Patent Publication Number: US-2010116875-A1

Title: Tiltable secondary-door, translucent &amp; automatic-smart mailbox

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     In general, a conventional rural mailbox assembly has a vertical post and a horizontal bar that support the mailbox in a fixed position. Or an integrated plastic molded mailbox that has an integral post and mailbox as one entity. The mailbox compartment can ONLY be accessed thru the front door (or primary-door) by flipping the door down. 
     However, a conventional rural mailbox is fairly disadvantage because it is too close to the public road and requires mail picker to expose out on the public road in front of the mail box in order to access into mailbox compartment prior to pickup or dropped off mails. This action sets up an unfortunate situation that mail picker may be dangerously hit by a motor vehicle passing by when picking or dropping off daily mails. 
     Accordingly, it is desirable to provide an effective and safety enhancement mailbox that provides more access to mails and allows the resident picking up or dropping off daily mails just standing on the sides or the back of the mailbox instead of the front and on public road. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     A tiltable secondary-door mailbox of the present invention is to provide SAFETY enhancement to the resident who&#39;s picking up or dropping off mails on daily basic. The secondary-door is to be used as a secondary access to the mailbox compartment for picking up or dropping off mails while standing on the sides or the back of the mailbox. 
     The presence invention is about a human SAFETY enhancement, convenience and more particularly to a stand alone rural mail box that is too close to a busy street, where is high probability of mail picker(s) or mailbox being hit by a motor vehicle or a plowing truck passing by. 
     The primary aspect of this present invention is to provide a tiltable secondary-door for a rural mailbox assembly that comprises several components that can be produced in details and manually assembled together (see figures for details). The mailbox has three major components; a base with opened front and top, a primary or front door is similar style as the convention mailbox door that covers the front access and a secondary door that covers the top access. 
     A fully assembled and installed mailbox works like a conventional mailbox, a primary-door can be flipped down to open and flipped up to close. In addition of the primary-door, the secondary-door can be used for a secondary access to mailbox compartment by tilting the secondary-door forward. The two doors are coaxed thru mounting holes of the base and retained by two self-locking pins. 
     The various features and advantages of this invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art from the following detailed description. The drawings that accompany the detailed description can be briefly described as follows. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  illustrates a general perspective of a tiltable secondary-door rural mailbox assembly. As shown in figure is a complete assembly of the mailbox in an isometric view that all doors are closed. 
         FIG. 2  illustrates a general perspective of a tiltable secondary-door rural mailbox assembly. As shown in figure is an isometric view of a mailbox assembly with a primary-door opened. 
         FIG. 3  illustrates a general perspective of a tiltable secondary-door rural mailbox assembly. As shown in figure is an isometric view of a mailbox assembly with a secondary-door opened. 
         FIG. 4  illustrates an exploded view of  FIG. 1 . 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
     The representative embodiment of the present invention will be described with referencing to  FIG. 1  thru  FIG. 4 . The mail box assembly as shown in accordance with the invention according to  FIG. 1  thru  4  comprises of a base  01 , a secondary-door  02 , a primary-door  03 , a standard red flag  04  and three self-locking pins  05 . The said components can be made from standard mailbox materials, such as plastic molding or sheet metal works. 
     The primary-door  03  and the secondary-door  02  held by two self-locking pins  05 , as well as the flag  04 . The primary-door  03  functions similarly like the conventional mailbox door. The secondary-door  02  functions like a hinged-cover or hinged-door and can be tilted by lifting the handle and providing access to mailbox compartment.