US3568876A

US3568876A - Cover-carrier for mail trays and the like

Info

Publication number: US3568876A
Application number: US783354A
Authority: US
Inventors: Gene D Danenberger; Glenn G Vancil
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1968-12-12
Filing date: 1968-12-12
Publication date: 1971-03-09
Anticipated expiration: 1988-03-09

Abstract

A cover-carrier for objects, such as stacked trays of mail which are to be maintained in order, transported and protected, features hooks which are magnetically latched in either suspended or retracted positions. On opposite walls of the inverted boxlike cover-carrier, hanging on horizontal pins, are the elongated loop ends of the hooks which when turned downward pass through apertures. Magnets between the pins and the apertures holds the hooks inwardly against the wall of the cover-carrier, to engage beneath the lip of the lowermost object. When the hooks are rotated outwardly, their loop ends slip downward in a retracted position, where they are held by the same magnets.

Description

United States Patent [72] Inventors Gene D. Danenberger R.R. 2, Box 83AA, Chandler-ville, 62627; Glenn G. Vancil, Rte. 1,, Pawnee, II]. 62558 [21] Appl. No. 783,354 [22] Filed Dec. 12, 1968 [45 Patented Mar. 9, 1971 [54] COVER-CARRIER FOR MAIL TRAYS AND THE LIKE 7 Claims, 1 Drawing Fig. [52] US. Cl. 220/55, 294/31 [51] Int. Cl B65d 45/00 [50] Field ofSearch 220/55, 55

(G), 55 (H), 55 (K), 55 (M), 55 (J), 4; 294/(Misc.), 26.5, 27, 28, 31, 672 (C), 67.4 (B), 86, 86.29, 86.33, 88,90, 97, 113, 114, (GE), 82; 312/284, 42, 72; 292/1 14 [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,858,179 10/1958 Puemer et a1. 312/284X 3,088,619 5/1963 Boucher 220/4X 3,104,903 9/1963 Futch et a1 220/55(K)X 3,201,077 8/1965 Heimann 294/85X 3,279,639 10/1966 Fahringer.... 220/4 3,360,644 12/1967 Lillebostad 220/55 FOREIGN PATENTS 1,452,299 9/ 1966 France 220/55(g) 1,157,013 1/1962 Germany.. 220/55(MAG) Primary Examiner-Evon C. Blunk Assistant ExaminerW. Scott Carson AttorneyJerome A. Gross ABSTRACT: A cover-carrier for objects, such as stacked trays of mail which are to be maintained in order, transported and protected, features hooks which are magnetically latched in either suspended or retracted positions. On opposite walls' of the inverted boxlike cover-carrier, hanging on horizontal pins, are the elongated loop ends of the hooks which when turned downward pass through apertures. Magnets between the pins and the apertures holds the hooks inwardly against the wall of the cover-carrier, to engage beneath the lip of the lowermost object. When the hooks are rotated outwardly, their loop ends slip downward in a retracted position, where they are held by the same magnets.

Bisss'me PATENTED MAR 9 |97l GENE D. DANEMBEQGEF? GLENN VAM C/ 51 w r t Coven-chart non MAIL TRAYS AND THE Laos BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Certain objects must be maintained in order and protected while being moved over even short distances, for example,

trays of outgoing mail arranged by postal districts, to be SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Summarizing generally and without limitation, the present invention provides a protective cover-carrier especially well suited for stacked flanged objects such as mail trays. The carrier is essentially an inverted box having a pair of opposed vertical walls which terminate in a lower edge plane. A support pin is mounted horizontally on the outer side of each of these walls, parallel to it. On each pin is a rigid suspending hook, having a sliding loop end which hingedly engages the pin; as well as a hook end. The loop end has two elongated opposed sides, so that the hook may either hang downwardly in a suspended position or alternately be moved angularly and lifted more than 90, so that the loop end will slide relative to the pin and drop into a retracted position.

The book end is turned inwardly of the wall when in such suspended position. An aperture through the wall, beneath the support pin, permits entry of the hook end inwardly of the wall, so that it may extend beneath the lip edge of a flange on the lowermost mail tray or other object to be supported. The hook end so slopes upwardly and inwardly, when in this position, that when the cover-carrier is lifted, the downward lip of the edge flange of the lowermost tray tends to hold the hook against the outer wall of the cover-carrier.

