GB1592477A

GB1592477A - Post box

Info

Publication number: GB1592477A
Application number: GB3811677A
Authority: GB
Original assignee: TZU YEN HSIEH
Current assignee: TZU YEN HSIEH
Priority date: 1977-09-13
Filing date: 1977-09-13
Publication date: 1981-07-08
Also published as: HK79884A

Description

(54) A POST BOX (71) I, TZU-YEN HSIEH, a citizen of Taiwan, of No. 8-2, Alley 36, Lane 31, Yu Ying Street, Ching Mei Town, Taipei, Taiwan, formerly of 1st Floor, No. 15-7, Alley 5, Lane 125, Yang Te Ta Tao, Section 3, Shih Lin District, Taipai, Taiwan, do hereby declare the invention, for which I pray that a patent may be granted to me, and the method by which it is to be performed, to be particularly described in and by the following statement: This invention relates to a post box such as can be set up on the street, and particularly to a post box which accepts payment in respect of an article to be posted, for example a letter, and which also franks the article.

According to the present invention there is provided a post box comprising payment accepting means to receive payment in respect of articles to be posted and including aperture means through which monetary payment is introduced into the accepting means; article receiving means which is adapted to draw through an opening an article manually introduced into the opening for posting only after the monetary payment in respect of posting the article has been accepted by the payment accepting means, and franking means adapted to frank the article as it is drawn through the opening.

Further according to the present invention there is provided a post box assembly comprising a housing containing two post boxes as described in the immediately preceding paragraph.

The payment accepting means of each of the two post boxes is conveniently adapted to accept different monetary payment.

By the present invention there is no requirement to obtain a stamp and apply it to the article before posting, and furthermore, if the monetary payment inserted into the payment accepting means is not correct (i.e. there is not enough monetary payment or, for example, a coin forming the or part of the monetary payment is incorrect) the article will not be drawn through the opening. On the other hand, if the monetary payment is accepted the article will be drawn through the opening and may be franked at that stage without the necessity of the person posting the article taking any further action. The identification and acceptance of the monetary payment may be done by any one of a plurality of methods and as such the payment accepting means may be known per se.

Preferably the article receiving means comprises means which is controlled by an electrical motor to draw the article through the opening, a switch being provided in the electrical circuit of the motor which is automatically closed on acceptance of the monetary payment by the payment accepting means.

The means to draw the article through the opening conveniently comprises two parallel rollers which are actuated by the motor to draw the article through the opening and therebetween. The switch may be opened automatically when the article has passed through the article receiving means, and indicator means may be provided in the electrical circuit of the motor to indicate that the switch is closed and that an article may now be drawn through the opening by the article receiving means. Such indicator means conveniently comprises a light through which current is passed when the switch is closed.

The post box preferably comprises a monetary controller rotatable in one direction by the monetary payment accepted by the payment accepting means to close the aforementioned switch. Further rotation of the controller to deposit the monetary payment into a collection chamber may be caused by operation of the motor to draw the article through the article receiving means. The motor may rotate the monetary controller through a gear system connected to a cam in co-operation with a follower on the controller. The monetary controller may be biased by, for example, a counterweight, to rotate in the opposite direction when the monetary payment is deposited therefrom.Such opposite rotation can provide said automatic opening of the aforementioned switch so that a further article cannot be drawn through the opening until monetary payment in respect of that article is accepted by the payment accepting means and the monetary controller is rotated in said one direction to close the switch again.

A second switch may be provided in the electrical circuit of the aforementioned motor which is automatically closed on the introduction of the article into the opening, whereby the electrical motor is only actuated when the monetary payment has been accepted and the article has been introduced into the opening.

Preferably two co-operating and relativelydisplaceable means, for example guide rollers, are provided at the opening and are biased towards each other, said means being relatively displaceable away from each other by the insertion of the article therebetween, said displacement acting therebetween to close the second switch. The post box may be such that the second switch is adapted to be opened when the article has been drawn through the opening, a third switch being provided in the electrical circuit of the motor and adapted to be closed by the article as it passes through the article receiving means to maintain current to the motor after the second switch is opened, the third switch being automatically opened when the article has passed through the article receiving means.

