Color comparator

Claim 2

A color comparator comprising a supporting base and a plurality of partially overlapping similarly shaped color elements supported thereon, said plurality of color elements including at least one set of color elements, each set including at least one color element of each of a plurality of different colors with all of the color elements of said set having substantially the same predetermined color density, each color element having a central portion and two oppositely disposed end portions, all of the color elements in a set being arranged in a single logical end-to-end closed pattern with said end portions of said elements in overlapping relationship to provide predetermined color combinations thereof.

Claim 3

The color comparator of claim 1 wherein said base and said color elements are diaphanous.

Claim 4

The color comparator of claim 1 wherein neutral density transmission means overlie said color elements between the ends of said color elements which overlie the corresponding ends of adjacent color elements whereby the entire comparator has a substantially uniform effective transmission density.

Claim 5

The color comparator of claim 1 including at least two sets of color elements each set having a plurality of elements having colors corresponding to elements in the remaining sets, said sets being in an aligned relationship with the corresponding colors thereof aligned side-by-side, one of said sets having a color density less than that of the adjacent of said sets by a predetermined increment of color density.

Claim 6

The color comparator of claim 4 wherein the ends of the elements of each of said sets effectively overlap all of the elements of the adjacent sets.

Claim 7

The color comparator of claim 4 wherein neutral density transmission means overlies said one set of color elements whereby said one set and said adjacent set of color elements have a substantially equal effective transmission density.

Claim 8

The color comparator of claim 1 wherein said set comprises three color elements.

Claim 9

The color comparator of claim 7 wherein the colors of said color elements are cyan, magenta and yellow.

Claim 10

The color comparator of cliam 7 wherein the colors of said color elements are red, blue and green.

Claim 11

The color comparator of cliam 7 wherein the colors of said color elements are red, blue and green.

Claim 12

The color comparator of claim 1 wherein said set comprises six color elements.

Claim 13

The color comparator of claim 10 wherein the colors of said color elements are cyan, magenta, yellow, blue, green and red.

Claim 14

The color comparator of claim 1 wherein each of said color elements is an elongate element having two end portions disposed at an obtuse angle and a bight portion.

Claim 15

The color comparator of claim 5 wherein each of said sets comprises color elements of cyan, magenta and yellow.

Claim 16

The color comparator of claim 11 wherein each of said color elements is an elongate element having two leg portions disposed at an acute angle and a bight portion, the end portions overlying end portions of adjacent elements in the sequence: blue, cyan, green, yellow, red and magenta.

Claim 17

The color comparator of claim 14 wherein said overlying ends extend outwardly and said bight portions extend inwardly to define a six-pointed star and the center of said comparator has a neutral density, neutral density material overlying each intersection of two elements except the outermost intersection at each point of the star and overlying said center to provide substantially uniform transmission of white light over the area of said comparator.

Claim 18

The color comparator of claim 5 wherein each of said color elements is formed of filter material having an area corresponding to the area of said element and an appropriate transmissive density and hue, said material being assembled in a generally planar arrangement on said base to provide the desired hues in each overlapping area of said elements.

Claim 19

The color comparator of claim 5 comprising a plurality of pieces of color filter material, one piece corresponding to each color of each set, the area of each piece of a given set being the area of the corresponding color element of the set plus the area of the color elements of the corresponding color of each set having a color density greater than said given set and the color density of said piece being equal to the color density corresponding to said given set reduced by the color density of all less dense sets.

Claim 20

The color comparator of claim 17 including a plurality of sets, each having an increase of color density from the inner adjacent set, all of said increases being equal, and an outermost set having a color density twice that of the adjacent set.

Claim 21

The color comparator of claim 1 wherein said base is apertured and said color elements overlie the aperture in said base.

Claim 22

The color comparator of claim 1 wherein said color elements are diaphanous.

Claim 23

A color comparator comprising a supporting base and a plurality of partially overlapping similarly shaped color elements supported thereon, said plurality of color elements including at least two sets of color elements, each set having a plurality of elements having different colors and corresponding in color to corresponding elements in the remaining sets, said sets being in an aligned relationship with the elements having corresponding colors thereof aligned, and all of the color elements of any set having substantially the same color density, each of said color elements having two elongate leg portions and a bight portion, the elements of each set being arranged in a single logical, end-to-end closed pattern with leg portions in overlapping relationship, each set of elements having a color density less than the adjacent set and the outermost set having the greatest color density whereby the visual effect created by said comparator is that of a single geometric pattern of a plurality of different colors disposed about the periphery of said comparator and a plurality of different color densities of increasing magnitude extending outwardly from the central portion of the comparator.

Claim 24

A color comparator comprising a supporting base and a plurality of partially overlapping similarly shaped color elements supported thereon, said plurality of color elements including at least two sets of color elements, each set having a plurality of elements having different colors and corresponding in color to corresponding elements in the remaining sets, said sets being in an aligned relationship with the elements having corresponding colors thereof aligned, and all of the color elements of any set having substantially the same color density, each of said color elements having two elongate leg portions and a bight portion, the elements of each set being arranged in a single logical, end-to-end closed pattern with leg portions in overlapping relationship, each set of elements having a color density less than the adjacent set and the outermost set having the greatest color density whereby the visual effect created by said comparator is that of a single geometric pattern of a plurality of different colors disposed about the periphery of said comparator and a plurality of different color densities of increasing magnitude extending outwardly from the central portion of the comparator.

Claim 25

The color comparator of claim 21 wherein said leg portions are disposed at about 120* relative to one another and each of said sets includes three elements of different colors, the elements being arranged to produce a visual effect of an orthographic projection with a neutral density appearing ceNtrally in the comparator.