IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS TO BE APPLIED TO THE MOUTHS OR OPENINGS T PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION LETTER BOXES TO PREVENT LETTERS BEING STOLEN THERE- FROM
Year: 1869

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Christiana Ann Bates, of No. 3, George Street,
Blackfriars Road, in the County of Surrey, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS TO BE APPLIED TO THE MOUTHS OR OPENINGS
T
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Christiana Ann Bates
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with her Petition,
on the 12th July 1869.
I, CHRISTIANA ANN BATES, of No. 3, George Street, Blackfriars
Road, in the County of Surrey, do hereby declare the nature of the
said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS TO BE APPLIED TO THE
MOUTHS OR OPENINGS OF LETTER BOXES TO PREVENT LETTERS BEING STOLEN THERE-
FROM," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in. apparatus to be
applied to the mouths or openings of letter boxes to prevent letters being
stolen therefrom. In the case of letter boxes applied to the street door
of a house a slit is made through the door, and the mouth of this slit
on the outside of the door is closed with a hinged flap. Letters are

page_text: dropped down through this slit into the letter box, which is fixed on the
inside of the door. Letters can however by a variety of means be readily
abstracted from the box through the slit. To prevent letters being thus
withdrawn I 'frx on the inside of the door a plate having a slot through
it which coincidos with the end of the slit through the door. To the
back of this plate and just above the top of the slit therein is fixed a
rod, to which are hinged numerous spiked teeth which hang downwards
at the back of the slit through the plate. These spikes will readily yield
to allow a letter to drop through the slit into the box, but will put great
difficulties in the way of any one attempting to withdraw a letter from
the box. In order to render the letter box still more secure I affix to
the bottom of the plate just below the bottom of the slit therein a row
or rows of spikes or teeth inclining downwards by preference at different
angles. Similar apparatus may be applied to pillar letter boxes or other
letter boxes.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Christiana Ann Bates in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 11th January 1870.
'TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CHRISTIANA
ANN BATES, of No. 3, George Street, Blackfriars Road, in the County of
Surrey, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twelfth day of July, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine, in the thirty-third
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said Christiana Ann Bates, Her special licence
that I, the said Christiana Ann Bates, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said Christiana Ann Bates, my exe-
cutors, 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
"IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS TO BE APPLIED TO THE MOUTHS OR OPENINGS OF
LETTER BOXES TO PREVENT LETTERS BEING STOLEN THEREFROM,'
upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said Christiana Ann Bates, my

page_text: executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my,
or their, or one of their hands and seals, 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 imme-
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Christiana Ann Bates, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement thereof, that is to say:
This Invention has for its object improvements in apparatus to be
applied to the mouths or openings of letter boxes to prevent letters being
stolen therefrom. In the case of letter boxes applied to the street door
of a house a slit is made through the door, and the mouth of this slit
on the outside of the door is closed with a hinged flap. Letters are
dropped down through this slit into the lotter box, which is fixed on the
inside of the door. Letters can however by a variety of means be
readily abstracted from the box through the slit. To prevent letters
being thus withdrawn I fix on the inside of the door a plate having a
slot through it which coincides with the end of the slit through the
door. To the back of this plate and just above the top of the slit therein
is fixed a rod, to which are hinged numerous spiked teeth which hang
downwards at the back of the slit through the plate. These spikes will
readily yield to allow a letter to drop through the slit into the box, but
will put great difficulties in the way of any one attempting to withdraw
a letter from the box through the slit. In order to render the letter box
still more secure I affix to the bottom of the plate just below the bottom
of the slit therein a row or rows of spikes or teeth inclining downwards,
by preference at different angles. Similar apparatus may be applied to
pillar letter boxes or other letter boxes.
In order that my said Invention may most fully understood and
readily carried into effect, I will proceed to describe the Drawings here-
unte annavad

page_text: a, a, is a plate to be fixed on the inside of the slit or opening for the
insertion of letters; 6 is a rod carried by this plate just about the top
of the slit or opening; c, c, are spikes hung upon this rod and capable
of turning freely upon it; the is series of spikes may be all in one piece
of metal, or the spikes may be separate from each other, as the Drawing
represents; d is a stop bar to prevent the spikes being raised so high
that they will not fall down again; e, e, are similar spikes; for additional
security they are hung on a rod immediately beneath the slit or opening;
fis a stop bar which can be so set as to sustain the lower spikes at any
desired inclination. In place of mounting the bars on which the spikes c
and e are suspended upon the plate a they may in some cases be fixed in
the sides of the letter box or otherwise carried.
In witness whereof, I, the said Christiana Ann Bates, have here--
unto set my hand and seal, this Tenth day of January, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy.
CHRISTIANA ANN BATES. (L.S.)