When the article receiving means comprises two parallel rollers one of the rollers is preferably adapted to frank the article as the article passes between the rollers. The franking roller is conveniently inked on rotation through the intermediary of one or more inking rollers drawing ink from a reservoir.

One embodiment of a post box assembly in accordance with the present invention will now be described by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 shows a perspective view of the post box assembly having a housing containing two post boxes in accordance with the present invention; Figure 2 shows an enlarged perspective view of the assembly of Figure 1 in which the housing is cut away to particularly reveal the interior of one of the post boxes; Figure 3 is a front elevation of the assembly with front panels removed; Figure 4 is a sectional side elevation of part of one post box revealing the possible paths taken by monetary payment after being introduced into payment accepting means; Figure 5 is an enlarged view of part of Figure 3 showing article receiving means and monetary payment accepting means of one of the post boxes;; Figures 6a, 6b and 6c show the operation of a monetary controller of one post box; Figure 7 is an enlarged perspective view of the monetary controller and a switch closed by the controller; Figure 8 is an enlarged side view of article receiving means of one post box; Figure 9 is a front view of the article receiving means of Figure 8; Figure 10 shows a detail of Figure 8, and Figure 11 shows an electrical circuit for operating the article receiving means.

The two post boxes of the post box assembly 36 illustrated each have separate monetary payment accepting means 3 and separate article receiving means by share a common monetary payment collection chamber 32. When monetary payment in the form of a coin is inserted into an aperture 1 defining a coin slot, it rolls down a coin path 2 (see Figure 4) to accepting means in the form of a coin selector 3. Coin selectors are already known per se and for this reason the coin selector 3 will not be described further. If the coin is a correct one, i.e. if it is accepted by the coin selector, it will fall down on to a monetary controller 4. By the impact force and the weight of an accepted coin, the coin controller 4 will be rotated through a predetermined angle with the coin still on it, see Figures 4, 6a, 6b, and 6c.The description hereinafter is directed to an embodiment of coin controller 4 which is actuated by one coin but it will be clear that the controller 4 may only be rotated through the predetermined angle by the weight of two or more coins. The coin controller 4 is mounted on one end of a shaft 5 having a cam 6 at the other end. Therefore, the cam 6 is rotated through the same angle as the coin controller. Figure 7 shows that this results in a spring switch 7 being closed by the cam 6 when the controller 4 has been rotated through the predetermined angle by the coin.A loop of an electrical circuit, shown in Figure 11, is closed by the spring switch 7 to switch on means in the form of a light 8 which indicates that article receiving means of the post box is now ready to draw into the post box an article such as a letter 12 introduced into an opening 13 in the housing.

If the inserted coin is of incorrect value it will be rejected by the coin selector 3 and roll down a path 9, instead of to the monetary controller, to rest on an inclined plate 10 adjacent an access opening 11, for retrieval of the coin.

Figure 10 shows that when the letter 12 is inserted into the opening 13, one of two cooperating and relatively-displaceable means, defined by two small rollers 14, is forced to move upwardly away from the other against the bias of a spring 15. A pivoted lever 16 is rotated by said movement so that its remote end moves downwardly as shown in Figure 10 to close a second switch in the form of a spring switch 17. The enlarged detail in Figure 10 shows the switch 17 open, as it is before an article is inserted between the rollers 14. The second switch 17 is connected in series with the switch 7 and is in the electrical circuit of an electrical motor 18 which is actuated when the switches 7 and 17 are closed (see Figure 11). A DC or AC power source 35 in the circuit powers the light 8 and the motor 18.

Figure 5 shows in detail two gearing systems 19 and 20 which are driven by the motor 18.

The article receiving means has a roller 21 arranged parallel to a second roller 22 which is connected to the gear system 20 for rotation of the rollers 21 and 22 in opposite directions, so that a letter 12 introduced between them at 23 from the opening 13 will be drawn through the opening. The letter 12 will be franked by a formation 24 on the roller 21 as the rollers 21 and 22 rotate and the letter is drawn therebetween. The formation 24 can have any desired shape, see for example Figure 9.

