GB2462284A

GB2462284A - Home delivery system

Info

Publication number: GB2462284A
Application number: GB0813967A
Authority: GB
Inventors: David Paul Naill Abbott
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2008-07-31
Filing date: 2008-07-31
Publication date: 2010-02-03
Also published as: GB0813967D0

Abstract

A removable home delivery system comprises an anchor 1 which attaches securely to a door and at least one cable 10, wherein the proximal end of the cable is connected to the anchor and in use, the distal end of the cable secures the delivered goods. Preferably the anchor attaches to the outside door handle, alternatively it may be secured to the outside of the door via a cable which passes through the letterbox and connects to a second anchor which is larger than a standard letter box. The second anchor is preferably the packaging of the 1stanchor and preferably has a ring or aperture through which the distal end of the cable is passed before being located outside of the door ready for use. The system preferably provides two modes of use: 1) if the delivered item has an aperture, the distal end of the cable is firstly passed through said aperture and is connected back to the first anchor, alternatively; 2) a secure box may be provided and the goods placed therein, the distal end of the cable is connected to the box such that the lid of the box is locked. The anchor preferably comprises a hinged 2 cuff with central aperture 3. It preferably locks automatically and may comprise a handcuff-type toothed lock, or a cylinder 16 or a combination lock, alternatively it may be padlocked closed. The cable may also be attached to the anchor or box via a padlock or other lock 11, through the proximal end is preferably permanently connected to the anchor.

Description

TJTLE

Home delivery system

DESCRIPTION

The present invention relates to a system which enables deliveries to be securely stored out side a property for their subsequent retrieval. There are currently several systems on the market to enable a person to take delivery of something when they are not at home to receive the delivery, however, the majority of these systems rely upon the installation of a secure box or container permanently fixed, usually to the front of a house, which means that the container has to be on permanent display even when not needed.

The home delivery system allows the user to securely receive deliveries when the home owner is not at home, but the system is also removable when not required.

The home delivery system works by having an anchor which securely attaches to the external door handle of a house. The anchor is usually hinged and designed to fit between the fixing plate of the door knob or door handle and the under side of the door knob or door handle.

The anchor will clip shut around the stem of the door handle or door knob and will usually automatically lock shut, if it does not automatically lock shut, means are provided to lock the anchor to the handle. The anchor will usually obscure at least two of the fixing screws holding the door knob or door handle to the door making the door knob or door handle hard to remove with out first removing the anchor.

The anchor will incorporate a cable the end of which will be designed to cooperate with a lock or locks on the anchor and also to cooperate with a lock on a box suitable to take a delivery, so that the end of the cable will make up part of the kicking system with in the delivery box or a lock on the anchor.

The home delivery system enables deliveries to be made, securely when the intended recipient of the delivery is absent, in two main ways, either by placing the delivery in a box designed for the purpose, closing the lid and inserting the end of the cable in to the appropriate cavity on the delivery box, which will automatically lock the lid of the box shut while locking the box to the anchor, or alternatively if the delivery is to be delivered in a secure box or container, and if that box or container has a ring or a secure handle or an aperture of some kind, then the end of the cable can be passed through the ring or secure handle or aperture of some kind and then lock on to the anchor, which effectively would lock the delivery to the home delivery system.

DRAWINGS

Figure 1 Is a perspective view of home delivery system anchor and cable designed for a door knob seen from right hand side showing cable not locked to anchor; Figure 2 is a perspective view of home delivery system anchor and cable designed for a door knob seen from left hand side showing cable locked to anchor; Figure 3 is a cross section through a home delivery system anchor designed for a door knob, also showing door knob and door knob fixings; Figure 4 is a cross section through a portion of a home delivery system anchor designed for a door knob, showing the automatic locking system with in the anchor; Figure 5 is a perspective view of a secure box with facility to lock to the anchor of the home delivery system; Figure 6 is a plan view of a home delivery system anchor and cable designed for a door handle.

An example of the home delivery system according to the present invention will now be described with reference to figures 1 to 6.

The home delivery system comprises an anchor (1), with a hinge (2), and an aperture (3).

