Deposit and collection receptacles – Closures and chutes – Letter box
Reexamination Certificate
1999-03-22
2001-10-02
Browne, Lynne H. (Department: 3628)
Deposit and collection receptacles
Closures and chutes
Letter box
C232S024000, C232S025000, C312S292000, C049S367000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06296181
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to door protection and the like and more particularly to a pry-proof seam for interlocking mail station doors.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the past, mail boxes for the delivery and receipt of mail have been associated with individual dwellings such as single family residences. The mail person on foot could deliver mail to the mail box, or by driving a mail truck or the like, deliver the mail to mail boxes situated adjacent to the road.
Recently, tampering with mail left in such mail boxes has become a problem such that the mail must be secured under lock and key. This also provides some privacy for the recipient of the mail. Additionally, central box units or central receiving stations are often installed in new home developments. These central units contain a plurality of individual mail boxes for several of the residents in the adjacent area. The mail person then only has to stop at the central station to deliver mail to a number of people simultaneously, allowing him or her to cover a larger number of residents with mail delivery.
The central box units used in such new housing developments often have a five sided box unit with the sixth side accessible via lockable double doors. These double doors often have a central seam as they are hinged on their outward sides. By unlocking the double doors, they swing outward to open up the central postbox area for simultaneous delivery by the mail person. The side opposite of the double doors may have a number of individually locked mail boxes so that each individual with a mail box may retrieve their mail separately and securely as each key is unique to the appropriate mail box.
Postal regulations control the construction of such central box units in order to provide durable and accessible mail stations to which the mail person can deliver mail. However, such postal regulations may presume that the mail stations are subject only to environmental attack, such as by wind or rain. Unfortunately, it is not difficult to take a prybar, such as a crowbar or the like, and force it in between the seam present between the two double doors. The doors are then jimmied by popping the lock bar out from its place behind the second door. Upon so forcing the double doors open, the mail is available to any thief such as the one who originally used the prybar. Checks and other financial instruments may be stolen and fraudulently converted into cash, providing the incentive to break and enter into other central post box stations or even the same one on an intermittent or regular basis.
Consequently, there is a need in the art to provide means by which the seam between the two double doors in central post box stations may be less subject to attack by prybars and the like. The present invention provides a solution to this criminal problem while maintaining the easy and desirable access necessary for the central post box station.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention provides means by which the central seam between two double doors of the central post box station may be protected from prybars and the like. This prevents thieves from jimmying the lock or otherwise forcing the doors open with prybars so that the contents of the mail station can be rifled in order to steal valuable mail contained therein.
The interlocking door seam of the present invention has a first strip generally extending straight along its length. An extending flange along this first concave strip allows it to securely attach to a first one of the double doors in the central post box station. The edge of the first double door is confined and protected by the interstitial space defined by the concave nature of the first strip. The first strip bends around the edge of the first door holding it therein even though the edge of the door may be angled at its end thus occupying slightly more space than a straight door would.
While the first concave strip is attached to the first double door, the free end of the first concave strip bends around, backing away from the concave interstitial space of the first concave strip. In the bending away from the first concave strip, a second convex strip is defined that can receive the second double door at its free end. The interstitial space defined by the second convex strip allows the release or engagement of the free end opposite the hinges of the second door. When the second double door edge fits into the second convex strip, it is protected and shielded from the active end of a prybar or the like. In an additional embodiment, flanges may be present that aid and guide the entry of the second double door edge into the convex strip. Such flanges may define gaps between them in order to accommodate shelving defining individual post boxes within the central mail station.
By providing an interlocking door seam for central post box stations, the central stations are rendered more secure from forced entry, thereby creating more privacy and less risk of holding mail in the central mail station. Additionally, the interlocking door seam of the present invention is easily accommodated by existing central post box stations, or central base units, with their post boxes in a retrofit procedure.
The interlocking door seam may be incorporated en masse into a cluster box unit (CBU) in order to provide a more secure mail delivery system. Additional security measures may also be taken beyond that of protecting the common seam between the two double doors in such a CBU. With respect to the double doors, a central sliding linkage may be used that slidably engages door pins present on the facing sides of the double doors so that they are held closed until the sliding linkage is lifted from place. Held downward by its own weight under gravity, the sliding linkage prevents the door pins from disengaging the sliding linkage. However, upon the post person opening the mail retrieval door and lifting the sliding linkage lever, the entire sliding linkage disengages the door pins so that both doors are able to swing free and expose all of the interior mail slots.
Additional security is provided by the individual mailbox slot doors. Instead of having a cam simply protrude through the mailbox slot door frame, an extending side flange to the mailbox slot door is also present and is a physical structure through which the cam passes in order to securely and fully lock the mailbox slot door. By providing the flange mailbox slot door, attack upon the lock, as by a slide hammer or the like, does not allow the thief or perpetrator to open the mailbox slot door. The cam does not disengage from the mailbox slot door as it passes through the side flange. If the side flange were absent, the slide hammer attack against the mailbox slot door would allow the cam to disengage from the door, allowing the door to swing open freely.
The CBU may be made of 18 gauge or other heavy stainless steel to provide a strong barrier against physical attack and in order to protect the mail inside.
OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION
It is an object of the present invention to provide a more secure central box unit for central mail stations.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an interlocking door seam that better secures double doors on central post box stations.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an interlocking door seam that is easily retrofittable to existing central post box stations.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide an interlocking door seam for central post box stations that accommodates existing internal structures such as shelving and the like.
It is another object of the present invention to secure double doors from being pried apart with a prybar or the like.
It is an additional object of the present invention to pry-proof double doors by providing an interlocking door seam that protects and shields the otherwise exposed adjoining edges of the double doors.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a more secure cluster box unit (CBU) to
Noblet C. Dale
Packer Stephen R.
Browne Lynne H.
Can-Am Marketing Corporation, Inc.
Cislo & Thomas LLP
Hewitt James M
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