US672417A - Mail and package receptacle. - Google Patents

Description

No. 672,417. Patented Apr. I6, l90l.

M. S. FIELD.

MAIL AND PACKAGE BEGEPTAGLE,

(Lppli6a.tion filed 6, 1901.) (No mm.

lTED errant trier.

MAROELLUS S. FIELD, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSTGNOR OF TVVO- THIRDS TO JAMES T. A. LEWIS AND JOHN T. WVARD, OF SAME PLACE.

lVIAlL AND PACKAGE RECEPTACLE.

SEEGIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 672,417, dated April 16, 1901.

Application filed February 6, 1901. S ri l N 46,261. No model.)

To aZZ 1071/01 11 it may concern: to which a collapsible body is attached, and

Be it known that I, MAROELLUS S. FIELD, suitable brackets, to which the frame is de a citizen of the United States, and a resident tachably secured, the brackets, it will be unof Boston, in the county of Suffolk and State derstood, being secured to the table or wall 55 5 of Massachusetts, have invented an Improve or to any other suitable support in such a poment in Mail and Package Receptacles, of sition as to place the receptacle convenient which the following description, in connecand accessible. The frame is designated gention with the accompanying drawings, is a erally by A, and it may be of any suitable specification, like characters on the drawings shape, Fig. 1 showing a substantially rectan- 6o representing like parts. gular frame and Fig. 3 showing a semicircu- In the sorting of mail in post-offices itis lar frame, and said frame supports in a manusual to employ suitable receptacles into ner hereinafter described the body B of the which is deposited the mail for different desreceptacle, which is composed of some flexitinations, and similar receptacles are also ble material, preferably some suitable reticu- 65 t commonly used to receive mail from maillated fabric, such as netting, which will exchntes, these receptacles being usually baspose the contents of the receptacle to view at kets or similar repositories which when not all times. The brackets by which the frame in use occupy a good deal of space. More is detachably sustained are represented by C, over, it is sometimes difficult to ascertain at said brackets being more particularly herein- 7o a glance whether the basket or other receptaafter described.

cle has any mail therein owing to the opaque Theframe A is preferably made from a sincharacter of the sides of the receptacle. gle piece of wire, which is bent into any snit- It is the object of this invention to provide able shape, but so as to make at least one a receptacle which is adapted to post-oiiice straight side, which will be placed against 75 2 5 work, either to receive the mail from the mailthe wall or other support, and at the angles chute or to'be used in the sorting of mail, or corners of said frame, at the ends of said which receptacle is collapsible and has its straight side, the wire of the frame is formed body composed of a reticulated fabric, so that into suitable coils, as -will be presently dethe contents of the receptacle may at all times scribed. My preferred form of frame is illus- 8o be visible. The receptacle is also detachably trated in Fig. 1,which is rectangular in shape, secured to the Wall or any other suitable supthis being preferable because it makes the port, whereby it may be easily removed when receptacle a universal one, as will be hereinit is desired to discharge the contents thereafter pointed out. As shown in Fig. 1, the from. rectangular frame has coils at each corner 85 My invention consists of a suitable framethereof, and preferably these coils will be tri- Work, from which is suspended the body of angular in shape, as illustrated, and will be the receptacle, which is preferably made from made by bending the side pieces a at 5 to areticulated' fabric, and suitable brackets by make a right angle and again bending the which the frame of the receptacle is detach- Wire at 6 to form an acute angle, carrying the 0 4o ably sustained, as hereinafter described and straight portion 7 of the coil across the corner claimed. of the frame and to the top of the side pieces In the drawings,'Fignre 1 is a perspective eand then bending the wire back upon itself,

View showing my receptacle fastened to any' as at 8, to make the upper turn 9 of the said suitable support, the body of the receptacle coil, the said upper turn following the lower 95 being shown partially in outline. Fig. 2 is turn 10 in making the corner of the frame. an enlarged perspective view of one of the Asstated above, each cornerof theframehas'a brackets, showing in dotted lines the position coil made in the mannerabove described, and, occupied by one corner of the frame; and Fig. as will be seen from Fig. 1, the lower turn 10 3 is a plan view,- on a smaller scale, of a'modiof the coil above described merges into and ICC 5o fied form of receptacle-frame. forms a continuation of the side piece 4,

The invention comprises a suitable frame, while the upper turn 9 merges into and forms a continuation at one end of the side piece 4, said side piece 4- at its opposite end being bent to form the lower turn 10 of the coil at the next adjacent corner. From this construction it will be seen that each side piece of the frame merges at one of its ends into the upper turn of one coil and at its opposite end into the lower turn of the next adjacent coil.

The body of the receptable B is preferably made from any suitable open-work or reticulated fabric, suchas netting, the advantages of this material being that the receptacle when not in use can be folded to occupy a minimum space, and also when in use the open-work fabric allows the contents of the receptacle to be always visible from the outside. The reticulated fabric is suspended from the frame by stringing the loops at the upper end of the body upon the side pieces of the frame, and at the corners the said loops pass over the piece 7 of the coil, which extends across the corner of the frame. Vith this way of attaching the fabric to the frame when it is desired to discharge the contents from the receptacle the frame may simply be turned bottom side up, when the entire contents, together with the body B of the receptacle, will fall through the open framemark, the said body being turned wrong side out by this movement and in its new position being ready for use again without the necessity of passing the body back through the frame to its original position. It will thus be seen that my receptacle is not only collapsible, but also reversible.

