US449371A - House-door letter-box - Google Patents

Description

(No Model.)

EMARKELL HOUSE DOOR LETTER BOX.

INVENTOR: I

BY 442/: 3 M

1 1P I l Patented Mar. 31, 1891.

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ATTORNEY.

UNiTED STATES AIENT -rrica.

EDWARD MABKELIJ, OF BALTIMORE, MARYLAND.

HOUSE-DOOR LETTER-BOX.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 449,371, dated March 31, 1891.

Application filed December 11, 1890. Serial No. 374,310. (No model.)

To ctZZ whom it may concern-.-

Be it known that. I, EDWARD MARKELL, a citizen of the United States, residing at Baltimore, in the State of Maryland, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Letter-Boxes, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to letter-boxes for private residences, and is especially intended to be applied to street-doors, but of course might be used in other connections. The main object in view is to provide an alarm which will sound whenever the lid of the box is opened, and indicate the deposit of mail and prevent tampering with the box.

The invention consists in certain peculiarities of construction and combinations of parts described hereinafter, and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is an elevation of the box as seen from the inside of the dwelling, showing it attached to the street-door; Fig. 2, a vertical cross-section; Fig. 3, a vertical longitudinal section on the line 3 3 of Fig. 2; Fig. at, ahorizontal cross-section on the line at 4 of Fig. 2, and Fig. 5 an outside view of the street-door.

The letter A designates the street-door of a residence, which is provided at a suitable height with a semicircular opening a, closed by a lid a, hinged to the inside of the door and opening inwardly. It is held closed by a spring a coiled around the hinge. A box B is secured to the door on the inside and includes said opening a and also incloses all the devices connected with the alarm. This box is preferably of semi-cylindrical form, and is cast with its upper half closed and with a rounded closed top, while the lower half is opeu-work, so that any matter deposited will be readily discernible from without; but the interstices are made small enough so that no mail contained in the box can be abstracted through them The bottolnof the box is closed by a hinged plate I), which is locked by any suitable means. In the drawings I have shown the plate provided with a projection b, which abuts against a similar projection 11 from the box, and a padlock is introduced through registering apertures in said projections. The lid is hinged by means of trunnions c, fitting in grooves or notches in the sides of the box. At one side of the lid a is fixed a bell (I, which is secured directly to the door A, and has 011 its exteriora coiled spring D, secured at one end to the bell and having attached to its opposite end a hammer or clapper Din such position as to strike the bell. This clapper has a hooked outer end (I, which projects over the side edge a of the lid a into the path of the latter. It will be obvious that when the lid is pushed back it will engage the hooked end of said clapper and push the latter away from the bell against the action of the spring D until its edge a rides over said hooked end, when the spring will immediately return the clapper, so that it strikes the bell and sounds the alarm.- hen the lid springs shut, it rides over the clapper, which has a curved back surface (Z for this purpose. The clapper in its normal position stands off from the bell, so that it will have room to readily move out of the path of the lid as the latter closes.

The lid to has a metallic plate a on its front face, and upon it may be inscribed the number of the house or the name of the occupant, or both.

The clapper of the bellis so located with respect to the lid that the latter cannot be opened a suflicient distance to insert the hand without ringing the alarm, and hence, beside indicating the arrival of the mail tampering with the box will be detected.

In order to render the box more secure from burglary I provide a serrated guard-plate to, which is located below the lid a and hinged to the door A, having a projection or prop w, which holds it in an inclined position. This guard-plate will prevent the abstraction of mail-matter through the receiving-slot, for it will be seen that if a persons hand is thrust.

down pastthe said plate and matter in the box grasped, in the attempt to withdraw the hand the teeth of the serrated guard-plate will be encountered, and the said plate being hinged an upward movement will cause it to be thrown. out against the inserted hand.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Let tors Patent, is-

1. In a letter-box, the combination of a hinged lid opening into the box, a bell located at one side of the said lid and having a clapper attached to the end of a spriu g on the exterior of the bell, said clapper projecting over the edge of the hinged lid, whereby when the latter is opened back its edge engages the clapper and pushes it away from the bell against the action of the spring and then trips the said clapper and allows the spring to return it against the bell, the said clapper normally standing off from the bell and having a curved back surface over which the edge of the lid rides when the latter closes.

2. The combination of the door A, having a suitable opening (L, a spring-actuated hinged lid closing said opening, a box secured to the door and including said lid,and a bell in the boX at one side of said lid having a springclapper on its exterior projecting over the edge of the lid and normally standing off from the bell and provided with a curved back surface, for the purpose described.

The combination of the door A, having a 20 suitable opening a, a spring-actuated hinged lid closing said opening, a box secured to the door and including said lid, and a serrated guard-plate hinged to the door below the said opening and held in an inclined position by .25 a suitable-prop, for the purpose described.

In testimony whereof I atfix my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

EDXVARD MARKELL.

Witnesses:

T. P. DAvIs, J NO. '1. MADDOX.

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