Abstract:
A foldable and collapsible safe box for securing packages or parcels is constructed to include a collapsible safe box body of rectangular shape having a horizontal top open side, a plurality of upright support elongated hinges respectively embedded in four corners of the box body, a horizontal cover flap for securing the box, and a horizontal bottom panel for supporting the contents inside the box.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION 
       [0001]    The present application is based on, and claims the benefit of priority of U.S. application Ser. No. 62/274,696, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety. 
     
    
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0002]    1. Field of the Invention 
         [0003]    The field of the invention relates to a safe box and, more particularly, to a foldable and collapsible safe box releasably connected to a front door of a residence for securing package or parcel delivery when the homeowners are not present. 
         [0004]    2. Description of the Prior Art 
         [0005]    The delivery and pick-up packages or parcels are common business activities at residential homes as online commercial transactions are increasing. When there is no one present to receive the packages or parcels, it is not a good safe practice to leave the packages or parcels at the front door as they are often stolen. Furthermore, valuable goods or articles should not be left at a temporarily unattended residence without any means of security. 
         [0006]    Various prior arts specifically address this problem. Some safe boxes for packages are either simply placed outside with no securing or are permanently secured to the wall outside of the house. Other safe boxes are too heavy so they cannot be carried away with the package inside. The permanent ones require tools and some sort of handyman ability. 
         [0007]    In an existing prior art, a secure box or safe having a mounting plate with a channel-shaped flange at the top such that the safe may be hung from the top edge of an outer door of a residence and, when the door is closed, the safe is captured in place between the top of the door, the door head, the outside surface of the door, and the door stop. While this safe box is relatively secured, hanging the box over the door causes the box to rest against the door and therefore damages the door when the box to be detached or reattached to get the package in or out. In addition, because this safe box is strictly designed and used for small items not large packages or parcels as the safe is hung on the top of the door, it cannot support such heavy weights. 
         [0008]    Another existing prior art of a security box for articles is mounted over the edge of an outer of residence door by means of a bracket which fits around the door edge. The interior of the box is accessible by opening a locked and hinged outer panel which uncovers an outer access opening. However, the box is easy to break or pry off the hinges, and it is not a complete weather-tightened container as rain water could easily seep through the outer access opening and soak the packages or parcels inside the box. Also, water running down the surface of the door can easily enter the box through the inner access opening. 
         [0009]    Further, these conventional safe boxes occupy much storage space as they are not foldable or collapsible. There is known a folding collapsible storage box, which comprises a collapsible fabric box body, four horizontal rod members respectively embedded in the top sides of the four vertical side panels of the box body, two horizontal rod member respectively embedded in the bottom sides of two opposite vertical side panels of the box body, four vertical rod members respectively embedded into the box body in four corners between each two adjacent vertical side panels, and four sets of triangle plates respectively fixedly fastened to the vertical side panels of the box body. When not in use, the box body is twisted into a collapsed condition. The triangle plates guide the twisting action, enabling the box body to be easily twisted into the collapsed condition. Although this structure of folding collapsible storage box is functional, it is too complicated and expensive to manufacture. Further, because the box is constructed by fabric, it is not secured as the box can be cut with a scissor or knife. 
         [0010]    Therefore, a need exists in the art for a folding collapsible combination safe box for securing packages or parcels to overcome these problems and is simple and inexpensive to manufacture. 
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0011]    The present invention provides a foldable and collapsible safe box for securing packages or parcels but is removably attached to a front door of a residence and securely accessible to both a delivery person and the homeowners or occupants. 
         [0012]    It is one object of the present invention to provide a foldable and collapsible safe box, which can easily be folded into a collapsed flat manner to minimize storage occupation. It is another object of the present invention to provide a combination of foldable and collapsible safe box, which is simple and less manufacturing cost. 
         [0013]    In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the foldable and collapsible safe box comprises a collapsible box body of rectangular shape having a horizontal top open side, a plurality of upright support hinges respectively embedded in four corners of each collapsible box body, and a bottom panel of the collapsible box body for supporting storage items. Being formed of water sustainable material such as plastic, this safe box body is weather proof. 
         [0014]    In a further preferred embodiment of the present invention, the foldable and collapsible safe box body has a cover flap pivotally attached to the upper portion of the foldable and collapsible safe box by hinges for opening and closing cover flap on a side of the respective box body. The hinges can be selected from a group of double hinges, snap-on hinges, butt hinges, pivot hinges, or any suitable hinges. According to still another aspect of the present invention, the cover flap has a releasably locking means so that the box can be accessible to a delivery person and residents by unlocking the locking means for loading or unloading the packages or parcels. 
         [0015]    In a further preferred embodiment of the present invention, the bottom panel is a hard base plate respectively fitted into the foldable and collapsible safe box and supported on the horizontal bottom panel of each collapsible box body for supporting storage items. The bottom panel is pivotally attached by hinges to the lower portion of the foldable and collapsible safe box by hinges for opening and closing the bottom panel on a side of the respective box body. The hinges can be selected from a group of double hinges, snap-on hinges, butt hinges, pivot hinges, or any suitable hinges. According to an aspect of the present invention, the bottom panel includes releasably locking means so that the box can be foldable and collapsible. The releasably locking means of the bottom panel is a releasably latch such as spring loaded latch having spring, latch pin, and latch cover plug. 
