US476692A

US476692A - Letter-box

Info

Publication number: US476692A
Authority: US
Publication date: 1892-06-07
Anticipated expiration: 1909-06-07

Description

(No Model.)

C.. SHUMAN.

LETTER BOX.

No. 476,692. Patented June '7, 1892.

fjO

UNITED STATES PATENT AOEETCE.

CHARLES SHUMAN, OF S'I. LOUIS, MISSOURI.

L ETT E. R B O X SPECIFICATION forming part 0f Letters Patent No. 476,692, dated ,Tune 7, 1892.

Application tiled January 4, 1892, Serial No, 4l6,928. (No model.)

To all whom it r11/ay concern.-

Beit known that I, CHARLES SHUMAN, of the city of St. Louis and State of Missouri, have invented certain new and useful Im- 5 provements in House and Street Letter-Boxes,

`of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part hereof.

My invention relates to house and street letter-boxes; and it consists in the novel arrangement and combination of parts, as will be more fully hereinafter described, and des ignated in the claims. p

In the' drawings, Figure l is a perspective 4view of my improved letter-box, showing the door thereof partially open. Fig. 2 is a vertical longitudinal section of the box with the door closed. Fig. 3 is a perspective view of an inverted-V-shaped plate, which l employ in carrying out my invention; and Fig. e is a perspective view of a device made use of in securing the box to a house or other support.

The object of my invention is to provide a letter-box for receiving deposited mail without bending such mail, which shall be simple in construction, comparatively inexpensive, and,further, to provide a box which shall prevent the mail from being surreptitiously withdrawn from the same.

Referring to the drawings, l represents a box, which is elongated in shape, having sides 2 and back 3, the same being united in any suitable mechanical manner, premising,how ever, that the box so constructed is preferably provided with a top portion 4, which is formed by the remaining parts of the box.

5 indicates an inclined passage, which is formed by the inclined portion G of the front plate 7 of the box and the additional inclined plate 8, secured between the sides of the box beneath said portion 6 and extending from the front of said box rearward and upward. The mail to be deposited is first inserted through this passage 5 in the manner hereinafter further explained. The said passage is normally open at its outer end.

9 indicates an upper vertical receivingchamber, which is constructed sufciently narrow to hold the mail-matter in an upright position therein. The inner opening of the passage 5 communicates with the lower end of the receiving-chamber @,and is located a distance beneath the upper end of said chamber greater than the length of an ordinary mailpackage in order to permit all packages-such as letters, postal-cards, or wrapped newspapers-to be inserted through said opening bodily within said chamber and be held there in in an upright position without being bent or doubled, and from which position the mail will fall by its own gravity in a downward direction to the point of deposit, which will now be described. The body of the box below the receiving-chamber 9 is in the form of an enlarged chamber, located beneath said opening and in communication with said receiving-chamber by way of a vertical connecting-passage, which passage is normally closed by means now to be described.

l0 represents an inverted-V-shaped plate having two arms, the inner of which is provided with terminal serrations 1l, and the opposite outer arm of said plate is provided with a rounded terminal end, in order to give said end a finished appearance.

l2 indicates the pivots or journals, by means of which the V-shaped plate is secured in position. These pivots may be formed in dilferent ways, although I prefer the manner which I here show, with the said pivots projecting in alignment a distance beyond the opposite edges of said plate. The pivots l2 project linto suitable openings or bearings formed in the side walls of the box and pivotallyormovably secure the V-shaped plate in position closely adjacent the upper terminal of the plate 8, so that the inner arm of said plates will be located within the box and normally project into the passage which connects the receivingchamber and the larger chamber beneath it, and so that the outer arm will project into the passage 5 and normally rest upon the plate 8, and not obstruct the opening to said receiving-chamber.

The plate lO, as above constructed, normally lies in the position shown in Fig. 2 of the drawings, namely, with the outer arm resting upon the exterior surface of the plate 8, and the inner arm projecting downward and rearwardly across the passage in the rear of said plate S. Although the inner end of the inner arm of plate lO is not shown in actual contact with the rear wall of the box, yet its function of preventing the su-rreptitious withdrawal of mail-matter will not thereby be interfered with, for the reason that the space between said end and said wall is comparatively narnow and will not permit the passage of the fingers or hand of a pui-loin er downward without depressing said inner arm and correspondingly elevating the outer arm of said plate.

