US462774A - Jonathan a - Google Patents

Description

(No Model.)

J. A. PIERCE.

MAIL POUCH PASTENER. No. 462,774. Patented Nov. 10,1891.

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JONATHAN A. PIERCE, OF AUSTIN, MINNESOTA, ASSIGNOR, BY DIRECT AND MESNE ASSIGNMENTS, OF FIVE-EIGIITI-IS TO LYMAN D. BAIRD, OF SAME PLACE, AND HARRISON ALLEN, OF \VASIIIN lrTON, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.

MAIL-POUCH FASTENER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 462,774, dated November 10, 189] Application filed June 27, 1890.

T wZZ whom it ntay concern.

Be it known that I, JONATHAN A. PIERCE, of Austin,Mower county, Minnesota, have invented certain Improvements in Mail-Bags, of

which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in the attachments to ordinary mail'bags, its object being to provide improved means for securing the staples of the bag, to avoid the trouble of threading a strap through all of the staples in locking up the bag and unthreading the same when the bag is unlocked.

To this end my invention consists in the construction and combination hereinafter described, and particularly pointed out in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, Figure 1 is a front elevation of the top of a mail-bag with the closing-flap turned upward, showing the staples upon the flap and apertures or slots for the staples in the front side of the bag. Fig. 2 is a vertical crosssection of the same. Fig. 3 is a detail plan view of the staple-securing hooks and their operating-strap. Figs. 4 and 5 are detail plan views of one of the hooks shown in different positions. Fig. 6 is a crosssection of the same, and Fig. 7 isa detail perspective view of one of the loops or staples 0 intermediate of the hooks through which the operating-strap is passed.

In the drawings, 2 represents the front side of the bag, 3 the rear side, and 4 the flap, which is an extension of the rear side and is 5 adapted to fold over uponthe front side, so as to close the opening at the top of the bag. Upon the inside of the flap at is arranged a series of apertures or slots 6 in such position that the staples of the flap will pass through the slots when the flap is turned down.

Upon the rear side of the bag and permanently secured thereto is a series of cylindrical cases 7, each provided with a notch .78, which registers with one of the apertures 6 so that the staple when passed through the aperture extends also through the notch. Secured in each of these cases upon a pivot 15 is a circular hook or bolt 9, which is adapted when turned to pass through and secure the Serial No. 357,010. (No model.)

staple as it extends through the aperture.

slide to and fro in the cases and held between the cases by means of the staples or loops 1.1. This strap is secured to each of the hooks by means of a pin 12, which extends through a radial slot 13 in the body of the hook, ahead 14 upon the pin preventing its being withdrawn from the slot. The slot and pin are so arranged with reference to each other that when the strap is slipped to and fro the pin willtravel in the slot and at the same time turn the hook on its pivot, as shown best in detail, Figs. el and 5, thus carrying the hook through the staple or withdrawing it therefrom. One end of the strap 10 is provided with a-lateral extension 16, having a slot 17, adapted to fit over the staple 18, which may be similar to and form one of the series of staples 5, it being preferably secured to the flap in the same manner as the other staples. The strap is secured upon the staple 18 by means of an ordinary padlock 19,the position of its slot 17 being such that when the strap is thus secured the hooks 9 are turned so as to engage the staples 5. The different positions of the hooks as operated by their strap is shown clearly in Figs. 4 and 5, the full lines of Fig. 4E representing the position of the hooks when disengaged from the staples, and the dotted lines when turned so as to engage the staples. The full lines in Fig. 5 represent the position of the hook when half opened or turned, and the dotted lines when closed or hooked through the staples. The hooks are all simultaneously operated by pulling upon one end or other of the strap, as the case may be,when it is free from the staple 18.

Operation: The bag being closed and the staples projecting through the side of the bag, the strap 10 is pulled toward the left, as shown in Fig. 3, thus turning all of the hooks on their pivots and carrying themthrough the staples, so as to secure them. The strap is then secured in place by passing the extension-piece 10 over the staple 18 and fastening it by means of the lock 19. In opening the bag, the lock 1 9 being removed and the extension-piece 16 slipped off its staple, the strap is drawn outward or toward the right, as shown in Fig. 3,thus turning all of the hooks 9 upon their pivots in a reverse direction and disengaging them from the staples, the pins 12 sliding in the slots 13 as the hooks are turned on their pivots to permit the strap 10 to move in a right line to and fro.

I clain1- 1. In a mail-bag having a closing-flap provided with staples adapted to pass through apertures in the sides of the bag, the combination of a series of cylindrical cases secured upon said bag, having notches therethrough registering with said apertures, a series of pivoted hooks inclosed in said cases and adapted to pass through said notches above said apertures and provided with radial slots, a strap extending through openings in the walls of said cases and provided with pins engaging said slots, by means of which the strap as reciprocated serves to operate said hooks to engage and disengage said staples, and means for securing said strap when said hooks are in position to engage said staples, substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

2. In a mail-bag having staples attached to one side and passing through aperturesin the other, the combination of a series of hooks pivoted to the bag and provided with radial slots, a strap carrying a series of beaded pins passing through said slots and operating said hooks. to engage and disengage said staples, and a series of cases for said hooks provided with openings therethrough to receive said staples and said strap, substantially as described.

In a mail-bag having a closing-flap provided with a series of staples adapted to pass through apertures in the front and rear sides of the bag, the combination of a series of circular hooks pivoted to the bag, having radial slots, and adapted to engage the staples when passed through said apertures, a reciprocating strap having pins engaging said slots and adapted to operate said hooks to engage and disengage said staples, closing-cases for said hooks having apertures to receive said strap, and a series of loops secured to said bag intermediate of said cases to hold and guide said strap, substantially as described.

JONATHAN A. PIERCE.

Witnesses:

L. D. BAIRD, F. W. KINNEY.

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