Patent Application
20110068162
Cross reference is made to copending U.S. patent application Ser. No. ______ entitled “Adjustable Ground Anchor” (Attorney Docket No. 445-4555-U; 60137-630 PUS1); Ser. No. ______ entitled “Support Arm Positioning Tab” (Attorney Docket No. 445-3448-U; 60137-631 PUS1) and Ser. No. ______ entitled “Mailbox Adjustable Mounting Bracket” (Attorney Docket No. 445-3446-U; 60137-632 PUS1).
Some rural and suburban areas utilize curbside mailboxes. Mailboxes generally have a large metal box mounted on a support designed primarily to receive quantities of incoming mail. Some rural curbside mailboxes may be grouped together at property boundaries or road/driveway intersections, depending upon conditions.
Mailboxes evolved to reduce the time required for a mail carrier to complete delivery when the front door of a residence is some distance from the street. Mail boxes are mounted curbside on suitable posts or other supports and may be fitted with a signal flag or semaphore arm—usually red or fluorescent orange that is raised by the resident of the property to notify the postman of outgoing mail and by the postman to inform the recipient that incoming mail had been delivered.
Mailboxes exist under harsh conditions and are subject to extreme stresses: people back into them and run them over; snow plows pack tons of ice and snow against them; the sun bakes them; storms pelt them and can rip them from the ground; lawn mowers and string trimmers attack their supporting posts; animals and insects like wasps live in them; and vandals blow them up, paint-ball them and attack them with bats; among other things. Mailboxes need to be replaced frequently.
Moreover, new home construction continues in rural and suburban areas and new mailboxes are in demand.
A non-limiting embodiment of an apparatus for supporting a newspaper box includes a support attaching to a post, a slide for sliding the newspaper box within the support, and a tab for locking the newspaper box within the support.
According to a feature of the apparatus, the slide includes a groove in either the support or the newspaper box and a projection in the other of the support or the newspaper box.
The various features and advantages of the disclosed examples will become apparent to those skilled in the art from the following detailed description. The drawings that accompany the detailed description can be briefly described as follows.
Referring to
Referring now to
The bottom 65 of the upper support 20 has a plurality of reinforcing ribs 90 and openings 95 (see
Referring now to
A left bracket 125 and a right bracket 130 are disposed on the top 60 and cooperate with the tabs 120 so that the brackets may be manipulated by an installer user to adjust inwardly or outwardly to fit the width of the mailbox (see
The left bracket 125 has an inner longitudinal wall 140 and an outer longitudinal wall 145 that are connected by end walls 150. The inner longitudinal wall 140 has a plurality of inverted top-hat shaped extensions 155 extending therefrom towards the right bracket 130. The top hat has a top 160 that has a slot 165 that extends from a middle 170 of the extension through an end 175 distal from the inner longitudinal wall 140 (see
The right bracket 130 has an inner longitudinal wall 185 and an outer longitudinal wall 190 that are connected by end walls 195. The inner longitudinal wall 140 has a plurality of alternating L-shaped extrusions 200 and horizontally flipped L-shaped extrusions 205 extending therefrom towards the left bracket 125. Each L-shaped extrusion and horizontally flipped L-shaped extrusion has a rectangular vertical side portion (see
To install the left bracket 125 and right bracket 130 on the top 60 of the upper support 60, the bottom portions 210 of each alternating L-shaped extrusions 200 and horizontally flipped L-shaped extrusions 205 are inserted between the top 60 and the tabs 120 extending from the straight-aways 115. The brims 177 of each top hat shaped extension 155 engage the top of the vertical side portions 215. At this point the left and right brackets may slide laterally to approximate the width of a mailbox (See
Referring to
Referring to
To attach the lower support 20 to the upper support 25, the lower support is slid over the post 15 before the upper support and then is raised into contact with the installed upper support 20 as described above. The lower support 25 is then screwed into the upper support 20 to join the upper and lower supports together.