To the lower end of the larger chamber is hinged an angularly-shaped receptacle or box; or it may be an ordinary door by means of which mail deposited within the box may be removed therefrom. To the plate 8 is secured a hasp 13, and to the front of the door, near its upper end, is secured a staple 14, which staple is engaged by the haspin the ordinary manner when said door is in a closed position. To lock the box, an ordinary padlock is employed. In order to temporarily lock the box, I employ a hook 15, which is movably secured to the hasp 13, and adapted to engage the staple 14.

1G indicates a shed which is secured to the inner surface of the rear wall 3 of the box near the lower end of same, by means of which mail-matter gravitating downward from the receivin g-chamber will be prevented from contacting with and resting upon the rear edge of the hinged box.

In order to secure the box 1 to the house or other support, and, further, to prevent said box from being removed from said support without opening the box, I employ the means which I shall now describe.

17 indicates a depression formed in the back 3 of the box adjacent to the upper end of same, and a downwardly-extending hook 19 has its Iupper end secured to said box, and the hook is located within said depression and adapted to engagea fastening device and secure the upper end of the hook in position. One manner of securing this hook in position is to locate a horizontal bai-18 across the back of the box in said depression and secure same in place in any mechanical manner and secure the upper end of the down\vardlypro jecting hook 19 to said bar 1S, so that the rear surface of said hook will lie flush with the remaining portion of the back 3.

2O indicates a 'stirrup or strap, preferably made of metal, bent as shown in Fig. 4, with its ends provided with openings 21, through which openings screws or other like devices may be inserted for securing said plate or strap to the house orsupport. The plate 20, after being secured to the house, is in position to receive the hook 19, as illustrated, which will rigidly hold the upper end ot the box 1 firmly in position, and at the same time the screws used to secure said strap to the house will be covered and protected by the back of the box, thereby preventing said strap from being removed by unauthorized persons. After the box has been secured to the house and supported as above described,

screws 22 are passed through suitable open-` ings formed in the lower end of the back 3 of the box and made to engage the house, as shown. Thus, it will be seen,it is impossible to detach the box from the house or other support without opening the door in the usual manner. The V-shaped plate 10 is preferably mounted, as before described, in such amanner that one of its arms will substantially balance the other, so that but very little weight will be required to move said plate upon its bearings; but the outer arm is preferably constructed to preponderate in weight, so as to hold both arms in the position hereinbefore described, and there shown in Fig. 2.

The operation is as follows: Postal-cards and light letter packages are first inserted u pwardly through the passage 5, which, as before stated, is normally open into the receivingchamber 9 without being turned end for end or bent or doubled. The operator then releases such mail-matter and it gravitates in an upright position downward. If the mail-matter strikes the innerarm of the V-shaped plate, it will be thereby guided toward the rear, where there is a very narrow passage between the rear wall 3 and the inner end of the inner arm, and if the mail-matter so inserted be a postalcard or a very thin letter, it will pass downward past the said end of said arm into the larger chamber below. If the mail-matter have sufficient weight, the inner arm of the plate 10 will be thereby depressed until the passage between the rear wall 3 and said arm is made sufficiently large to permit said mailmatter to fall into the lowerreceptacle orchamber. It the mail-matter be a comparatively large package-such as a very large newspaper in a wrapper-it will have su flicient weight to depress the inner arm of the plate lO until it occupies the position indicated by dotted lines and until the outer arm occupies a corresponding .position, also indicated by dotted lines. Very thin matter-such as postalcards-may pass from the receiving-chamber into the larger chamber without moving the plate 10 5 but a very large package will, as before stated, have the effect of moving said plate into the position shown by dotted lines in Fig. Should an attempt be made byan unauthorized person to withdraw any mail that has been deposited in the box, the scrrated portion of the plate 10 will necessarily be moved downward, and consequently the ou ter arm of said plate will be correspondingly elevated, and will close or rather tend to close the opening or passage 5, formed in the box, and clamp the hand of the purloiner or the instrument used by him against the upper wall of the passage and prevent its being inserted sufliciently far to reach the mail in the lower chamber. As it will be seen, it is impossible to withdraw any of the deposited mail by the hand inserted surreptitiously.