The anchor is made of a durable material such as steel or hardened plastic or some other suitable material. To attach the anchor to a door knob or door handle, the upper section of the anchor (la) is pulled away from the lower section of the anchor (ib) using the action of the hinge (2) so that a suitable gap between the two sections of the anchor is created so that the anchor body can be slipped over the stem of the door handle (4) to which it is going to be attached. When the aperture (3) of the anchor (1) is over the stem of the door handle (4) then the upper section of the anchor (la) and the lower section of the anchor (ib) can be brought together, this action causes the locking plate (5) on the lower section of the anchor (ib) to be inserted in to the locking cavity (6) in the upper section of the anchor (la). As the upper and lower sections of the anchor are brought together the top edge of the locking plate (5) comes in to contact with the tapered edge of the locking bolt (7) which causes it to be pushed back against the spring (8), while the locking plate (5) advances further in to the locking cavity (6). When the two parts of the anchor have almost been brought together, the head of the locking bolt (7) aligns with the aperture in the locking plate (5), causing the spring (8) to push the locking bolt (7) into the aperture in the locking plate (5), a stop (not shown) engages with horizontal projections (9) on either side of the locking bolt to prevent further forward movement of the locking bolt (7). The horizontal projections (9) on either side of the locking bolt run along horizontal channels in the exterior walls of the locking chamber (not shown). When the latch bolt (7) has travelled its full allowable forward distance, and the upper and lower sections of the anchor have been brought together, the anchor is effectively locked on to the door knob (15).

When the anchor (1) needs to be removed from the door handle (15) the user inserts a key (not shown) in to the anchor securing cylinder lock (16), when the key is turned in the anchor securing cylinder lock (16) the cylinder (not shown) with in the lock casing (not shown) rotates. The rotation of the cylinder means that the latch moving arm (17) which is attached to the bottom of the cylinder on an outer portion of the circumference, also rotates. This rotation causes the latch moving cylinder to move through an arc. When the cylinder is being rotated in order to unlock the anchor (1), the latch moving arm (17) is brought in to contact with and pushes back the raised locking bolt end (18), this movement pulls back the locking bolt (7), and withdraws it from the aperture in the locking plate (5) which enables the two parts of the anchor (1 a) and (1 b) to be separated, and so enables the anchor (1) to be removed from the door knob (15).

When the anchor (1) is locked on to the door knob (15), the user of the home delivery system has two options depending upon the nature of the delivery which they are expecting. Option one is if they are expecting a delivery of something in a secure box, with an external secure handle or fixing point, then the user may leave the locking cable (10) un-locked and available for use by the person who will deliver the expected goods.

When the delivery person, makes his/her delivery, they would then pass the cable locking plate (11) through the secure fixing point on the delivery and then push the cable locking plate (11) in to the cable locking chamber (12), and in so doing lock the delivery to the anchor (1), which its self is locked to the door handle (15), which secures the delivery for subsequent retrieval, by inserting a key (not shown) in to the cable securing cylinder lock (20), and turning the key to permit the withdrawal of the cable locking plate (11).

The second way that the home delivery system can work is by the use of a secure box (13), which has a lock chamber (14) of the same dimensions and composition as the lock chamber (12) on the anchor (1). The secure box (13) is left out side the door next to the anchor (1), then the delivery is put in side the secure box (13) and the cable locking plate (11) is inserted in to the lock chamber (14) which activates the lock mechanism, contained in the lid of the of the secure box (13). This lock mechanism works in the same manner as the lock previously described in the anchor (1). When the locking plate (11) is inserted in to the lock chamber (14) in the secure box (13) a latch bolt is urged through the aperture in the locking plate (5), which holds the cable locking plate (11) in place, which prevents the lid of the secure box (13) from being lifted up, which effectively locks the delivery inside the secure box (13) and locks the secure box (13) to the anchor (1), which is locked to the door knob (15), which effectively secures the delivery for subsequent retrieval, by inserting a key (not shown) in to the cable securing cylinder lock (19) on the secure box (13) and turning the key to permit the withdrawal of the cable locking plate (11).

