AU623026B2 - Mail boxes - Google Patents

Description

\j~ 2~r a*;4 COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA Patents Act 1952 SName of Applicant Address of Applicant Actual Inventor(s) Address for Service Help Industries Limited 293 Fison Avenue, Eagle Farm, Queensland, 4007 GRANT ADAMS COMPANY, Patent Trade Mark Attorneys, Level 9 NATIONAL MUTUAL CENTRE 144 Edward Street, BRISBANE. QUEENSLAND. 4000

AUSTRALIA.

COMPLETE SPECIFICATION FOR THE INVENTION ENTITLED: MAIL BOXES The following statement is a full description of the invention including the best method of performing it ';nown to the applicant.

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THIS INVENTION relates to the construction of mail boxes and in particular but not exclusively to the banks of mail boxes provided outside and/or inside of multiple unit buildings.

One prior form of letter box is set out in Australian Patent specification No. 565863 to Velox, Swhich specification sets out a method by which banks of letter boxes may be constructed. Australia Post recommends standards to be achieved in construction of letter boxes particularly as regards dimensions. None of the prioi methods of constructing letter boxes has ce- enabled a bank of letter boxes that meets the standard which goes to preferred dimensions of height width and t depth. The above referenced Velox specification i. 15 describes a method of construction that enables the ,t standard to be met in one dimension, but the other two are elusive.

j Current designs for boxes are basically unidimensional, or bi-dimensional, in that the degrees of freedom inate in their method of construction are limited to enabling ready varying of size in only one or two dimensions in the best of them. The size of the box I is variable on one or two axes only. With the existing designs, having a set of extrusions for any one design in hand does not enable those extrusions to come together with dimensions varied at will in all three orthogonal directions.

In producing extrusions from which to construct letter boxes there is a correlation between the size of an extrusion and its minimum wall thickness ji and as a result between it and the weight of material in the extrusion and the extrusion's cost. Generally as the size of the circumscribing circle to an extrusion goes up, so does the minimum wall, thickness. This factor has played a part in preventing existing designs If.

from useful adaptation to meet current standards. As the design is to enable arrays of boxes as large as x 6 (120 boxes in all), the design must have the requis:Lte strength for this geometry, but the majority of sales are in the 8 x 6 or less range when smaller extrusions might be used. The stocking of a range of extrusions for production across the whole range from a single box up is inefficient. Current designs provide rigidity in box size and thickness of wall sections. In terms of strength they have to be substantial enough to i-t deal with the largest configurations when they are overdesigned for the smaller ones.

In lightening a box's construction, deflection will increase with, ultimately, binding of the doors.

15 The weight of overhead structures loaded downwardly on f an array causes curvature on the horizontal axis and a Sfantail displacement of the vertical members which support the doors.

SIt is desirable, when producing extrusions, ii 20 that provision exists therein to adjust stiffness if required. The desired design is one which is tri- Sdimensional (so far as freedom to vary distances on any axis is concerned), is light but rigid, and flexible to produce cost effective arrays of boxes from a single box i 25 up to 120 boxes and beyond.

It is also desirable to produce letter boxes of this character which whilst conforming to Postal i Authority recommendations provide improved door security; concealed joints; and improved weatherproofing.

There is a need for improvements in weatherproofing, particularly around the door and shade strip; for larger box sizes to avoid mail protruding therefrom, a factor in enabling ingress of water and contribution to poor security; for a simplified means of fitting and renovating, if required, the usual i3 4 identification strip; for concealment of construction devices such as, rivet heads, jointing grooves, unfinished edges; for an integrated design which offers clean uninterrupted faces on sides and top of the box, mitred corners with 'picture frame' surround on front and back, door facings which align with and match the 'picture frame' surrounds, and minimum spacing between doors (0.5mm) giving a clean uninterrupted face across all doors in each horizontal tier; as well as for conformity with the aforementioned postal authority recommendations regarding minimum internal dimensions and the size and position of the mail aperture.

(Australia Post recommended sizes are for minimum O0. 5 internal dimensions of width 230mm, height 160mm, e° and length 330mm and an aperture with width 230mm, height from top to bottom 30mm, positioned at least 130mm above the box floor.) The present invention has as its object the provision of a structure wherein it is readily possible to continuously scale the structure over all three dimensions of length width and height. Other objects and various advantages of the invention will hereinafter become apparent.

