US1190634A - Automatic safety-deposit box. - Google Patents

Description

T. CROSSLEY'.

AUTOMATIC SAFETY DEPOSIT BOX.

APPLICATION. EILED MN 27, I916.

Patented July 11, 1916.

a)?" .l. 14 1d THEODORE CEUSSLIIEY, OF RIVERSIDE, CALIFORNIA.

AUTOMATIC SAFETY-DEPOSIT BOX.

maataa.

To all whom it may concern."

Be it known that I, THEODORE CBOSSLEY, a citizen of the United States, residing at Riverside, in the county of Riverside and State of California, have invented new and useful Improvements in Automatic Safety- Deposit Boxes, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to an automatic safety deposit box for bread and the like, adapted to be secured to the front of the house at any suitable place, and which while allowing the goods such as bread, milk, meat and the like to be deposited therein, will prevent any unauthorized removal of the goods deposited in said box.

In many communities milk, bread, meat and a few other articles are delivered at the front door, by placing the same on the porch. Not infrequently the articles so deposited are stolen or otherwise interfered with by unauthorized persons.

It is an object of this invention to devise a safety deposit box provided with a simple yet efficient mechanism .for automatically locking the box when the article is deposited therein. The safety box is preferably made of two or more compartments, each compartment being independent of the other. The weight of the article deposited will operate a locking mechanism, whereby the two downwardly opening hinged doors at the top of the safety deposit box are locked until a locked side door of the box is opened and the article is removed. lhe removal of the article will automatically unlock the locking device so that the safety deposit box is again ready for the delivery of foods, of the character described.

Another object of this invention is to construct a safety deposit box which is simple of construction, positive in operation and inexpensive of manufacture. I

With the foregoing and other objects in view which will appear as the description Specification of Letters Patent. Patngntngdl July JUL, 1916, flpplicatio'n filed January 27, 1918. Serial No. 74,674. I

eral walls 12, a bottom wall 13 and a top wall 14. The front of said box is provided with a cover 15 hinged at the lower edge. A padlock 16 at the upper end in front of said box is provided, whereby the front door 15 maybe locked. The rear wall 11 is provided with screw holes 101 for the reception of screws, whereby saidbox may be secured to the house at any suitable place.

The box is divided into two equal vertical compartments 17 and 18 by means of a vertical division wall-19. It will be understood that more compartments may be provided, or the box may consist of a single compartment. Each of said com artments is independent of the other. Re erring to compartment 17, a tubular member 20 open at the top is centrally secured to the bottom thereof. A helical spring 21 is disposed in said tubular member 20 and has its upper end projecting vertically upward for a suitable distance out of the upper end of the tubular member. The upper end of the spring 21 engages the under side of a horizontal shelf or tray 22. A tubular ide member 23 secured to the under side 0 said tray 22 surrounds the upper end of the tubular member 20 and'is in slidable engagement therewith. A pair of lugs 24 are secured to the under side of the shelf 22 on opposite sides of the helical spring 21. As

clearly shown in Fig. 5, each lug 24 is provided with a pair of parallel longitudinal bores 25 adapted .to receive the lower end of a lock operating lever 26 of the bell crank type. The lever is made of steel Wire bent upon itself to form two parallel members 27 and 28. The free ends of said members are passed through the bores 25 of the lug 24 so that the closed end of said members will lie close to the inner end of said lug 24. The members 27, 28 are bent upon themselves to form a .pair of eyes 29 through which a horizontal pivot pin 30 is passed, said pivot pin being securely attached to the adjacent wall. The members 27, 28 extend vertically upward in parallel relation to the adjacent side wall of the compartment and pass through an ear 31- the downward movement of said shelf.

secured to the upper end of the adjacent wall, the function of said ear being to limit the inner swinging movement of said members. The extreme upper ends of the members 27 and 28 are inserted in bores 32 of corresponding size in the locking member 33. The latter consists of a downwardly tapered block of metal provided with a flat upper face. I prefer to solder the upper ends of the members 27, 28 to the locking member 33. This form of attachment admits of very accurate adjustment of the distance between the locking member 33 and the top wall of the compartment. The portion of the wall 14 over the compartment 17 is provided with an opening 14, closed from the under side by a double door comprising two door sections 34 and 35 having overlapping edges 36. The door sections 34 and 35 are provided with spring hinges 102 allowing said doors to be opened downwardly into the compartment, the door opening 14 being smaller in dimension than the two door sections 34 and 35. I prefer to construct the shelf 22 of a resilient metal plate though a rigid plate may be substituted therefor. The sides of said shelf adjacent the locking lever are cut away as at 37 to allow the shelf 22 to be vertically reciprocated for a slight distance.

