Patent ID: 7437843

Claim:
Apparatus for mounting a banner from a support member at a display height above ground level, the banner having a mounted width and mounted length, the apparatus comprising: an upper banner arm assembly, having an upper arm housing adapted to be secured to the support member at a location dependent on the display height, and including drive shaft apparatus and hoist shaft apparatus disposed within the upper arm housing, the hoist shaft apparatus being adapted for bidirectional rotation in response to rotational torque received thereby from the drive shaft apparatus, the drive shaft apparatus imparting the rotational torque in response to like rotational torque provided thereto from a crank assembly, the hoist shaft apparatus having hoist means adapted to releasably engage an upper mounting edge of the banner, and to be raised and lowered between ground level and the display height in response to bidirectional rotation of the hoist shaft apparatus; a crank assembly, having a crank shaft fixedly engaged at one end to the drive shaft apparatus, the crank shaft having a distal end, the crank assembly adapted for operator use in applying bidirectional rotational torque to the drive shaft apparatus; a lower banner arm assembly, having a lower arm housing adapted to be secured to the support member in spaced relationship with the upper banner arm housing, in dependence on the banner mounted length, the lower arm housing having a banner passage extending between upper and lower surfaces thereof, the banner passage having passage geometry that permits the banner to pass therethrough; and a lower crossbar, adapted to releasably engage a lower mounting edge of the banner, and having a lower crossbar geometry that prevents it from passing through the banner passage during the banner mounting process in which the operator rotates the crank assembly in a direction which lowers the hoist means, directing it on a descent path through the banner passage, to a height which permits the operator to engage the hoist means and the lower crossbar, respectively, to the upper and lower mounting edges of the banner, and to rotate the crank assembly in a direction which raises the hoist means on a return ascent path through the banner passage, together with the engaged banner and lower crossbar, to a height at which the banner passage blocks further vertical travel of the lower crossbar, at which point the banner is secured in its mounted position.