US165205A - Improvement in mail-bags - Google Patents

Description

J. BOYLE GL H. STEPHENS.

Mail-Bag.

NO.\5,205. Patent'ed1u|y6,l875.

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JOHN BOYLE AND HENRY STEPHENS, OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK; SAID STEPHENS ASSIGNOR TO SAID BOYLE.

IMPROVEMENT IN MAIL-BAGS.

Speeication forming part of Letters Patent No. 165,205, dated July 6, 1875 application led June 15,1875. 'i

To all whom it may concern Beit known that we, JOHN BOYLE and HENRY STEPHENS, of Brooklyn, Kin gs county, New York, have invented a new and Improved Mail-Bag, of which the following is a specification: j

This invention has for its object to produce a mail-bag whose contents cannot be picked and withdrawn when the bag is closed, and which shall, moreover, be of economical construction, and possess other advantages, herelnafter more fully referred to.

Our invention consists in supplying the bag with a secondary iiap, attached to the front of the bag, carrying staples for the closing-strap, which turns 'upward over the closing-flap; also, in perforating the upper part of the front of the bag above the .secondary flap and the closinglap, for the passage -through of the staples in the secondary ilap. VThe invention also consists in attaching one'end of the clos- 1ng-strap to said upwardly-closin g flap, and in combining therewith a staple, secured to the flap, for receiving the other end of the said strap, all as hereinafter more fully described.

In the accompanying drawing, Figure l represents a face View of our improved bag, show- 111g it opened. Fig. 2 is a face view of the same, showing it closed. Fig. 3 is a vertical transverse section on the line c c, Fig. l. Fig. 4 is a vertical transverse section on the line K K, Fig. 2 5 and Fig. 5 is a horizontal section on the line of the closing-strap when the bag is closed.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the figures.

The letters A A1 represent the body of the bag, the same being lnade of canvas, leather,

or other material. B is the ordinary lap, being an extension of one side, A1, of the bag over and beyond the mouth thereof. O is a secondary `ap or strip of canvas, leather, or other fabric, stitched or otherwise fastened along its lower edge to the face of the bag at a height which will enable its free upper edge to reach about to the mouth of the bag. If

the bag is flattened the flap B will extend along its back, and the flap C along its face, said Hap being of equal length. The part of the bag indicated by A2 above the secondary ap C has a series of slots or eyelets, N. The closing-flap B likewise has eyelets or slots M, which, when the flap is folded down, lie over those in the bag, andin line with a similar series in the back of the bag, as indicated at N', so that the staples D D D, when the bag is closed, pass through the flap B, the upper part A2 of the bag and the side A1, and project out so thatthe closing-strap can be passed through them. D D are av series of staples, firmly fastened to the inner face of the secondary flap C. When the bag is to be closed the flap Bis trst folded down over the mouth of the bag, and the lip (l is then folded up over the flap B, as shown in Figs. 2 and 4, and in this position the Vstaples D D extend from the lip through slots provided in the flap O, and in the two thicknesses of the body of the flattened bag,

so that said staples project from the back of the bag. E is the closingstrap. It has one end, a, fastened to one end of 'the eXtra lip G, andis, when the bag is closed, drawn around one edge of the bag, and through the staples D` D along the back of the bag, and then around the other edge of the bag until it reaches a staple, F, that projects from the flap B through a slot, b, of the lip (l.` The slot end of the strap E is placed over this staple F, to which thereupon a padlock or other fastening device may be applied.

-It will be observed that when this bag is closed it will be practically impossible to pick it, as the picking-tool would tirst have to be brought down between the lip O and ilap B, then up between said flap and the body of the bag, and, finally, down again into the mouth of the bag. The several bends thus necessitated `prevent thesuccessful use of a pickingtool. This is a great advantage which our bag possesses over those which are made with a simple closing-flap, whence the staples pass through the body of4 the' bag, as there a silnple hook-shaped tool will serve to successfully pick the bag of its contents. tage is, that we use a less number of staples than are required in a bag of the ordinary coustruction, since we obtain perfect security without bringing the staples quite closeA together.

Another advan- In addition to this the staple F preventsthe bag fromv being closed other than the, proper Way, either by accident or design.

In our bag, when opened, the staples D D `vention, because thereby it is impossible that the bag be accidentallyleft open after the strap E has been applied. If the staple F were, for

y example, applied. to the lip C, the strap could be equally well applied, even if the flap B had not been properly folded over the mouth of the bag; but, being on the lap B, the staple F insures the proper closing of 4said flap before the lip C is turned up.

We claim as our invention- The combination of the flap B, formed by an extension of lthe side A1, and having the staples F and slots M, the upper portion of the front of the body of the bag A2, having` the slots N, and the back, having the slots N', the ap C, having staples D D D and a, and the closing-strap E, all constructed substantially as and for the purpose speciiied.

The foregoing description of our invention signed by us this 14th day of June, 187 5.

JOHN BOYLE. HENRY STEPHENS. Witnesses:

ERNEST C. WEBB, A. MORAGA.

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