Patent Application
20200138225
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The disclosure and prior art relates to delivery boxes and more particularly pertains to a new delivery box for safely receiving packages.
An embodiment of the disclosure meets the needs presented above by generally comprising a housing comprising a top side separated from a bottom side, a left side separated from a right side, and a front side separated from a back side. The top side, the bottom side, the left side, the right side, the front side, and the back side form a package cavity. The front side has a door aperture extending through to the package cavity and the bottom side has a plurality of mounting apertures extending through to the package cavity. Each of the plurality of mounting apertures is configured to receive a bolt to fix the housing to a deck or a porch. A door is coupled to the housing and has a front face, a rear face, a top edge, a bottom edge, a left edge, and a right edge. A pair of hinges is coupled to the left edge and the right edge proximal the bottom edge. The pair of hinges is coupled to the right side and the left side of the housing within the door aperture proximal the bottom side and the front side. The door swingably moves from a closed position covering the door aperture to an alternate open position. A handle is coupled to the front face of the door proximal the top edge. A lock mechanism is coupled to the rear face of the door and is selectively engageable with the housing to secure the door in the closed position. A keypad is coupled to the front face of the door and is in operational communication with the lock mechanism to engage and disengage the lock mechanism from the housing.
There has thus been outlined, rather broadly, the more important features of the disclosure in order that the detailed description thereof that follows may be better understood, and in order that the present contribution to the art may be better appreciated. There are additional features of the disclosure that will be described hereinafter and which will form the subject matter of the claims appended hereto.
The objects of the disclosure, along with the various features of novelty which characterize the disclosure, are pointed out with particularity in the claims annexed to and forming a part of this disclosure.
The disclosure will be better understood and objects other than those set forth above will become apparent when consideration is given to the following detailed description thereof. Such description makes reference to the annexed drawings wherein:
With reference now to the drawings, and in particular to
As best illustrated in
A lock mechanism 60 may comprise a three-point lock 61 coupled to the rear face 42 of the door with a top arm 62, a right arm 64, and a left arm 66. A plurality of channel guides 68 may be coupled to the rear face 42 of the door and comprises a top guide 70, a right guide 72, and a left guide 74. A top lock bar 76, a right lock bar 78, and a left lock bar 80 are coupled to the three-point lock 61. The top lock bar 76 is coupled to the top arm 62 and through the top guide 70 and is slidably engageable with a top receptacle 82 within the top side 14 of the housing. The right lock bar 78 is coupled to the right arm 64 and through the right guide 72 and is slidably engageable with a right receptacle 84 within the right side 20 of the housing. The left lock bar 80 is coupled to the left arm 66 and through the left guide 74 and is slidably engageable with a left receptacle 86 within the left side 18 of the housing. The three-point lock 62 slides each of the top lock bar 76, the right lock bar 78, and the left lock bar 80 into the top receptacle 82, the right receptacle 84, and the left receptacle 86, respectively, when engaged to lock the door 38 in the closed position 54 and alternatively retracts each of the top lock bar 76, the right lock bar 78, and the left lock bar 80 from the top receptacle 82, the right receptacle 84, and the left receptacle 86, respectively, when disengaged to unlock the door 38 and allow the door to move to the open position 56.
A keypad 88 is coupled to the front face 40 of the door and is in operational communication with the lock mechanism 60. The keypad 88 may comprise a display screen 90 and a plurality of keys 92. The display screen 90 and the plurality of keys 92 may be illuminated by LEDs. The plurality of keys 92 is configured to enter a passcode to engage and alternatively disengage the lock mechanism 60 from the housing 12. A CPU 94 may be coupled to the keypad 88 and in operational communication with the plurality of keys 92. A barcode scanner 96 may be coupled to the keypad 88 and in operational communication with the CPU 94. The barcode scanner 96 is configured to scan a barcode on a package being delivered to automatically disengage the lock mechanism 60. A Wi-Fi chip 98 may be coupled to the keypad 88 and in operational communication with the CPU 94. The Wi-Fi chip 98 allows the keypad 88 to communicate with a smartphone app to send notifications and track delivery history. A battery 100 may be coupled to the keypad 88. The battery 100 is in operational communication with, and provides power to, the CPU 94 and the barcode scanner 96.
In use, a user provides the passcode as part of shipment information to allow a delivery person to disengage the lock mechanism 60, move the door 38 from the closed position 54 to the open position 56, place the package being delivered into the package cavity 26, return the door 38 to the closed position 54, and engage the lock mechanism 60. The delivery person may alternatively scan the barcode on the package with the barcode scanner 96 to automatically disengage the lock mechanism 60.
With respect to the above description then, it is to be realized that the optimum dimensional relationships for the parts of an embodiment enabled by the disclosure, to include variations in size, materials, shape, form, function and manner of operation, assembly and use, are deemed readily apparent and obvious to one skilled in the art, and all equivalent relationships to those illustrated in the drawings and described in the specification are intended to be encompassed by an embodiment of the disclosure.
Therefore, the foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles of the disclosure. Further, since numerous modifications and changes will readily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limit the disclosure to the exact construction and operation shown and described, and accordingly, all suitable modifications and equivalents may be resorted to, falling within the scope of the disclosure. In this patent document, the word “comprising” is used in its non-limiting sense to mean that items following the word are included, but items not specifically mentioned are not excluded. A reference to an element by the indefinite article “a” does not exclude the possibility that more than one of the element is present, unless the context clearly requires that there be only one of the elements.
