Shadow lettering system
.United States Patent 1191 Naiman 1451 Apr. 1, 1975 1 1 SHADOW LETTERING SYSTEM [75] Inventor: Samuel Naiman, Queens, N.Y.  
 [73] Assignee: Visual Graphics Corporation, New  
 York, NY.  
 [22] Filed: Nov. 10, 1972 [21] Appl. No.: 305,527  
 [52] US. Cl 16l/6, 40/136, 40/140, 96/45, 156/62, 161/7, 161/97, 161/413 [51] Int. Cl. B44f l/00, B44f 7/00 [58] Field of Search 161/6, 97, 413, 7; 156/62; 96/45; 40/136. 140  
 [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 183.381 10/1876 Draper 161/6 X 2,561,672 7/1951 Pritikin 161/6 X Primary Emminer-Mayer Weinblatt [57] ABSTRACT Individual letters and symbols which are to be assembled into messages or displays and thereafter photographed or photo-offset are placed upon a transparent support. The letters and symbols are of the deep shadow style and are frequently overlapped during composition. The lighter portions of the letters and symbols are backed by corresponding light opaque areas so that the dark portion of underlying adjacent letters cannot interfere with the display.  
 6 Claims, 6 Drawing Figures SHADOW LETTERING SYSTEM BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION It is well known to provide individual letters and symbols in a wide variety of styles and sizes which can be arranged to spell out a message and thereafter reproduced photographically. electrostatically or otherwise. Where the letters are spaced from each other a distance sufficient to keep the outline of each letter separate from the next adjacent letter or symbol. clear messages result. If the letters are placed in overlapping relationship a portion of the underlying letter may be visihle through the overlying letter and thus spoil the display. This problem is especially troublesome where the style of lettering is of the deep shadow variety.  
  Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a deep shadow lettering system which will be free of the limitations of prior art devices.  
  Another object of the present invention is to provide a deep shadow lettering system which will lend itself to a wide variety of displays.  
  A further object of the present invention is to provide a deep shadow lettering system which will lend itself to rapid display composition.  
 SUMMARY In one preferred form of the invention, letters and symbols consisting of light and dark areas are imprinted upon a thin transparent support. The reverse side of the transparent support is then covered by an opaque light colored material in those areas where there are light areas on the opposite side. When the individual letters are overlapped to spell out a message the dark areas of underlying adjacent letters will not be visible.  
 DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING In the accompanying drawing forming part hereof identical parts have been given the same reference numerals in which drawing:  
  FIG. I is a plan view showing a deep shadow letter made in accordance with the prior art.  
 FIGv 2 is a reverse side view of the letter shown in FIG. I.  
  FIG. 3 is a plan view of three deep shadow letters made in accordance with the prior art in an overlapped arrangement.  
  FIG. 4 is a view similar to FIG. I but of a letter formed in accordance with the present invention.  
  FIG. 5 is a reverse side view of the letter shown in FIG. 4.  
  FIG. 6 is a plan view similar to FIG. 3 but showing the use of letters made according to the present invention.  
 GENERAL DESCRIPTION Referring to the drawing and particularly to FIGS.  
 I-3 there are shown letters made in accordance with the prior art. &#39;Ihese letters consist of a transparent or translucent sheets of thin plastic material 10 such as stable acetate. polyethylene or the like on which there has been placed some indicia II such as the letter 0 illustrated. The indicia II consists of light areas I2 and dark areas I3 which may outline the light areas.  
 The style of lettering illustrated in the drawing is known as &#34;deep shadow lettering&#34; and is used because it is very troublesome when being arranged into a desired sequence such as spelling out a message. It will be apparent, however. that a wide variety of lettering styles may be used without departing from the spirit of the present invention.  
  As shown in FIG. 3, when the letters are placed close to each other. the plastic sheets 10 overlap and a portion of the indicia on one sheet such as the shadow I4 of one letter will be seen through a portion of the light area which overlies it. The result is unpleasant and confusing.  
  Referring to the present invention as shown in FIGS. 4-6, a white opaque filler 15 such as an opaque ink, paint, pigment, white filler or other suitable material is printed or otherwise deposited on the reverse side of the plastic sheet 10 in the areas defined by the light portions 12 of the indicia ll. When the letters are overlapped as shown in FIG. 6, the dark portions of the underlying indicia cannot be seen through the adjacent light areas. The operator seeking to space the letters to form a message is not limited in his selection of styles of letters nor how closely he can space them.  
  While black and white areas form the indicia in the illustration given herein, it will be apparent that a wide variety of light and dark colors may be substituted for black and white without departing from the spirit of the present invention.  
  From the foregoing it will be seen that there has been provided a lettering system which lends itself to a wide variety of effects, including closely spaced letters, overlapping letters, staggered letters and the like. Moreover, the fact that letters or symbols may be placed very close to each other without interference from the underlying member, greatly facilitates the work of the composer.  
  Having thus fully described the invention, what is desired to be claimed and protected by letters patent is:  
 I. An indicia member for incorporation into a display, comprising a thin sheet of plastic material having opposite faces and capable of passing light therethrough, a coating of opaque material on portions of one face of the sheet defining indicia consisting of light areas and dark areas, and a coating of opaque material on the other face of the sheet at locations coinciding with the light areas, so that said sheets may be arranged into a display with individual sheets thereof in overlapping relationship with one another and the dark areas of the indicia on a subadjacent sheet are not visible through the light areas of the indicia on a superadjacent sheet.  
  2. An indicia member according to claim I in which the plastic material is transparent.  
  3. An indicia member according to claim 1 in which the plastic is polyethylene.  
  4. An indicia member according to claim I in which the indicia is in the form of deep shadow letters.  
  5. An indicia member according to claim I in which the opaque material is an ink.  
 6. An indicia member according to claim I in which the opaque material is a white filler.