IMPROVEMENTS IN LETTER BOXES, LETTER PILLARS, AND SUCH LIKE DEPOSITORIES
Year: 1867

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by William Dennis at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 23rd July 1867.
I, WILLIAM DENNIS, of Aldermanbury, in the City of London, Merchant,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
LETTER BOXES, LETTER PILLARS, AND SUCH LIKE DEPOSITORIES," to be as
follows:-
The object of this Invention is to secure letter boxes and such like deposi-
tories from having letters extracted therefrom; I propose to effect this by
constructing the box with or without a fan wheel at the aperture, and dividing
the box at about the centre thereof with two pieces of metal of a triangular
form somewhat similar to the letter V and either with or without a flap joint
near the point thereof; the flap joint may be shut by a hinge, and made to
balance and close of itself after a letter in its descent has pushed it open and
passed through into the bottom of the box. The letter box may be made
either semicircular, square, or any other suitable form. In constructing letter
pillars according to this Invention I proceed as follows:-I place a bag having
iron rims similar to a travelling bag and fitted with one or more spring locks.
The pillar is fitted with two doors; upon opening the first or outer door a
handle or knob must be pulled before the inner door can be opened; this
handle or knob is fixed upon a metal rod formed with a projection at the end
wbich pulls the two rims of the bag together so as to lock the bag; this

page_text: movement serves also to release the lock of the inner door so that it can be
opened and the bag with letters taken out locked; a key is to be kept at the
chief office for opening the bag. The releasing of the lock of the inner door
is effected by means of a lever which prevents the bolt of the lock from being
turned back, upon which lever there is a pin or other projection which passes
through the rim of the bag next the inner door, and upon the other rim
coming against it when locking the bag by the rod it presses against the
lever and frees the bolt of the lock so that the inner door can be opened and
the bag taken out.
Another mode of constructing letter pillars and such like depositories is as
follows: I form the top of the case of the pillar with two or more openings
therein fitted each with a flap moving inwards; opposite to these openings and
inside the aforesaid case corresponding openings or shoots are arranged each
mounted by its inner end upon a rod or axis, and there is a lever connected
to each shoot for the purpose of turning the shoot partly round upon its axis
as presently described; immediately beneath the aforesaid moveable shoots a
plate is fixed having slits or openings formed therein corresponding to the
moveable shoots, and beneath the aforesaid plate a bag of the construction
first above described is placed to receive the letters, and the pillar is fitted with
two doors as before described. The operations of the above arrangement are
as follows: When the top openings are closed by their respective flaps the
moveable shoots are opposite to the slits or openings in the fixed plate beneath,
but the said moveable shoots are not opposite to the top openings; and the
effect of pushing back one or other of the flaps is to bring its respective
moveable shoot opposite to the opening of the flap so as to receive the letter;
upon releasing the flap the shoot will move upon its axis and come opposite to
its respective opening in the fixed plate and allow the letter to fall into the
bag beneath.
Or instead of the arrangement lastly above described I propose
to employ a long shoot mounted midway by its sides upon axes or pivots, to
one of which a short lever is fixed and connected by a rod to another short
lever fixed to the axis of the flap which covers the outer opening. Upon
pushing the flap inwards the top of the shoot will be brought opposite to the
opening of the flap to receive the letter, and the closing of the flap will deposit
the letter in the bag beneath. By these two last arrangements there is never
at any time a direct communication between the opening at the flap and the
bag that receives the letters, so that it is impossible for any instrument to be
introduced to extract the letters.
Another modification consists in forming the shoot in two parts, the upper
half being fixed and the lower half moveable on a pivot, the lower half only

page_text: being opposite to the upper half when the flap is pushed in, the closing of the
flap discharging the contents of the lower half of the shoot into the bag beneath
by means of a lever as before stated in the last-mentioned arrangement. In
connection with the above arrangements, or to the flaps of letter pillars of the
ordinary kind if desirable, I propose to employ a rod or wire which may
either be pulled or pushed by the action of the aforesaid flap thereon, and
thereby expose to view a signal or disc of colored glass or metal, the intention
of this arrangement being to prevent the wedging or otherwise keeping the
flap open for any length of time for the purpose of extracting letters from the
pillar.