Field of Invention

This invention relates to promotional banners and more particularly to a pole and lifting mechanism for raising and maintaining a banner or flag in a state of tension.

Background

Banners are commonly hung from posts at a significant height above ground. Typically a vertical post will have two fixed spaced apart horizontal bars or rods and the banner is mounted on or to these rods. The rods are fixed so only banners of a specific length can be used. In addition, to mount and dismount the banner an elevated work platform, commonly referred to as a cherry picker or similar, needs to be used to provide access to the banner. It is not possible to mount and dismount the banner from ground level.

Summary of the Invention In one broad form the invention provides a system for displaying a banner, the system comprising: an elongate member having a first end and a second end; a first carriage assembly adapted to move along the elongate member; a second carriage assembly adapted to move along the elongate member; a drive member attached to the first carriage adapted to move the first carriage along the elongate member; the first and second carriages including mounting means for connection to the banner; the second carriage assembly being drawn along the elongate member by a flexible connection between the two carriages. The flexible connection is preferably the banner connected between the two carriage assemblies.

The drive member may be operative to move the first carriage from the first to the second end.

The drive member may be operative to move the first carriage from the second to the first end.

The drive member may be a tension member. The drive member may be a threaded rod that engages the first carriage.

In a preferred embodiment the drive member is a flexible tension member that is a looped and connected to opposite ends of the first carriage, whereby the movement of the tension member moves the first carriage in both directions

In a preferred embodiment the elongate member is positioned to extend upwards and movement of the second carriage toward the first end is under the action of gravity. Where gravity is insufficient to move the second carriage toward the first end, movement of the first member toward the first end may move the second carriage.

The second carriage preferably has a passageway through which the drive member passes.

Preferably the second carriage is maintained in position by the connection with the first carriage. However, a latch or other retaining mechanism may be provided that engages the second carriage and secures it at the operative location. The retaining mechanism may prevent movement away from the stop and so removes the need for the banner to support the second member. In a preferred from the elongate member includes a first elongate channel or passageway and at least a portion of the first and second carriages is in the first channel or passageway. In a preferred form the first elongate channel or passageway comprises a C section. Each carriage may have a portion that is located within the C section and a portion that extends into and /or though the longitudinally extending opening of the C section.

The carriages preferably engage the elongate member. Preferably there are including wheels or rollers that engage the elongate member. The wheels or rollers may engage the elongate member externally of, if the elongate member has an internal passageway or surface, the internal passageway or surface of the elongate member. Preferably, where the elongate member includes a C section, the wheels or rollers engage the inner surface of the channel adjacent the elongate opening in the elongate member.

Preferably the carriages include a spacer. The spacer may urge the wheels or rollers into engagement with the elongate member. Preferably there is a first stop member on the elongate member intermediate the first and second ends and a second stop member on second carriage, the first and second stop members adapted to engage each other and limit movement of the second carriage past the first stop member.

The portion of the first carriage located within the C section preferably has a width and /or height less than the internal width and /or height of the C section to provide a space between the portion and at least one side wall. Preferably the stop means extending into the clearance space.

The portion of the second carriage located within the C section preferably has a width and /or height less than the internal width and /or height of the C section to provide a space between the portion and at least one side wall. Preferably the second carriage has a stop member that extends into the space and engages the first stop member.

The stop members need not be located within the channel and may be located eternally of the change.

The drive member preferably extends within the channel but may extend externally of the channel.

In a preferred version the elongate member has a first channel in which the first and second carriages engage and which a flexible tension member extends. The flexible tension member extends in a loop around rollers or pulleys at or toward the ends of the elongate member and so forms a loop, with the ends connected to the first carriage. Part of the tension member may be located in the first channel. A second parallel channel may be provided in which another part of the Part of the tension member is located.

A brake or locking mechanism may be provided to engage the drive means.

Where the drive member is a tension member the brake or locking mechanism may jamb a part of the tension member against a surface.

Preferably the elongate member is straight but it may be curved in one or two dimensions. Preferably the elongate member is mounted generally vertically but may be mounted in other orientations, including in a horizontal plain. Brief Description of the Drawings

Figure 1 is a perspective view from one end of an elongate member for a banner display system according to a first embodiment of the invention.

Figure 2 is a perspective view of the elongate member of figure 2 with two banner carriages.

Figure 3 is a view of a first end of the elongate member of figure 1 .

Figure 4 is a detail view of the carriages of the system.

Figure 5 is a detail view of the end of one of the carriages of the system.

