Portable visual-aid or display device

Claim 1

A portable visual-aid device comprising: a light-weight rectanGular carrying case adapted to stand upright on a desk or conference table, said case including separate front and back hardware elements, and a fully detachable front cover adapted for attachment to the back of said case and having common hardware elements for attaching it to said front and back hardware elements in either position front or back interchangeably; a picture frame plate in the front of the case, and exposed by detachment of the front cover, providing a rectangular viewing opening for observing visual-aid material therethrough; and means for presenting successive frames of visual-aid material in the viewing opening of said picture frame plate, said frame presenting means including: a pair of reel drive rollers in the case above and below said viewing opening; an elongated strip of sheet material comprising individual rectangular units bearing visual-aid or display information and connected in end-to-end relation in a reel extending from one roller to the other across said viewing opening; motor drive means having a hand-held control switch and including a single reversible electric motor with an individual oriented fiber type overrunning clutch and belt drive for each roller connected therewith to alternately drive one roller or the other and to wind the reel strip in a forward direction from one roller to the other past the viewing opening and to rewind it in the opposite direction; motor control means for stopping the successive display units in position within the viewing opening without operator control and including corresponding successive stop elements along the reel strip and a stop switch for the motor having a stopsensing operating element positioned to meet said stop elements and operate the switch for each stop position; and means connecting said hand-held switch to apply operating current directly to the motor or indirectly thereto through the stop switch.