In some instances purloiners have been known to withdraw mail deposited in letter- IOO IIO

boxes by the use of a string having a suitable contrvance attached to it; but should such contrivance be used to rob my improved box the serrated end of the arms above described would prevent such theft because the cord or string would pass into the spaces between the teeth and the letter or package on being elevated would strike said teeth and could not be withdrawn. Thus it will further be seen from the foregoing description that a boX constructed in accordance with my description will receive letters, postal-cards, newspapers, and packages, and after the same have been deposited it is impossible to withdraw them, except by opening the door of the box in the manner above described.

The receiving-chamber is purposely -constructed so narrow from front to rear that it will always hold the mail-matter in an upright position during operation of the box. The advantage of this construction is that comparatively long packages may be inserted bodily within said extension without being bent or broken. Such packages may also be removed from the box in the same good condition.

From the foregoing it will be observed that l have provided an improved house or street letter-box having at its upper end a receiving chamber constructed so narrow as to hold papers and packages in an upright position without bending or doubling them, a larger chamber located below said receiving-chamber and in communication therewith by way of a vertical passage, an opening for insertion of mail located intermediate of said receiving-chamber and said larger chamber, at a suihcient distance beneath the upper end of the receiving-chamber to permit papers and packages to be inserted within said chamber without bending, and said opening located a snncient distance above the bottom of said larger chainbcr to permit such papers and packages to drop below the level of said opening.

l. An improved letter-box having an upper vertical receiving-chamber constructed narrow to hold the Inail-matter in an upright position therein, an opening for insertion of mailmattcr, located in the wall of the box a distance beneath the upper end of said chamber greater than the length of an ordinary mailpackage to permit all packages to be inserted through said opening bodily within said chamber,and alarger chamber located beneath said opening and in communication with said receiving-chamber by way of a vertical passage, substantially as set forth.

2. An improved house or street letter-box having an upper vertical receiving-chamber constructed narrow to hold the mail-matter in an upright position thereima larger chainber located beneath and in communication with the receiving-chamber by way of a vertical passage, and an upwardly-inclined passage which opens into said receiving-chamber,

the opening of the inner end of said passage located beneath the upper end of the receivingchamber a distance greater than the length of an ordinary mail-package and at a distance above said larger chamber greater than the length of an ordinary mail-package, in combination with a suitable door for removal of mail from the larger chamber, substantially as set forth.

3. An improved house or street letter-box constructed at its lower end with a receptacle for deposited mail, a vertical receiving-chamber of smaller transverse sectional area than said receptacle and in communication therewith by way of a passage, said vertical receiving-chamber arranged narrow to receive and hold papers and packages in an upright position, an opening for insertion of mail, located in one wall of the box intermediate of said vertical receiving-chamber and said receptacle at a distance beneath the upper end of the receiving-chamber that is greater than the length of an ordinary mail-package to permit papers and packages to be inserted bodily within said receiving-chamber without bending or doubling, and said opening located a distance above the bottom of said receptacle that is greater than the length of an ordinary mail-package,to permit packages to drop below said opening, a V-shaped plate having arms constructed to alternately close said opening and the passage between the said vertical receiving-chamber and said receptacle, and a suitable door for removing the mail from the receptacle, substantially as set forth,

4. An improved house or street letter-box comprising a chamber for receiving deposited mail, located in the lower portion of the boX, a vertical receiving-chamber located above said first-named chamber, a passage leading into said vertical receivingchamber, a V- shaped plate having two arms and pivotally mounted within said box, with one of said arms located upon the interior of the box and the other arm located upon the exterior thereof and projecting into said passage, and a suitable door for removing mail from the box,

substantially as set forth.

5. An improved house or street letter-box' comprising a lower chamber for holding deposited mail, a vertical receiving-chamber 1ocated above said first-named chamber, a passage opening into said receiving-chamber, a V-shaped plate having two arms and pivotally mounted upon the interior of the box, one of said arms constructed to close the pas'- sage between said two chambers and the other arm arranged to close said first-named passage when the inner arm of said V-shaped plate is moved downward, the end of the arm which closes the passage between said two chambers being provided with serrations, and a door for removing mail from the box, substantially as set forth.

G. The house or street letterbox construoted with a depression in its back near Intestimony Whereofafxmysignaturein the upper end of same, and a downwardlyv:presence of two Witnesses. extending hook 19,1ooatedv with-in said depression and arranged to engage a fastening CHARLES SHUMAN. 5 device and secure the upper end of thebox Witnesses:

in position, substantially as shown and de- (1F. KELLER,

scribed. EDWD. E. LONGAN.