In the following specification the terms mail box and letter box are to be read as a reference to the S* same thing.

The invention achieves its objects in the provision of a mail box assembly having at least an accessible front face, a rear face, and height, width and depth dimensions, the mail box assembly comprising:elongate framing elements whereby front and rear frames for the assembly may be erected; and panel material whereby horizontal and vertical walls of the assembly may be established; lengths of the elongate framing elements being interconnected by corner connectors to establish the front and rear frames with set height and width dimensions in the front and rear faces respectively; the front and rear frames being interconnected to each other by the panel material extended therebetween to establish the mail box assembly; the depth of the mail box assembly being set by the depth of panel material in the vertical and horizontal walls extended between the front and rear frames; the height and width dimension of the mail box assembly and the height and width of mail boxes in o~ the mail box assembly being set by the lengths of the elongate framing elements in the front and rear frames.

invention will now be described with *1 reference to preferred embodiments shown in the "f I accompanying drawings, in which: FIG. 1 is a section through the front of a box in accordance with the invention; FIGS. 2 and 3 are alternate sections through the rear of a box in accordance with the invention; FIGS. 4 to 12 are sectional views of extrusions which may be used in the construction of a 25 box as shown in FTGS. 1 and 2; FIG. 13 is a cut away detail of a corner of a mail box in accordance with the invention; FIGS. 14 and 15 are views of an array in accordance with the present invention detailing how various of the elements of FIGS. 4 to 12 come together in the array; and FIGS. 16 to 18 illustrate an alternate form of construction.

In FIG. 1 is seen a sectional v~ew through a two storey array of boxes with the section being 4I 3 iv U.

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i 1 a i transverse through the front of two boxes 10 and 11, vertically placed one above the other. The top half of the drawing is a section at an end wall. The bottom half is a section at a point between end walls showing an internal wall. The array extends horizontally, orthogonally to the plane of the drawing. In practice, any number of boxes might be stacked vertically, and any number of boxes may be placed side by side in the ccE t ''it 1 i 3 AV" 4L

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*I 0 09 *C E 09* #4) tc horizontal direction, as will become clear below. The box 10 has a letter slot 12 and box 11 has a slot at 13.

The front of each box may be either openable or permanently fixed as will be explained below. In arrays that can only be accessed from the front, letters will have to be removed from the front and a locked flap can be provided as shown in the face of box 11. Where the array might be accessed from the rear, the front need not be opened and a fixed front panel may be provided as is shown in the face of box It will become clear that boxes may permit mail in and out at the front and/or out at the back.

In both boxes 10 and 11, the front face comprises an extrusion 15 (which is a modification of that of FIG. 10) which is threaded by a rod at 16. In an array, a pivot rod may pass through the array to collect all the pivot channels on each extrusion in the same row. The extrusion 15 provides for a name plate, number plate, etc, 17, to be inserted in front.

Extrusion 15 is attached to a panel 18A which in box is fitted at 19 into a channel in extrusion 22 (see FIG.

9) to lock the plate. This box is not accessible from the front.

In the box 11, a narrower plate 18B is again fitted to extrusion 15 but in this box, at a point along the plate's length there is provided a lock preferably centrally, which may be actioned by a key in the normal way to turn a locking arm 21 into engagement behind an abutment to lock the plate sheet, and to turn the arm 21 away from its locked position to release the flap on pivot 16 when the box may be opened for removal of its contents.

In constructing the array of boxes, the upper 23 and lower 24 longitudinal edges and vertical joining edges can be formed using an extrusion 25 (seen in FIG.

This extrusion is fitted to top 26 and bottom 27 4 I I

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4 Cf( plates which are identical by a suitable means such as spot welding, rivetting, or gluing. Metal adhesives are useful for providing moisture sealed joints. The depth of the box is set by what depth of plate is provided across the top and the bottom. This dimension is freely changed according to particular requirements.

In practice, the main load on an array is a bending moment that bends the horizontal members, such as the extrusions 25 at top 23 and bottom 24 at the front (FIG. 1) and the back (see FIG. The extrusion is 'beefed' up, if required, in a number of ways (see description with respect to FIG. The edge connected extrusions 25 and the horizontal panels 26 and 27 together form top and bottom assemblies between which the other structures are mounted to establish the array.

The panel 26 may engage a similar plate at the end wall with an angle extrusion inside the corner as is explained below (see FIG. 13).

Vertical members 28 and 29 together span the height of the box. Member 28 may be a length of extrusion 25 of figure 4. Member 29 is a compartment divider frame having the section in figure 5. The vertical height of the box is simply selected by cutting these members at a suitable length. Vertical member 28 is fitted to upper edge extrusion 25 by angle piece 30 having one wing engaged in a channel in extrusion 25, which channel is numbered 32 in FIG. 4.

The other wing of angle piece 30 is engaged in a complementary channel in vertical member 28. A similar angle piece 31 engages complementary channels in vertical member 28 and extrusion 22. Similarly, vertical member 29 is fitted to extrusion 22 and bottom edge extrusion 25. Extrusion 22, in between, is joined to a plate that forms floor 34 by bonding with adhesives, rivets and/or welding.

In FIG. 2 is seen the back of a box where letters are posted and retrieved from the front side as shown for box 11 of FIG. 1. With this arrangement the back is closed and a plate 36 is fitted between upper edge extrusion 25 and centre extrusion 35 (see FIG. 8) which is a variation of extrusion 22 without the hood (see FIG. Extrusions 25 and 35 are spaced at the end by a vertical member 37 (having the same section as of figure 4) fitted therebetween with angle pieces 38 and 39. Compartment divider frames are provided as in 6 figure 1.

In FIG. 3 is seen the back of a box where letters are posted at the front and recovered from the back. Again, the upper edge extrusion 25 is connected t 15 to the centre extrusion 22 (see FIG. 9) by a vertical o t ij t member 41 (which again may be a section such as 25 in figure 4 at the ends of the assembly). Between the vertical members defining the side walls and/or internal vertical compartment walls of the box is extended 20 extrusion 42 (of FIG. 10) on a suitable rod or pins for pivotal movement with a plate 44 to create a cover flap openable outwardly at the bottom with the extension 43 r, of extrusion 42 creating a cover flap above the pivot axis. To protect against water penetration, a shade strip or hood can be established by extrusion 45 (see S"o FIG. 11), which is engaged in extrusion 25. This might only be fitted to the top row of any box configuration.

In practice, between the vertical members at the front and back of the box is fitted another plate in the same manner as are the floor plates and external walls. It will be appreciated that the dimensions of the box, height, length and depth can be chosen at will, depending upon requirements, and the number of boxes in the array can be varied according to need by simply using longer horizontal and vertical members to accommodate larger numbers of unit sized boxes

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j t tL f t i1 t rt if vertically and horizontally. The box is subdivided internally by plate material fitted between the vertical members in the same manner as are the other panels.

The above described structure may be used to create a single letterbox, but use of the extrusions described above provides an overdesigned assembly. In a single box, a simplified extrusion such as that of FIG.

7 might replace the extrusion In the extrusion of FIG. 4 are two provisions for adding to its strength. An aluminum extrusion having the shape of FIG. 4 can have a metal bar 46 inserted into the channel within the extrusion, as shown, being a neat fit therein to take up any bending load in the major plane of the bar. The same channel 15 can be used at box corners to receive a connecting element, a chevron bracket or angle element bridging two mitred joined ends as a joining means. In practice, extrusion 25 forms the main longitudinal members of an array of boxes which are typically inbuilt into brick walls with courses of bricks thereover to create substantial bending moments. The extrusion 25 might be alternatively, or simultaneously, strengthened with a Ushape channel section 48 fitted into the space 47.

Channel 49 is for receipt of angle elements as corner connectors or connection points bar intermediate vertical members. Channel 50 provides a point for receipt of back plates, front plates, or other extrusions such as 45 (of FIG. 11) as seen in FIGS. 1 and 2.

The alternate extrusion of FIG. 7 for use in small structures is equivalent to extrusion 25 above with a channel 51 being equivalent to 49 and 52 equivalent to 50. A flat recess 53 receives a corner reinforcing angle to support a mitre joint.

All the extrusions of FIGS. 5, 6, 8 and 9 provide two channels for interconnection of angle I t t t I L4 I L int i pieces, one connecting above, the other below, or one to the left, the other to the right depending on the use of Sthe extrusion as a horizontal or vertical member.

Extrusions 33 (FIG. 9) and 35 (FIG. 8) have a channel 57 for receipt of plate material and extrusion 35 an additional opposed channel 58. All have a flat back surface for bonding of plate material.

FIG. 13 is a cut away detail of a corner of an array where horizontal and vertical edge sections come together at a mitred joint held by a chevron bracket or corner brace 60. The top edge of the box has an angle section 61 on its inside to support the depth of top plate 26 and side plate 62 at their edges.

,FIG. 14 is a cut away view of an array of mail boxes with various sections and parts numbered with the same reference numerals used in the preceding too description so as to show the way in which they may come together. The top half of FIG. 14 shows the array in a plane at the front face of the array. The lower half of f 4 J 20 FIG. 14 shows the array in a plane through the box to show the rear of the box with the front cut away. The top boxes are shown with a slot 64 for posting mail beneath a weathershield 45 above a door 59 secured by a lock FIG. 15 is a horizontal section of an array looking down upon the floors of a row of boxes of which two complete boxes 69 and 70 are shown. The two boxes 69 and 70 have plate 67 spanning horizontal members 22 and 35 coupled to vertical members 29 and 63 with angle V 30 pieces such as 31. The section of FIG. 15 is at the level of hinge rod 68 passing through the boxes to support a depending flap at the front such as in FIG.

1. A second rod 71 at the back might support a back plate 44 on section 42 as in FIG. 3.

Use of the above extrusions provides the ability to vary a box size on 3 axes thus attaining a unique tri-dimensional design by cutting the interconnecting centreplates to any given size. Their use can minimise extrusion die costs by keeping all extruded sections within a, for example, 115 die circuxnsribing circle and securing the facility to limit wall thickness, if desired to typically 1.6mm. A weight saving is gained that is not available with current unidimensional designs. The weight per vnit length of the loadbearing sections at the front and back of a box are about 1.7 times the weight per unit length of the interconnecting plate section. By sitting the load bearing sections at the extremities of the unit boxes longest axis, which in the case of Australia Post is 330mm front to back, the majority of this length comprises the much lighter interconnecting plate section with it attendant weight saving for a given box volume.

Other uni-dimensional designs can only increase their unit size by increasing the unit box width and bidimensional by increasing width and height. This, in both cases, imposes a weight penalty since they have to increase length along the section containing the heavy structural sections.

As the number of boxes increases vertically, the intermediate shelf frames and vertical dividers have been designed to contribute to the overall bank of boxes stiffness. This has been achieved in two ways viz:- The shelf and divider structural load bearing sections, whilst having only a wall thickness of 1.6mm, have by design a structural thickness of 5mm. This arrangement combines lightness and stiffness.

Securing shelves and dividers to each other and to the main fram is achieved by the use of 25 x x 1.6 angles which lock into slots extruded in the sections, This system of fixing and corner bracing will resist deflection and fishtail displacements and make a significant contribution to minimisation of sideways (eggbox) deflection in tall narrow banks of boxes.

In the above described embodiements, an array of boxes is put together by assembly first of vertical and horizontal panels with sheet material extended.J between extrusions attached at opposite front and rear edges, the assembly being completed by bringing the vertical and horizontal panels together and interconnecting them by interconnection of the extrusions at their mating corners. In figures 16 to 18 is shown how the assembly may come together by an alternate method of bringing the parts, extrusions and sheet material, together. The lighter weight main frame 15 of Fig 7 may be used here in place of the frame of fig 4.

In this second assembly process, it is proposed to first assemble the front and back faces by interconnection of the vertical and horizontal 4.

20 extrusions, which front and rear faces are then interconnected by sheet material extended therebetween.

The external cladding 72 (fig 16) and 75 (figure 18) may be a single sheet of material which is bent at the box corners to enclose a volume which will become the mail box assembly internal storage compartment(s). The front face may be pressed therein at one open end and the rear face pressed therein at the other to close off the internal volume. This technique is particularly suited to an assembly being a single mail box. The front face may comprise horizontal members, 51 (figure 16) at the top and 51 (figure 18) at the bottom joined at their ends to vertical extrusions of the same character utilising corner connectors of the type described above.

A flap 76 might be provided therein as described earlier with an opening thereabove shielded by a shade 45 as before. On assembly of this rectangular frame, it may be fitted with external panels such as 72 and 75 which may, as described above, be a single bent sheet having a complementary geometry into which a front frame may be pressed or pushed, to then be bonded by any suitable means. A similar technique can be adopted at the rear with either a closed face or one with a flap.

In construction of an array of boxes, a plurality of single units might be made as described above and the units stacked as bricks. This would double up the amount of panel material at abutting surfaces. With this in mind, an array might be made as set out below.

As described above, the front and rear faces of an assembly may be made by corner joining of extrusions such as 51 to provide frames with mail slots, shades thereover, flaps or blank walls as described above, depending on what use the assembly might be put tc. At the internal vertical and horizontal walls, the front and rear face framing may comprise back to back sections 51 as seen in figure 17. The frames may be closed by external paneling in the manner described above. In order to provide a slot into which internal panelling may be slid, a section 73 may be provided, which section slots in between the two back to back sections 51 and engages with panel 74 as shown. By this means the front and rear faces may be produced, the internal partitions assembled and held in a suitable jig inside the external shell and the front and rear faces i may then be (;lid into engagement at opposed sides with J 30 the edges of the panelling being slotted into their respective positions relative to the extrusions of the front and rear faces as indicted in figures 16 to 18.

In the assembly of figures 16 to 18, the internal walls of a multiple box array might be established by slotted sheet material being interdigitated to create partioning in egg crate style.

This may then be mounted in a shell that forms the external walls when the front and rear assemblies may be advanced thereto and slotted therein.

Whilst the above sets out various preferred embodiments, various adaptations thereof will be apparent to those skilled in the art which variations are within the scope of the invention hereinafter set out in the claims.

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Claims (8)

1. 2. A mail box assembly as claimed in Claim 1 wherein: the front and rear frames are traversed by horizontal reinforcements slotted into the horizontal framing elements.
2. 3. A mail box assembly as claimed in any one of the preceding claims wherein: the elocngate framing elements are interconnected by corner connectors having two arms at right angles to each other, the two arms being slotted P-i iii i i I: ;;r Ii ii k I:i r i r i :1 i i I r f i C- -*-un 16 into complementary slots in the horizontal and vertical framing elements to interconnect them orthogonally.
3. 4. A mail box assembly as claimed in Claim 3 wherein: the assembly is framed w.ith corresponding elongate framing elements of the front and rear faces being connected by panel material bonded thereto to form sub-assembly panels and the assembly is established by application of the corner connections to the respective horizontal and vertical connectors of the sub-assembly panels to create the mail box assembly.
4. 5. A mail box assembly as claimed in Claim 3 wherein: the mail box assembly is formed by a first 15 interconnection of the elongate framing elements to form front and rear face sub-assemblies which front and rear sub-assemblies are then interconnected by panel material to form the mail box assembly.
5. 6. A mail box assembly as claimed in Claim wherein: the internal space of the mail box assembly is subdivided by internal panel material, the internal panel material comprising a plurality of panels extended horizontally and vertically across the internal volume from front face to rear face, the plurality of panels being slotted and interconnected in an inter-digitated fashion to create separate internal sub-volumes extended between the front and rear faces.
6. 7. A mail box assembly as claimed in either one of Claims 5 or 6 wherein: the mail box assembly comprises an external panelling, which external panelling is a single sheet of material being orthogonally at corners of the mail box assembly to enclose the space within the mail box assembly, the front and rear frames being fixed to the I t r I. 17 external panelling.
7. 8. A mail box assembly as claimed in any one of the preceding claims wherein: the elongate framing elements are extrusions, the front and rear faces are closed by flaps that are extrusions, the extrusions and panel material being mitred at corners, these components being interconnected by corner connectors, reinforcement bars and material bonds.
8. 9. A mail box assembly as substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the It,, accompanying drawings. S, DATED this thirty-first day of January 1992. HELP INDUSTRIES LIMITED, 15 by its Patent Attorneys, GRANT ADAMS COMPANY. 7 -S Y) y