US807888A - Mail-box fastener. - Google Patents

Description

PATENTED DEC. 19, 1905.

E. F. WALLACE. MAIL BOX FASTENER.

APPLICATION FILED JAN. 10, 1905.

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UNITE STATES PATENT GFFICE.

WIAlL-BOX FASTENER- Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 19, 1905.

Application filed January 16, 1905. Serial No. 241.326.

To ctZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EMILUS F. ALLAon, of Syracuse, in the county of Onondaga, in the State of New York, have invented new and useful Improvements in Mail-Box Fasteners, of which the following, taken in connection with the accompanying; drawings, is a full, clear, and exact description.

This invention relates to improvements in mail-box fasteners of the class set forth in my allowed application, Serial No. 210,501, filed May 31, 1904:, and allowed July 30, 1904. In both cases one of the fastening elements is secured to a post or other suitable support and provided with opposed shoulders,- while another element is fastened to the box and has sliding interlocking engagement with the fixed element and is looked in place by a third element, which is accessible only from the interior of the mail-box and is movable into and out of position between said shoulders.

I have found that it is desirable, if not necessary, to relieve the strain upon the looking element and also to add additional bracing strength to the fastening and at the same time to further protect the fastenings from malicious interference.

My object, therefore, is to relieve the strain on the movable locking parts and to add to the general strength and safety of the fastening.

In the drawings, Figure l is a vertical sectional view through the rear wall of a mailbox and my improved fastening therefor. Fig. 2 is a transverse sectional view taken on line 2 2, Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a rear face view in perspectiveof the detached fastening-plate, which is to be secured to a post or other support. Fig. i is a perspective view of the detached locking element. Fig. 5 is a perspective view of the dovetailed plate, which is secured to the bottom of the letter-box.

Arepresents the rear wall of a mail-box, and B is asupport to which themail-box is to be fastened, the fastening device consisting, essentially, of two upright metal plates 1 and 2 and a locking member 3.

The plate 1 is permanently secured to the rear face of the wall A by suitable fastening means, as bolts or rivets 4, and is provided with a vertical dovetail groove 5 and a transverse slot or opening 6, which is registered with a similar slot or opening 7 in the wall A.

The dovetail groove 5 is formed between vertical ribs 8, which converge transversely and rearwardly from the upright edges of the plate 1, and the top of this plate is usually ofi'set rearwardly to form a hood 9, which overhangs the top of the groove 5 to prevent the entrance of rain, snow, and other foreign 6o matter and also to prevent malicious interference with the locking member 3, presently described.

The plate 2 is permanently secured by suitable fastening means, as screws 10, to the support B and is formed with a vertical dovetail rib 11, which fits with a sliding fit in the groove 5, so as to form a sliding interlocking connection between the plates 1 and 2. The front side of this rib (which is tubular) is also formed with a transverse slot or opening 12 to receive the locking member3, whereby the plates 1 and 2 are held from sliding endwise one upon the other. The lower side of the opening 12 is provided with a central raised portion 13', which enters a central opening in the locking member 3 and prevents the latter from being accidentally or maliciously turned on its axis sufficient to permit the removal of one plate from the other, the opening 12 being of sufficient depth vertically to permit the mail-box and its plate 1 to be elevated, so that the locking member 3 will clear the projection 13 when it is rocked to its unlocked position, as shown by dotted lines in Fig. 2.

In order to relieve the locking member from undue strain incidental to the weight of the letter-box, the plate 2 is extended downwardly and is formed with a hook or shoulder 14L, which engages the lower edge of the wall A, and thereby supports the full weight of the box.

