US2505309A - Mail receptacle with door actuated signal - Google Patents

Description

April 25,- 1950' c. H. SPRICK ET AL 2,505,309

MAIL RECEPTACLE WITH DOOR ACTUATED SIGNAL 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed July 14, 1948 lll glwua/wtow afffiprz'a/"f MJRe 72 242292 f] 7. if, /2

April 25, 1950 c. H. SPRICK ET AL 2,505,309

MAIL RECEPTACLE WITH DOOR ACTUATED SIGNAL Filed July 14, 1948 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 ZZZ Patented Apr. 25, 1950 STATES PATENT OFFICE .Carlli; Sprickand Mervin J, Renquish. Julesburg, Colo.-

ApplicationJuly 14; 1948, Serial No. 38,878

1 Claim. 1

This-invention relates to. an improved mail box forrurai delivery.

It is anobject ofvthis. invention to provide. an improved-mail box of the kind to. be more particularlyv described hereinafter to. facilitate the deposit. and removal: of: mail by rural carriers. and the box own-er.- Duetto; the. structure and arrangement of. the boxes presently in use, in many instancesit is difficult, and often impossible, to open the boxand-reach within from an automobileor other vehicle. Such structure of.

the box. requires. that the carrier or. others get.

Another object. of this invention is to providea rural deliverymail; box having, a signal flag,

which is automaticallymovedto alowered post-- tion. upon opening the: closure of the box; therebyeliminating the. requirement of the carrier to.

lower thesignal after a delivery. In this. manner twooperations of the carrier's work are ac complished by' one movement and therefore the carriers work is -grea-tly lessened and the entire delivery maybe accomplished in better time.

Yet anotherob- 'ect' OfthlSiiIlVBIltlOIl is to pro.-

vide. a mailbox o f this. kind which is attractive in appearance, efficient, in. operatiomsimpl n.

construction and economical to build.

With the above and other objectsin view, our invention consists in the arrangement, combination and details ofconstruction disclosed in the drawings and.specification,- andthen more par-- ticularly pointed out .in the appended claim.

In the. drawings;

Figure 1. is "aside. elevationpartly broken away and partly in. section, of; anruralmail box constructed "according to an embodiment of our in-- vention,

Figure 2 is a front end'elevation,

. Figure 3 isa front elevation" with the'closure;

removed,

Figure 4' is a longitudinal section taken on the line 4-4 of Figure 1'",

Figure 5 is. averticalsectiontaken on theline. 5--.5 .of.Ei'gure 2;

2 Figure. 5. is afragmentary'detail section takenv on the line 6- of Figure 1,.

Figure 7 is a fragmentary section taken sub stantially in the line -6-6, showing the-closure removed from. the body,

Figure 8; is a fragmentary section taken on the line 8-8 of Figure 1.

Referring to the drawings, thenumeral Ill designates generally an. improved mail box for rural mail delivery so constructed and arranged that. the closure therefor may be moved. to an open position by sliding the closure vertically relative to the main body of the box, thereby permitting the box. to be positioned close to or adjacent to other boxes, or in a restricted area. As the. closure. slides vertically there is no neces- W for providing. additional. space in the area adjacent the box for the disposition .of the closure inits open position. With a box of. this kind the. mail carrier may approach very closely to the. forward. end of the box in his vehicle and place the mail. within the box. without danger of the closure for the box. striking the vehicle or requiri'nghi'm to stop a suitable distance from the box to permit the closure to be opened.

The box 1'0 is formed with a housing or body ll open at the front end thereof; The body H is made of sheet metal or othersuitable material which may beformedin. any suitable configuration. The side walls I2 are parallel and vertically spaced apart at their lower end by a bottom wall or floor l4 and connected together at their upper end. by an upwardly bowed or arched wall IS.

A closure as 16- is swingably supported on'the body H at the point l1 so thatthe closure l6 slidably engages the front'edges of the side walls in the closed position thereof; The forward edge of the'body II is formed with a flange as I 8 which depend'sfrom the forward edge of the top 'walllli downwardly to a point slightly below the.

upper end of theforward'edgesof the side wall l2. The; flange 18' provides a weather seal and. is

adapted. to. engageover' the upper edge of the closure 1,6.- The, closure lo eomprises. a forward plate as at l9, hingedly and swingably supported on the body I I by a pair of rearwardly extending arms 20. The arms are secured to the side edges of the forward plate [9 and extend rearwardly to the point ll which determines the curvature of the front edge of the side wall. A rearwardly extending flange 2i is fixed to or formed on the side edges of the lower end of the plate [9 and provides an attaching means for securing the arms 29 to the plate [9.

Each of the arms 20 is formed of a flat strip of metal or other suitable material and is bent upon itself to the shape to be described. The arms 20 are formed with a central web as 22 which is tri- Y angular in configuration, having a curved front edge of the same curvature of the forward edge of the side walls 12. The side edges of the web 22 converge rearwardly to the point H from which the radius of the front edgeof the walls 12 is determined.

