US1488300A - Post and bracket for mail boxes - Google Patents

Description

March z5, 19524: 1,48&,300

S. H.`ATHOMPSOI-\1 Pos1" AND BRACKET ma MAIL BOXES Filed Jan. 23 1923 Patente Mar., Z5, 1%24.

SAMUEL H. THOMPSON, F COLLBRAN, ALABAMA.

POST AND BRACKET FOR MAIL BOXES.

Application filed January 23, 1923.` Serial No. 614,449. fw..

, viding a bracket upon which the mail box is secured and a post for carrying the bracket, and upon which the latter is adjustable up and down.

One of ther inconveniences of rural mail boxes is that they are generally mounted too high or too low from the ground for the mail carrier to reach, when he is passing in his wagon and that lie, as a rule, has to dismount to deposit the mail or take it out of the box.

The advantage of the device forming the subject matter of the present invention is that, after the post has been securely set in the ground near the road, where the mail carrier passes, it is possible to raise or lower the mail box upon the post and adjust it in the most convenient place for reaching from the mail carriers wagon. It is evident that readjustment of the height of the box can then be easily performed in case another mail carrier should be assigned to the route, who travels on a wagon or automobile of different height, this adjustment being possible without` in the least disturbing the position of the post.

lt is evident that with the mail boxes mounted in this manner 'along-'the route of collecting Ymail,considerable gain ofV time will be the consequence, as the mail'carrier does not need .to dismount to deliver or collect mail from the boxes and that he, accordingly, saves several minutes 'at each mail box.

In the accompanying drawing one embodiment of the invention is Villustrated and;

Figure `1 represents a side elevation of a post and bracket erected on the ground;

Figure 2 is a fragmentary side elevation in largerscale and partial section of the de vice;

yI'Figure 3 is ,a of the detailsg;` A p Figure 4 Ashovvsf-a 1slightfrnodication thereof; and

perspective `view of some Figure 5 is a perspective view of a beam suitable for the post.

Reference numeral 1() represents a post erected on the ground, as indicated in Figure 1, and carrying the supporting bracket at its upper end. The post 10 may be made i of any suitable material such as wood or iron, in the former' case, a solid wooden post of square cross section; may be used, but inthe preferred construction an iron post is used for the device. In the drawing, the post 10 is shown as made of channel iron with a front wall 11 and two side walls 12, so that the post is open at the rear. It is evident that instead of channel iron an lIsl-beam may be used, las indicated in Figure 5, in which case` the front wall 13 and the rea-r wall 14 are solid,-while theA two sides are open.

The bottom end of the postfvlO may be slit open along the corners and the front and side walls: bent outwardly or flared, as seen at 15 in Figure 1. A short distance above the flared end, a collar `16 may be rivetedl around the post to provide an anchor, and this anchor together with the lower end of the post is preferably set in cement or concrete 17, as seen in Figure 1. This provides a very rm support :in the ground. If the collar 16 is sufiiciently large, no concrete would be needed.

The front wall 11 is cut or nicked in order to form a series of lips 18 equally spaced in the length direction of the post and at the upper end thereof.. These lips are intended to provide seats for the mail box bracket and determine its height from the ground. At times the post may be furnished with a series of ldrilled holes in place of the lips 18.

The mail box 21 is preferably nailed or in any other manner secured to a wooden base 45.'

The bracket consists of 'two main parts namely a Ytable 19 and a securing band or loop 20., best seen in Figure Bof the draw ing'.4 The table 19 is'made of an iron band extending ini horizontal direction and pro;- vided with anerturesQO kfor receiving bolts by means of which the base 4:5:toge`ther with the rnailfbrofx-Ql isf-rigidly secured` The rear wall or inner end of the table 19 is-,ben-t down at right angles to the horizontal; portion thereof, as at 22, and the lower edge23 Tis-bent forward,- running substantiallyA par;- allel to th'etable portion.l 'In-this manner the table 19 and the horizontal bottom edgel A `spaced apart sufficiently to form a slight y front wall 11 of the post.

play between the band and the post. IThe length of the arms 26 is suoli that when assembled, the rear wall 22 of the table 19 will stand away a short distance from the In the space thus formed between the rear wall 22 of the table and the front wall 11 of the post is inserted a spring 23, the upper end of which is curved forwardly, as at 29, in order to slide easily up and down on the front wall 11. The lower end of the spring 23 is bent back to form a tail 30 adapted to engage with one of the lips 18. This spring 28 is Vriveted to theV rear wall 22 of the tacble, as c seen in Figures 2 and 3.

lt will now be evident that with the parts assembledas in Figure 2, the spring 28 will press the rear wall 22 of the table against the bolts 24,'in this manner holding the table 19 and the band 2O firmly to the post.

Reference numeral 31 represents a hook which may be held in position by one of the securing bolts holding the mail box on the table 19, as seen in Figure 2. This hook is intended for supporting packages arriving in the mail and too bulky for depositing inside the box.

1t is evident that any style of mail box 21 may be used, the box shown in Figures 1 and 2, however, opens to the front and has a door 32 hinged at the bottom and secured by a clasp at the top.

In Figure 4 is illustrated a slightly modified construction of the table. Instead of having a spring formed with a tail 30, as indicated in Figures 2 and 3, a tail 33 may be formed out of the ledge 34, which is bent forward as before, in order to engage with the bottom bolt 24. This tail 33 is formed by slitting the ledge 34 in two places and bending down the middle vportion thereof and bending forward the two side fingers to engage the bolt. In this case a shorter spring 35, curved -forwardly at its outer end as at 36 and secured by rivets as at 37 to the rear wall 38 of the table 39, may be used. This construction 'will function in the same manner as the one illustrated in Figures 2 and 3 for securing the bracket on the post.

