Inventors:
Franklin H. Cocks - Durham NC
Phillip L. Jones - Durham NC
James P. Schaffer - Durham NC
International Classification:
H01J 6133, G09F 1318
Abstract:
The invention provides a gas discharge point of purchase display device. This device utilizes two flat vitreous glass plates, one of which contains a continuous channel of any desired shape, and together which form an ionization chamber. These vitreous plates are transparent; however provision is made for the incorporation of an opaque cover layer that conforms to the desired final illuminated geometry and which thus serves to obscure specified channel regions. The simple design of this sign makes possible the construction of these devices in quantity and at a relatively low cost by mass production methods. In the preferred embodiment, the overall effect of the invention is that of a flat plate neon sign, which can contain multiply colored fluorescent materials within a single channel and which can produce letters or characters of varying width and which can appear as an infinite sequence of signs of ever decreasing intensity and size, and which can have multiple gas-discharge paths that are individually selectable by means of a mechanical mechanism placed within the gas-discharge panel.