Display element

Abstract

A display element including a sealed housing filled with an opaque, translucent or colored transparent liquid and having a screen therein colored on its front side and movable back and forth within the housing. The housing has a front transparent panel such that, when the screen is displaced in one direction, the colored front side of the screen is visible through the transparent panel. When the screen is displaced in the other direction, the colored front side of the screen is obscured or hidden from view by the liquid, which may be white or a color different from that of the screen. In one alternate embodiment, the transparent panel of the housing includes colored message indicia therein, which color matches either the liquid color or that of the colored front side of the screen, the other color contrasting. When the screen is moved in one direction, the message indicia disappears; in the other direction, the contrasting background color makes the message indicia readily visible. In another embodiment which facilitates two different messages alternately, one message in a first color is applied to the front transparent panel which first color is also that of the background color of the screen' s front surface. A second message is applied over the background of the screen's front surface in a contrasting second color which is the same as that of the liquid. When the screen is forwardly, the second message is viewable; when the screen is rearwardly, the first message is viewable. Several means for controlling the movement of the screen are disclosed as well as unique screen shapes to facilitate function. Several means for controlling the movement of the screen are disclosed. This invention may be embodied in a single element or in a plurality of elements incorporated into a matrix and individually controlled to form desired message.