Split-flap display

Each character position or graphic position has a collection of flaps on which characters or graphics are painted or silkscreened. Larger flaps can display whole words, while smaller flaps display individual characters. The flaps are precisely flipped to display the desired character or graphic. These devices typically show departure or arrival information in railway stations and airports, where they serve as flight information display systems. Advantages of these displays include: • high visibility and wide viewing angle in most lighting conditions, • little or no power consumption when the display remains static, and • distinct metallic flapping sound draws attention when the information is updated. == Alternatives ==

Flip-dot displays and LED display boards are alternatives to split-flap displays. Their contents can be changed digitally instead of replacing flaps but at the cost of lower readability. They also can change more quickly, as a split-flap display may cycle through many flaps. The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority replaced its aging Solari boards at North Station and South Station, using a generated flapping noise to cue passengers to train boarding updates. == Applications ==

Many game shows of the 1970s used this type of display for contestant podium scoreboards. Usually, the flip was left-to-right on a vertical axis. Early seasons of the game show Family Feud used a split flap display (subsequent seasons used more modern digital displays, and eventually a large digital monitor). The game board on the Nickelodeon game show Make the Grade was a 7x7 split-flap display, used to display subjects and wild cards, as well as tracking contestants' progress. The television game show Chain Reaction on Game Show Network features computer-simulated split-flap displays to display the various words in a chain. In Italy, split-flap displays have also been occasionally used as destination signs for transit vehicles; there was also a brief vogue for them in the United Kingdom in the mid 1980s. ==Non-informational uses==

The aesthetic appeal of the displays is such that they have also seen use in purely artistic forms, such as in Pedestrian Drama, contemporary artwork using this display technology, and art by Juan Fontanive, who has used the mechanism extensively since 2005. The album cover for The Enemy's album ''We'll Live and Die in These Towns'' is based on the Solari design seen at British railway stations. ==Gallery==

File:Cifra 5 digital flip clock designed by Gino Valle (1957).jpg|Solari Cifra 5 clock by Nani and Gino Valle (1957) File:Paolo Monti - Servizio fotografico - BEIC 6355499.jpg|Cifra 5 internal mechanism File:Orologio Solari Cifra 3.jpg|Solari Cifra 3 designed by Nani and Gino Valle with graphic design input form Massimo Vignelli (1965) File:Clock-Lowicz-150604.jpg|Solari Cifra 23 clock File:A & E Design 1.jpg|Turn-O-Matic M80 Könummersystem by A&E Design (1974) File:Fallblattanzeigetafel ausschnitt ffm hbf.jpg|Section of a split-flap display board at Frankfurt (Main) Hauptbahnhof (2005) File:Gare du Nord Fallblattanzeiger Departure-board.JPG|Flap departure board at Gare du Nord, Paris (2007) File:Flickr - NewsPhoto! - ProRail deelt flyers en chocolade uit na ontspoorde trein (11).jpg|Flap display at Breukelen railway station, Holland File:An- und Abfahrtstafel-Hannover Hbf.jpg|Split-flap departure board at Hannover Hauptbahnhof, Germany File:Tatra KT8D5, čelní orientace, Vápenka (01).jpg|Split-flap display with the name of the end station on the tram Tatra KT8D5 in Prague, Czech Republic ==References==