IMPROVEMENTS IN LETTER BOXES AND BAGS FOR RECEIVING LETTERS
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Peter Ellis, of No. 9, Orange Court, in Liverpool,
in the County of Lancaster, Architect and Civil Engineer, for the
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN LETTER BOXES AND BAGS FOR RECEIVING
LETTERS."
Scaled the 11th May 1869, and dated the 2nd December 1868.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Peter Ellis at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
2nd December 1868.
I, PETER ELLIS, of No. 9, Orange Court, in Liverpool, in the County
5 of Lancaster, Architect and Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN LETTER BOXES AND
BAGS FOR RECEIVING LETTERS," to be as follows:-
Where the letter box is required for the entrance door to dwelling
houses or chambers I form the sides and ends of moulded woodwork

page_text: and the face a plate of glass sliding in grooves, and if so desired sccured
by a lock. The plate in the face of the door closing the aperture is
operated on by a spring for closing on the back of this plate, and at one
end I project a lever. About half way down the letter box I have a
plate or valve moving on centres and having an arm or lever attached to
the upper face; this arm or lever is by a rod connected with the arm or
lever of the plate covering the opening in the door, the adjustment of
these levers being such that the least opening in the external plate
lifts up the lower plate or valve and thus closes the lower part of the
letter box, the application of a small segment of a cylinder making
the closing of the base of the box quite absolute, thus a letter being
deposited in the box the spring closes the-external opening and by the
same action the lower valve is opened and the letter falls below; this
letter is quite safe from external attempt, for before the external valve
passes the margin of the frame the lower part of the box where the
letters rost is quite closed by the under valvo.
Complementary to this is the inviolable letter bag, and where
intended the box before described is made of light metal plates and
becomes a passage only, but no other change. The bag is of leather as
usual with a door or shutter on the face secured by a lock, the key of
which remains in the possession of the owner. At the top of the bag
is a metal tube of light strong material large enough to pass over the
tube of the letter box. Within the bag tube is a shutter closed by a
good spring, and on closing securely latches; this latch is opened by
a fixed key attached to the tube or letter box, and so made by levers
or other safe arrangement that nothing but this fixed key will shoot the
latch the key and latch are enclosed. Springs and catches on two
sides of the bag tube and in the box tube attach the bag and box
together, and lugs on the bag tube facilitate the handling. The
application of the bag and box tube is thus, the bag tube is drawn
over the letter box tube, the key passes into the arrangement of levers
and releases the latch, the bag tube is drawn higher, thus pushing open
the valve or shutter of the bag; when fully opened the spring catches
retain it in position. For removal the spring catches are released and
the bag is taken off, and by the act of taking off and before removal
the shutter closes and is latched not to be opened by any other process
than the process of attaching again to the letter tube. The letters are

page_text: taken out of the bag by the possessor of the key to the opening in the
face of the bag.
The latter described arrangement, namely, the tubo with the external
and internal valve being absolutely safe from external attempts and
with the inviolable letter bag is appropriate for post office collecting
pillars, and for those who object to their correspondence passing
into the hands of tlieir servants, but receive the bag and open for
themselves.
The first described arrangement is appropriate to all dwelling houses
or chambers where there is no apprehension of domestic treachery to
guard against, and these may be made perfectly ornamental and
consistent with the doors to which they may be attached.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of tlie conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Peter Ellis in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
2nd June 1869.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, PETER
ELLIS, of Number 9, Orange Court, Liverpool, in the County of
Lancaster, Architect and Civil Engineer, send grecting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing, date the Second day of December, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, in-the
thirty-second year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Peter Ellis, Her special licence
that I, the said Peter Ellis, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said Peter Ellis, my executors,
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, tho
Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "AN IMPROVED AND
SAFE LETTER RECEPTACLE OR LETTER BOX AND INVIOLABLE LETTER BAG," upon
the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Peter Ellis, my executors

page_text: 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 immediately after the date
of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Peter Ellis, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by
the following statement, reference being had to the Drawing hereunto
annexed, and the letters and the figures and descriptions marked and
written thereon, that is to say:
My Invention consists of a letter box so arranged that the ieiiers
deposited therein are absolutely safe from all external attempts at
abstraction, and a letter bag intended to be attached at the base of the
box so arranged that on removal from the box the opening is closed
and the access to the letters by the shutter in the face only, the key
of which is in the possession of the owner. The first part of the
arrangement is appropriate to residences and chambers, and the whole
for post office collecting pillars, and for those who object to their
correspondence passing into the hands of their servants, but-receive-the
bag and open for themselves.
And in order that my Invention may be perfectly understood I will
proceed to explain the means which I usc for accomplishing my said
intentions, reference being had to the Drawing which accompanies this
and forming part of this my Specification or means of illustration.
First. Where the letter box is required for the entrance doors to
dwelling houses or chambers I refer to Drawing No. 1 designated as for
these uses. I form the sides and ends of the box of moulded woodwork
a, a, a, a, grooved to receive a plate of glass b, and which slides to
give access to the box and the contents; this slide may be secured by a
lock in the top moulding. On the face of the door is the usual plate in
appearance c, with the curbs or margins d, the hinged edge being
cranked or bent; attached to the back of the plate or shutter, and at one
end only, both ends being unnecessary, is an arm or lever adjusted to
the angle, length, and position, as in the Drawing Nos. 1 and 2. Some