The operation of the safety deposit box is as follows: Assuming that the front door 15 is in place and locked by means of padlock 16, and the compartments are empty, then the movable shelf 22 will occupy the position shown in the compartment 17 of Fig. 1. The action of the .helical spring 21 holding said shelf in its normal inoperative position, the lock operating levers 26 occupying the position shown, that is the vertical arms'will be parallel to the adjacent side walls of the compartment and the locking members 33 will be out of vertical alinement with the "top door of the compartment. In this position the door sections 34 and 35 will be free to move downwardly on their hinges 102. The article to be depos ited,such as a milk bottle 38 shown in the compartment 18 may be inserted by merely pushing the bottom thereof against the folding door sections 34 and '35. The spring hinges will close the door sections as soon as the bottle passes through the doors. As the milk bottle engages the shelf 22, the latter will be moved downwardly a short distance against the tension of the helical spring 21 by the weight of the bottle. The upper end of the tubular holder 20 lil rli ilts e bell crank levers 26 will'be swung on their pivots 30 causing the long vertical arms of said levers to move inwardly, the inward movement being limited by the stop cars 31. The position of the locking members 33 will be as shown in the compartment 18 of Fig.

1. It will be noted that the inner part of the top of said locking members will be immediately beneath the overlapping edges of the door sections 34 and 35, as clearly shown in Figs. 3 and 4. The two locking members are at opposite ends of the overlapping edges of the door sections, thus securely and firmly holding the doors in their locked position. It is impossible to have access to the interior of the compartment, except by unlocking the front door. After the removal of the bottle, the helical spring 21 will automatically restore the movable shelf 22 to its upper normal and inoperative position, hence causing the locking members 33 to swing into their normal inoperative position shown in compartment 17, Fig. 1, allowing the door sections 34 and 35 to be opened downwardly.

It is thus seen that I have constructed a very simple, yet efficient safety deposit box for the reception of milk, bread, meat and the like, in which the article may be deposited by a simple downward pressure against the doors at the top of said box, and just as soon as the article is deposited,

the safety deposit box will become automatically locked, preventing any unauthorized removal or meddling with such article.

While I have shown the preferred construction of the safety deposit box as now known to me, it will be understood that various changes in the construction, combination and arrangement of parts may be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit of my invention as defined in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. An automatic safety deposit box comprising a box, a side door therefor, means for locking said door, a tubular spring holder centrally secured on the bottom of said box, a vertically movable horizontal shelf, a tubular guidesecured to the bottom of said shelf andslidably mounted on said spring holder, a coiled spring in said holder upwardly projecting therefrom, the upper end thereof engaging the bottom of said shelf, a pair of bell crank levers having their short arms secured at opposite sides to the bottom of said shelf and their long arms extending vertically upward adjacent to theside walls of said box, said levers being fulcrumed to the side of said box, a pair of cars limiting the inner swinging movement of said vertical arms, a pair of locking members attached to the upper ends of the ver- 2. An automatic safety deposit box comprising a box adapted to be secured to the wall of a building, a side door for said box, means for locking said door, a vertically movable horizontal shelf within said box, a coiled spring secured substantially at the center of the bottom of said box, and engaging with its upper end the under side of the bottom of said shelf, a pair of bell crank levers having their short arms secured at opposite sides to the bottom of said shelf and their long arms extending vertically upward adjacent to the side walls of said box, said levers being fulcrumed to the sides of said box, a pair of locking members attached to the upper ends of the vertical arms of said levers and a pair of folding doors provided with spring hinges and opening downwardly from the top of said box, the meeting edges of said doors being in a vertical plane passing through said locking members, said locking members being adapted to swing into locking position underneath the meeting edges of said doors, whpreby the latter are locked in closed positlon when an article is deposited on said shelf.

3. An automatic safety deposit box comprising a container, a door therefor, means for locking said door, a vertically movable horizontal shelf in the lower end of said container, a spring engaging the'under side of said shelf, and tending to move said shelf upwardly to its normal inoperative position, a pair of bell crank levers having their short arms secured at opposite sides to said shelf and their long arms extending vertically upward, a pair of locking members attached to the upper ends of the long arms of said levers, and a pair of folding doors provided with spring hinges opening downwardly from the top of said container, the meeting edges of said doors being iu'a' vertical plane passing through said locking members, said locking members being adapted to swing into locking position underneath the meeting edges of said doors whereby said per ends of the long arms of said levers and a pair of folding doors provided with spring hinges opening downwardly from the top of said box, the meeting edges of said doors being in a vertical plane passing through said locking members, said locking members being adapted to swing into locking position underneath the meeting edges of said doors, whereby said doors are locked in closed position when an article is deposited on said shelf.

5. An automatic safety deposit box comprising a container, a door therefor, means for locking said door, a vertically movable shelf in said container, yielding means engaging the under side of said shelf and tending to move said shelf to its normal inoperative position, a pair of locking members operatively connected to said shelf, a pair of folding doors provided with spring hinges opening downwardly from the top of said container, the meeting edges of said doors being in a vertical plane passing through said locking members, said locking members being adapted to swing into locking position underneath the meeting edges of said doors, whereby said doors are locked in closed position when an article is deposited on said shelf.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification.

THEODORE CROSSLEY.

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