US1215093A

US1215093A - Rural mail-box.

Info

Publication number: US1215093A
Application number: US2399015A
Authority: US
Inventors: Stephen Aldal
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1915-04-26
Filing date: 1915-04-26
Publication date: 1917-02-06
Anticipated expiration: 1934-02-06

Description

S. ALDAL.

RURAL MAIL BOX.

APPLICATION FILED mnzs, 1915.

Patented Feb. 6, 1917.

3 SHEETSSHEET 1- S. ALDAL.

RURAL MAIL BOX.

APPLICATION HLED APR.26, 19l5- 1 l5fl93 Patented Feb. 6, 1917.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2- m v z N 1 s. ALDAL.

RURAL MAIL BOX.

APPLICATION FILED APR. 26. I9I5.

Patented Feb. 6, 1917.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3- WWI Macaw m! mwirs PETERS cownomuwu.wasnmumm n c,

\ STEPHEN ALDAL, OF DONNYBROOK, NORTH DAKOTA.

RURAL MAIL-BOX.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, STEPHEN ALDAL, a citizen of the United States, residing at Donnybrook, in the county of Ward and State of North Dakota, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Rural Mail-Boxes; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to mail boxes, and the primary object of the invention is to provide a mail box for use in rural districts, which include separate compartments for receiving mail matter, such as letters, or the like, and a compartment for receiving parcel post packages.

Another object of this invention is to provide hingedly connected doors for permitting of access to the interior of the separate compartments of the box which are operable synchronously, by a novel form of leverage action and further to provide means for moving the flag for notifying either the mail man or the party receiving the mail, of the existence of mailmatter within the box.

Another object of this invention is to mount a hinged spring controlled platform within the parcel post compartment, which is provided for receiving the parcel post packages thereon, and which has operatively connected thereto a flag, which is moved into an cxhibitive position upon the deposit of a parcel upon the hinged spring controlled platform.

lVith the foregoing and other objects in view this invention consists in such novel features of construction, combination and arrangement of parts as will be hereinafter more fully described, illustrated in the accompanying drawings and claimed.

In describing the invention in detail reference will be had to the accompanying drawings wherein like characters designate like or corresponding parts throughout the several views, and in which Figure 1 is a side elevation of the improved rural mail box,

Fig. 2 is a front view of the improved mail box,

Fig. 3 is a side elevation, showing the doors in an open position,

Fig. 4; is a vertical section through the mail box,

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 8,1911% Application filed April 26, 1915. Serial No. 23,990.

Fig. 5 is a horizontal section. through the mail box on the line 5-5 of Fig. 1,

Fig. 6 is a fragmentary side elevation of the mail box, showing the side opposite to the one illustrated in Figs. 1 and 3, and

'Fig. is a fragmentary vertical section through the letter or mail compartment of the box.

Referring more particularly to the drawings, l designates a mail box structure as an entirety, which has a con'ipartment 2 for receiving parcel post packages, and a compartment 3 for receiving the ordinary mail matter. The compartment 3 is mounted upon the upper side or top of the compart ment '2 and is divided therefrom by a substantially horizontally positioned partition 1-, one portion of which forms a roof for the section of the compartment 2 which projects beyond the side of the compartment 3.

The rear wall 5 of the box has a cover 6 hingedly connected to the upper end thereof, as at 7, which forms a closure for the upper open end of the compartment 3. The cover 6 has its edges bent downwardly, for overlapping the upper edges of the sides of the compartment 3. The rear wall 5 has a plurality of spring tongues 8 secured to the inner surface thereof, which are provided for retaining letters oranalogous mail matter. A trough 9 is also secured to the inner surface of the wall 5 and forms a receptacle for retaining money, which may be placed therein for the purchase of stamps or other analogous purposes.

A door 10 is hingedly connected at 11 to the lower section of the fmrward side of the compartment 2, and the tl'orward side of the compartme'ut 2 has a transversely extending flange 12 formed thereon, which forms a rest for the door when in an opened posit-ion. The lower edge of the front side of the compartment 3, is also bent at right angles and forms the upper end of the front side of y the compartment 2 being bent outwardly and inwardly upon itself, as is shown at lei, forming a flange against which the upper edge of the door 10 rests, when the door is in a closed position.