A flange as 24 is bent outwardly from the side edges of the plate 22 to stiifen the arms throughout their length. A pin as 25 engages through the juncture of the rearwardly extending edges of the arm 20 for swingably supporting the arms and closure on the body II. The forward edge of the web 22 is secured to the rearwardly extending flange 2| of the closure It by rivets 26 or other suitable fastening means. In this manner the closure 16 is swingably supported on the body H and slidably engages the forward edge of the side walls [2 in an open and closed position.

An upwardly extending flange as 21 is formed on the forward edge of the bottom wall Id of the body H to provide a seal for the closure. The extreme upper end of the plate I9 is reverted at one point as indicated by the numeral 23 for forming a stop member engageable with the upper edge of the flange 27 for limiting the downward swinging movement of the closure about the pin 23. A spring-pressed latch as 29 is fixed to the lower edge of the bottom wall M at the forward end and is engageable with a bead as 33 on the lower edge of the plate IQ for resiliently supporting the closure It in a raised or closed position; A U-shaped handle as 3| is fixed on the forward side of the plate l3 at the upper end to provide a suitable handle for moving the closure 16 to the open or closedposition.

,A signal flag as 32 is rockably supported on the body I I for indicating to the carrier that there is mail within the mail box to be picked up or for indicating to the owner that mail has been deposited in the box. The flag 32 is so constructed and arranged that it will be supported in its raised position by the arms 23 and upon opening of the closure for removing the mail will permit the flag 32 to be dropped. The fiag 32 is fixed to the upper end of a supporting arm 34 which is pivotally mounted on the forward end of one side I2 of the body I I.

An elongated slot 35 is formed on the lower end of the arm 34 and a pivot pin 36 engages loosely in the slot 35. The pin 36 is fixed to the outer side of an attaching plate 31 which is adapted to be secured on the side wall 12 by rivets or other suitable fastening means. The pin 33 is fixed midway the length of the plate 35 and an outwardly extending arm as 38 is bent from the upper edge of the plate at the forward end there- 4 engage the upper side of the upper flange on the web 22.

A stop member 39 is fixed on the flange and limits the forward swinging movement of the arms 3d below the pivot 36 thereof. The flag 32 is made of metal'or other substantial material and is normally disposed rearwardly of the pivot pin 33 in the raised position of the flag. In this manner the weight of the flag 32 will gravitatingly bias the arms 34 for swinging downwardly and rearwardly to a position shown in dotted lines in Figure 1.

- A spring-pressed clip as 40 is fixed to the inner side of one of the side walls [2 within the body ,l l. near the forward end thereof. The clip 43 is provided for supporting cards or other thin pieces of mail within'the box near the forward end so with the bead 383 on the lower end of the plate it. The weight of the plate I9 and arms 29 will cause the closure [3 to swing downwardly about the pivot pin 25. The stop member 28 will engage with the flange 2! on the bottom M to limitthe downward swinging movement of the closure. At this time the mail may be deposited Within the housing H. The closure i3 is then raised to its closed position and the arm 34 which supports the flag 32 is moved rearwardly to position the pin 36 in the forward or lower end of the slot 35. The arm 35 may then be pivoted about the pin 33 to dispose the flag 32 in the raised position.

The forward swinging movement of the arm 3% to the raised position is limited by the stop member 38 and the arm 34 may then be lowered to position the pin 36 in the upper end of the slot 35. In this manner the-lower end of the arm 34 will abut the stop member 33 carried by the flange of the arms 23 for supporting the flag 32 against inadvertent downward swinging movement about the pin 33. When the closure 23 is again opened to remove the mail from the body H, the flange on the side arms will be lowered away from the lower edge of the bar 34. This will permit the free swinging movement of the flag about the pin 36 so that the flag will be gravitatingly swung to the lowered position.

We do not mean to confine ourselves to the, exact details of construction herein disclosed but claim all variations falling within the purview of the appended claim.

What we claim is:

A deposit and collection receptacle comprising a body formed of opposite sides, a top wall, a

=. bottom wall and a rear end wall, the front end of said body being open and the forward edges 1 of said side Walls being convex, a downwardly swinging curved closure engageable over the front end of said body, a flange carried by said top wall and projecting downwardly a short distance along said side walls, the upper portion of said closure engaging on the inner side of said flange when said closure is in closed position, a pair of closure supporting arms fixed to said closure and extending rearwardly on the outer sides of said of, forming a stop for limiting the forward swinging movement of the arms 34. In the raised position of the arms 34 and flag 32, the bottom edge ofthe arms 34 is adapted to press downwardly or side walls to a point substantially adjacent the rear end wall and gravitatingly swingable downwardly to closure opening position, means pivotally securing the rear ends of said arms to the sides of said body, latch means carried by said bottom wall releasably engaging said closure for holding the latter in an upper closed position, a signal member including an elongated staff formed with an elongated opening adjacent the lower end thereof, means carried by one of said side walls engaging through said opening pivotally mounting said staff in a position whereby the lower end of said staff will engage one of said arms when the latter is raised, and a stop fixed to said one arm engageable by said staff for holding said staff vertical when said closure is in closed position.

CARL H. SPRICK.

MERVIN J. RENQUIST.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS

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