         [0016]    In a further preferred embodiment of the present invention, there is a mounting base plate releasably and extensibly attached to the foldable and collapsible safe box body at the bottom thereof by an outer flange that grips the back of a vertical peripheral side panel of the box body. This mounting base plate is also slidably engaged under an outer door of a residence by a channel-shaped flange which fits closely around an edge of the door to securely mount the box body so that when the door is closed, the mounting base plate is captured in place between the bottom of the door and door step. The channel-shaped flange has a soft pad such as rubber, felt, or any suitable material to prevent damages to the door by contact. 
         [0017]    The present invention has been accomplished under the circumstances in view. It is one object of the present invention to provide a foldable and collapsible safe box, which can easily be folded into a collapsed flat manner to minimize storage occupation. It is another object of the present invention to provide a foldable and collapsible safe box, which is simple and inexpensive to manufacture. 
         [0018]    Further objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from a description of the several embodiments as set forth in the following description and drawings. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS 
         [0019]      FIG. 1  is a perspective view of a foldable and collapsible safe box constructed according to an embodiment of the present invention where the cover flap is lifted. 
           [0020]      FIG. 2  is a perspective view of a foldable and collapsible safe box constructed according to an embodiment of the present invention where the cover flap is lifted and bottom panel with the spring loaded latch is opened. 
           [0021]      FIG. 3  shows the collapsing action of the embodiment of the present invention where the box is folded to the collapsed manner. 
           [0022]      FIG. 4  is a perspective view of a double hinge constructed according to an embodiment of the present invention. 
           [0023]      FIG. 5A  is a cross-sectional view of the foldable and collapsible safe box mounted on a residence front door. 
           [0024]      FIG. 5B  is a perspective view of the spring loaded hinge constructed according to an embodiment of the present invention. 
           [0025]      FIG. 6  is a perspective view of a mounting base plate constructed according to an embodiment of the present invention. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
       [0026]      FIG. 1  illustrates a foldable and collapsible safe box in accordance with the embodiment of the present invention comprising of a rectangular box attached to a cover flap  40  and a bottom panel  70 . According to an embodiment, the box body  10  comprises four upright elongated hinges  50 , and a mounting bracket plate  100  as shown in  FIG. 6 . The foldable and collapsible safe box body  10  is formed of plastic, metal, and any material suitable, having four vertical peripheral side wall panels and a horizontal bottom panel side open  70  and a cover flap  40  opening on the side. The four upright support hinges  50  are embedded into the four corners of the box body  10 . 
         [0027]    Still referring to  FIG. 1 , the cover flap  40  is at the top of the box body  10  and pivotally secured to the back wall panel  60  of the box body  10  by the use of double hinges  20  shown in  FIG. 4  about a horizontal axis between both ends of the back wall panel  60 . The cover flap  40  is locked to the box body  10  by the use of a locking means  30  to secure the contents inside. The locking means  30  can be unlocked by a delivery person or the occupants loading or unloading the contents of box body  10 . 
         [0028]      FIG. 2  illustrates the bottom panel  70  pivotally secured to the front wall panel by the use of double hinges  20  attached to the box body  10 . The bottom panel  70  is releaseably attached via spring loaded latches  80  to the back wall  60  as shown in  FIGS. 1 and 2 . 
         [0029]    Referring to  FIGS. 3 and 4  and  FIGS. 1 and 2  again, when not in use, the bottom panel  70  of the box body  10  is respectively lifted from horizontal to vertical and closely attached to one vertical peripheral side panel of the respective box body  10 , and then the box body  10  is folded through 90 degree and arranged into a collapsed flat manner as shown in  FIG. 3 . When folded up, the box body  10  occupies little storage space and is convenient for carrying with the hand. 
         [0030]      FIG. 5A  illustrates an elongated mounting bracket plate  100  which extends substantially the entire thickness of the front door  130  to secure the box body  10  by sliding the bracket  100  under the front door  130 . The outer gripping flange  90  of the mounting bracket plate  100  may also be fastened to the front wall panel of the box body  10  through the use of bolts  120 . It should be readily apparent to those skilled in the art that other known types of fastening means such as rivets or pivots could also be used. 
         [0031]      FIG. 5B  is the spring loaded latch  80  used to attach the bottom panel  70  to the back wall  60  shown in  FIG. 2 . 
         [0032]    The mounting base plate  100  is substantially U-shaped. The dimensions of the mounting bracket plate are chosen so that the same fits snugly under the bottom edge of a standard front door  130  as shown in  FIG. 5A and 6 . When the front door  130  and the mounting bracket plate  100  are assembled by sliding the mounting bracket plate  100  under the front door  130  as shown in  FIG. 5A , the inner gripping flange  110  of the mounting bracket plate  100  stays inward of the front door  130  to mount the box body  10  to the front door  130 . 
         [0033]    The embodiments were chosen and described to best explain the principles of the invention and its practical application to persons who are skilled in the art. As various modifications could be made to the exemplary embodiments, as described above with reference to the corresponding illustrations, without departing from the scope of the invention, it is intended that all matter contained in the foregoing description and shown in the accompanying drawings shall be interpreted as illustrative rather than limiting. Thus, the breadth and scope of the present invention should not be limited by any of the above described exemplary embodiments, but should be defined only in accordance with the following claims appended hereto and their equivalents. 
         [0034]    Having illustrated and described the principles of the present invention in a preferred embodiment, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the embodiment can be modified in arrangement and detail without departing from such principles. Any and all such embodiments are intended to be included within the scope of the following claims.