The locking member 3 consists of a short semicircular metal tube having its flat side provided with opposite vertical trunnions 15, which are journaled in suitable bearings 16 between the wall A and plate 1 at opposite sides of the openings 6 and/T, while the convex side is adapted to be rocked by hand rearwardly into the opening 12 or forwardly into the interior of the mail-box. In the use of these interlocking plates 1 and 2 more or less space is left between the rear side of the mailbox and its support, as B, which might permit access to malicious removal of the fasten ing screws or bolts which secure the plate 2 to its support B, and to prevent this the opposite upright edges of said plate are made to form wings 17, which diverge inwardly or forwardly in close proximity to or against the wall A, so that the interlocking members of the plates 1 and 2 and their fastening means and also the locking member 3 are entirely inclosed and concealed by said Wings in addition to the hood 9 and shoulder 14.

The locking member 8 is accessible only from the interiorof the box, and therefore can be unlocked only by authorized attendants having a key to the box.

In operation assuming that the plate 1 and locking member 8 are properly afiixed to the mail-box and that the plate 2 is secured in position upon a post or other support then to place the box in position the member 3 is first rocked by hand till its convex side is facing the interior of the box, as shown by dotted lines, Fig. 3, after which the mail-box is lifted until the lower end of the dovetail groove 5 is'registered with the upper end of the dovetail rib l1, whereupon the box is lowered until its lower edge engages the hook-shoulder 14. The box is now held in an upright position by the interlocked plates 1 and 2 and shoulder 14; but it may be moved upward, and in order to prevent this the operator reaches into the box and after slightly elevating it, so that the locking member 3 will clear the projection 13, said rocking member is rocked by the finger until its convex side is forced through the opening 12, when the box is allowed to drop onto the shoulder 1 and theprojection 13 to enter the locking member.

' d The mail-discharge opening in the box is then closed and its closure locked by the usual key.

It is to be understood that when the box is thus mounted it rests Wholly upon the shoulder 14: and 'not upon the locking member 3 nor hood 9, as the latter covers but just clears the top of the plate 2.

. Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim, and desire to se'cure by Letters Patent, is-

1. In combination with a mail-box having an opening in one side, a supporting-plate having sliding interlocking connection with the mailbox and provided with an opening registered with the former opening, a locking member hinged to one of the parts and movable into and out of said openings and a shoulder on the plate engaging and holding the mail-box separate from the locking member. 2. In combination with a mail-box and a supporting-plate having a shoulder on which the box rests, said box and plate having registered openings, and a locking member movable into and out of the openings and locking the box and plate against separate vertical movement.

3. In combination with amail-box and a supporting plate, one part having a dovetail groove and the other part having a dovetail rib fitting in the groove, said box and plate each having an opening registered with the other, a locking member pivoted to the box and swinging into and out of said openings and a shoulder on the plate on which the box rests to relieve the locking member from the weight of the box.

4. In combination with a mail-box and a supporting plate, one part having a dovetail groove and the other part having a dovetail rib fitting in the groove, said box and plate each having an opening registered with the other, a locking member pivoted to the box and swinging into and out of said openings and a shoulder on the plate on which the box rests to relieve the locking member from the Weight of the box, and ribs on the plate at opposite sides of the opening and projecting toward the box to conceal the locking member.

5. In combination with a mail-box and a supporting plate, one part having a dovetail groove, and the other part having a dovetail rib fitting in the groove, said box and plate each having an opening registered with the other, a locking member pivoted to the'box and swinging into and out of said openings and a shoulder on the plate on which the box rests to relieve the locking member from the weight of the box, and a hood projecting from the box over the top ofthe groove and rib.

6. In combination with a mail-box and a supporting plate, one part having a dovetail groove, and the other part having a dovetail 'rib fitting in the groove, said box and plate each having an'opening registered with the other, a locking member pivoted to the box and swinging into and out of said openings and a shoulder on the plate on which the box rests to relieve the locking member from the Weight of the box and ribs on the plate at opposite sides of the opening and projecting toward the box to conceal the locking member,

and a hood projecting from the box over the top of the groove and rib.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand on this 21st day of September, 1904.

EMILUS F. VVALLAOE.

Witnesses:

MILDRED M. No'r'r, H. E. CHASE.

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