Figure 6 Shows a home delivery system designed for a door with a lever handle, it works in the same way as the home delivery system designed for a door with a round handle or door knob, however the shape of the anchor (ic) has been altered from a round embodiment to an oblong embodiment. The reason for this is that lever handles are often attached to the door, very close to the door surround, which would not give enough room to attach the circular anchor (1), however, the embodiment of the home delivery system as illustrated in figure 6, over comes this problem, as the narrow section of the anchor (id), can be inserted between the door frame and the stem of the door handle. When aperture with in the narrow section of the anchor (id) rests on the stem of the door handle (not shown), then the wide section of the anchor (le) can then be brought together with the narrow section of the anchor (Id), with the narrow section of the anchor (id) and the wide section of the anchor (1 e) locking together in the same way that upper section of the anchor (la) is locked to the lower section of the anchor (ib). When the door handle is on the other side of the door to that which has been described, the anchor (ic) needs to be rotated through 1800, and slid up between the door frame and the stem of the door handle, and then closed in the manner already described.

in instances where the house does not have a door handle or a door knob the home delivery system can still be used providing that the house has a letterbox, by using the packaging of the home delivery system as an anchor. The packaging of the home delivery system, can be made of a dimension that will not pass through a standard sized letter box, and will be made from a durable material such as a toughened plastic or carbon fibre or other such suitable material, also It will have an aperture or ring through which the locking plate can pass. In order to prepare the home delivery system to be used in this manner, the user needs first to open the door, and take the home delivery system anchor to the out side of the door, having done so the locking plate and a portion of the locking cable can then be pushed through the letter box into the house side of the door, then the locking plate and a portion of the locking cable can then be passed through the aperture or ring in the packaging, having passed the cable locking plate and a portion of the locking cable through the aperture or ring in the packaging, the locking plate and the portion of the locking cable can then be pushed back through the letter box from the house side of the door to the outside of the door, leaving the packaging as an anchor on the inside of the door while the working parts of the home delivery system, (the anchor and the locking plate), are on the out side of the door and available for use in the manner already described. The packaging of the home delivery system may incorporate a hook or an attachment of some kind to attach it to the interior of the door.

In an other embodiment the home delivery system may have multiple locking cables which may be permanently fixed to the anchor or which may be attachable to and detachable from the anchor or may be attachable to and detachable from the anchor locking cable.

It is also possible for any of the embodiments already described to be secured by combination locks rather than key operated locks, and for the home delivery system to use a mixture of combination and or key locks.

In an other embodiment the two sides of the anchor may have cooperating shackles which would enable the anchor to be locked to a door knob or handle with a padlock. The locking cable may be locked to the anchor by a padlock, and the secure box may also be locked to the locking cable by a padlock.

In an other embodiment the two sides of the anchor may come together in the same way that handcuffs do, with one side of the anchor having a line of teeth along its outer edge, which engages with a locking mechanism in the body of the opposing side, an example of this kind of hand cuff and locking mechanism is described in US Patent 1,531,451.

In an other embodiment the aperture of the anchor is adjustable by having sections of the aperture in the anchor mounted on screws, so that the aperture in the middle of the anchor can be increased or decreased by tightening or un-tightening the screws mounted with in the movable inner sections, which will assist the anchor to better fit a variety of different door knobs/handles.

In other embodiments the anchor has and an aperture or a segment removed from the shapes already described, which allow for the possibility that the door lock, of the door to which it is attached, may be located close to the door knob or door handle, in which case this aperture will allow a key to be inserted in to the door lock with out the need of removing the anchor of the home delivery system from the door knob or door handle.

In an other embodiment the depth of the anchor can be increased or decreased by screwing or un-screwing a number of movable plates fitted to the inner face of the anchor, which will assist the anchor to better fit a variety of different door knobs or door handles.

