Patent US 4,423,929

A multi-layer display device including at least two liquid crystal display cells overlapping along a line of sight is provided. Adjacent display cell layers may share a common transparent plate therebetween. Patterns are displayed by selectively applying a voltage between opposed pattern and common electrodes. The number of signal wires removed from the device is reduced by electrically connecting electrodes in different layers. The connected electrodes may be non-overlapping to increase the number of characters which may be displayed simultaneously, or may be overlapping for independent displays.