In- PROVEMENTS IN LETTER BOXES, LETTER PILLARS, AND SUCH LIKE DEPOSITORIES
Year: 1869

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by William Dennis at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 22nd July
1869.
I, WILLIAM DENNIS, of 57, Aldermanbury, in the City of London,
Merchant, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "In-
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 their axis as presently described. Im-
mediately 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 received 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 mid-

page_text: way 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 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 arrange-
ments, 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 arrange-
ment 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.