page_text: space below the external opening is a light metal plate e, e, e, secured by
pivots to the sides of the box, effecting under conditions the formation
of a partition across the box, and so forming the box and ante-box; on
the back of this partition or inner shutter is an arm or lever f,f, adjusted
in length and position; this arm or lever is connected by a metal rod
9, 9, 9, with the arm or lever of the door plate. At the front of the
partition plate e, e, is the cylinder segment plate h, h, turned at the
horizontal edges to meet the glass. The operation of these arrange-
ments are as follows:-On opening the door plate for the deposit of a
letter the inner partition is lifted, and before any opening, as for insertion,
is made the partition plate is lifted to the lower edge of the segment before
it, thus closing the letter box; as the door shutter is opened further
the lower plate continues to be lifted, closely moving in the arc of the
segment and through the whole motion keeping the box perfectly closed;
on allowing the door plate or shutter to drop the partition wholly opens
and the letters fall below; thus under all conditions effectually precluding
the possibility of touching by any means through the door plate the
letters in the box.
Second. Complementary to the above described letter box is the letter
bag; I refer to Drawing, Nos. 2 and 3. When the letter bag is intended
I propose
the box to be of light metal plates, the internal arrangements
being no further changed then in the omission of the lower part of the
box and the formation to receive and attach the bag, no glass being
intended in the face. The bag I intend to be formed of leather or other
appropriate material, with a tube i, i, of light metal to slide within the
base of the box; within this tube is a metal shutter j, operated by a
spring to close, and carrying the catch or chase for a latch. This shutter
is hinged in a curb, and the curb contains the latch, as at k; attached to
the box is the key 1, by which the latch is drawn; the sides of the box
have two circular plates m intended to operate the opening of the
shutter j. The condition of the shutter and the latch is this:-When the
bag is removed from the tube of the box the spring closes and latches
the shutter of the bag, to be reopened by the application to the tube of
the box only. In the front of the bag is an opening n for the removal
of the contents; the shutter to this opening is a curb of brass with glass
panel hinged and locked to a brass frame. The operation of these
arrangements is as follows:-The bag with the inner shutter j closed is

page_text: applied to the tube of the box and drawn up; the key Z enters the latch
arrangement, and drawing it back releases the shutter j; the tube of
the bag is still drawn further within the tube of the box, when the side
plates m formed circular for this purpose press down the shutter j until
fully open, when catches operate to hold the tube and bag in connexion.
On removal of the bag the catches are released and the bag drawn off,
and in this process the shutter closes and is latched; the letters are
taken out of the bag by the possessor of the key to the shutter in the
face of the bag. The design of the said letter box being executed in
wood and appropriately moulded will have a handsome effect when
attached to the door, and the same form of construction may be used
for the box when intended to be completed, with the bag supplying the
necessary arrangement for attaching the tube of the bag.
I have now described the nature and I have illustrated the uses of my
Invention, and I have specified the best means which have occurred to
me for the accomplishment of my intentions, but I do not mean strictly
to confine myself to the details I have herein and in my Drawings
herewith specified and represented, variations in detail may be necessary
to meet peculiar conditions, and practical application may suggest some
modifications without at all departing from the nature and objects of
my Invention; but that which I consider to be new-and-therefore desire.
to claim as the Inventions secured to me under the herein-before in part
recited Letters Patent is, the ornamentally constructed curb with the glass.
slide, and the form and position of the lock to secure it; the form of the
door shutter with the back lever and the connecting rod; the form and
position of the inner shutter or partition, with the form and position of
the lever; the form and position of the cylindrical segment, and the
grouping and attachment of the whole to accomplish my intended result,.
namely, a letter receptacle consistent and appropriate to an entrance
door and secure against any attempt external to violate it.
And further I also desire to claim as the Invention so secured to me,
and as complementary to the whole of my said Invention, the means
of connecting the letter bag with the letter box, with the tube valve or
shutter, with the arrangement for closing and latching the shutter, the
arrangement for unlatching, opening the valve when attached to. the
box, and the form of the bag with the shutter arrangement for removing
the contents; these cach and all in combination as accomplishing the

page_text: purposes intended and described I claim as my Invention and secured
to me by the said Letters Patent.
In witness whercof, I, the said Peter Ellis, have hercunto set my
hand and seal, the Twenty-seventh day of May, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine.
Signed, sealed, and delivered by the said
Peter Ellis, in the presence of
JOHN E. BELCHER,
PETER ELLIS. (L.S.)
Green Lawn, Rock Ferry, Cheshire.
THOMAS D. BELCHER,
Green Lawn, Rock Ferry, Cheshire.