US3855949A

US3855949A - Security box

Info

Publication number: US3855949A
Application number: US00345746A
Authority: US
Inventors: B Foster; M Schneider
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1973-03-28
Filing date: 1973-03-28
Publication date: 1974-12-24
Anticipated expiration: 1991-12-24

Abstract

A security box of the type having four side walls extending forwardly from a back panel to form a storage chamber closed by a side-pivoted door, wherein a pair of brackets are removably engaged by a pair of upper retainer legs on mounting clips attached in the storage chamber on opposite side walls. When the security box is in an inverted position to reverse the opening direction of the door, the brackets are also removably emgaged by a pair of lower retainer legs on the mounting clips. One portable bin is provided for resting in the storage chamber on the bottom side wall, and an identical second portable bin is provided for resting on the brackets engaged by the mounting clips.

Description

United States Patent 1191 Foster et a1.

1451 Dec. 24, 1974 SECURITY BOX [76] Inventors: Burnham Foster, 820 S. 2nd St., Alhambra, Calif. 91801; Morton Schneider, 747 Chimineas Ave., Tarzana, Calif. 91356 [22] Filed: Mar. 28, 1973 21 Appl. No.: 345,746

52 U.S.Cl. ..l09/23,109/58 51 1111.01. ..E05g 3/00 [58] Field ofSearch IDS/107,109, 12,62;

[5 6] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 479,464 7/1892 R001 109/57 x 940,023 11/1909 Hutchinson.. 108/107 x 1,080,203 12/1913 Dungan 108/107 1,871,972 8/1932 Fenstermaker.....'. 108/107 X 2,483,606 10/1949 Albach et a1. 312/351 x 3,012,678 12/1961 Fiege 108/109 3,168,365 2/1965 Evans...l..'. 108/109 x FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 131,108 1/1949 Australian, 108/107 5,538 3/1894 Great Britain 108/107 Primary Examiner-Dennis L. Taylor Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Harris, Kern, Wallen & Tinsley [5 7 ABSTRACT A security box of the type having four side walls extending forwardly from a back panel to form a storage chamber closed by a side-pivoted door, wherein a pair of brackets are removably engaged by a pair of upper retainer legs on mounting clips attached in the storage chamber on opposite side walls. When the security box is in an inverted position to reverse the opening direction of the door, the brackets are also removably emgaged by a pair of lower retainer legs on the mounting'clips. One portable bin is provided for resting in the storage chamber on the bottom side wall,

7 and an identical second portable bin is provided for resting on the brackets engaged by the mounting clips.

1 Claim, 5 Drawing Figures SECURITY BOX This invention relates generally to security boxes, and more specifically to a security box for permanent installation in a wall partition.

Conventional security boxes for storing valuables and the like in homes have usually been simple portable units or sophisticated wall safes. However, portable units are too easily forced open or taken from the premises, while typical wall safes are unduly expensive, difficult to install, and protmdefrom both the front and back of the partition wall.

Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to providean inexpensive security box which can be permanently mounted in a wall partition without interfering with the back of the partition, and aligned with the front of the partition.

Another object of the invention is to provide a security box which can be used with or without storage bins therein. A related object is to provide a pair of removable brackets which can be mounted in the security box to support a portable bin.

A further object is to provide a security box which can be installed with either a right-hand swing or a lefthand swing, without having to remount the door.

Still another object is to provide a security box which is insulated and sealed to prevent damage to its contents. Further objects, features, and advantages of the invention will be evident to those skilled in the art from the following description of a preferred embodiment of the invention.

In the drawing:

FIG. 1 is a front view of a presently preferred embodiment of a security box in its normal position with a right-swing door; 7

FIG. 2 is a front view of the security box in inverted position with a left-swing doorr FIG. 3 is a partial cut-away sectional view taken along the line 33 in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a partial sectional view of FIG. 3taken along the line 4-4'showing a pair of brackets engaged by a pair of mounting clips; and

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of a bracket.

Generally speaking, the invention provides a security box having an upright back panel 10, bottom and top horizontal side walls, l2, l4, and left and right

vertical side walls

16, 18 which together form a storage chamber having a front opening closed by a pivotally mounted door 20. A mounting clip 22 is permanently affixed to each

vertical side wall

16, 18 for removably engaging a bracket 24 which supports a portable bin 26. The brackets 24 can also be inserted in the mounting clips 22 when the security box is in inverted position, thus enabling a single unit to be optionally used as either a right-swing or left-swing security box.

Referring more specifically to the drawing, the back panel and

side walls

12, 14, 16, 18 constitute a casing which can be formed of either a single sheet of 60 metal, or a double sheet such as inner and

outer plate members

28, 30 with insulation material 32 therebetween. The inner plate 28 is preferably stair-stepped around the periphery of the front opening to form first and

second ledges

34, 36. The door may be similarly insulated and shaped to interlock with the stair-stepped ledges 34, 36. The inner and outer plates 28, join together and flare outwardly at their forward ends to form a flange 38 surrounding a periphery of the entire front opening defined by the

side walls

12, 14, 16, 18.

