IMPROVEMENTS IN SAPETY LETTER BOXES AND BAGS
Year: 1859

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to O'Donnell Grimshaw, of Belfast, in the Kingdom of
Ireland, Postmaster, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN SAPETY
LETTER BOXES AND BAGS."
Sealed the 13th January 1860, and dated the 16th July 1859.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said O'Donnell Grimshaw at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
16th July 1859.
I, O'DONNELL GRIMSHAW, of Belfast, in the Kingdom of Ireland, Postmaster,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
SAFETY LETTER BOXES AND BAGS," to be as follows:-
The object of my Invention of improvements in safety letter boxes and bags
is to construct these articles in such a manner that when letters or parcels are
once posted or placed in the safety box or bag, they cannot be abstracted:
In applying the Invention to a street pillar, a rotating or moveable box or
channel is mounted inside the letter box intended to receive the letters or
parcels. This box or channel is open at its ends, but one of these is always
covered to prevent direct access from without to the compartment containing
the letters. A door for admitting letters to the box is adapted to the post in
the plane of rotation of the moveable channel, and to this channel the door is
attached in any convenient manner, so that when the door is opened to allow
of the insertion of a letter, it will pull round or actuate the moveable box or

page_text: channel, and bring its open end opposite to the open door. The letters or
parcels placed in this moveable box or channel remain there until the upper
opening is closed. By shutting the door, the moveable box or channel is
returned to its normal position, and the lower opening is then opened, and the
letters or parcels allowed to fall into a receptacle below. This receptacle
consists of a metal frame, square or of other form, closed by a moveable lid of
leather or other substance, and having a lock or other means of securing it
when closed. The metal frame may be made to fold like the frame of a carpet
bag. Grooves will be made in the pillar letter box or post office letter
receiver, into which the frame of the bag will slide. The bag is of canvas or
other suitable material, and so constructed that it cannot be put into its place
without unlocking and opening it, and it cannot be taken out without closing
and locking the bag, thereby preventing the possibility of tampering with the
contents.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said O'Donnell Grimshaw in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
16th January 1860.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, O'DONNELL
GRIMSHAW, of Belfast, in the Kingdom of Ireland, Postmaster, send greeting.
WHEREAS ller most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Sixteenth day of July, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine, in the twenty-third year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said O'Donnell Grimshaw, Her special license that I, the said O'Donnell Grim-
shaw, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
O'Donnell Grimshaw, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at
any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times
thereafter during the term therein expressed, should and lawfully might make,
use, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVE
MENTS IN SAFETY LETTER BOXES AND BAGS," upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said O'Donnell Grimshaw, by an instrument in writing under my
hand and seal, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the
said Invention, and in what manner the same was to be performed, and cause
the same to be filed in the Great Seal Patent Office within six calendar months
next and immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said O'Donnell Grimshaw, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to
the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say) :-
This Invention relates to a mode of preventing the surreptitious abstraction
of letters from street pillars and receiving boxes generally, and also from the
bags or portable receptacles applied to such pillars or boxes.
In the accompanying Drawings, I have shewn in several views the manner
of carrying out this double object.
Fig. 1 is a front elevation of a street pillar, constructed and fitted according
to my Invention, the outer door being removed the better to explain the
interior arrangement; and Fig. 2 is a vertical section of the same, taken in
the line 1, 2, of Fig. 1. a, a, is an outer case, made, by preference, of cast
iron, and having a rounded or semicircular head, within which a fixed cylinder
or lining 6 is secured. An opening is made through the outer case a and
cylinder b, as shewn at c, which opening is closed by a hinged lid or cover d;
and in the lower part of the cylinder b is a second opening, of like capacity, as
shewn at c. Within the fixed cylinder a drum f is mounted on stud axles,
and through the drum a straight channel or passage h is formed. By means
of a weight g, or by the construction of the drum itself, a tendency is given
to the drum to retain the position shewn at Fig. 2. The object of this
weighted drum is to cut off direct communication between the opening c
(through which the letters and parcels desired to be posted are passed) and
the receptacle for the posted letters and parcels, and yet to transmit them to
the bag or box provided to receive them. For the purpose of transmitting the
letters and parcels to the bag or box which is situate in the lower part of the
pillar, it is requisite first to bring the upper end of the channel h into
coincidence with the opening covered by the lid d; this is effected by linking
the drum to a curved arm d*, attached to the hinged lid or cover d; when,
therefore, the lid is raised, the drum will be pulled round, and the channel or
passage h presented ready to receive a letter, as shewn in the detached sectional
view, Fig. 3. The letter being cast therein and the lid shut down, the drum
will, by its own gravity, take again the position of Fig. 2, when the lower end of
the channel will come into coincidence with the opening in the fixed cylinder,
and the letter deposited in the drum will therefore fall through into the receptacle
below. This receptacle may, if desired, be merely a chamber in the pillar but
for security against the possibility of letters being abstracted by the collector
whose duty it is to visit the pillars periodically, for the purpose of removing