The door or cover 6 ha. a clip 15 secrued thereto, which has its end 16 projecting beyond the edge of the cover and rounded. The rounded end 16 of the clip 15 has a lever 17 mounted thereon, and held in place by a nut 18. The lever 17 has its lower end pivotally connected as at 19 to a sinuously curved arm 20 of a lever 21. The lever 21 is pivotally connected at 22 to one side of the box 1 and it has its end extending upwardly from the pivotal point 22 forked, for forming the arcuate lever arms 20and 23, which curve upwardly, downwardly, and upwardly, as is clearly shown in Figs. 1 and 3 of the drawings. The free end of the arcuate or curved arm is pivotally connected at 2-1: to a lever 25. The lever '25 is in turn pivotally connected to a clip 2 as is shown at 27 The clip 26 is secured to the door 10 and projects outwardly therefrom. V p

The end of the lever 21 which extends downwardly from the pivotal point 22 is bent outwardly, as is shown at 28, and it has a flat handle 29 mounted thereon which is provided for facilitating the manual rocking of the lever 21. When the angled end 28 of the lever 21 is moved upwardly, it will move 7 the levers 17 and 25, so that they will open the door 10 and the cover 6 and permit access to the interior of the compartments 2 and .3.

The door 10 has a contacting spiral spring 30 connected thereto and to the bottom 31 of the compartment 2 for facilitating the closing of the door 10. r

The bottom 31 of the compartment 2 has a metallic strap 32 secured thereto, which pivotally supports a substantially U-shaped rod 33. The rod 33 has its ends connected to the under surface of a platform 34, which is positioned within the compartment 2 and is provided for receiving parcels. The rear edge of the platform 34 has one end of a contacting spiral spring 35 connected thereto, which spring extends rearwardly and is secured to the rear wall 5. The spring 35 tends to hold the platform 34 in an upward position, against its own weight, so that when a parcel is deposited upon the platform, it will be moved downwardly against the tension of the spring 35.

The rod 33 has one end thereof extended, across the bottom 31 of the compartment 2. The extended end 36 of the rod 33 projects out of the side of the compartment, and is bent uipwardly therefrom, passing through a guiding strap 37, and having a flag 38 mounted upon its upper end. The flag 38 is positioned so that it will have its outer'edge positioned inwardly of the forward edge of the box 1, when the platform 3% is in its normal position. When the platform 34: is depressed or moved downwardly by the placing of a parcel thereon, it will rock the rod 33 and the extension 36 thereof, moving the forward or outer end of the flag 38 outwardlyJoeyond the forward edge of the box 1, as is shown in dotted lines in Fig. 6 of the drawings, for exhibiting a signal which designates the existence of a package within the compartment 2.

The side of the casing or box 1, which has the lever 21 pivoted thereto, has a flag 40 pivotally connected thereto, as is shown at 41. The flag 40 has one corner tlriereof bent transversely to the body of the flag, as is shown at l2. The corner 12 is positioned in the path of the upper edge of the lever 21, so that when the lever 21 is moved for opening the cover 6 and the door 10, it will engage the bent out corner 12 and move the flag 10 upon its pivotal support, so that its is moved into a positionfor having its upperend extending beyond the upper edge of the cover 6. The pin 45 supports and holds the flag in an extended position, until moved to. its normal mounting pivoting position by manual means. The inclined edge of the end of the flag 10 engages the pin 45 and forms means for limiting the downward movement of the flag.

From the foregoing description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings the advantages of construction and of the method of operation of the improved rural mail box will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art to which this invention appertains and, while in the foregoing description, the principle of the operation of this invention has been described together with various features of construction, it is to be understood that certain minor features of construction, combination and arrangement of parts may be altered to suit practical conditions provided such alterations are comprehended within the scope of what is claimed. 7

What is claimed is 1. In a rural mail box structure, a box having two separate compartments, an independent closure for each compartment, a lever pivotally connected to said box body, said lever having one end forked and having the ends thereof bent upwardly, inwardly and then outwardly, arms pivotally connected to said curved ends, the arms having their free ends pivotally connected to said closures, and a handle formed on the free end of said lever, whereby saidclosures can be operated synchronously.

2. In a rural mail box structure, a box having a relatively large compartment and a relatively small compartment positioned upon the top of the relatively large compartment, said relatively small compartment having its upper end open, a hinged cover for forming a closure for said open top of ice