For greater assurance of alignment and security in carrying, however, detent means are provided on the outer walls between the hook apertures and the support pins. The preferred detent is a magnet which magnet which, when the hook end is in suspended position, grasps one of the elongated sides of the loop end of the hook. When the hookis rotated outwardly and upwardly and its loop and slides over the pin to the retracted position, the same magnet grasps and detains the other elongated side of the loop end.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. I is a perspective view, partly from above, showing the features of the present invention as seen at one end of the cover-carrier. The opposite end is identical. The hook is shown retracted.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged elevational view of the cover-carrier end shown in FIG. I. The hook is shown lowered.

FIG. 3 is a further enlarged, fragmentary sectional view taken along line 3-3 of FIG. 2. An end portion of a mail tray is shown in solid lines; the phantom lines show its relative position when the cover-carrier is lifted. The retracted position of the hook is also shown in phantom lines.

DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENT A cover-carrier embodying the present invention is shown in FIG. 1, with its hook in retracted position. A rigid inverted or open bottomed box, generally designated 10, may be fabricated of any fairly strong rigid sheet material, reinforced as hereinafter described. It has a top 11, longer sidewalls l2, and opposed vertical end walls 13. The sidewalls 12 and end walls 13 terminate in a lower edge plane 14, which may have a reinforcing flange 19 and reinforced corners 15. Riveted onto each of the end walls 13 is a sheet metal reinforcing plate 16, with a hinged carrying handle 17.

On a bracket 18, projecting from each of the reinforcing plates 16 below the handle 17, is mounted a support pin 20 which extends horizontally on the outer side of the wall 13 and parallel to its surface. The pin 20, as mounted by the bracket 18, serves as means to support the sliding loop end 22 of a swingable suspension hook designated 24, whose opposite end is referred to as the hook end 25. The hook 24 is preferably formed of rigid steel or other material of a type attractable by a magnet.

As will be apparent from FIG. 3, the pin 20, as it supports the suspending or loop end 22 of the hook means 24, in effect hinges the end 22 and permits it to swing angularly in a plane perpendicular to the end wall 13. The loop shape of the suspending end 22 includes two substantially parallel

elongated sides

27, 28, and the latter being the outer side of the loop when the hook 24 is in suspended position shown in FIG. 3. In the elongated side 28, a notch 29, best shown in FIG. 2, is

cut adjacent to a bore 30 through one flange of the bracket 18.

Together they receive a padlock, not shown, when the hook 24 is in suspended position. One or more rivets 31 prevent spreading of the

sides

27,28.

The hook end 25 is preferably not curved'but angularly bent at an angle greater than so that in the suspended position shown in FIG. 3, it slopes upward.

Through each of the end walls 13, located spacedly beneath the support pin 18 which establishes the point of suspension of the hook 24 and spacedly above the lower edge plane 14, is an aperture '34 of such length and width sufficient to permit the entry of the hook end 25 when suspended downward as shown in FIG. 3. Thus, the spacing of the aperture 34 below the support pin 18 corresponds generally to the length of the book 24. Between the point of suspension so established and the aperture 34 is located means to detain the hook 24 in its suspended position. The preferred means to detain is magnetic. In the apparatus illustrated a flat permanent magnet 35 is mounted as shown, so that when the hook 24 is in suspended position it attracts, grasps and detains the elongated side 27 of the loop end 22. When the hook 24 is so detained firmly against the end wall 13, the hook end 25 is so positioned as to project as far as possible inwardly of the wall 13.

The purpose of the loop end 22 is to permit retraction of the hook 24; thus when a cover carrier is not is use, both hooks 24 will be in the retracted position as shown in FIG. 1 and in phantom lines in FIG. 3. As each hook 24 is forced out of engagement with magnet 35 which detains it and swung and raised angularly through an angle greater than 90, its loop end 22 commences to slide relative to the pin 20, and its elongated side. 28 moves downward adjacent to the forward wall 13, until a portion of it comes into contact with the magnet 35 when in the fully retracted position shown in the phantom lines of FIG. 3. The hook 24 is then detained firmly by the magnet 35 so that there is no tendency for it to fall forward regardless how loosely the loop end 22 may be formed, nor will it rattle in handling. To achieve this purpose the magnetic detent 35 is spaced below the pin 20 less than the length of the elongate

elongated loop sides

27, 28.

