             19)  19   a =alternative flap design 
               19   b =alternative flap design 
               19   c =alternative flap design 
               19   d =alternative flap design 
           
         
       
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWING(S) 
       FIG. 1  shows how the preassembled Polygonal Unibody Pole Sign  17  will look after it is manufactured from a single blank of cardboard or other semi-rigid material. As panels  2   b    3   b    4   b    5   b  are where advertisements will be written or printed onto, each flap  2   a    3   a    4   a    5   a    2   c    3   c    4   c    5   c  are identical with a flap cut  13 , flap fold  12   a    12   b , flap hole  11 , and flap bend  10  being present. Outer panel  2   b  has top tab  1   a  and bottom tab  1   b  each having a tab bend  9  and tab notch  1   c  to be used in conjunction with top slot  6   a  and bottom slot  6   b  which are cut out of tongue bend  15  between tongue  7  and panel  5   b . The variable height axis  8  shows where leeway may be given or taken from the design to fit different advertising demands. 
       FIG. 2  is a three dimensional representation of the first step in the assembly of the Polygonal Unibody Pole Sign  17  listed in  FIG. 1 , but is missing the light pole  18  of  FIG. 7  to allow room for detail. Again, as each flap  2   a    3   a    4   a    5   a    2   c    3   c    4   c    5   c  is identical, the only labeled flap  2   a  shows a flap cut  13 , flap fold  12   a    12   b , flap hole  11 , and flap bend  10  to allow additional room for detail; likewise for panel bend  14 . To begin, each flap  2   a    3   a    4   a    5   a    2   c    3   c    4   c    5   c  should be bent away from interior at flap bend  10  to allow for easier installation. As each panel bend  14  is wrapped around, tongue  7  is bent inside at tongue bend  15  allowing top tab  1   a  and bottom tab  1   b  to be fed through the unseen top slot  6   a  and bottom slot  6   b  of  FIG. 1 , catching tab notch  1   c  on tongue  7 , thus resting the tongue  7  on the inside of panel  2   b  and the top tab  1   a  and bottom tab  1   b  on the inside of panel  5   b , where tongue  7  and top slot  6   a  and bottom slot  6   b  are unseen from the outside as in  FIG. 3 . 
       FIG. 3  and  FIG. 7  represent opposite sides of a similar fully assembled Polygonal Unibody Pole Sign  17  from  FIG. 1 , but  FIG. 3  is missing the light pole  18  of  FIG. 7  to show flap hole  11  while giving an assembled exterior view of  FIG. 2  where top tab  1   a  and bottom tab  1   b  intersect with the tongue  7  bringing panel  2   b  and panel  5   b  together.  FIG. 3  best shows the differentiation between each panel bend  14  and the tongue bend  15  locked into tab bend  9  of the  FIG. 2  top tab  1   a  and bottom tab  2   b ; while  FIG. 7  best shows an assembled, mounted, Polygonal Unibody Pole Sign  17  from  FIG. 1 . 
     As the Polygonal Unibody Pole Sign requires few parts to function,  FIG. 4   FIG. 5  and  FIG. 6  can be seen as both cross sections of alternative embodiments from  FIG. 3  and  FIG. 7  as well as embodiments of the  FIG. 1  Polygonal Unibody Pole Sign  17 . Although  FIG. 4  only has one panel  3   b  for advertising, it still has the single essential central panel, top flap  3   a  parts such as flap cut  13 , flap hole  11 , and flap bend  10  necessary to remain a self supporting platform for advertising.  FIG. 5  differs from  FIG. 4  with the added addition of flap fold  12   a    12   b  to more easily encompass a pole with the unseen additional panel, top flap  4   a , as seen in  FIG. 1 , and additional panel  4   b  with flap bend  10  and panel bend  14 .  FIG. 6  is an inside view of a two panel  3   b    4   b , four flap  3   a    3   c    4   c  and an unseen flap  4   a , which is missing the tab panel  2   b  and slot panel  5   b  as seen in  FIG. 2 . 
