US836411A - Collapsible box. - Google Patents

Description

PATENTED Nov. 20,-1906. 0,11. STONEBRIDGE. GOLLAPSIBLE BOX.

APPLICATION IILED APR- 24. 1905- 2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

PATENTED NOV. '20, 1906.

c. H. STONBBRIDGE.

COLLAPSIBLB BOX.

APPLICATION FILED APB-24.1905.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2v CHARLES H. STONEBRIDGE, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

COLLAPSIBLE BOX. I

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Nov. 20, 1906.

Application filed April 24,1905. Serial No- 257,092.

To (all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLES H. STONE- BRIDGE, a citizen of the United States, residing in the borough of the Bronx, in the city, county, and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Collapsible Boxes, of which the fol lowing is a specification.

This invention relates to collapsible boxes, and more particularly to collapsible lanterns having portable or collapsible box like bodies and it has for its object to provide an improved device or article of this character which will be relatively simple and inexpensive in construction, will be capable of being collapsed or folded into and secured in very compact and portable form and readily and conveniently extendedinto and secured in operative condition, and will be generally superior in point of efficiency and serviceability.

In its specific objects the invention has relation to prior Letters Patent of the United States issued to me November 27, 1900, September 29, 1903, May 24, 1904, and March 28, 1905, and numbered, respectively, 662,474, 740,377, 760,660, and 785,772.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a front elevation of a collapsible lantern embodying the present improvements, and in extended or operative condition. Fig. 2 is a detail perspective view showing several of the mem bers in disconnected position and displaying several of the features of improvement; Fig. 3, a detail sectional view taken through candle-holding means, constituting another feature of improvements. Fig. 4 is a detail transverse sectional view taken upon the line 4 4, Fig. 1. Fig. 5 is a perspective view of the lantern in collapsed or folded and locked condition, and Fig. 6 is a sectional view taken longitudinally of the lantern in the condition illustrated in Fig. 5.

Corresponding parts in all the figures are denoted by the same reference character.

Referring to the drawings, the improved lantern comprises a body portion consisting of a plurality of pivotally-connected body members a, b, c, and d, respectively, a top member 2, pivotally connected at one side with the body member 0, and a bottom member 3, pivotally connected at one side with the body member 0. The top member 2 is provided with a foldable guard 4, consisting of two members 4 and 4', for an air-opening 5 in the top member, and the bottom member 3 is provided with candleholding means 6. In the provision of all these features and members the device agrees in general with those described and illustrated in the several prior Letters Patent hereinbefore referred to. Similar to the disclosure in Letters Patent 740,377, issued to me September 29, 1903, the device is furthermore provided with unitary securing means 7 for detachably uniting the guard 4, the top member 2, and the body member a, and partly comprised within said securing means 7 are locking means 8 for locking the parts and members together in collapsed or folded condition. The locking means 8 include a bail member 9, connected with the guard 4 and whereby the lantern may be carried or suspended in use.

The body member 0 is provided with side flanges 10 and a top flange 11, the body members I) and at being pivotally connected with the side flanges 10 and the top member 2 and guard 4 being pivotally connected with the top flange 11, although the guard 4 is directly pivotally connected with the top member 2. The body members I) and d are both pivotally connected with the body member a at either side of the same.

As fully disclosed in the several prior Letters Patent above referred to, the body members a, b, c, and d are so proportioned as'to be capable of folding in flat serially-superposed arrangement, and in such folding the bottom member 3 is first swung upwardly flat against the body member 0. The body member I) is then swung inwardly upon the bottom member 3, the body member a is swung over upon the body member I), and the body member d is swung over upon the body member a. With the parts in this position the bottom member 3 and the body members a, b, and d all lie among the flanges 10 and 11 upon the body member 0. The top member 2 is then folded down upon the body member 61 and the guard 4 is folded down upon top member 2 and the body member d. The locking means 8 are then employed to positively lock the guard 4 to the top member 2 and the guard 4 to the body member 0, whereby the parts and members are firmly maintained in collapsed or folded condition.

The securing means 7 comprise a tensional locking device 12, carried at the outer edge portion of the guard 4 and arranged for passage through an elongated opening 13, formed in the outer edge portion of the top member 2, and through a keeper 14, connected with the top portion of the body member a. The keeper 14 is pivotally arranged so that it may be folded flat against the body member a.

The locking means 8 comprise two tensional locking devices and 16, respectively carried at the sides and outer edge portions of the guard 4 and arranged for engagement with the body member a, which latter is provided with two receiving-keepers 17 and 18, respectively, at its lower corner portions. The locking means 8 also comprise a bail member 9, which, as above recited, is connected with the guard 4 and is provided heneath the same with two locking devices 19 and 20, respectively, arranged for engagement respectively with keepers 21 and 22, the latter of which is not shown, but is similar to the former, with which the top member 2 is provided. The bail member 9 coacts with the locking devices 15 and 16 to main tain the latter in locking engagement with the keepers 17 and 18.

The candle-holding means 6 comprise two tensionally mounted and spaced foldable members 23 and 24, respectively.

A preferred specific form of construction of the members embodying the features of improvement above recited is as follows: The tensional locking device 12 consists of a springloop 25, formed centrally of a length 26 of spring-wire which is pivotally and slidably connected with and extends across the outer edge portion of the guard 4 and is formed at its outer ends into hooks 27 and 28, respectively, formed at right angles to the spring-loop and constituting the tensional locking devices 15 and 16. The spring-loop 25 is provided with lateral shoulders 29 and 30, respectively, which bind tensionally against the keeper 14 after insertion of said springloop through the opening 13 in the top member 2 and the keeper 14. The bail member 9 is formed of a single length 31 of stiff wire, which is formed centrally into a handle member 32 above the guard 4, and the end portions 33 and 34, respectively, of which constitute pintles for pivotally connecting together the two members 4 and 4 of the guard 4. The extreme end portions of the length of wire 31 are formed into hooks 35 and 36, respectively, which are arranged for engagement with the keepers 21 and 22 and constitute the locking devices 19 and 20. The keepers 21 and 22 consist of two spaced flanges 37 and 38, respectively, the latter of which is not shown, but is similar to the former, formed at the edge of the air-opening 5 in the top member 2.

