Improvements in Metallic Ballot, Travelling, and other Boxes.
Year: 1885

page_text: Improvements in Metallic Ballot, Travelling, and other Boxes.
I, FRANCIS JAMES, of 74, Carlisle Street, Dresden, in the County of Stafford,
Clerk, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the
same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by
the following statement :-
My invention relates to metallic ballot, travelling, and other boxes, and consists
in making them capable of being folded up when not required for use as boxes, as
well as to an improved means of preventing closed boxes containing important
documents, or the like, being tampered with. The latter part of my invention is
peculiarly applicable to ballot boxes, although it may be used with advantage
with any box in which valuable documents, or the like, are kept.
In order that my invention and the means by which it is to be carried into
practical effect may be thoroughly understood, I will proceed to describe the same
in detail, referring in so doing to the accompanying drawings which are to be
taken as part of this specification and read therewith and in which like parts are
marked throughout the drawings with the same reference letters.
Fig. 1 is a side view of a box constructed according to my invention folded up
when not required for use as a box.
Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the box set up ready for use.
Fig. 3 is a plan shewing the back, front, and sides disconnected.
Fig. 4 is an elevation corresponding with Fig. 3.
Fig. 5 is a detail view of my improved means of making a sound junction between
the edges of the sides with the edges of the back and front.
A is the bottom, and B and C the respective sides hinged to the former. D is the
front of the box hinged not directly to the bottom, but intermediately to a ledge d,
the height of the latter being proportioned to allow the front D to lie flat upon the
sides B and C when the box is folded.
E is the back, hinged to the bottom, and F the lid hinged to the top of the back.
Its rim fits over the body of the box, and is sufficiently deep to receive the other
parts of the box when folded together.
The act of folding is performed as follows-
The lid F is first raised, The sides B. and C are disengaged from the front and
back, and folded down one on the other upon the bottom. The back is next folded
back under the bottom, and the whole body part into the cavity of the lid.
The box is set up by reversing the above process.
The drawings illustrate my invention made up as a ballot box.

page_text: G is the slit in the lid, H the sliding cover, and h, h, tapes passing through a
hollow formed in the upper face of the lid, by which the cover H can be drawn
over the slit when the balloting is over.
All these tapes are
Other tapes are taken from loops iii through hollows
drawn tight, and the hollows filled up with wax and sealed.
The box can be secured by any suitable lock preferably an inside one as shewn
in Fig. 3.
The vertical edges of the back and front (or the sides) are returned inwards,
producing flanges b, c, which engage in slots ď³, d¹, conveniently formed along the
adjoining edges of the inside face of the sides B and C (or the front and back).
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is
1. In a metallic box made to fold, forming flanges b, c, upon the vertical edges
of opposite sides to engage in slots d', for the purpose of keeping the body of the
box steady while in use as such, substantially as described with reference to
the accompanying figures.
2. In a folding metallic ballot box, constructed so as to fold into its own lid, the
use of the loops, tapes, and hollows, in combination with the flanges and slots defined
by claim 1, substantially as described with reference to the accompanying figures.
3. The general construction of metal ballot box, substantially as described with
reference to the accompanying figures.