An object suitable for carrying by the cover carrier is a mail tray generally designated 40, shown fragmentarily in FIG. 3. Such tray has a supporting bottom 41 to rest on a table which, when the cover-carrier is in place, also supports it along the lower edge plane 14. The mail tray 4'0 has sides 42 and ends 43; these terminate in opposed edge flanges 44, by which the tray 41) may be carried. The spacing of the flanges 44 from each other is slightly less than the spacing of the inner sides of the end walls 13 of the cover carrier. Each of the edge flanges 44 terminates in a downward projecting lip portion 45, which establishes a spacing for the flanges above the plane 14 on which the tray bottom 41 may rest, which spacing is slightly more than the height of the hook end 25 above the plane 14 when in the suspended position shown in FIG. 3.

In use, a tray 40 is placed on a table or other supporting surface; and similar trays, not shown, may be stacked thereon, to a height which equalsthe inside height of the box 10. The carrier cover, with its hooks 24 in retracted position as shown in FIG. 1, is then placed over the trays so stacked. The hooks 24 are lifted to disengage them from the magnets 35 and draw their loop ends 22 against the pins 20, after which the hooks 24! are permitted to swing angularly downward. Their ends 25 enter through the apertures 34, being there retained, by the magnets 35, in position beneath the lip portions 45 of the tray flanges 44, as shown in MG. 3.

The cover-carrier is then lifted by its handles 17. Lifting it slightly causes the hook ends 25 to engage the lip portions 45 beneath the flanges 44 of the tray 40. The weight of the tray 40, together with that of other trays stacked thereon and the contents thereof, will press downwardly against the upward slope of the hook ends 24. This downward pressure against the sloping ends 2 is in effect a camming engagement, which tends to draw and hold the hooks 24 inwardly firmly against the outer side of the walls 13. When so lifted and carried, the lowermost tray bottom 41 extends downward slightly below the lower edge plane 14; yet the trays are adequately protected by the cover-carrier.

When the cover-carrier is set down, the tray bottom 41 is raised to the lower edge plane 14, releasing the engagement of its projecting lip portions 45 with the hook ends 25. If padlocks have been used, they are removed. The hooks 24 are then drawn away from the detaining magnets 35, turned angularly upward, and permitted to drop to the retracted position shown in FIG. 1. The cover-carrier is then lifted off the stack of trays 4%.

We claim:

1. Cover apparatus engageable onto an object and disengageable therefrom, comprising:

a cover having a flat sidewall;

a support pin mounted in horizontally on the outer side of and parallel to the wall;

rigid suspending hook means including:

a hook end turned perpendicular to the support pin and inwardly when the hook means in is in downward suspended position;

a sliding loop end hingedly engaged on the pin, the loop end having two elongated flat parallel sides;

whereby when the hook means hangs downwardly from the pin, one of said sides is between the pin and the wall, and when raised upwardly, the other of said sides is between the pin and the wall, thereby permitting the hook slide relative to the pin into a retracted position with the hook end upward of the pin; and

the wall having an aperture below the support pin a distance corresponding to the length of the suspending hook means.

2. Cover apparatus as defined in claim 1 together with magnetic detent means, engageable between the wall and alternately with either of said flat sides of the loop end, to detain the hook means in either its downward suspended position or its retracted position.

3. A cover-carrier for an object to be protected, comprisingz open-bottomed means having a wall terminating in a lower edge plane;

swingable suspension hook means having a suspending end and a hook end;

means on the outer side of the wall to support the suspending end of the hook means at a point of suspension, and to permit angular swinging movement thereof perpendicular to the wall;

aperture means through the wall, spacedly beneath the point of suspension and above the lower edge plane, to permit the entry of the hook end of the hook means when suspended downward from the suspending end; and means, positioned on the outer side of the wall between said means to support and said aperture means. to engage and detain the hook means, in such suspended position, firmly against the wall,' the suspending end of the suspension hook means includes a sliding loop having two elongated opposite sides, one of said sides being presented against said means to engage and detain when the hook means is suspended from its suspending ends, the other srde being presented there against upon raising the hook above said point of suspension and permitting its sliding loop to slide downward into contact therewith.

4. A cover-carrier for objects to be protected, comprising:

an inverted box having a pair of opposed vertical walls, terminating in a lower edge plane;

a support pin mounted horizontally on the outer side of and parallel to each of the walls;

rigid suspending hook means including a sliding loop end hingedly engaged on the pin, the loop end having two elongated opposed sides;

whereby the hook means may hang downwardly from the pin in a suspended position, and may alternately be lifted and move angularly more than until the loop end slides relative to the pin into a retracted position;

the suspending hook means further including a hook end turned inwardly of the wall when the hook means is in such suspended position;

an aperture through the wall beneath the support pin, whereby to permit entry of the hook end inwardly of the wall; and

means, mounted on the wall between the aperture and the support pin, to detain the hook means in either suspended or retracted position.