       FIG. 8  illustrates an alternative flap design  19   a  of the embodiment seen in  FIG. 9  in which a perforation  16  allows one product to turn into an embodiment similar to  FIG. 4  with flap cut  13  by offering multiple perforation  16  lines to punch out a light post size hole for the end users to mount. In the case of  FIG. 9  the perforation  16  is used to help a pizza company create additional revenue through increasing advertising opportunities on a product which is already being sold. 
       FIG. 10  is an alternative flap design  19   c  which is for a three panel embodiment which has a circular flap hole  11  to fit around a circular pole.  FIG. 11  is an alternative flap design  19   d  which is for a three panel embodiment which has a square flap hole  11  to fit around a square pole. 
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     A Polygonal Unibody Pole Sign  17  contains multiple, full overlap flaps  2   a    3   a    4   a    5   a    2   c    3   c    4   c    5   c  along the top and bottom (along the horizontal sides), a tab or tabs  1   a    1   b  along one vertical side, with a corresponding slot or slots  6   a    6   b  along the opposite vertical side, and multiple panels  2   b    3   b    4   b    5   b  (panel numbers depend upon the direction of the intended advertisement and/or function: one direction=one panel, two directions=two side by side panels, three direction=triangular box, four directions=cube or rectangular box, and so forth). Each flap  2   a    3   a    4   a    5   a    2   c    3   c    4   c    5   c  contains a central circular or other shaped aperture  11  (mirroring the pole  18  for which the flap will surround), a single cut  13  on the far side of the aperture  11  away from the panel  2   b    3   b    4   b    5   b  for which the flap  2   a    3   a    4   a    5   a    2   c    3   c    4   c    5   c  is attached; thus dividing each flap  2   a    3   a    4   a    5   a    2   c    3   c    4   c    5   c  to allow the pole  18  to enter the aperture  11 , and two folds  12   a    12   b  on opposite sides, parallel to the cut  13  equal to the diameter of the attaching pole  18  allowing it to pass between the folds  12   a    12   b  when opened. Each tab  1   a    1   b  width is equal the width of that tabs  1   a    1   b  corresponding slot  6   a    6   b , but is positioned lower by the height of the notch  1   c  in that tab  1   a    1   b ; so when that tab is inserted into the corresponding slot  6   a    6   b  the tab notch  1   c  rests within the bottom of the slot  6   a    6   b , thus holding the two vertical panels together. Each slot or slots  6   a    6   b  are located on the bend  15  on tongue  7  closest to slot panel  5   b.    
     A Polygonal Unibody Pole Sign  17  is installed by (a single user) bending the panels  2   b    3   b    4   b    5   b  around an appropriate pole  18  with the tongue  7  inside of the Polygonal Unibody Pole Sign  17 . Then bending all flaps  2   a    3   a    4   a    5   a    2   c    3   c    4   c    5   c  outward, and placing Polygonal Unibody Pole Sign  17  on ground. Then feed tabs  1   a    1   b  into slots  6   a    6   b  reaching inside Pole Sign  17  from top (and bottom if necessary) to pull tabs  1   a    1   b  through to rest on last tab notch  1   c , until tab panel  2   b  and slot panel  5   b  are end to end on the outside of the Polygonal Unibody Pole Sign  17 , and the tabs  1   a    1   b  and tongue  7  are on the inside of the Polygonal Unibody Pole Sign  17 . Then lift Polygonal Unibody Pole Sign  17  to intended height making sure panel(s)  2   b    3   b    4   b    5   b  (if used for advertising) are facing the desired audience location before placing flap(s)  2   a    3   a    4   a    5   a    2   c    3   c    4   c    5   c  onto pole  18 . Bend slot panel  5   b , bottom flap  5   c  under affixing onto pole  18 . Then bend panel tab  2   b , bottom flap  2   c  under affixing onto pole  18 . Bend and affix the rest of the panel(s)  3   b    4   b , bottom flap(s)  3   c    4   c  clockwise onto the pole  18 . Beginning with the slot panel  5   b , bend and affix all panel(s)  2   b    3   b    4   b  top flaps  2   a    3   a    4   a  clockwise to the pole  18 .