US491533A - Letter-box - Google Patents

Description

(NoModeL) 2 Sheets-Sheet 1.

A. D. OUSHING & A MITCHELL.

LETTER BOX;

Patented Feb. 14, 1893.

Vii/57306866 W W1 2 Sheets-Sheet 2,

A. D. (BUSHING & A MITCHELL.

LETTER BOX.

No. 491.533. Patented Feb. 14, 1893.

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WZZOTWS nowms PETERS co warm-urns WASHINGTON o c ALFRED DARLING GUSHING AND ALEXANDER MITCHELL, OF VVI-IEELING, WVEST VIRGINIA, ASSIGNORS TO THE POSTAL IMPROVEMENT COMPANY,

OF NORRISTOYVN, PENNSYLVANIA.

LETTER-BOX.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 491,533, dated February 14, 1893.

Application filed $eptem'ber 23, 1891. tierial No. 406,602. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, ALFRED DARLING CUSHING and ALEXANDER MITCHELL, citizens of the United States, residing in the city of Wheeling, Ohio county, "West Virginia, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Letter-Boxes; and we do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will I0 enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

Our invention relates to letter and other like boxes.

The improved box is adapted for use as a collection box only, or as a combined collection and delivery box in connection with dwellings, office buildings, (be.

The invention consists essentially in the combination of a box or receptacle for mail matter, a dome or riser connected with said box, a tilting apron or platform for closing the throat or passage from dome to box and a swinging door or flap leading into the dome adapted to lift the apron to close the throat when it is vibrated and to be automatically returned to normal position by the tilting apron.

The invention also consists in other oombi nations hereinafter described and claimed.

In the drawings forming a part of this speci fication,Figure 1, is a perspective of our box;

Fig. 2, is a vertical section showing the ar rangement of the compartments and the tilting apron; Fig. 3, is a horizontal section on the line (Ia-03 of Fig. 2, showing the apron in its tilted or hanging position; Fig. 4, is a perspective of a segment of one end of the tilting apron or platform; Fig. 5, is a perspective of a portion of the swinging door or flap; Fig.

6, is an end view of the form of box adapted for both delivery and collection; Fig. 7, is a section of the same.

A is the main box or receiver for mail matter; B a dome connected with and rising above the main compartment, and O a hinged door leading into said main compartment secured in place by any suitable lock.

D is an apron or platform hung on pintles so as to drop by gravity, as shown in dotted lines, when not raised and held in horizontal position by a swinging door, to be described. This apron closes the throat or passage from the dome compartment to the main receptacle when mail is deposited in the dome part and drops and discharges the mail to the main compartment upon being released.

E is a swinging door or flap mounted in one or both ends of the dome compartment having its axis of movement behind and outside of the axis of movement of the tilting apron D. The apron and door are provided with cam projections d and e respectively so that when the door is swung inward to permit the introduction of mail matter to the dome compartment the apron will be brought to the horizontal position and separate the two parts of the box from each other. The pivots of the apron and door and the cam faces are so adjusted and the latter so formed that the apron is brought to the horizontal position before the door has moved far enough to open into the dome compartment, the further movement of the door merely holding the apron up.

In the form of box shown in Figs. 5 and 6, we have provided two main drawers or compartments F, F, for mail, one for delivery to which the householder may have the key and one for collection to which the postman should have the key, and in order that mail inserted to the dome past the swinging door may be deposited in the collection or delivery compartment, as may be desired, we have provided a manually operated wing or chute G. This wing may be operated by a crank g or by a pull, as h, and it may be normally in position to direct mail matter to either of the compartments. The swinging of this wing to direct mail to the collection compartment may be made to operate a signal to indicate the presence of mail for collection which may be seen at a distance.

Attached to any prominent part of the box is a dial or scale H and a movable pointer or indicator I readily operated by a key or otherwise. By this means, the postman when making collections may announce the time of the next collection. This device will operate as a tell-tale by which an inspector or the pub lie may determine Whether the postman has made his rounds at or about the prescribed time.

The box herein described may be attached to a lamp-post or other support on the street, to the outer or inner Wall or door of a building by bolts, straps or other means.

Having now described our invention, What We claim, is-

The combination of a box having a main compartment for holding mail matter and a relatively narrow auxiliary compartment or passage for conducting the mail to the main

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