US491495A - Frank r - Google Patents

Description

(No Model.) P. R. RIDBLL. POST OFFICE LOCK BOX.

No. 491.495. Patented Feb. 7, 1893.

tf@ f' PATENT OFFICE.

FRANK R. RIDELL, OF STAMFORD, CONNECTICUT, ASSIGNOR TO THE YALE dt TOVVNE MANUFACTURING COMPANY, OF SAME PLACE.

POST=OFFICE LOCK-BOX.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 491,495, dated February 7, 1893.

Application filed November 29, 1892. Serial No. 458,523. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FRANK R. RIDELL, a citizen of the United States, residing at Stamford, in the county of Fairfield and State of Connecticut, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Post-Office Lock-Boxes, of which the following is a specification.

The object of my invention is to provide a lock box which will be reasonably secure, but simplify the manufacture of the nest of boxes having individual lock-doors whereby the construction of the parts and the assembling thereof are both facilitated and the cost thereby lessened. In my improved construction the lock box door is attached by means of a hinge equal in height to the lock box door, one leaf of which hinge consists of a dat plate which is letinto a groove in the upright partit-ion of the box and riveted or otherwise fastened thereto. The advantage of this construction is that the upright partitions can be prepared for the leaf of the hinge which goes into them by a simple groove made by a saw or any other cheap machine method, and holes for the rivets or other fastenings can then be also bored by machinery, so that the operation is very simple, rapid and cheap.

In order that my invention may be fully understood,l will describe the same by reference to the accompanying drawings in which:-

Figure I is a perspective view of a portion of a nest of lock boxes to which my invention is applied. Fig. Il is a transverse section through a box and its door showing the parts assembled.

lv represents the nest of boxes which are divided into compartments by means of the longitudinal pieces 2 and the uprights 3. Each compartment has an individual door 4., which is attached to one upright by means of a hinge 5, and is held closed by any suitable form of lock whose bolt engages the other upright. The hinge 5 is preferably equal in length to the side of the door and it is provided with leaf 6 for attachment to the upright, and it may have a leaf 7 for attachment to the door by means of rivets 8 (one only being shown), or one part of the hinge may be made integral with said door.

The hinge is attached to the upright in the following manner: The leaf is made of proper shape and size and in the upright is formed a groove 9 throughout its length or nearly so to receive the leaf 6, which is inserted after which the holes 10 are bored through the upright and leaf for the reception of rivets l1, which pass through both upright and hinge leaf. The groove may be a simple saw cut and the hinge leaf may fit tightly therein so as to give a steady mounting to the door, the function of the rivets being principally to prevent Withdrawal of the leaf and to hold the sides of the groove together, prevent splitting and bind the leaf and insure a firmer mounting of the door.

As shown in the drawings, the leaf of the hinge which is connected with the door is made separate therefrom and afterward connected, but it is obvious that if it should be desirable this leaf of the hinge can be made integral with the door. Any form of lock can be used, and any form of bolt, either spring or dead bolt, the essential feature of my invention being the construction of the hinge, it-s attachment t-o the box, and the method of constructing the box to receive this peculiar form of hinge. In constructing the boxes the upright partitions are made separate, then grooved out by a saw or other approved means, then put into the grooves cut in the horizontal partitions to receive them. This precise method of construction is not absolutely essential, but is the preferred method.

Inasmuch as the partitions are grooved to their ends, it is obvious that the grooved uprights could be made from along strip, grooved throughout its length and then sawed up into pieces of the proper length. Heretofore the boxes have been made with continuous metallic frames, to form a continuous metallic frontage, and such a construction is very desirable where great security is requisite, but it is evident that the same degree of security is not requisite in smaller rural communities as is desirable in large towns and cities, and at the same time such communities are not able to pay the necessary cost of the more expensive construction.l My present construction is designed to supply the want of such localities.

Having thus described my invention what I claim is:-n

l. The combination of a door for a box or pigeonhole, provided with a hinge, one leaf IOO of which is attached to said door, and the l groove and the leaf for attaching the hinge frame, having one upright formed with a to the pigeonhole, substantially as described.

groove into which the other leaf of said hinge A nest or series of pigeonholes provided is inserted and means for securing the leaf with upright-partitions which are firstgrooved I5 5 in said groove, substantially as and for the to receive the leaf of the hinge and then set purpose set forth. in place in the nest, substantially as described.

2. A pigeonhole7 provided with a groove in one of its sides7 in combination with a door FRANK R. RIDELL. provided With a hinge, having one leaf formed Witnesses 1o to enter said groove, and rivets or equivalent E. J. BIKER,

fastenings, passing through the sides of the SUSAN WV. RIDELL.

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