" "Instead of forming the hook 31 asa separate member, a hook might be punched out from the material of the table l39, as indicated at 40 in Figure 4. This hook is bent down slightly below the table 39 in order to receive a package as already described in Vconnection with thehook` 31, and as clearly shown in Figure 1 of the drawings where a package 41 is suspended on the hook.

It is evident that the posts 10 may be manufactured in uniform lengths and set down in the ground according to the condition of the Ylatter, deeper in soft ground than in more solid ground. vWith ordinary posts great care has to be taken to have the posts of correct length in order to position theV mail box at the proper height above the ground. VNo such care need tobe taken with the applicauts device as the height 1s easily adjusted after the post has been placed inV position. Q

To assemble the parts to and adjust the height of the box on the post, the table 19 with its spring 2S or 35 is inserted between the arms 26 of the loop or band 2O and one of the bolts 24, preferably the top one, 1nserted through the apertures 25 to carry the table 19. This upper bolt will thenV temporarily form a hinge for the table, so that` the band 2O may easily be Vdrawn upror down along the post, until the correct height has been found, when the tail 30` or 33 is pushed into the seat formed by one of the lips 1S on the post- 10.y whereupon the lower bolt 24 is pushed through the lower apertures 25 in the arms 26 engaging in the corner above the ledge 23. The bracket is now held firmly in position by the tail 30 and the bent portion 29 of the spring, and the box 21- may thereuponbe secured upon the ton of the table 19 by means of bolts drawn through the apertures 20 and corresponding openings in the bottom of the box, one of the bolts also carrying the hook 31 in ease a loose hook is to be used. Y

ln order to adjust the height of the box, if this is found necessary, one of the bolts 24 is removed and the box with its bracket slid up or down along the post and positioned at the desired height above the ground, whereupon the bolt 24.is again inserted-through the corresponding apertures 25 in the band 20.

At times the spring maybe left out altogether and a wedge inserted to fill the space between the rear wall 22 of the table 19 and the post 10 while, however, the tail 33 must engage with one of the lipsr18V of the post. Y,

Instead of adjusting the position .of the box up and down on the post in the Vmanner just described, this may be accomplished in the following manner. `By taking hold of the outer end of the mail box or the table 19 and tilting 'the same upwards, the curved upper endY 29 of the spring 28 Vwill be slightlyl compressed, whilethe lowerbolt 24 serves as a fulcrum. This will ,disengage the tail 30 of the spring from one of the lips 18 and it will then be possible to push the box upwards to change its position from a lower to a higher one, whereupon by releasing the hold of the box, the tail 30 will then engage another of the lips 18 situated near the top of the post. If it is desired to lower the mail box, the latter together with the table 19 is again tilted around the lower bolt 24 so that the tail 30 of the spring slips out of engagement with one of the lips 18, whereupon the box and the table held in the tilted position are pushed downwards until the right height from the ground is found, when the tail 30 will again engage with a suitable lip 18. The main object of Y having a mail box mounted in this manner is that it is possible for the mail man to change the height of the box from the ground by a simple operation which would only occupy a very short time. It is often the case, along rural mail routes, that roads which at times are hard and smooth making easy running during dry seasons, become almost impassable by automobiles, when the wet season or bad weather sets in, and that for this reason, the mail man who ordinarily uses a light automobile on his -delivery trips, has instead to resort to a buggy or other wagon that usually is higher than the automobile. If the mail box had been set lower on the postto be conveniently reached from the automobile, this position would be found to be too low for reaching from a buggy, and the mail man would now simply raise the mail box by taking hold of it and pushing it upwards, leaving the'box in this position until the condition of the roa-ds became more favorable.

Having thus described the invention what is claimed as new is:

1. A mail box support comprising a post provided with a series of projecting lips, a bracket adapted to receive a mail box and having a looped member engaging around the post, and means for firmly holding the bracket on the post including a spring having a tail portion engaging with one of said lips, said bracket comprising a table member detachably engaging with said looped member and retained in position by said spring.

\ 2. A mail box support comprising a post provided with a series of projecting lips, a bracket adapted to receive a mail box and having a looped member engaging around the post, means for rmly holding the bracket on the post including a tail portion engaging with one of said lips, said bracket comprising a table member detachably connected with said looped member, and bolts engaging with said table member' and said looped member.

3. A mail box support comprising a post provided with a series of projecting lips, a bracket adapted to receive a mail box and having a looped member engaging around the post, means for firmly holding the bracket on the post including a tail portion engaging with one of said lips, said bracket comprising a table member detachably connected vwith said looped member, and bolts engaging with said table member and said looped member, said means including a spring tending -to hold said table member tightly against said bolts.

4. A mail box support comprising a post providedwith a series of projecting lips, a bracket adapted to receive a mail box and having a looped member engaging around the post, means for firmly holding the bracket on the post including a tail portion engaging with one of said lips, said brackets comprising aV table member detachably connected with said looped member, and bolts engaging with said table member and said looped member, said means including a spring tending to hold said table member tightly against said bolts, and said tail portion forming a part of said spring.

In testimony whereof I aiiix my signature.

SAMUEL H. THOMPSON. [n s.]

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