IMPROVEMENTS IN LETTER BOXES, LETTER PILLARS, AND SUCH LIKE PILLARS, DEPOSITORIES
Year: 1868

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by William Dennis at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 22nd
July 1868.
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
PILLARS,
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 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

page_text: A key is to be
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 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 letters taken out locked.
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 movable shoots a plate is fixed having slits or
openings formed therein corresponding to the movable shoots 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 movable shoots
are opposite to the slits or openings in the fixed plate beneath, but the
said movable 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
movable shoot opposite to the opening of the flap so as to receive the
letter. When 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

page_text: 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 movable 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 letters
pillars of the ordinary kind, if desirable, I propose to employ a rod
of 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.