Fan with Bladers and Method for Displaying Illuminated Pictoral Elements

Abstract

A fan with illuminated blades ( 9 ) for displaying pictoral elements ( 19 ) on exposed faces of the blades. The display is provided with in situ generated light in a display device ( 19 ) or from a back lighting arrangement. The fan with illuminated blades may be utilized to display static or animated messages.

1 . A fan with an illuminated blade for displaying pictoral elements on an exposed face of the blade, said fan comprising:  
     a power drive; 
 at least one blade operably connected to the power drive and operable to be moved about a central axis by the power drive, said at least one blade having a front face;  
 an illumination apparatus having a light projecting display device carried by at least one blade and operable to provide an illuminated pictoral element on the front face of said at least one blade at a predetermined position of movement about the central axis, said pictoral element having a width transverse to the blade length at least about 25% of the width of the blade; and  
 a synchronizer apparatus operable to effect lighted display of the pictoral element at at least one predetermined angular position of the display device about the central axis.  
 
   
   
       2 . The fan as set forth in  claim 1  wherein there are a plurality of blades having a respective display device.  
   
   
       3 . The fan as set forth in  claim 2  wherein the display device including a light transmissive member with at least one graphic element and a light source for selectively directing light through the transmissive member in a direction from a fan blade back toward a fan blade front.  
   
   
       4 . The fan as set forth in  claim 2  wherein the display device including an array of light emitting diodes in rows and columns each selectively lightable to form a graphic element.  
   
   
       5 . The fan as set forth in  claim 4  wherein the array of light emitting diodes provides a resolution of at least about 4 dpi.  
   
   
       6 . The fan as set forth in  claim 2  wherein the display device including a LCD display screen.  
   
   
       7 . The fan as set forth in  claim 2  wherein the display devices including plasma display screen.  
   
   
       8 . The fan as set forth in  claim 2  wherein the synchronizer apparatus including a sensor system operable to detect at least one angular position of at least one blade during movement about the central axis and provide a signal indicative of the at least one angular position of the at least one blade.  
   
   
       9 . The fan as set forth in  claim 8  wherein the illumination apparatus including a segmenter operable to segment pictoral data from a memory and sending a data set to a selected display device in accordance with the angular position of the display device.  
   
   
       10 . The fan as set forth in  claim 9  wherein a plurality of different data sets are sequentially sent to said display devices in accordance with their angular positions to form an animated pictoral element.  
   
   
       11 . A fan with illuminated blades displaying pictoral elements on exposed faces of the blades, said fan comprising: 
 a power drive;    at least one blade operably connected to the power drive and operable to be revolved about a central axis by the power drive, said at least one blade having a front face;    a synchronizer apparatus operable to detect at least one position of the at least one fan blade during movement about the central axis and provide a signal indicative of the at least one position of the at least one blade;    an illumination apparatus having a display device carried by at least one blade and operable to provide an illuminated pictoral element with a resolution of at least 4 dpi on a front face of at least one said blade at a predetermined position of movement about the central axis, said illumination apparatus including a pictoral element signal generator operable to transmit a pictoral element signal to the display device.    
   
   
       12 . The fan as set forth in  claim 11  wherein the signal generator being operable to divide a message stored in a memory into segments and transmit each said segment to a display device for display at a predetermined angular position of a fan blade carrying the display device.  
   
   
       13 . A method of displaying a pictoral element on a fan, the method comprising: 
 moving a fan blade about an axis or rotation said blade having a front face;    intermittently illuminating a light projecting display device comprising an X-Y array of lighted areas to display at least one pictoral element at a predetermined angular position of the blade; and    sequencing the intermittent illumination to display at least one graphic element at a desired time and location.