US749154A - Letter-box - Google Patents

Description

No. 749,154. PATENTED JAN. 12, 1904.

G. E.' BENTON. LETTER BOX. APPLICATION FILED JULY`22, 1903.

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UNITED STATES Patented January 12, 1904.

PATENT OFFICE.

GEORGE E. BENTON, OF EAST HAMPTON, NEW YORK.

LETTER-BOX.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 749,154, dated January 12,1904.

Application filed July-22,1903. serial No. 156,603. (No model.)

To wl whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE E. BENTON, a citizen of the United States, residing at East Hampton, in the county of Suffolk and State of New York, have invented a new and useful Letter-Box, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to an improved letter-box, and has for its object to provide a simple, inexpensive, and eflcient device of this character in which the cover of the box is extended over the mailing-orifice to form a guard and protect the letters or other mailmatter from the elements.

A further object of the invention is to construct the 'box or receptacle with a curved top, sloping gradually from the front of the box to the rear thereof, so as to form a drain, and thereby obviate the liability of the water flowing through the mailing-orifice and wetting or otherwise injuring the mailmatter.

A still further object is to construct a mailbox the relative disposition of the several parts beingsuch as to render it impossible to introduce the hand ora tool or other instrument through the mailing-orifice and extract the mail-matter from the box when the drop is open, and to provide a novel form of door to facilitate the collection of the mail.

The invention consists in the construction and novel combination and arrangement of parts hereinafter fully described, illustrated in the accompanying drawings, and pointed out in the claim hereto appended, it being ununderstood that various changes in form, proportion, and vminor details of construction may be resorted to without departing from the spirit or sacrificing any of the advantages of this invention.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a perspective view of a letter-box constructed in accordance with my invention. Fig. 2 is a vertical section of the same, showing in dotted lines the position of the drop when open. Fig. 3 is a detail sectional viewof the pivoted door, and Eig. 4 is a detail perspective view Similar numerals of reference indicate corresponding part's 1n all the figures of the drawings.

1 designates the Inail-box, preferably rectangular inshape, as shown, and formed of metal or other suitable material, being detachably secured to a post 2 in any suitable manner, as by clips 3.

The top or cover 4 of the box is preferably in the' form of a compound curve, as shown, sloping from its highest point at the front of the box to the rear thereof. By this arrangement the capacity of the box is materially increased and the water permitted to drain over the back of the box without wetting or otherwise injuring the contents thereof. The front portion of the top or cover is extended upwardly and forwardly a short distance beyond the face of the box to form a guard 5,

which projects over the mailing-orifice 6 and protects the letters or other mail-matter from the rain or snow while being introduced therein. Pivotally mounted in the orifice 6 is a gravity lid or drop 7 provided with suitable guide-plates, as shown, the offset portion 8 of the drop completely closing said orifice and forming a continuation of the front face of the box, as illustrated in Fig. 2.

The lid or drop is preferably disposed immediately below the cover, so that when said drop is tilted in order to deposit the mail the weighted end 9 of the drop will be forced upwardly in close proximity to the concave portion 10 of the top or cover, rendering it impossible to introduce the hand or a tool through the mailing-orifice and unlawfully extract the contents of the box.

The drop is provided with the usual knob 11 for opening the same by hand; but said drop may be opened by a foot-lever, if desired, in either event the drop automatically returning to the closed position by its own weight after being released.

The mail-box is provided with a pivoted door 12, having depending ears or lugs 13 secured thereto adapted to engage the bottom of the box and support said door when open, a pair of segmental plates 14, secured to the opposite sides of the door, serving to guide the mail-matter and facilitate the collection of-'the same.

A suitable weather-strip or deflector 15 is arranged above the door to prevent the rain or }s3now from gaining access to the interior of the 0X.

By having the top of the boX made in the manner described it not only permits the water to drain over the back thereof, but, by reason of its peculiar shape, increases the capacity of the box, forms a protection for the mailing-oritice, and materially prevents unscrupulous persons from removing the contents therefrom.

Having thus described the invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

A device of the class described comprising, a receptacle provided with a mailing-orifice, an arched cover for said receptacle having its front portion bent upwardly over the mailing-

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