Mail-box-transmission system.

Application filed December 2, 1911. Serial No. 663,614.

1,019,984.

To all whom it may concern: '

Be it known that I, John McGee, a citi- ,. zen of the United States, residing at Quinlan, in the comity of Hunt and State of.

Texas, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Mail-Box-transmission Systems, of which the following is a ^&PMy ^Cinvcntion relates to new .and useful 10 improvements in cable transmission sys ems for mail boxes. ,

In rural districts, the mail box at the load side is often removed a considerable distance from the farm house to which.it is desired 15 to deliver the mail, and for this reason the residents along a rural delivery route aie put to the inconvenience of a trip from the • farm house to the road side and back each time the rural postman passes. I he mak20 ing of such a trip is more particularly a hardship in rainy weather or when the ’ ground is muddy. Moreover unless a resident along a rural route happens to be: iri sight of the mail box at the time the post25 man passes, he cannot be certain whether or not any letters were placed m ms box, and he may therefore uselessly make a trip from the house to the mail box.

It is the object of the present invention to 30 provide a cable transmission system, especially adapted for use on rural de very routes, for the purpose of transmitting a mail-box from the roadside to a farm-house and vice versa, thus saving the farmer the 35 trouble and annoyance of walking back and forth between the farm-house and mail-box to secure his letters.

Another object of the invention is to.provide a cable transmission system comprising a mail-box adapted to travel freely alon^, the cable upon a wheeled frame, the extremities of the cable being adapted to undergo vertical adjustment in order that the cable may be so inclined as to produce travel or the mail box in either direction. .

A further object of the invention is to provide a mechanism adapted to be actuated bv the postman with little effort and adapted to produce travel of the mail-box from the road-side to a farm house along the criJble

A still further object is to provide a manually operated means for raising that ex40 tremity of the cable which is adjacent to the farrii-liouse, so that the mail-box may thus 55 be returned to the road-side iiltei its con tents have been removed at the farm-house.

Finally an object of the invention is to provide a device of the character described that will be strong, durable simple and efh- 60 cient, and comparatively easy to construct, and also one the various parts of which will not be likely to get out of working order..

With these and various other objects in view my invention has relation to certain 65 novel features of the construction and operation, an example of which is described in the following specification and ill list rated in the accompanying drawing, wherein,:Fitire 1 is a perspective view of the hcic- 70 in described cable transmission system, a mail box being shown in transit upon the cable traveling from the farm-house to the road-side. Fig. 2 is a detail perspective view showing a mechanism winch may be operated by the postman to release the means provided for holding the road-side extremity of the cable down, so that said extremity may be elevated to produce the travel of the mail-box to the. farm-house.

Referring now more particularly to ti e drawing wherein like numerals of reference designate similar parts m both the figures, the numeral 1 denotes two pairs of vertical posts, one pair being located at the roadside, or the receiving end of the system., and the other pair at the farm-house, or delivery end. The upper extremities of each pair of posts are rigidly connected by a horizontal cross-piece 2. The upper extremities ol the 90 two posts at the delivery end of. the system are further connected by a pair of slioit beams 3, inclined upwardly toward each other and meeting midway between said posts. From the middle of each cross-piece 2 a bar 4 is extended downward at an nii cliiiation of approximately 45 degrees, said bars being oppositely inclined and posi, tioned in the same imaginary vei tiuil plane [ passing midway between the two pans <1 ^P°The lower extremity of the rod 4 which is correlated with the posts 1 at the delne> i end (adjacent to the hirmhouse) is lu Id rigid by a pair of brace rods tend convergent^ from the lower extrenu75

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1,019,984 ties of said posts 1. The lower extremity of the rod 4, which is correlated with the posts 1 at the receiving end of the system (adjacent to the road-side) is rigidly secured to a 5 short vertical post 6, embedded in the ground. Upon each of the inclined rods 4 there is mounted a wheel 7, having a grooved rim adapted to receive said rod. As will presently be explained the wheels 7 are 10 adapted to travel up and down their respective rods. 4, thereby raising or lowering the correlated extremities of the cable which carries the mail-box. Each of the wheels 7 .is rigidly carried by a spindle 7^a, said spin15 dies being each mounted in a U shaped bracket 8 having a shank 8^a projecting parallel to the bracket members at their juncture. A cable 9 preferably of wire is extended under tension between the ex20 tremities of the_two shanks 8^a. From the extreniity of each shank 8“ there is also suspended a weight 10 of any suitable shape or material, the weight at the delivery end of the system being heavier than that provided 25-at. the receiving end.. The rod 4 at the receiving end of the system is provided at its iQWer, extremity with a recessed portion 11 of Approximately semi-circular shape, which portion is adapted to receive the wheel 7 car30 tied by said rod, holding the rod against a tendency to upward travel upon the rod due to a tension iii the cable 9 acting toward the delivery end and occasioned by the heavier weight 10 at said end of the system.