Figure 6 is a schematic cross section of the system of figure 1 . For clarity the carriages are not shown.

Figure 7 is a plan view showing the system of figure 1 .

Figure 8 is a view showing an alternate arrangement fir mounting the banner onto the system.

Figure 9 is a cross section though the system showing an end view of an upper carriage.

Figure 10 is a cross section though the system showing an end view of a lower carriage.

Figure 1 1 is a plan view of an upper carriage of the system.

Figure 12 is a side view of the carriage of figure 1 1 . Figure 13 is a cross sectional view of an alternate elongate member of the invention. Figure 14 is a plan view of an alternate elongate member of the invention.

Figure 15 is a side view of the alternate elongate member of figure 14.

Figures 15 is a front view of another embodiment of the invention.

Figures 16 is a front view of the lower portion of figure 17. Figures 17 is a front view of the upper portion of figure 17.

Figures 18 is a front view of a lower carriage of the embodiment of figure 16.

Figures 19 is a front view of an upper carriage of the embodiment of figure 16.

Figures 20 is a side view of a lower carriage of the embodiment of figure 16.

Figures 21 is an end view of a lower carriage of the embodiment of figure 16. Figures 22 is a side view of a banner arm of the embodiment of figure 16.

Figures 23 is an end view of the banner arm of figure 22.

Figures 24 is an end cross sectional view of the assembly taken through the lower carriage.

Figures 25 is an end cross sectional view of the assembly taken through the upper carriage.

Figures 26 is perspective view of the assembly showing a banner hanging from the upper carriage.

Detailed Description of Preferred and other Embodiments

Referring to the drawings there is shown a pole assembly 10 for a banner, not shown. The pole assembly 10 comprises an elongate member 12, and upper banner carriage 14 and a lower banner carriage 16. The pole assembly 10 is intended to be mounted with the elongate member 12 generally upright, more preferably generally vertical, but this is not essential. One end 18 is accordingly intended to be mounted below the other end 20 and for ease of use end 18 will be referred to as the bottom end and the end 20 as the top end.

The upper and lower carriages 14, 16 are mounted on the elongate member 12 for movement along the elongate member 12.

Mounted on or toward the bottom end 18 is a lower pulley 22. Mounted on or near the top end 20 is an upper pulley 24. A flexible tension member 26, preferably a wire rope or cable extends around both pulleys, as best seen in figure .

A best seen in figure 5 the lower member 16 has a passageway 25 extending along its length and the tension member 26 extends through the lower member 16 without being attached or otherwise connected to the lower member 16. One end 28 of the tension member 26 is attached to the upper end 30 of the upper carriage 14 whilst the other end 32 is attached to the lower end 34 of the upper carriage 14.

Upper pulley 24 is mounted on axle 36 and is free to rotate. Lower pulley 22 is mounted on axle 38 and is connected to handle 40, whereby the pulley may be manually rotated about axle 38. Lower pulley 22 and axle 38 are preferably mounted on movable mounting block 42, whereby the separation between upper and lower pullies 22 and 24 may be varied to maintain sufficient tension in tension member 26 such that rotation of lower pulley 22 causes the tension member to circulate, so moving upper carriage 14 along the elongate member. Movement of the tension member does not directly cause movement of the lower carriage 16. An eccentric brake 44 with handle 46 may be used to jamb tension member 26 against surface 48 and prevent movement of the tension member 26.

The carriages 14, 16 each have a banner mount 50 to which a banner may be attached. In the embodiment down the banner mounts 50 are elongate members 52 that extend generally perpendicularly to the carriages 14, 16 and elongate member 12. In this embodiment the elongate members 52 are simple rods intended to have looped over ends 52 of a banner slid 54 over the rod 50, as shown in figure 7. However, as shown in figure 8 they may be an extrusion 60 or similar with a slot 62 into which a T shaped end 64 of a banner may be slide.

Whilst the preferred banner mountings are elongate members this is not critical. Further, the top and bottom banner mounts 50 need not extend sideways the same amount.

In the embodiment shown in figures 1 to 15 the elongate member 12 comprises a first C section 70 having an elongate slot 72. The upper carriage 14 comprises an elongate body 74 located within the C section with a portion 76 that extends through the slot. Pairs of wheels or rollers 78 are mounted at either end and on either side of the body and engage on inner surfaces 80 of C section. A spacer 82 on the body section 60 spaces the body away from surface 84. The spacer is preferably of low friction material. The spacer may be a sprung assembly that urges the body away from surface 84 toward surface 80.

