Lockable shipping box

A lockable box has a tray and cover hinged together at the open rear end of the cover and locked at their opposite ends. A pair of detent spring fingers extending upwardly from the end of the tray lock over shoulders within the unhinged end of the cover. The detent spring fingers are released to open the box by inserting key lugs through holes in the lid of the cover in line with the spring detent fingers to disengage them from the cover. The cover and a tray are hinged together by a pair of elongated combination slide and hinge pins extending out from the rear midportions of the sides of the tray, whose longer dimension rotatably engages within hinge sockets at the rear ends of adjoining longitudinal grooves within the sides of the cover. Slide pins within the sides of the open rear end of the cover engage within longitudinal grooves in the lower outsides of the tray for helping guide the nesting movement of the tray and cover in conjunction with the combination hinge and slide guide pins on the tray sliding within the longitudinal grooves within the sides of the cover. The bottom and top edges of the slide guide pins are reduced by flats to leave arcuate side edges which rotatably engage within the enlarged hinge sockets. The reversible address plate is locked on the closed box by locking lugs extending upwardly from the sides of the tray which engage into notches on the address plate through holes in the lid of the cover when the cover is closed down over the tray.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
It is often necessary to ship materials in a steady routine back and forth 
from one address to another. In such service, it would be very helpful to 
have a permanent lockable box and address plate, which can easily be 
changed to facilitate shipment in both directions. Such a box would be 
particularly convenient for shipping sets of artificial teeth back and 
forth from a dentist to a supplier to permit the supplier to replenish the 
set when substantially depleted. An object of this invention is, 
therefore, to provide a relatively simple and economical lockable box 
having a reversible address plate for shipping articles back and forth 
between two addresses. 
SUMMARY 
In accordance with this invention the cover of the box is locked on the 
tray by a releasable security lock and the reversible address plate is 
automatically locked to the box when the cover is closed over the tray. A 
particularly effective form of such a box has detent spring fingers on an 
end of the tray for engaging onto shoulders within the lid. The spring 
fingers are conveniently unlocked by inserting rods through the cover 
which may have a connecting handle which serves as a foot for supporting 
the box in an inverted inclined dispensing position. A convenient form of 
such a box has a cover with an open rear end which is hinged to the tray 
by pins extending outwardly from the rear middle of the hinged end of the 
tray, which engage in an enlarged terminal end of the longitudinal groove 
in the inner sides of the cover. The enlargement in the end of the groove 
in the cover is engaged by the elongated width of the pin to allow opening 
and closing rotation of the cover relative to the tray. When the cover is 
rotated to an inverted position, its lid lies below the bottom of the tray 
and a sliding movement of the tray and inverted cover is guided by sliding 
the shorter height of the pins along the grooves within the inner sides of 
the cover. Such sliding movement is also guided by insertion of a pair of 
auxiliary slide guide pins extending within the sides of the cover 
adjacent its open rear end and lid, within a lower pair of guide grooves 
in the lower outsides of the tray. The entrance to the lower grooves is 
upwardly curved to permit the auxiliary slide guide pins to enter into 
them when the cover is rotated about its hinge to an inverted position. A 
pair of arcuate slots are also provided in the upper sides of the tray 
adjacent its hinged rear end for receiving the auxiliary guide pins within 
the open rear end of the cover when it is rotated closed over the tray. 
The reversible address plate is slid into engagement with a cutout in the 
lid and automatically locked to it when the cover is closed by insertion 
of a pair of lugs extending upwardly from a side of the tray through a 
pair of holes in the lid of the cover and into locking notches in the 
reversible address plate.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
In FIGS. 1-8 is shown a closed and locked box 10 for shipping articles, 
such as artificial teeth 12 (shown in FIG. 12), between two addresses, 
such as between a dentist and a supplier of artificial teeth. Box 10 has a 
reversible address plate 14 mounted and locked on its cover 16 by inserted 
engagement, from the position shown in FIG. 11, with cutout 18 in lid 20. 
Cutout 18 extends a short distance through side 22 of lid 20 to expose two 
side edges 24 and one rear edge 26 of cutout 18 for engagement by three 
sided groove 28 in frame 30 of reversible address plate 14. Reversible 
address plate 14 is automatically locked to cover 16 by the upward 
engagement of lugs 32 extending upwardly from side 34 of tray 36 when 
cover 16 is closed down over tray 36. Lugs 32 extend through holes 38 in 
lid 20 of cover 16 and into locking notches 42 in two corners of frame 30 
of reversible address plate 14 to automatically lock plate 14 onto cover 
16 when it is closed on tray 36. 
FIG. 7 shows the engagement of groove 28 in the edges of frame 30 of 
locking plate 14 over reduced side edge 24 of cutout 18. Rear edge 26 is 
similarly reduced. Reversible address plate 14 has a separate address 
block 44 on each of its sides, each of which is printed with a different 
address. The plate is inserted with the correct address up and visible 
before shipment. 