5. A cover-carrier as defined in claim 4, wherein:

the means to detain is spaced below the pin a distance less than the length of the elongated sides of the loop end;

whereby to detain one of said elongated sides when in retracted position.

6. The combinations of a cover-carrier as defined in claim 4,

with an object to be covered and carried thereby;

the object having a bottom support, whereby it may rest at said lower edge plane, and having opposed edge flanges by which the object may be carried and whose spacing from each other is slightly less than the spacing of the cover-carrier box walls having said apertures; and

the edge flanges being spaced above said lower edge plane slightly more than the height of the hook ends thereabove when the hook means are detained in suspended position;

whereby lifting the cover-carrier slightly causes the hook ends to engage beneath the flanges of the object.

7. The combination defined in claim 6, wherein:

the edge flanges of the object include downward projecting lip portions; and

wherein the hook ends slip upward when in suspended position;

whereby on lifting the cover-carrier, the downward projecting lip portions of the edge flanges so press downwardly against the upward slope of the book ends as to tend to draw the hook means inwardly against the outer sides of the walls of the cover-carrier.

Claims

1. Cover apparatus engageable onto an object and disengageable therefrom, comprising: a cover having a flat sidewall; a support pin mounted in horizontally on the outer side of and parallel to the wall; rigid suspending hook means including: a hook end turned perpendicular to the support pin and inwardly when the hook means in is in downward suspended position; a sliding loop end hingedly engaged on the pin, the loop end having two elongated flat parallel sides; whereby when the hook means hangs downwardly from the pin, one of said sides is between the pin and the wall, and when raised upwardly, the other of said sides is between the pin and the wall, tHereby permitting the hook slide relative to the pin into a retracted position with the hook end upward of the pin; and the wall having an aperture below the support pin a distance corresponding to the length of the suspending hook means.

3. A cover-carrier for an object to be protected, comprising: open-bottomed means having a wall terminating in a lower edge plane; swingable suspension hook means having a suspending end and a hook end; means on the outer side of the wall to support the suspending end of the hook means at a point of suspension, and to permit angular swinging movement thereof perpendicular to the wall; aperture means through the wall, spacedly beneath the point of suspension and above the lower edge plane, to permit the entry of the hook end of the hook means when suspended downward from the suspending end; and means, positioned on the outer side of the wall between said means to support and said aperture means, to engage and detain the hook means, in such suspended position, firmly against the wall, the suspending end of the suspension hook means includes a sliding loop having two elongated opposite sides, one of said sides being presented against said means to engage and detain when the hook means is suspended from its suspending ends, the other side being presented there against upon raising the hook above said point of suspension and permitting its sliding loop to slide downward into contact therewith.

4. A cover-carrier for objects to be protected, comprising: an inverted box having a pair of opposed vertical walls, terminating in a lower edge plane; a support pin mounted horizontally on the outer side of and parallel to each of the walls; rigid suspending hook means including a sliding loop end hingedly engaged on the pin, the loop end having two elongated opposed sides; whereby the hook means may hang downwardly from the pin in a suspended position, and may alternately be lifted and move angularly more than 90* until the loop end slides relative to the pin into a retracted position; the suspending hook means further including a hook end turned inwardly of the wall when the hook means is in such suspended position; an aperture through the wall beneath the support pin, whereby to permit entry of the hook end inwardly of the wall; and means, mounted on the wall between the aperture and the support pin, to detain the hook means in either suspended or retracted position.

5. A cover-carrier as defined in claim 4, wherein: the means to detain is spaced below the pin a distance less than the length of the elongated sides of the loop end; whereby to detain one of said elongated sides when in retracted position.

6. The combinations of a cover-carrier as defined in claim 4, with an object to be covered and carried thereby; the object having a bottom support, whereby it may rest at said lower edge plane, and having opposed edge flanges by which the object may be carried and whose spacing from each other is slightly less than the spacing of the cover-carrier box walls having said apertures; and the edge flanges being spaced above said lower edge plane slightly more than the height of the hook ends thereabove when the hook means are detained in suspended position; whereby lifting the cover-carrier slightly causes the hook ends to engage beneath the flanges of the object.

7. The combination defined in claim 6, wherein: the edge flanges of the object include downward projecting lip portions; and wherein the hook ends slip upward when in suspended position; whereby on lifting the cover-carrier, the downward projecting lip portions of the edge flanges so press downwardly against tHe upward slope of the hook ends as to tend to draw the hook means inwardly against the outer sides of the walls of the cover-carrier.