By making the frame A in the manner above specifi'edv,'. e., with each side piece connecting the upper turn of one coil with the lower turn of the next adjacent coilit will be seen that if the empty receptacle were dropped on the floor each side piece would contact with the floor only at one end, and therefore the loops of the fabric which pass around the said side pieces are raised sufficientlyoff the floor so that they are prevented from wearing.

The receptacle is usually supported,asillustrated in Fig. 1, by means of two brackets O, which are made as rights and lefts, and each bracket comprises the base-piece 13, which is screwed to the wall or other suitable support, the said base-piece having projecting laterally therefrom the shelf or ledge 14, on which the bottoms of the coils at the corners of the frame are adapted to be supported, the said ledge having preferably a slight upward incline, so as to maintain the frame of the receptacle at a slight upward incline when itis in place. A suitable lug 15, projecting from the face of the base-piece 13, has its lower face cut away, as at 17, the point 18 of the lug being a distance from the shelf. 14 slightly less than the thickness of the coil at the corners of the frame. Afin or side wall 16, connecting the base-piece 13 and ledge or shelf 14, serves to strengthen the bracket and also to provide a stop for preventing any side motion of the receptacle when in place in the brackets.

In placing the frame in position the front end thereof is raised slightly from the position shown in Fig. 1, when the rear portion of the coils may he slipped under the nose 18 of the lug 15 until the coils strike the basepiece 13 of the bracket. The front. end of the frame is then lowered until the bottom of the coil rests squarely upon the shelf or ledge 14, the rear portion of the upper turns of the coils engaging the incline or cut-away portion 17 of the lug, thus holding the frame in a practically horizontal posit-ion and preventing the same from being disengaged from the bracket. When it is desired to empty thereceptacle, the front portion of the frame is raised slightly until the rear portion of the coils can be withdrawn from between the lug 18 and the shelf, when the receptacle can be readily removed from the brackets.

Bymaking the frame rectangular,assl1own in Fig. 1, it becomes a universal frame, for since the side pieces are all of the samelength the frame may be placed with anyone of its sides against the wall, and it is not necessary in placing the frame in position to turn it around to bring a certain side thereof between the brackets. The manner of attaching the fabric of the body B to the framethat is, by stringing the loops on the side pieces and the inner portion 7 of the coils allows the frame to be used either side up, as described above.

Fig. 3 illustrates a slightly-modified form of frame, which may be used instead of the rectangular frame, if desired, this frame having the straight side 21, at the ends of which are the coils, made as described above, the said coils being connected by the curved side 22. This form of frame, while it is reversible, is not universal, for it must always be used with the straight side 21 against the supporting-wall.

It will be obvious that other shapes of frames may be used, provided they have the straight side which has the coils at each end thereof, this being one of the important features of my invention.

Although my deviceis designed, primarily, for post-office use, yet it will be obvious that it is not confined to such use, for it is capable of use as a Waste-basket or as a receptacle to hold any desired articles.

From the above it will be seen that I have devised an extremely light and portable mailreceptacle which when not in use can be collapsed and made to occupy a minimum space and which is so constructed that the contents thereof are at all times visible.

Various changes may be made in the structure outlined above without departing from the spirit of my invention as expressed in the appended claims.

Having described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. A mailor package receptacle comprising a frame having a substantially straight por tion, said frame made of a single wire which is bent to form coils at each end of said straight portion, a body for the reception of mail, composed of a reticulated fabric suspended from said frame, combined with a pair of brackets for detachably supporting the frame, said brackets each having a ledge or shelf on which the lower turns of the coils rest, and a lug engaging the top turns of said coils.

2. A mail or package receptacle comprising a rectangular frame made of a single piece of wire bent to form coils at each corner of the frame, each side piece of the frame connecting the top turn of one coil to the bottom turn of the next adjacent coil, a body for the reception of mail, composed of a reticulated fabric suspended from said frame, and means for detachably securing the frame to a support with the frame in a substantially horizon tal position.

3. A mail-receptacle comprising a rectangular frame made of a single wire, said wire being bent to form triangular coils at each corner, a body for the reception of mail, composed of a reticulated fabric suspended from said frame, combined with a pair of oppositely-disposed brackets for detachably supporting the frame in a substantially horizontal position, said brackets each having a ledge on which the lower turn of the coils at the corners of the frame rest, and a lug engaging the top turn of said coils.

4. A mail-receptacle comprising a rectangular frame made of a single wire, said wire being bent to form triangular coils at each corner, a body for the reception of mail, composed of a reticulated fabric suspended from said frame, combined with a pair of oppositely-disposed brackets for detachably supporting the frame in a substantially horizontal position, said brackets each having a laterally-disposed ledge on which the lower turn of the coil is adapted to rest, a lug adapted to engage the top turn of said coils, and a side wall adapted to engage the side of the frame and preventlateral movement thereof.

5. A receptacle comprising a rectangular frame made of a single wire, said wire being bent to form triangular coils at each corner, each side piece of the frame connecting the top turn of the coil at one end thereof to the bottom turn of the coil at the other end thereof, a collapsible body suspended from said frame, combined with a pair of oppositelydisposed brackets for detachably supporting the frame in a substantially horizontal position, said brackets each having a ledge on which the lower turn of the coils at each end of a side piece of the frame is adapted to rest, and a lug adapted to engage the top turn of said coils.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

MAROELLUS S. FIELD.

Witnesses:

JOHN C. EDWARDS, LOUIS 0. SMITH.

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