IM- PROVEMENTS IN LETTER BOXES, LETTER PILLARS, AND SUCH LIKE DEPOSITORIES
Year: 1870

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by William Dennis at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 22nd
January 1870.
I, WILLIAM DENNIS, of 57, Aldermanbury, in the City of London,
Merchant, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IM-
PROVEMENTS 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
depositories 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.

page_text: :-
. 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; the handle or knob is fixed upon a
metal rod formed with a projection at the end, which pulls the two rims
of the bag together so as to lock the bag; this movement serves also to
release the lock of the inner door, so that it can be opened and the bag
with the 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 shoots partly round upon axes, 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 latter 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

page_text: 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
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 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.