The sides 82 of carriage 14 and the wheels 78 are spaced away from the inner sides 86 of the C section and the carriage is guided by the portion 66 extending into and through slot 72. Whilst the drawings show the carriage being a simple square or rectangular section, the portion within the C section may be of greater width than the slot 72.

Ends 28 & 32 of tension member 26 attach to ends 30 and 34.

The lower carriage 16 is similar to upper carriage and the same numerals are used for the same parts or components. The lower carriage 16 does not have ends corresponding to ends 30 and 34 of upper carriage 14. Instead the lower carriage 26 has passageway 25 through which tension member 26 extends.

The lower carriage 16 has a first stop member 90 that extends sideways into the space that the upper carriage 14 assemblies does not pass through.

The elongate member 12 includes a corresponding second stop member 92 that extending into the space traversed by first stop member 90. The second stop members prevents the first stop moving past itself and so limits travel of the lower carriage .

The second stop member is located along the elongate member 12 at a position corresponding to the maximum desired distance of the lower carriage 16 from end 18, i.e. its maximum height when the elongate ember is vertical.

In use the upper and lower carriages 14 and 16 are located at the lower end of the elongate member 12. A banner is attached to the two banner mountings 50.

The lower pulley 22 is rotated so as to raise the upper carriage 14. Initially only the upper carriage rises until the carriages are separated sufficiently that the banner is placed in tension and the connection of the upper carriage top the lower carriage via the banner cause the lower carriage to rise with the upper carriage. Both carriages rise until the stops 90 and 92 engage each other. This prevents the lower carriage rising any more. The tension member may be tensioned an appropriate amount to tension the banner an appropriate amount. The lock member 44 is then applied to lock the tension member in position.

To lower the banner the lock member 44 is released and the pulley 22 rotated to lower upper and lower carriages. When the lower carriage reaches its lowermost point he upper carriage may continue to be lowered so removing tension in the banner and allowing the banner to be removed.

It will be appreciated that different length banners may be mounted on the carriages as the separation of the two carriages has no impact on the tensioning of the banner. It is merely necessary that the upper carriage may be raised sufficiently to tension the banner and still be clear of the upper pulley 20.

Whilst a flexible tension member such as a cable, wire or rope is preferred, other means of raising the upper carriage may be used. As an example, a screw threaded rod may be provided which engages a corresponding thread in the upper carriage. Rotation of the rod raises and lowers the upper carriage.

Connection of the "lower' end 28 of tension member 26 to the lower end 30 of upper carriage is preferred but not essential when the elongate member 12 extends generally vertically. When extending sufficiently vertically the weight of the carriage 12 is sufficient to lower the carriage under the action of gravity. By connecting both ends to the upper carriage, if necessary, the tension member can pull the upper carriage downwards if, for example, it jambs slightly in the elongate member 12.

When the elongate member extends generally horizontally, such as from the side of a building, gravity will not draw the carriages toward the end 18 and so connection to the end 30 of upper carriage 14 is necessary.

The two carriages 14 and 16 preferably extend along the elongate member. This serves to stabilise the carriages within the C section and reduce jamming. Also, the lower end 30 of the upper member will contact the upper end of lower carriage and so maintain banner mountings 50 separated, so easing mounting of the banner to the mountings 50. Figure 12 shows an alternate extrusion that provides an internal passageway for the return path of the tension member 26. Figure 11 also shows a carriage, in this case a lower carriage, with a flexible hinge 100 within the banner mounting 50 or connecting the banner mounting to the carriage. The hinge is preferably sprung loaded to the position shown in figure 12 and the outer arm may rotate clockwise or anticlockwise about the hinge when sufficient force is applied. This would occur when very strong winds are blowing and allow the banner mountings to rotate to reduce the wind loading on the elongate member 12. Preferably the hinge includes a damping mechanism so as to prevent or reduce flapping in varying winds. Figures 13 and 14 show another variation of the invention in which the elongate member 12 is provided with bracing portions 120. These bracing portions 120 are located in the regions where the upper and lower carriages will be located in the operative position. The bracing portions 120 extend into the slot and reduce its width so the oppose sides of the bracing portions 120 are near to the banner mountings 50. The carriages 14, 16 will be able to rotate about the longitudinal axis and so wind loads will tend to cause this rotation. Providing the bracing portions 120 results in the banner mountings 50 bearing against the bracing portions 120 after a small amount of rotation and so most wind loads are transferred from the banner mountings directly to the bracing portions 120. The bracing portions 120 may be combined with the hinge of figure 12. In such a combination the hinge would need to be located so as to allow the outer portion of the banner mounting to rotate and not be prevented from doing so by the bracing portions 120. The operative position of the lower carriage is determined by the stops on the channel and lower carriage. Where the channel only has one stop the lower carriage will always be located at the same operative position, irrespective of banner length. Accordingly the lower bracing portion 120 may be relatively short. In contrast the location of the upper carriage depends on banner length and so the upper bracing portion 120 is preferably long enough to

accommodate a range of anticipated banner lengths.

