US652916A

US652916A - Letter-box.

Info

Publication number: US652916A
Application number: US72688299A
Authority: US
Inventors: John A Kline
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1899-08-11
Filing date: 1899-08-11
Publication date: 1900-07-03
Anticipated expiration: 1917-07-03

Description

No. 652,9l6. Patented my 3, |900. J. A. KLINE.

LETTER BOX.-

(Applicatiqn filed Aug. 11, 1899.)

2 Sheets-Sheet l.

(No Model.)

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J. A. KLINE.

LETTER Box.

(Application led Aug. 11, 1899.)

(No Modell) 2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

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JOHN A. KLINE, OF READING, PENNSYLVANIA.

LETTER-Box.l

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No; 652,916, dated J' uly-3, 1900.

Application led August 11 1899. Serial No. 72.6 ,882. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.- y,

Be it known -that I, JOHN A. KLINE, a citizen of the United States of America, and a resident of Reading, in the county of Berks and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful-Improvements in Letter- Boxes, of which the following is a specification.

My invention 'relates particularly to street letter-boxes of' that class in which a rotary receiving-chute is employed; and lny object is to provide in a box of the simplest possible construction and operation effective protection against tampering with the mails and also against their injury by rain or the like.

To this end my invention consists in certain novel features of construction, which are fully described in connection with the accompanying drawings and are specifically pointed out in the claim.

Figure l is a cross-sectional view of a preferred form of 'letter-box embodying my invention, the rotary chute being shown lifted to receive mail. Fig. 2 is a half-front elevation of the same, showing the'receiving-chute in normal lowered position; and Fig. 3 is a similar View showing the chute turned upward, as in Fig. 1. Fig. 4 is a full side view showin g the receiving-chute in its normal lowered position, as in Fig. 2. Fig. 5 is a front View of the upper portion of the box-body with the rotary chute entirely removed.

The lower portion of the body A of the box, as shown, is of the usual rectangular form, with a side outlet at D for removing the mail. The top portion, as indicated most clearly in Figs. 4 and 5, is provided with a xed circular roof A', covering, approximately, the rear half of the box and extending at each side beyond thesidc walls a2 of the latter, so as to form a closed Way @which serves as a fixed cover for the overhanging ledge of the mov- This opening or uriroofed portion of the body must of course be effectively closed in the completed box, and

the receiving-chute C, already referred to, isv

so designed as to form, in connection with the fixed roof A and its side extensions a, a movable but perfectly rain-proof extension of said xed roof, While at the same time furnishing a convenient receiver for the mail, an automatic delivery of the same into the body of the box, and an eective protection against its unauthorized removal. This chute, as shown, is mounted within the upper portion of the box-bod y, upon central side pivots or trunnons c, upon which it turns in a Well-known manner, so as to bring the diametrically-located receiving-chamber c either into position to receive the mail from the hands of the operator, as indicated in Figs. l and 3, orto deposit it in the lower portion of the box-body when it turns to its normal position, as indicated in dotted lines in Fig. 4. When in the latter position, its open end has just passed the serrated edge of the concentrically-arranged ledge B Within the box-body, which serves, as in similar constructions heretofore used, as an effective protection against tampering With the contents of the box. The chute is formed with a cylindrical Wall c2, which is arranged, as shown, to close the rear end of the receiving-chamber c, while leaving the front open and also to form a movable roof over the open portion of the box. In order to adapt it to this latter use, I extend the cylindrical Wall c2 of the chute laterally, so as to form side ledges c5, overhanging the curved top edges a5 of the body sides a2, said ledges when the chute is lifted to insert mail moving into the closed Ways a, formed in the side extensions of the fixed roof A'. The handle-rib c3, projecting radially from the cylindrical Wall c2, overhangs thetop edge a4 of the fiont of the boxbody and is so located as to permit of sufficient rotary movement of the chute C to carry the open end' of the receiving-chamber from its normal position below the serrated interior ledge B to a position above the top edge a4 of the box-front without striking the front a3 of the fixed roof, and a second radial rib c4 on the rear portion of said cylindrical wall is so located as to be swung nearly to the front a3 of the fixed roof A when the chute is in normal lowered position, and thus serves IOO to more eifectively exclude rain, &c., as will be clearly understood by reference to Fig. 4C.

In myimproved construction it will be n0- ticed that I employ a body having substantially a half-open top in connection with a rotary receiving-chute which is not only adapted to fill all the requirements of receiving, depositing, and protecting mail in the most satisfactory and simple manner, but which also serves to satisfactorily close said half-open top without any separate provision for this purpose, thereby providing, asI believe, a box of the simplest, neatest, and cheapest construction possible in connection with the essential requirements.

A rain and dust proof mail-box ofthe class described :having a body formed with an open front at its upper end and a fixed circular rool:` which covers approximately the rear half of the box-topg'said body also having side Walls which extend above the bottom of its open portion and have curved top edges, and said roof being arranged above the tops oi said curved edges and extending concentrically therewith and also extending laterally, so that the inner surfaces of its sides will be beyond the planes of the inner surfaces of said curved top edges, to form closed Ways in the sides of the rear portion of the curved top of the box; said Ways having mouths at the front and being bounded at the top and side by the top and side, respectively, of the roof, and below by the curved top edges of the sides of the body; said roof also having a front edge a3; and a rotary receiving-chute, having a diametrical receiving-chamber and a cylindrical Wall, said cylindrical Wall serving normally to close the open front of the box and having lateral extensions which overhang the curved top edges of the body sides and travel in said ways and radial ribs projecting from said eylindrical Wall and arranged on opposite sides of said front edge a3 for the purposes specified.

Signed by me at Reading, Pennsylvania, 45

this 10th day of August, 1899.

JOHN A. KLINE. Witnesses:

Woon M. SCHWARTZ,-J1. W. G. STEWART.