Variable picture device

Claim 1

A portable variable display device comprising a casing constituted of first and second rectangular receptacles, each being open ended and each having a planar base of substantially equal length and width and upstanding walls of a height substantially smaller than the length of said base, one of said receptacles being assembled in nested and in inverted relation to the other so that the base of said one of said receptacles is spaced from the base of the other receptacle to define a single uninterrupted chamber, display windows formed in the base of each receptacle at predetermined regions thereof to permit viewing of indicia, first means lying in a first plane and movable within said chamber and comprising a first plurality of a predetermined number, greater than two, of movable elongate rectangular planar members bearing indicia for displaying said indicia through said display windows as said members are moved in said first plane within said chambers, each member having a length substantially greater than its width, said first plurality of members being disposed in side-by-side engaging relation in said chamber and occupying in said side-by-side relation substantially the full width of said uninterrupted chamber, each of said members having a length extending substantially the full length of said uninterrupted chamber, second means lying and movable in a second plane parallel to the first within said chamber and comprising a second plurality of movable elongate rectangular planar members bearing indicia for displaying said indicia through said display windows as said second plurality of members are moved in said second plane within said chamber, said second plurality of members being one less in number than said predetermined number, and being of like shape as said first plurality of members, said second plurality of members being disposed in side-by-side relation in said chamber in the same orientation as said first plurality of members and in superposed and sliding engagement therewith, said first and second plurality of members having opposite sides, each bearing indicia in regions corresponding to the locations of said display windows in the bases of each receptacle, said display windows being oriented along a diagonal of each base, said first and second plurality of members being laterally incrementally displaceable in said chamber within their respective planes in a predetermined number of steps, greater than two, by supporting said casing with the bases horizontally disposed and by manually rotating said casing thus disposed 180* about an axis extending parallel to the length of said bases, said casing prior and subsequent to said rotation thereof being supported on a planar horizontal supporting surface with one of its bases in engagement therewith and with the other base subject to view by a user of the display device.