Claims

Claims 1) A system to allow for the secure delivery of goods to a property, a home delivery system, when the recipient is absent, comprising an anchor made from a strong and durable material, the anchor incorporates a lock, which will securely attach the anchor to a door knob or door handle or has means of attaching a lock to the anchor which then will securely attach the anchor to a door knob or door handle, the anchor also has a cable or cables securely attached to it, which have means of locking the cable or cables back on to the anchor or of locking the cable or cables to a secure box, this box having its own locking means such that when a cable from the anchor is locked to it the box is also locked so that the lid of the box can not be lifted up from the body of the box, the system has packaging which is made from a strong and durable material, of such size and shape that it is not able to fit through a standard size letterbox, the packaging incorporates an aperture or ring of sufficient dimensions through which the free end of a cable attached to the anchor can pass, but which is not of sufficient dimension to allow the anchor to pass.
2) A home delivery system according to claim 1), where the anchor is in two parts with the two parts being joined by a hinge.
3) A home delivery system according to claim 2), where the anchor is locked shut automatically when the two parts of the anchor are brought together, by the action of a movable bolt housed in a locking chamber in one side of the of the anchor, engaging with a locking plate attached to the other side of the anchor.
4) A home delivery system according to claim 1), with two cylinder locks on the anchor, one of which locks and un-locks the two parts of the anchor together, the other of which locks and un-locks the cable to the anchor.
5) A home delivery system according to claim 1), with a number of cylinder locks on the anchor, one of which locks and tm-locks the two parts of the anchor together, the others lock and un-lock two or more cables to the anchor.
6) A home delivery system according to claim 1), with a pair of inter-connecting shackles mounted on opposing sides of the anchor, which enable the anchor to be locked shut by a padlock.
7) A home delivery system according to claim 1), where one section of the anchor can be joined to the other section of the anchor by the action of one or more padlocks.
8) A home delivery system according to claim I), with the anchor having at least one shackle on its body to which a padlock can be attached.
9) A home delivery system according to claim 1), with a combination lock set in to one side of the anchor with a locking pin attached to the opposing side of the anchor, which can be inserted in to the combination lock and locked shut, by rotating the combination dials in the usual manner.
10) A home delivery system according to claim I), with a combination lock or locks with in the anchor or mounted on the anchor which can be used to lock one or a number of locking cables to the anchor.
11) A secure box according to claim I), that can be locked to a cable attached to the anchor, by means of a latch and cylinder lock mechanism, or a padlock or a combination lock or by any or all of these locking means.
12) A home delivery system according to claim 1), with two or more locking cables attached to the anchor.
13) A home delivery system according to claim 1), which incorporates a number of ancillary locking cables, one end of which has a loop which can be fitted over the free end of a locking cable fixedly attached to the anchor, the other end of which has its own locking plate which can co-operate with the lock chambers on either the anchor or the secure box.
14) A home delivery system according to claim 1), which incorporates one or more ancillary locking cables which have a loop at one end, which can be fitted over the free end of a locking cable which is fixedly attached to the anchor, and a means of locking to a combination lock used as part of the system.
15) A home delivery system according to claim 1), which incorporates one or more ancillary locking cables with a loop at one end, which can be fitted over the free end of a locking cable which is attached to the anchor, and a loop at the other end, which can cooperate with one or more padlocks used in conjunction with the system.
16) A home delivery system according to claim 1), where the anchor base is mainly circular in shape.
17) A home delivery system according to claim 16), which has a recessed inner section.
18) A home delivery system according to claim 1), which is broadly oblong in shape, with a hinge intersecting its top side across its centre.
19) A home delivery system according to claim 16), in which the anchor has an aperture in its bottom section to allow a key to be inserted in to the key hole in the door to which the system is attached.
20) A home delivery system according to claim I), which has movable plates around the central aperture which enable the diameter of the central aperture to be increased or decreased.
21) A home delivery system according to claim 1), which has movable plates on its inner face which enable the thickness/depth of the anchor to be increased or decreased.
22) Packaging for a home delivery system according to claim 1), which has extendable sections that can be securely attached to it to increase the size of the packaging.
23) A home delivery system according to claim 1), where one side of the anchor has a line of teeth along its outer edge, which engage with a locking mechanism in the body of the opposing side, the mechanism of which operates in a similar fashion to the mechanism of a pair of handcuffs.
24) A home delivery system substantially as described herein and with reference to the drawings.