The newspaper box 30 is rectangularly shaped with an open end 250 for the insertion of newspapers (not shown). The newspaper box 30 has a top wall 255, a pair of sidewalls 257, each sidewall having a groove 260, a back wall 265 and a bottom wall 270. The grooves 260 are adapted to receive the molded support ribs 240 on the lower support 25 side arms 235.
Referring to
To install the newspaper box 30, grooves 260 are slid over the molded support ribs 240 until the chamfered extension 280 clicks into place in the rectangular opening 290 in the top portion 245 of the lower support 25. Because the lower locking tab 275 is flexible, if the removal of the lower mailbox from the newspaper box is desired, the user simply pushes down the lower portion 285 of the locking tab 275 until the chamfered extension 280 releases itself from the opening 290 and the newspaper box 30 may be slid out of the lower support 25.
This invention contemplates that the molded support ribs might be provided in either the top support 25 or the mailbox 35 if a lower support 30 or a top support 25 is not desired.
Referring now to
The upper plate 305 is designed to rotate about the lower plate and has three circular slots 312 extending therethrough. The slots extend far enough around the plate to enable an installer to properly orient the post 15 as will be discussed herein below. The receiving fixtures are welded to the upper plate 305.
The lower plate 300 has a plurality of bolts 315 that extend upwardly therefrom through the slots 312 in the upper plate 305. The bolts 315 extending through the slots in the upper plate have threaded top portions 320. The screw 295 is fixedly attached, such as by welding, to a bottom 325 of the bottom plate.
To install the anchoring system 40, an installer screws the screw into the ground (not shown). This can be achieved by joining the upper plate 305 with the lower plate 300 by fitting bolts 315 through the upper plate slots 312 and inserting a pry bar (not shown), in between the receiving fixtures 310 so that rotation of the pry bar around the axis of the screw 295 causes the upper plate to rotate about the lower plate until the lower plate bolts 315 hit the end of the slots 312. Once the ends of the slots are hit, the lower plate 300 rotates with the upper plate 305 causing the screw to drive into the ground. Installation continues as the screw digs into the ground until the lower plate 300 touches the earth. Once the earth is touched, continuing to drill would compromise the soil beneath the lower plate that might, in turn, compromise the anchoring system 40.
In other systems, to get the proper orientation of their post, a user might let the screw dig into the ground farther thereby compromising the soil or too little, leaving the screw 295 open to the elements. In the non-limiting embodiment shown, once the lower plate 300 reaches the ground, the upper plate 305 and the receiving fixtures 315 can be properly oriented to hold the post 15 in the proper position by rotating the upper plate 305 about the lower plate 300 within the slots 312 until the proper position is obtained. Because of the orientation of the slots 312 and the number of receiving fixtures 310, the plate does not need to be rotated more than 90 degrees, though other numbers and shapes of receivers, extent of the slots and numbers of bolts are contemplated by this invention.
Once the upper plate is properly oriented, nuts 320 are torqued on the bolts 315 to prevent further rotation of the upper plate 300 relative to lower plate 295 thereby completing the construction. The receiving fixtures 315 are spaced on the upper plate 300 so that they can receive a 4×4 piece of wood (not show) or the like within the confines of the receiving fixtures or the post 15 is slipped down and over the receiving fixtures 315 and attached thereto from the outside by screws (not shown).
Although a combination of features is shown in the illustrated examples, not all of them need to be combined to realize the benefits of various embodiments of this disclosure. In other words, a system designed according to an embodiment of this disclosure will not necessarily include all of the features shown in any one of the Figures or all of the portions schematically shown in the Figures. Moreover, selected features of one example embodiment may be combined with selected features of other example embodiments.
The preceding description is exemplary rather than limiting in nature. Variations and modifications to the disclosed examples may become apparent to those skilled in the art that do not necessarily depart from the essence of this disclosure. The scope of legal protection given to this disclosure can only be determined by studying the following claims.
