US2797860A

US2797860A - Mail box door setting signal

Info

Publication number: US2797860A
Application number: US341482A
Authority: US
Inventors: Fred W Foster
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1953-03-10
Filing date: 1953-03-10
Publication date: 1957-07-02
Anticipated expiration: 1974-07-02

Description

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July 2, 1957 F. W. FOSTER MAIL BOX DOOR SETTING SIGNAL Filed March l0, 1953 2 Sheets-Sheet l July 2, 1957 F. w. FOSTER 2,797,860

MAIL BOX DOOR SETTING SIGNAL Filed March l0, 1953 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 26./ I3 y. IZ [D EVZO Z9 28 ZIT/VENTO@ FEDVV. ESTE/ .E Ywmu., moe/VFY United States Patent MAIL BOX DOOR SETTING SIGNAL Fred-W. Foster, Indianapolis, Ind. Applicah'on March 10, 1953, Serial No. 341,482

1 Claim. (Cl. 23235) This invention relates to a signaling devicefor attachmeut to `a rural mailbox, whichsignal is operated .automatically by opening of the end door of the box, so that a llag or other device is raised to indicate that there is either mail in the box or that mail has been removed from the box. This signal is entirely apart from the ordinary signal which is utilized to indicate to the mail carrier that there isV mail in the box requiring his attention.

One of the primary objects of the invention is to provide an automatic signal which may be attached to the box without having to drill any holes or provide any special construction of the box itself to support the signal thereon. A further primary object of the invention is to provide a signaling device which may indicate to the personhaving the box that either the mail carrier has been along and taken the mail out of the box or that he has stopped to put mail in the box.

In many cases, in rural districts, the house of the owner of the box is at quite a distance from the box itself, and particularly in had weather, it is a great convenience to know whether or not there is any mail in the box to be picked up by the owner, or whether the mail carrier has been past and picked up mail which the owner hasleft in the box. That is, the owner is advised by observing the condition of the signal on the box whether or not the mail carrier has been `along to pick up mail, or whether the mail carrier has left mail in the box. This signaling device is therefore of great benefit in that it gives the owner of the box positive indication whether or not it is in order for him to make a trip to the box to pick mail which has been deposited therein.

These and many other objects and advantages of the invention, including the unique combination of the various elements as set forth in the appended claim, will be better understood by those versed in the art in the following description of one particular form of the invention as is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which Fig. l is a view in side elevation of a structure embodying the invention;

Fig. 2 is a detail on a greatly enlarged scale onthe line 2--2 in Fig. l; and

Fig. 3 is a view in end elevation of the box to which the invention has been applied and in which view the signal has been operated from that position shown in full lines in Fig. l to the position shown in dash lines.

The invention is shown as applied to a conventional mail box of the style and shape well known to those versed in the art, which box has an end door 11 normally opened by a spring latch member 12 at the upper end portion thereof engaging under a spring 13. This box 10 is of the type which has been approved by the Postmaster General.

It is an all metal box, and one of its peculiarities is, as is indicated in Fig. 2, that it has a floor 14 from which extends downwardly at substantially right angles thereto a flange 15 to lie along the lower edge portion of the side wall 16, 4rivets 17, Fig. 1, being passed through the ange Patented July 2, 1957 ICC 15 and the lower end portion 16 to hold the oor 14 in position at an elevation above the lower edge of the side wall 16.

A signal mounting plate 18 is formed to have at least two spaced apart

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19 and 20 bent around from the lower under edge 21 of the plate 18 to t against the inside of the oor ange 15 with the plate 18 bearing frictionally against the lower end portion of the wall 16. That is, the plate 18 is engaged over the lower edge of the side wall 16 by means of the

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19 and 20 being vcarried upwardly over the flange 15 with the plate 18 being carried upwardly over the lower edge of the wall 16, all as indicated in Fig. 2. The plate 18 is fixed in position along the lower portion of the wall 16 in the engagement Vjust described by any suitable means, herein shown as by two set screws 22 and 23 screw-threadedly passing through the plate 18 to bear against the wall 16, Fig. 2.

On the rear end of the plate 18 in reference to the front of the box 10 over which the door 11 lits, there is pivotally mounted a signal arm 24 :conned to 'a swinging action parallel to the side wall 16. The arm 24 is, in the presentshowing, secured to the plate 18 by means 0f a rivet 25. On the outer free end of the arm 24, there is somel sort of a signal indication, herein shown as a plate 26 in the nature of a ag, which may be given any particular decoration desired, yellow being one color suggested so it would be distinguished from the usual flag 27a, Fig. 3, which is normally colored red to attract the attention of the mail carrier when it is in an up position, all as is well known to those versed in the art. Incidentally, in Fig. 3, the structure which forms the present invention is located on the side of the box 10 opposite to lthat side on which the ag 27a is mounted.

The arm 24 and the height of the plate 26 are made to be sufch that when the arm 24 is swung from a normally lower position as indicated by the solid lines in Fig. l to the upright or dash line position, the plate 26 there is a bracket 28 formed by carrying the plate 18 downwardly and thence outwardly at substantially right angles. From the outer forward edge portion of the bracket 28, there is turned upwardly a leg 29. A link 30 is pivoted by one end by any suitable means such as by a rivet 31 to this leg 29, the rivet 31 having its axis somewhat below the axis of the rivet 25 at the other end of the plate 18.

