Light box apparatus

Claim 1

A collapsible, easily cleaned, flat folding, storable, lightweight, readily portable and adjustable artist's light box apparatus, consisting of a base plate having no upward flange along the forward and rear edges thereof but having an upwardly flanged section along each side edge thereof, an upper transparent plate wholly of organic plastics material in spaced relationship over said base plate, said upper transparent plate having a downwardly flanged section along each side edge thereof but no downwardly flanged section along the forward and read edges thereof, hinge means adjacent forward portions of the side edge flange sections of said transparent plate said base plate for pivotal elevational tilting of said transparent plate above said base plate, adjustable means for temporarily locking said transparent plate at any of a multiplicity of preselected tilt angles with respect to said base plate, said adjustable means comprising a bail rod pivotally mounted in the downwardly flanged section of each side edge of the transparent plate, friction means on the bottom of said base plate for anti-slip temporary resting of said base plate on a planar surface, and snap closure means for temporarily locking said transparent plate in folded relationship to said base plate for storage or portability of said light box apparatus, said snap closure means consisting of cooperatively interlocking functional elements located at adjacent rearward portions of said side edge flanged sections of said transparent plate and said base plate, the total thickness of said light box apparatus being no greater than about one inch when said transparent plate is temporarily locked in folded relationship to said base plate, and said pivotally mounted bail rod being further characterized by being pivotable to extend outside the rear edges of the base plate and transparent plate and serve as a carrying handle when said plates are temporarily locked in said folded relationship.