The door 20 may be permanently mounted on a side wall by suitable means such as hinge 40 having one section 42 attached to the door and another section 44 attached to the right side wall 18. In the illustrated form, the door 20 includes a lock 46 with a bolt 48 movable from an open position allowing the door to swing freely to a closed position in a notch 50 in the inner plate 28 of theleft side wall 16. I

As best shown in FIG. 4, the mounting clip 22 is preferably formed of spring material and includes a flat central portion 52 abutting against and suitably attached as by welding to the vertical side wall. Free upper and

lower retainer legs

54, 56 include a first section 58 adjacent to the central portion 52 and bent away from the side wall, and a second shoulder section 62 which is biased to abut against the inner plate 28 of the

side walls

16, 18. An inwardly flared end 64 of each

retainer leg

54, 56 is attached to the shoulder section 62.

The bracket 24 is preferably formed by an elongated strip having a length slightly less than the depth of the storage chamber, with a first arm 66 and a second arm 68 perpendicular to each other and identical in length and shape. That, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that either arm 66, 68 of the bracket 24 can be removably inserted behind either upper or

lower retainer leg

54, 56 of the mounting clips 22. v

- The mountingclips 22 may be positioned so that the bottom portion of the bin 26 resting therein above the lock 46, thus enabling the bin to be substantially the same depth as the storage chamber. This positioning also allows room for another bin to be placed in the storage chamber on the bottom side wall 12.

In order to install thesecurity box, a space is provided in a partition adjacent one or more framing studs so that suitable fasteners such as nails or screws can be inserted from inside the storage chamber through the vertical side walls into the studs without interfering with the back edge of the partition. The security box can be mounted in either its normal position or an inverted position, allowing the installer to choose a lefthand or right-hand swing according to the position in the partition. The flange 38 provides strength to the casing and makes it more difficult to tamper with the mounting screws or nails. The shallow depth of the security box allows the unit to be easily covered and hidden after installation.

It will therefore be appreciated from the foregoing structure that the invention provides a strong, simple, easily installed invertible security box capable of providing either a single storage chamber for holding large documents or a plurality of smaller compartments for securely holding smaller items such as jewelry, stock certificates and the like.

Although an exemplary embodiment of the invention has been disclosed and discussed, it will be understood that other applications of the invention are possible, and that the embodiment disclosed may be subjected to various changes, modifications and substitutions without necessarily departing from the spirit of the invention.

We claim as our invention:

1. In a security box of the type having a casing portion with an upright back panel, two opposing spaced apart horizontal, upper and lower side walls, and two opposing spaced apart vertical side walls, the four side walls extending forwardly from the back panel to form a storage chamber with a forward opening, the combi- 1 nation of:

a. a pair of mounting clips fixedly attached in the storage chamber to the vertical side walls, respectively, said mounting clips each having identical upper and lower retainer legs;

b. a pair of mounting brackets each having two arms, the first of which is removably engageable with said upper retainer leg of said mounting clip when the security box is in its normal position and which is removably engageable with said lower retainer leg when the security box is in an inverted position;

c. portable storage means resting in said storage chamber on the second of said arms of each of said brackets;

' d. door means attached along one of said vertical side walls for opening and closing said storage chamber;

e. each of said brackets constituting an angle member having said first arm perpendicular to said second arm, with either of said first and second arms being engageable by either of said upper and lower retainer legs of said mounting clips;

f. said mounting clips each including a unitary spring clip having a flat central portion fixedly attached to one of said vertical side walls, with said upper and lower retainer legs biased toward said one vertical side wall;

g. said retainer legs having transverse corrugations and each including an end bent away from said side wall for allowing entry of said first arm of said bracket and for supporting said second arm of said bracket; and

h. laterally protruding shoulder means between each of said ends of said retainer legs and said central portion, and formed by one of said corrugations, for holding said first arm of said bracket against one of said vertical side walls.

Claims

1. In a security box of the type having a casing portion with an upright back panel, two opposing spaced apart horizontal, upper and lower side walls, and two opposing spaced apart vertical side walls, the four side walls extending forwardly from the back panel to form a storage chamber with a forward opening, the combination of: a. a pair of mounting clips fixedly attached in the storage chamber to the vertical side walls, respectively, said mounting clips each having identical upper and lower retainer legs; b. a pair of mounting brackets each having two arms, the first of which is removably engageable with said upper retainer leg of said mounting clip when the security box is in its normal position and which is removably engageable with said lower retainer leg when the security box is in an inverted position; c. portable storage means resting in said storage chamber on the second of said arms of each of said brackets; d. door means attached along one of said vertical side walls for opening and closing said storage chamber; e. each of said brackets constituting an angle member having said first arm perpendicular to said second arm, with either of said first and second arms being engageable by either of said upper and lower retainer legs of said mounting clips; f. said mounting clips each including a unitary spring clip having a flat central portion fixedly attached to one of said vertical side walls, with said upper and lower retainer legs biased toward said one vertical side wall; g. said retainer legs having transverse corrugations and each including an end bent away from said side wall for allowing entry of said first arm of said bracket and for supporting said second arm of said bracket; and h. laterally protruding shoulder means between each of said ends of said retainer legs and said central portion, and formed by one of said corrugations, for holding said first arm of said bracket against one of said vertical side walls.