FIGS. 3-6 show the locked configuration of box 10 in which spring detent 
fingers 46 in the unhinged front end 48 of tray 36 are engaged over 
internal shoulders 50 within the unhinged end 52 of cover 16. FIG. 8 shows 
hooked end 54 of spring fingers 46 being disengaged from internal shoulder 
50 by insertion of unlocking key rods 56 through holes 58 in cover 16 past 
tapered camming edge 60 of spring finger 46 under pressure of tapered tips 
62 of unlocking key rods 56. A pair of unlocking key rods 56 are connected 
by handle 64 as shown in FIG. 5 to facilitate unlocking insertion of rods 
56 through cover 16 and the subsequent inclined disposition of the open 
nested inverted box 10 as shown in FIGS. 10 and 12. 
The hinged rotation of cover 16 relative to tray 36 is shown in FIG. 9. 
Cover 16 is shown in phantom partially rotated upwardly away from tray 36 
about hinge 66 provided by combination rotation and slide guide pin 68 
which is a wider than high by virtue of flats 70 on the top and bottom of 
pins 68. The sides 72 of pin 68 are arcs of a circle. Pins 68 extend 
outwardly from the sides 34 of tray 36 adjacent the midportion of its 
hinged rear end 74. Pins 68 are engaged within grooves 76 extending 
longitudinally within the midportion of sides 78 of cover 16. In the 
opened position of cover 16 shown in phantom in FIG. 9, pin 68 is locked 
within enlarged end 80 of groove 76 to prevent sliding movement of cover 
16 relative to tray 36 except in the open nested position shown in FIG. 
10. Tray 36 may be slid parallel to inverted cover 16 by the sliding 
movement of the shorter dimensions of pins 68 within groove 76. 
FIG. 9 also shows the engagement of auxiliary slide pins 82 within lower 
groove 84 in the bottom of outer sides 34 of tray 36 to facilitate sliding 
movement of tray 36 to nest within inverted cover 16, as shown in phantom 
outline. Also shown in phantom outline is an intermediate position of 
cover 16 and auxiliary pin 82. Movement of auxiliary slide pins 82 into 
and out of the end of lower groove 84 in the lower outer sides of tray 36 
is afforded by arcuate entrance 86. When cover 16 is rotated closed about 
hinge 66, auxiliary slide pins 82 are received in arcuate grooves 88 in 
the upper sides 34 at the hinged rear end 74 of tray 36. 
FIGS. 10 and 12 show box 10 being supported on unlocking handle 64 which 
remains inserted through unlocking holes 58 in lid 20 of cover 16, which 
is accordingly disposed at an incline above a supporting surface 90. This 
disposes teeth 12 within tray 36 at a convenient viewing and selecting 
angle. FIG. 12 also shows knurled grasping projections 92 extending 
outwardly from the bottom of tray 36 to provide a convenient means for 
grasping and pulling cover 16 away from tray 36 (when unlocked) in 
conjunction with rim cutout 94 in the unhinged end 52 of cover 16, as also 
shown in FIG. 3. Arrow 96 in FIG. 3 indicates the direction of pull on 
knurled lugs 92 for opening the box. 
Box 10, therefore, provides a very convenient means for a dentist to use 
and replenish a set of artificial teeth. FIGS. 10 and 12 show how open box 
10 is held inclined for easy viewing and selection of artificial teeth 12 
to match a particular patient's needs. After a set of teeth 12 is 
substantially depleted, the dentist need only slide inverted cover 16 off 
of tray 36 and then rotate it back over tray 36 in the opposite direction 
from arrows 98 in FIG. 9. Arcuate recess 99 under the rear of lid 20 
provides clearance for rotation of the corner of tray 36 within it. Front 
edges 100 of tray 36 are inclined backwardly to produce similar rotational 
clearance cover 16 and to cause spring fingers 46 to protrude beyond front 
edges 100 for making their locking action more positive. Inclined ends 100 
are separated from detent spring fingers 46 by slots 102. Spring fingers 
46 are separated from each other by opening 104 in the front end of tray 
36. When cover 16 closes down on tray 36, spring detent fingers 46 have 
their hooked ends 54 locked over shoulders 50 within the upper sides 
unhinged ends 52 of cover 16. This locks cover 16 down on tray 36 to 
provide security during mailing. When the tooth supplier receives box 10, 
it can open it by inserting key handle 64 through holes 58 in cover 16, as 
shown in FIG. 8. 
While cover 16 is locked on tray 36, automatic locking lugs 32 engage 
within locking notches 42 in reversible address plate 14 to lock the 
proper address on the address plate in position until cover 16 is removed 
from tray 36. The procedure shown in FIG. 9 is utilized for opening cover 
16 off tray 36, inverting cover 16 under tray 36, and subsequently nesting 
them together.