The formation 24 is inked by a set of rollers 25 which are linked from an ink reservoir 26, as shown in Figure 8. The set of ink rollers 25 is so designed that the ink from the ink reservoir 26 can be spread evenly therefrom on to the formation 24. The ink reservoir can be filled through an ink filling slot 27 shown in Figure 1.

As the letter 12 is drawn into the post box by the rollers 21 and 22, it rotates a pivoted lever 38 in a clockwise direction (see Figure 8) to close a third spring switch 39 which maintains current to the motor 18 when the tail end of the letter 12 has moved out from between rollers 14 to release the switch 17.

With reference to Figures 5, 6A-C and 7, a cam 28 is connected to the gear system 19 for rotation when the gear system 19 is driven by the motor 18. When the cam 28 rotates anticlockwise from the position shown in Figure 6A, a follower 33 on the coin controller 4 is engaged by the cam 28, such engagement causing clockwise rotation of the coin controller 4, as shown in Figure 6B, to deposit coin 29 therefrom. The coin 29 then passes down a coin path 30 to a coin counter 31 and to coin collection chamber 32 illustrated in Figures 1 and 3.

Continued anti-clockwise rotation of the cam 28 by the gear system 19 eventually releases the controller 4 and the weight of the follower 33 biases the controller to its coin receiving position. As the coin controller 4 returns to its coin receiving position, the cam 6 rotates with it to allow the spring switch 7 to open so that current to the motor 18 and to the light 8 is cut off. At about the same time as the switch 7 opens, the letter 1 2 releases the lever 38 as the letter falls into a cabinet 34 and the spring switch 39 opens.

A stand 40 is provided to support the post box assembly 36, as shown in Figure 1. Three locks 37 are provided for, respectively, the two letter cabinets 34 and the collection chamber 32, as shown in Figure 1.

The two post boxes of the assembly 36 may be adapted for different letter rates as implied in Figure 1 by the words "Ordinary" and "Express" as written on the front of the assembly above the letter slots 13. In this case the payment accepting means of the two post boxes will be arranged to accept different monetary payment.

WHAT I CLAIM IS: 1. A post box comprising payment accepting means to receive payment in respect of articles to be posted and including aperture means through which monetary payment is introduced into the accepting means; article receiving means which is adapted to draw through an opening an article manually introduced into the opening for posting only after the monetary payment in respect of posting the article has been accepted by the payment accepting means, and franking means adapted to frank the article as it is drawn through the opening.

2. A post box as claimed in claim 1 in which the article receiving means comprises means which is controlled by an electrical motor to draw the article through the opening, a switch being provided in the electrical circuit of the motor which is automatically closed on acceptance of the monetary payment by the payment accepting means.

3. A post box as claimed in claim 2 in which means is provided in the electrical circuit of the motor to indicate that the switch is closed.

4. A post box as claimed in claim 2 or claim 3 in which the switch is automatically opened when the article has passed through the article receiving means.

5. A post box as claimed in any one of claims 2 to 4 in which a monetary controller is rotated in one directed by the monetary payment accepted by the payment accepting means to close the switch.

6. A post box as claimed in claim 5 in which further rotation of the monetary controller to deposit the monetary payment into a collection chamber is caused by operation of the motor to draw the article through the article receiving means.

7. A post box as claimed in claim 6 when claim 5 is dependent from claim 4 in which the monetary controller is biased to rotate in the opposite direction when the monetary payment is deposited therefrom, the switch being adapted to open upon said opposite rotation.

8. A post box as claimed in any one of claims 5 to 7 in which the switch is a spring operated by a cam rotatable with the monetary controller.

9. A post box as claimed in any one of claims 2 to 8 in which a second switch is provided in the electrical circuit of the motor which is automatically closed on the introduction of the article into the opening, whereby the electrical motor is only actuated when the monetary payment has been accepted and the article has been introduced into the opening.