A connecting -rod 32 has its forward end pivotally connected to the other end of the link 30 by any suitable means, to be described later, and the other end of the connecting rod 32, that is the rear end, is pivotally connected by means of the rivet 33 to the arrn 24 at a distance spaced along the arm 24 from the rivet 25. That is, the rivet 33 is carried by the arm 24 intermediate the plate 26 and the rivet 25, being nearer to the rivet 25 than it is the plate 26.

A finger 34 has an enlargement 35 near one end to abut the face of the arm 32 removed from the link 30, and from this enlargement 35 the finger 34 extends through the arm 32 and through the link 30 to have a head 36 riveted over so as to rockably interengage the link 30 with the arm 32.

This nger 34 preferably has a member 37 on its outer free end to be in the path of the door 11 of the box 10 when that door is opened. This member 37 may take any number of a variety of forms such as simply a rubber button, or even a roller, so long as it is in the path of the door 11, Of course the member`37 may beomitted if it is'desired that the finger 34 itself ride on the ange 38 of the door.

An important feature of the connecting rod 32 is that .Y it hasaforward portion 39 which extends angularlydownr Wassily :is referente. 1Q the longitudinal axis `Oftherrlaior length of the connecting rod 32 as it extends forwardly from the rivet 33. The length of this downwardly turned portion 39 is made to be such that when the arm `24 is i rocked to its vertical position, as indicated by thedash lines in Fig. 1, the major straight length of the connecting rod 32 will extend from that arm 24 to the forward the center of the rivet 371. The connecting link 30 will in this position be parallel to the portion 39. By reason of thevweight of the connecting rod 32, the link 30, and

the linger 34, the signal arm 24 will be maintained in its upright position and held there against any wind pressure or vibration due to wind so that the Signal plate 26 will remain visible until it is reset by lifting up on the finger 34v so as to lift the connected members and permit them to swing around to bring the arm 24 back into its lowered position.

The operation of the invention is this-normally the structure rests in the position wherein the weight of the arm 24 and the plate 26 carries the connecting rod 32 rearwardly to have the finger 34 against the door 11 when in its closed position. In this position, the display or signal plate 26 does not appear above the top of the box 10, and therefore the absence of any signal appearing above the box would indicate one of two things, either that mail placed in the box has not as yet been picked up by the carrier, or that the carrier has `gone on past without either picking up mail or leaving mail. It is to beV remembered that the owner of the box, in case he places mail in the box, will have raised the red liag 27a on the opposite side of the box to signal to the carrier to stop for mail thus deposited. Thus when the plate 26 does not appear above the box top, but the ag 27a does, the condition thus indicated is that the mail carrier has not as yet been along. Then when the mail carrier does come along, either to pick up the mail in the box or put mail in the box, he will pull the door 11 open and drop it downwardly, the door being hinged on the Aaxis of the rivet 40,'Fig. l, in the usual manner, and in so doing, the door 11 will push against the finger 34 or any abutting member 37 thereon, so that as the door is opened, that nger 34 on the axis of the head 36 will be pulled around on the arc 41 as indicated in dash lines in Fig. 1, and this travel ofthe finger 34 will rock the connecting link 30 and also pull the connecting rod 32 forwardly and carry the front end 39 downwardly to bring the arm 24 with signal plate 26 to its upright position and to have further down travel of the door arrested by reason of the rod 32 striking and resting on the forward edge of the bracket 28. The signal 26 will thus remain in that position until the owner comes toA the box and resets the signal by dropping it back to its normal inoperative or non-signaling position.

` Therefore, it is to be seen that I have provided a structure which may be readily attached to the standard mail box without any change whatsoever in the actual structure of the box, without drilling holes therethrough, and without any obstructions placed in the path of the hand of the mail carrier when he operates the door 11. The structure may be readily applied to any mail box of the standard type simply by mounting the plate 18 thereon and tightening the screws 22 and 23. The structure is of value because of its extreme simplicity and ease of attachment to the box, as well as for its actual result in providing the signal.

While I have herein shown and described my invention in the one particular form as now best known to me, it is obvious that structural changes may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention, and I therefore do not desire to be limited to that precise form beyond the limitations which may be imposed by the following claim.

I claim:

For a mail box having a depending ange along a side therof, and an end door hinged at its bottom end across the box, a signal device erected by opening travel of the door comprising a mounting member engaging |about said flange and adjustably secured along said side;'a signal arm pivoted by one end on a rear end portion of said member; a signal member on the other end of the arm;

, a link of lesser length than that of said signal arm pivoted pivot at said mounting member; a finger carried by said link extending into the path of said door in downwardly swinging travel thereof; said -connecting rod having a major straight length extending from said signal arm, from which length a minor length approximately equal to the length of said link extends at an obtuse angle therefrom; the spacing apart of the pivot connections of Vsaid arm and said link on said mounting member, the

f location of the connecting rod pivot along said arm, the

length of said link, and the overall length of said rod bringing the signal arm from near a horizontal position to an upright position upon opening and swinging of said Ydoor downwardly against said finger; and an abutment v limiting travel of the arm to said upright position; said carried by said mounting member in the path of said rod connecting rod being disposed in said arm position to position said finger below the pivot connections of said arm and said link with said mounting member and support the door in its opened position.

References Cited in the tile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,543,072 Fenner June 23, 1925 1,927,736 Davis Sept. 19, 1933 1,949,578 Ott Mar. 6, 1934 2,092,561 Sandifur Sept. 7, 1937 2,636,669 Mossman Apr. 28, 1953