Postal service facility
OwnerMark B. McKellarinventor
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A postal service facility including a housing, access areas for supporting postal service equipment installed on or within the housing surface, and a rotatable assemblage of postal boxes disposed between mounts within the accessible housing interior. A lockable outer door provides access to the assemblage in the housing interior. Electric switches controlling a motor and a brake provide the preferred means of rotating the assemblage. The assemblage contains a plurality of individually lockable postal boxes. Locking strips or lockable panels allow concurrent access to a plurality of boxes to facilitate delivery of posted items to the boxes. The assemblage can be generally cylindrical in shape for most efficient use of space. Alternatively, the assemblage can be rectangular in cross section.
Claims17
Apparatus for facilitating postal service, such postal service including use of equipment such as meters, scales, and stamp dispensing equipment, comprising
- a housing including an access area for supporting suchpostal service equipment adapted to be disposed thereon;
- a canopy disposed above said housing, said canopy located at least partially over said access area;
- deposit means on the surface of said housing for depositing items for shipment;
- storage means within said housing for receiving and storing such items;
- housing door means for accessing the interior of said housing;
- mounting means within said interior, including a plurality of coaxial opposing mounts secured to said housing;
- a member disposed between said coaxial opposing mounts;
- an assemblage of postal boxes disposed on said member between said coaxial opposing mounts, said assemblage including
- a body with rotation means allowing rotation of said body about an axis therethrough;
- a plurality of individual storage means for receiving and storing mail or the like within said body;
- a plurality of individual hinged door means, each said individual hinged door means hingedly closing one of said plurality of individual storage means;
- individual locking means on each one of said plurality of individual hinged door means for releasably locking said individual hinged door means;
- multiple access means for allowing concurrent access to a first plurality of said individual storage means, said first plurality constituting less than the entirety of said plurality of individual storage means, said multiple access means being disposed substantially entirely about the exterior of said body;
- and
- multiple locking means for releasably securing said multiple access to said body, enabling such concurrent access to said first plurality of individual storage means to be effected simultaneously upon release of said multiple locking means and motion of said multiple access means.
An assemblage of postal boxes, comprising:
- a body with a generally cylindrical shape;
- a plurality of individual storage means within said body;
- A plurality of individual hinged door means each said individual hinged door means hingedly closing one of said plurality of individual storage means;
- individual locking means on each one of said plurality of individual hinged door means for releasably locking said individual hinged door means;
- multiple access means for allowing concurrent access to a first plurality of said individual storage means, said first plurality constituting less than the entirety of said plurality of individual storage means, said multiple access means including a strip means releasably attached to an unhinged side of each said individual door means closing each of said first plurality of individual storage means;
- and
- multiple locking means for releasably securing said multiple access means to said body, simultaneously causing such concurrent access to said first plurality of individual storage means upon release of said multiple locking means and motion of said strip means outwardly from said body.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.