10. A post box as claimed in claim 9 in which two cooperating and relatively-displaceable means are provided at the opening and are biased towards each other, said means being relatively displaceable away from each other by the insertion of the article therebetween, said displacement acting to close the second switch.

11. A post box as claimed in claim 9 or claim 10 in which the second switch is adapted to be opened when the article has been drawn through the opening, a third switch being provided in the electrical circuit of the motor and adapted to be closed by the article as it passes through the article receiving means to maintain current to the motor after the second switch is

**WARNING** end of DESC field may overlap start of CLMS **.

Claims

**WARNING** start of CLMS field may overlap end of DESC **. from the opening 13 will be drawn through the opening. The letter 12 will be franked by a formation 24 on the roller 21 as the rollers 21 and 22 rotate and the letter is drawn therebetween. The formation 24 can have any desired shape, see for example Figure 9. The formation 24 is inked by a set of rollers 25 which are linked from an ink reservoir 26, as shown in Figure 8. The set of ink rollers 25 is so designed that the ink from the ink reservoir 26 can be spread evenly therefrom on to the formation 24. The ink reservoir can be filled through an ink filling slot 27 shown in Figure 1. As the letter 12 is drawn into the post box by the rollers 21 and 22, it rotates a pivoted lever 38 in a clockwise direction (see Figure 8) to close a third spring switch 39 which maintains current to the motor 18 when the tail end of the letter 12 has moved out from between rollers 14 to release the switch 17. With reference to Figures 5, 6A-C and 7, a cam 28 is connected to the gear system 19 for rotation when the gear system 19 is driven by the motor 18. When the cam 28 rotates anticlockwise from the position shown in Figure 6A, a follower 33 on the coin controller 4 is engaged by the cam 28, such engagement causing clockwise rotation of the coin controller 4, as shown in Figure 6B, to deposit coin 29 therefrom. The coin 29 then passes down a coin path 30 to a coin counter 31 and to coin collection chamber 32 illustrated in Figures 1 and 3. Continued anti-clockwise rotation of the cam 28 by the gear system 19 eventually releases the controller 4 and the weight of the follower 33 biases the controller to its coin receiving position. As the coin controller 4 returns to its coin receiving position, the cam 6 rotates with it to allow the spring switch 7 to open so that current to the motor 18 and to the light 8 is cut off. At about the same time as the switch 7 opens, the letter 1 2 releases the lever 38 as the letter falls into a cabinet 34 and the spring switch 39 opens. A stand 40 is provided to support the post box assembly 36, as shown in Figure 1. Three locks 37 are provided for, respectively, the two letter cabinets 34 and the collection chamber 32, as shown in Figure 1. The two post boxes of the assembly 36 may be adapted for different letter rates as implied in Figure 1 by the words "Ordinary" and "Express" as written on the front of the assembly above the letter slots 13. In this case the payment accepting means of the two post boxes will be arranged to accept different monetary payment. WHAT I CLAIM IS:

1. A post box comprising payment accepting means to receive payment in respect of articles to be posted and including aperture means through which monetary payment is introduced into the accepting means; article receiving means which is adapted to draw through an opening an article manually introduced into the opening for posting only after the monetary payment in respect of posting the article has been accepted by the payment accepting means, and franking means adapted to frank the article as it is drawn through the opening.

opened, the third switch being automatically opened when the article has passed through the article receiving means.

12. A post box as claimed in any one of claims 2 to 11 in which the article receiving means comprises two parallel rollers which are actuated by the motor to draw the article through the opening and therebetween.

13. A post box as claimed in claim 12 in which one of the rollers is adapted to frank the article as the article passes between the rollers.

14. A post box as claimed in claim 13 in which an ink reservoir is provided for the franking roller and is adapted to ink the franking roller on rotation of the latter, through the intermediary of one or more inking rollers.

15. A post box substantially as herein described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

16. A post box assembly comprising a housing containing two post boxes as claimed in any one of the preceding claims.

17. A post box assembly as claimed in claim 16 in which the payment accepting means of each of the two post boxes is adapted to accept different monetary payment.

18. A post box assembly substantially as herein described with reference to the accompanying drawings.