·. As will presently be explained a wheeled frame supporting a mail box is adapted to travel upon the cable 9, and when the wheel i rests in the recess 11, said wheeled frame with its correlated mail-box will occupy a 40 position at the receiving end of the system adjacent to the road-side. After the rural postman has deposited mail in the box, he may cause the same to travel from the receiving to· the delivery end of the system by 45 releasing the wheel 7 from the recess 11 thus permitting said wheel to travel up the., inclined rod 4 under the force already explained as due to the heavier weight 10 at the delivery end of the system.

In order to facilitate the operation of raising the wheel 7 from the recess 11, and m order to save time for the postman, a mechanism is provided which will produce the desired result through the operation of 55 a pivoted lever, readily accessible for manipulation, This lever which is designated V,^{the numera}l 12 is pivotally supported in a bracket 13. surmounted upon the post 6' One extremity of said lever is provided with 60 a handle; and the other extremity is bifurcated as is clearly shown in Fig. 2, the furcations thus formed being? turned slightly upward and made to respectively engage the' spindle 7 beneath said . spiHqle. It;is thus apparent that when the handle portion of the lever is depressed, there will result an upward displacement of the. bifurcated ends of the lever, thereby elevating the wheel. 7 from the recess 11, so that said wheel will be free to travel up the inclined rod 4 upon which it is mounted. As the wheel 7 travels up the rod at the re- ceiying end of the system, the wheel 7 at the delivery end will-travel down its supporting rod (due to the superior weight 10 at the aelivery end . as compared with the weight 10 at the receiving end).

delivery end of the system a cord 14 is attached to the shank 8^a and is extended upwardly passing over a small sheave 15. «η rotatably mounted in a bracket projecting downwardly from, the juncture of the two beams 3. After a party on a rural delivery route has removed his mail from the box, by exerting a pull upon the cord 14, he will «« • cause the wheel 7 with its correlated partsto travel up the rod 4 at the delivery end, the corresponding’ parts at the other end of the system at the same time traveling downward upon the rod 4, due to the weight 10 ₉₀at said end of the system. Owing to the inclination thus given to the cable 9,' the whee ed frame and the mail-box supported thereby will travel down the cable and.be returned to their normal position at the ₉k road-side. When the wheel 7 at the receiving end of the system reaches the lower ex- tremity of its supporting rod, said wheel, wilt enter the recess 11, thus preventing upward travel of said wheel wbn tension upon ιοό the cord 14 is released. The wheeled frame which is adapted , to travel-along the cable is denoted by the numeral 16, and the wheels resting upon the^cable^-and supporting said frame are designated by ihe' humeral- W-ios ine mail, box which is supported by the trame 16 is denoted by the numeral 18.

Ihe above explanation of the construction ot the cable system is believed to make the operation thereof quite clear. Normally the no parts 16, 17 and 18 comprising a wheeled frame supporting a mail box will be positioned at the receiving , end of the system adjacent to the.road-side. In case the postman has no mail for the party to whom the 115 box belongs, he will of course leave the same unmolested, the owner of the box thereby knowing that no letters have come for him. j should, be mail for the owner or the box., the postman after having placed 120 νθκΤ¹?^{0 in} hox would simply exert a ^downwai‘d -pressure upon the handle 12, whereupon as previously explained the cable will assume an inclination such that the box will at once travel to the house, 125 where the owner thereof may secure his mail without inconvenience. The owner of the _ box will then pull upon the cord 14, sufficiently to raise the wheel 7 with its correlated parts (at the delivery end) whereupon 130

1,019,084 the box will travel back to its normal' position and remain there until the next delivery of mail.

The invention is presented as including all 5 such changes and modifications as come within the scope of the following claims:—