The hooks 27 and 28 are provided each with a notch or groove 39, in which notches the handle member 32 of the bail member 9 is seated when the hooks 27 and 28 have been forced into engagement with the keepers 17 and 18, respectively, which latter keepers I means 6.

may consist of exposed wire loops 40 and 41, respectively, comprised within the construction of the body member a.

The members 23 and 24 of the candleholding means 6 consist each of a U-shaped body or length 42 of stiff wire of half-round form, the central portion 43 of which extends beneath a springtongue 44, connected with the bottom member 3. The central portions 43 are spaced from each other and arranged in parallelism, whereby the end portions 45 of the U-shaped bodies 42, which constitute candle-holding fingers, may be folded down flat upon the bottom member 3 or may be elevated into upright candlereceiving position. By means of the halfround formation of the bodies 42 the fingers 45 are effectively maintained in either depressed or raised positions by the springtongues 44, which latter may constitute the looped end portions of a single spring-plate 46.

The members 4 and 4 of the guard 4, which in operative position arch above the top member 2, are both provided with side flanges 47, which extend at the sides of and inclose the several parts and members of the device when the latter is in collapsed condition.

The body member a is provided with a suitable locking device 48 for maintaining the bottom member 3 in operative position.

The method of use and advantages of the features of improvement herein described will be readily understood from the foregoing description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings and the following statement: To set the lantern up in operative position of parts and members, the four body members a, b, c, and d are extended into the positions shown in Fig. 1, the bottom member 3 is dropped down into place and se cured by the locking device 48, and the top member 2 is folded down upon the body mem-, bers. The guard4is then arched over the top member and the air-opening 5 therein and the springloop 25 forced through the opening 13 in the top member and into engagement with the keeper 14 by means of its holding-shoulders 29 and 30. This operation may be conveniently accomplished by compressing the springloop 25 by the application of pressure to the hooks 27 and 28 at the ends of the length of wire 26. The guard 4, top member 2, and the four body members are now all firmly and rigidly connected together and may be conveniently carried or suspended by the handle member 32 of the bail member 9. Previous to connection of the guard with the top member and body members a candle may be inserted through the air-opening 5 and may be firmly seated among the raised fingers 45 of the candle-holding To collapse or fold the lantern, a reversal of the operation last described takes place and the body members a, b, and (Z are all folded flat, in the order heretofore described, upon the bottom member 3 and among the side flanges 10 and top flange 11 of the body member 0. The top member 2 is then folded down upon the body member (I, and the hooks 35 and 36 of the bail memher 9 are engaged with the keepers 21 and 22 of the top member 2 by pivotally swinging the handle member of the bail member downwardly, thus locking the guard 4 and top member closely together, the guard lying flat above the top member 2 and with its side flanges 47 inclosing the several parts and members of the lantern at the sides. The handle member of the bail member is then forced at its sides into the notches 39 in the hooks 27 and 28, which are thus maintained firmly in engagement with the keepers 17 and 18 upon the body member 0. The top member and guard are thus now firmly connected with the body member 0, all the other parts and members being thus firmly maintained in intermediate positions and in flat collapsed condition. By unseating the handle member 32 from the notches 39 in the hooks 27 and 2S and swinging the handle member up from the guard all the parts and members are freed for extension into operative positions. The spring-loop 25 being pivotally mounted is readily flattened beneath the guard 4 in collapsing the lantern, which swings the hooks 27 and 28 into operative position. The keeper 14 is similarly swung flat against the body member a in folding the lantern.

The entire device is relatively simple in construction and is readily collapsed into compact and positively-maintained flat form and is as readily extended into operative condition, which is as positively and firmly maintained.

I do not desire to be understood as limiting myself to the specific construction, arrangement, and association of the parts and members described nor as in any sense limiting the adaptability of the features of improvement to collapsible lanterns, but reserve all rights of variation in adapting the improvements to varying conditions of use without departing from the spirit of the invention or the terms of the following claims.

Having thus described my invention, I l

claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent 1. In a device of the character described, a top member, a two-membered guard pivotally connected with said top member, and a bail member pivotally connected with said. guard and having its end portions formed into pintles pivotally connecting said members of said guard and into locking means for uniting said guard with said top member in collapsed condition.

2. An improved device of the character described, comprising a plurality of collapsible body members, a top member and a guard pivotally connected with said body members, securing means for uniting said top member and said guard with said body members in extended or operative condition, and locking means for maintaining said body members and said top member and said guard in folded or collapsed condition; said. securing means and said locking means embodying each a tensional locking device which locking devices are connected together and ointly operative.

3. An improved device of the character described, comprising a plurality of collapsible body members, a top member and a guard pivotally connected with said body members, securing means for uniting said top member and said guard with said body members in extended or operative condition, and locking means for maintaining said body members and said top member and said guard in folded or collapsed condition, said securing means comprising a spring-loop carried by said guard and a keeper carried by said body members with which said springloop is engaged through an opening insaid top member, and said locking means comprising two hooks mounted upon said springloop and arranged for engagement with parts or one of said body members.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

Witnesses:

O. C. PHELPs, H. E. WARNER.

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