Figures 16 to 26 show another embodiment of the invention. This embodiment operates substantially as per the first embodiment but has modifications and improvements to prevent or limit jamming of the carriages when subject to a side load, usually due to side winds.

This embodiment has an elongate pole 212 has an internal passageway 220 into which are received upper and lower carriages 214 and 216. The upper and lower carriages 214 and 216 are substantially the same and operate as per the carriages 14 and 16 of the first embodiment. A tension member 226 is attached at each end of upper carriage 214 and passes through passageway 217 of lower carriage 216. Apart from the connections for the tension member 226 on upper carriage 214 and the passageway 217 for the tension member 226 in the lower carriage 216, the carriages are substantially identical. Each carriage is formed of two T shaped members 230 that have a base 232 and an arm 234 extending perpendicular to the base 232. One or more spacers 236 are located between the bases 232 of the T shaped members 230. The spacers 236 do not extend between opposed arms 234 and so a gap exists between these arms 234. A banner mount 238 having an I section is mounted to the carriage with the central web 239 of the I section located between the opposed arms 234. The two T shaped members 230, spacer(s) and banner mount 238 are secured together using rivets, screws or nots and bolts through fastening holes 240.

Located toward the free ends of the base 232 are mounted sliders 242, preferably a low friction plastics material. A suitable low friction plastics material is a semi-crystalline thermoplastic polyester sold under the brand name of Ertalyte available from Dotmar EPP of 25 Loyalty Road North Rocks NSW 2151 Australia. Other low friction materials may be used. In the embodiment shown the two T shaped members 230 (and the spacer(s)) are provided with slots 244 to receive the sliders 242. Whilst a single slider is located at each end and which extends either side of the carriage, separate sliders may be provided either side of the carriage. Further, two or more sliders may be provided on each side at each end. The sliders are generally rectangular.

Located either side the centre line 246 of the carriages and between the centreline and the sliders 242 are two pairs of rollers or bearings 248 and 250. Bearings 248 are located in the same plane as sliders 242. Bearings 250 are located in a plane spaced from that of the sliders 242.

Bearings 248 and 250 of each pair rotate about a common axis 252 but this is not critical. The axis 252 is located centrally between each pair of T shaped members 230 and the bearings 248 and 250 extend either side of the carriage. The pole 212 has a channel 220 to receive the carriages 214 and 216. The channel 220 is, in plan view, generally rectangular with a base 260 and an open end 262. The T shaped members 230 are received in the channel 220 with the base 232 extending along the channel 22o and the arm 234 extending out of and generally perpendicular to the channel 220. The channel 220 has two side channels 264 into which the sliders 242 and larger bearings 248 are received. The smaller bearing 250 is located at or near the opening 262 of the channel 220. In normal use the bearings 248 do not engage the base 268 of side channel 264 or only one base at a time. Similarly bearing 250 either does not engage side walls of channel 220 or only one side wall at a time. The carriages 214 and 216 may be moved along the pole using the tension member 226 as previously described. When moving the carriages 214 and 216 they may be subject to side loads, as indicated by arrow 266. Such side loads will cause one or both of bearings 250 to engage one of the side walls of the channel and transfer at least part of the side load t the channel. The rolling nature of the engagement of the bearings 250 with side wall means that movement along the channel is not significantly impeded by the side load so transferred. One or both of larger bearing 248 may also engage the one of the opposed base walls 268 and similarly transfer side load but still roll along the channel. Whilst the preferred embodiments utilise the banner as the flexible

connection between the carriages to draw up the lower carriage, it will be appreciated that a separate flexible connection may be provided between the carriages.

Unless the context clearly requires otherwise, throughout the description and any claims the words "comprise", "comprising", and the like are to be construed in an inclusive sense as opposed to an exclusive or exhaustive sense; that is to say, in the sense of "including, but not limited to".

The features of the invention described or mentioned in this document may be combined in any combination of features where features are not mutually exclusive.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that many obvious modifications and variations may be made to the embodiments described herein without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention.