EP1418547A1

EP1418547A1 - Foldable ballot box

Info

Publication number: EP1418547A1
Application number: EP02079717A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Rocio Serra Camino; Manuel Castilla Ferrer
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2002-11-11
Filing date: 2002-11-11
Publication date: 2004-05-12

Abstract

A foldable ballot box formed by a lower base and an upper frame which have between them, by means of swivel-mounting, respective longitudinal walls that can be folded in the center towards the inside, and said upper frame housing, by means of swivel-mounting, respective transversal side hatches which shift from a position that is adjacent to the lower surface of the frame to a position that is vertically extended when said longitudinal walls are completely unfolded, thus preventing their folding; thus creating the inner operative area of the ballot box, which is closed by means of a cover that detachably fits on said frame and which has a passing slit in its surface that is suitable for introducing voting ballots.

Description

Background of the invention

One of the necessarily inherent requirements in all honest acts of voting consists of the most absolute and full reliability, and as a result it is normally customary prior to beginning the voting process to seal the ballot box in some secure manner, with the object of totally restricting access to the inside thereof, except for the ballots or other means used for carrying out said voting, until the previously fixed timeframe to be able to deposit the votes, or its eventual amplification, once it has passed, the seals are broken and the scrutiny of the votes begins.
Likewise, and for the purpose of additionally increasing said reliability, many collective groups have ballot boxes wherein some of the parts are transparent, made in glass or any other of the different plastic materials having said feature, with the object of being able to have visual access to the inside thereof during the entire voting process.
These partially transparent ballot boxes have a rigid and considerably heavy structure which extraordinarily obstructs their transport and storage, in addition to the high cost, making them impractical when voting is carried out in a plurality of voting tables distributed in points that are far from one another.
The present invention has been conceived on the basis of these requirements of reliability and easy transport.

Object of the invention

In fact, the invention provides a foldable ballot box made perfectly transparent materials and constituted of a plurality of elements connected together which, in their unfolded position, shape a totally closed parallelepipedic area in which the voting ballots that are introduced through a slit made on its upper cover are temporarily stored, and which, once its function has ended, is able to be folded into a shape that is analogous to a briefcase or the like.
One of the objects of the invention consists of providing the ballot box being contemplated, wherein the simplicity of its design permits it to be made of low cost but highly resistant materials, giving it a long useful life.
Another object is to provide a ballot box that when folded, can be easily transported and moreover, stored in a very small space, making it ideal for multitudinous voting carried out in different geographical points.
These and other qualities and advantages are easily evident for the skilled persons in the art in the description that follows, which has been carried out in relation to the accompanying drawings and which show a currently preferred practical example of a foldable ballot box of the invention, from among other possibilities which are given with a purely illustrative and in no case non-limiting character, wherein:

Description of the drawings

Figure 1 shows a frontal perspective view of a ballot box of the invention in its folded position.
Figure 2 shows a perspective view of the halfway unfolded ballot box, with its upper cover slightly distanced and to which the side hatches have been removed to allow for a better understanding of the assembly and functionality; and
Figure 3 shows a somewhat schematic cross section view of the longitudinal axial plane of the ballot box in its maximum, unfolded position and lacking certain parts, and wherein the angular shift trajectory of the side hatches is shown in dotted lines.

Preferred embodiment of the invention

In relation to the drawings, number 11 designates a rectangular laminar base carried out, as well as the remaining parts of the ballot box, in a transparent material such as PVC, polypropylene, polycarbonate or the like, which has a small peripheral sleeper 12 in a vertical elevation and a rectangular frame 13 defining a central span 14 and which has a downward peripheral lap 15, said lap 15 corresponding with the sleeper 12 of the base 11. A pair of rectangular laminar portions, a lower one 16 and an upper one 17, for each longitudinal side of the ballot box, having a width similar to the length of the span defined by said lap 15 of the frame 13 or by the span defined by the sleeper 12 of the base 11, are swivel-mounted together on their concordant longitudinal edge by means of a hinge 18 having a stop so as to enable swiveling in only one direction, and fixed by means of swivel-mounting to the ends of the transversal portions of the sleeper 12, for the lower laminar portion 16 by means of pins 19, and to the ends of the transversal portions of the lap 15 for the upper laminar portion 17 by means of pins 20, such that in maximum unfolding, they form a coplanar wall which will form the longitudinal side wall of the ballot box in an operative position, being possible to be folded by its hinges 18 towards the inside of the ballot box, dragging the frame 13 downwards until its lap 15 rests on the upper edge of the sleeper 12, completely covering them.
A laminar cover 21 with a small downward peripheral lap 22 and a central passing slit 23 is adapted in order to fit on the frame 13, such that it covers its central span 14 and closes the inner area of the ballot box; the connection between this cover 21 and the frame 13 could be sealed by means of a strip of adhesive paper or the like preventing temporary access to said inner area.
Respective laminar portions or hatches 24 having a width similar to the distance existing between the walls 16-17 in maximum unfolding and a slightly height that is slightly less than the distance existing between the inner surfaces of the base 11 and the frame 13 in said maximum unfolded position are fixed by means of swivel-mounting to the corresponding ends of the longitudinal portions of the lap 15, such that they can swivel from a position that is adjacent to the lower surface of said frame 13, indicated in 24a, until reaching the vertical position, in a trajectory indicated by the arrows in figure 3 and which will form the transversal side walls of the ballot box. A small projection 26 is arranged in a centered position and adjacent to each one of its transversal ends, on the upper surface of the base 11, spaced from the sleeper 12 at a magnitude which is slightly greater than the thickness of the hatches 24.
In this arrangement and from its closed position, it is only necessary to pull the frame 13 upwards in order to unfold the ballot box, distancing it from the base 11, inducing the gradual unfolding of the walls 16-17 and distancing its hinged edges from the central plane of the ballot box, which in turn will permit the descent of the side hatches 24, until said walls 16-17 acquire a coplanar position, allowing for the cleared passing for said hatches 24 which, by overcoming the projection 26 in a slightly forced manner and by means of the downward impulse due to gravity, will be housed in the space between said projection 26 and the sleeper 12 of the base 11, thus preventing the swivel movement of the walls 16-17 and keeping them in their position.
For folding the ballot box, it is enough to exert pressure on the lower edges of the hatches 24 until making them come out of the span between the projection 26 and the sleeper 12, taking them to their position adjacent to the lower surface of the frame 13, position 24a, and allowing for the weight of the assembly to make the walls 16-17 fold inwardly until the lap 15 rests on the edge of said sleeper 12.
Certain changes, amendments, alterations, substitutions or variations can be added to the described embodiment, since the detail of that previously mentioned is given solely and exclusively with an illustrative and in no case non-limiting character. The intention is that all these changes and others that may be foreseen by skilled persons in the art are comprised within the present invention as long as the widest spirit and scope of the following claims are not amended.

Claims

Foldable ballot box, characterized in that the entirety of its structural parts are formed from a transparent material and in that it is constituted of:

A base element formed by a rectangular laminar portion having a small ridge or sleeper in vertical elevation along its periphery and respective projections centrally arranged on its upper surface and close to the corresponding transversal portion of the sleeper, suitable for forming between them and the portion close to said sleeper a span that is capable of housing the edge of a laminar element;

a frame element, having an area that is similar to the area of the base element, defining a central span and having a downward lap;

respective longitudinal walls formed by two laminar portions associated together by means of swivel-mounting by means of a hinge mechanism arranged on the matching longitudinal edges and having a stop for allowing swiveling in a single direction as from their coplanar position; being fixed in a swivel form by means of pins to the corresponding ends of the lap portions of the frame element, for the upper laminar portion, and to the ends of the transversal portions of the sleeper of the base element, for the lower laminar portion, and being capable of swiveling from a coplanar position to a folding position towards the inside of the area defined between them;

a pair of hatch elements defining the transversal walls of the ballot box in the form of laminar portions having a width that is similar to the distance between the longitudinal walls in the maximum unfolded position and a height which is analogous to the distance acquired by the inner surfaces of the base element and the frame element at their maximum distance, and which are fixed by swivel-mounting by means of pins to the ends of the lap portions of the frame element, being capable of swiveling from one approximately horizontal position that is adjacent to the lower surface of said frame up to a vertical position adjacent to the corresponding portion of the sleeper of the base element, tightly distancing it from its lower edge within the span defined by the protrusions arranged on the surface of said base element and said sleeper portion; and

a cover element with the shape of a rectangular laminar portion having a downward lap from its periphery, and an elongated passing slit on the center of its surface, it being suitable for detachably housing it on the frame element and covering its central span.