page_text: the letters therefrom, I propose to use, in conjunction with the above-described
apparatus, a bag, to the interior of which access cannot be gained by the
collector, as the withdrawal of the bag from the pillar necessitates, first, the
locking of the bag either by a snap lock or by a key permanently connected with
the pillar, the duplicate or master key being retained at the post-office. Fig. 4
shews a sectional plan view of the street pillar with the receiving bag full
open; Fig. 5 is a similar section, shewing the bag partly open; Fig. 6 is
another section, shewing the bag closed and the pillar door open to allow of
the removal of the bag. The detached views, Figures 7 and 8, shew the
frame of the bag and the parts in immediate connection therewith on an
enlarged scale. i, i, is the bag, made of leather, canvas, or other flexible
material secured to a hinged frame *, *, which carries a lock of any suitable
construction. Fitted to the opposite sides of the hinged frame are the two
lugs k, k, the latter of which is formed with a square socket to fit the squared
portion of a pin affixed to the under side of a rectangular frame 1, 1, which
slides in horizontal ways made for it in the pillar. The other lug k is intended
to receive a pin, which projects from a bar m attached to the opposite sides of
the pillar, near the front thereof. In a slot formed in this bar m (see Fig. 8)
a rollern is securely mounted, which roller is itself slotted to receive and
support a key o, for locking the bag. This key, it will be understood, is so
mounted that while free to act upon the bags as they are applied to the post
or withdrawn therefrom, it cannot be removed from its attachment without
violence, which might cause the destruction of the key. The object of the
sliding frame 1, 1, is to open and close the bag, and to act as a stop (while the
bag is open) to a bolt p, which slides in guides attached to an inner door g,
and is intended to secure that door, by opening which access is gained to the
interior of the pillar. A slot is made in the frame 1, 1, to receive the bolt of
the bag lock when shot upwards, and the bag frame is provided with a suitable
hasp to receive the lower end of the lock bolt, when it is desired to lock
the bag.
The operation of the parts just described for receiving the letters into the
bag, and preventing them from being tampered with, will be as follows:-The
letter collector being furnished with a key commanding the outer door a* of the
pillar, will first unlock and open it. He will then draw out the sliding frame
to its full extent, when a segment slot l*, formed at the rear of the frame, will
be presented to a pin projecting from the rear end of the bolt p, and the bolt
will thereby be free to slide back and unbolt the door q, the projecting pin of
the bolt entering the segment slot to allow of that movement. The door q is
then free to open to give access to the bag. The drawing out of the sliding

page_text: frame will have shut the bag by bringing forward the hinder part thereof to
which it was attached when placed in the pillar; but in order to permit of the
disengagement of the bag from the sliding frame the bolt of the bag lock must
be thrown down by means of the key o. In effecting this the lower end of the
bolt will be caused to enter the basp of the bag frame, and lock the bag. The
bag may then, by a slight lateral movement, be slidden off the respective
supporting pins of the frame and bar m, and removed from the pillar. An
empty bag (locked at the office) is then to be substituted for the full bag, and
hung on the supporting pins and locked to the sliding frame 1. By this
locking action the bag is (as before explained) unlocked, and the frame / is
free to be slidden back to its place, when the door q is shut and the bolt p
thrown. The sliding back of the frame / now takes place, and simultaneously
with this movement the opening of the bag is effected. The outer door a*
being next locked, the pillar will be ready for the receipt of letters as before.
To prevent the sliding frame from being pushed back when the bag is not
attached thereto the pin which carries the bag is made to turn in its bearings,
and it is fitted at its outer end with a hook r, which, when pendent, as shewn
at Fig. 8, will come in contact with a studs, projecting from the side of the
pillar, and stop the further progress of the frame. When, however the bag is
held in position, the opening of the hinged frame will, by reason of its
square socketted lug, fitting on to a squared part of the supporting pin cause
the pin to turn on its axis, and lift the hook out of the plane of the studs, as
shewn at Fig. 2.
In order to indicate to the public when the periodical collections of letters
have been made from the street pillars a cylinder marked with the number of the
daily collections may be mounted in the pillar, and a portion thereof bearing a
figure indicating the number exposed to view, as shewn at t, Fig. 1. On the
axle of this cylinder is keyed a ratchet wheel furnished with teeth corre-
sponding in number to the divisions on the cylinder, and into the teeth of this
ratchet wheel a tumbling click u, mounted on the sliding frame 1, is caused to
take. When, therefore, the frame is drawn out to the position shewn at
Fig. 6, to remove the filled bag, the click will force round the ratchet wheel,
and, consequently the cylinder, a portion of a revolution, and bring up to view
the number corresponding to the number of collections of letters made from
the letter box during the day. In the side of the ratchet wheel holes are made
to receive à spring stop v, which serves to maintain the cylinder in the position
to which it is moved by the travelling tumbler click.
I would remark, that in some cases, as for private letter boxes, and even for
public letter boxes and street pillars, I may find it desirable to use the channel

page_text: h for transmitting or guiding the letters to the receiver without employing the
safety bag and its appurtenances, and instead of causing the channel to
oscillate on centres, as described, the same result may be obtained by making
it a fixture, and causing slides or oscillating plates worked by the rising and
depression of the letter box lid, to close and open alternately the opposite
ends of the channel in place of the channel effecting by its movement the like
object.
Having now set forth the nature of my Invention of improvements in safety
letter boxes and bags, and explained the manner of carrying the same into
effect, I wish it to be understood that under the above in part recited Letters
Patent I claim the means herein-before described for preventing the abstraction
of or the tampering with letters-or-parcels-deposited in letter boxes or other
like receptacles.
In witness whereof, I, the said O'Donnell Grimshaw, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, tho Thirteenth day of January, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty.
Witness,
J. W. MOFFATT,
66, Chancery Lane.
O'DONNELL GRIMSHAW. (L.S.)