Home wall insert mailbox with convenient box handling features
View Patent ↗The present invention teaches a residential wall penetrating mailbox with enhanced box handling capability, openable by barcode scanning, and openable from either inside or outside a home. A body which is generally column shaped has front and rear doors which open at the top and hinge near the bottom and which have interleaved fingers or members extending from the bottom ends into the interior space of the mailbox. A box tray sits on the interleaved fingers. When either door is opened the fingers of that door lift the box tray upward and out of the box on that side. Thus, a delivery person may access a box from outside the home, while the homeowner may do the same without leaving the safety of the home interior. In addition, an elastic cord and carefully slanted slots on side panels of the front door allow easy retention of a box even further up the front door.
1. A residential mailbox for mounting in a home wall having an exterior face and an exterior, and interior face and an interior, the residential mailbox comprising:
a columnar body having a vertical axis and a front and a back;
the columnar body mounted into the home wall, with the front passing through the exterior face of such home wall and accessible from such exterior, and with the back passing through the interior face of the home wall and accessible from the interior;
the front having a first door therein, the first door forming part of the front when in a closed position, the first door having at least one hinge allowing it to move to an open position by swinging outward at a top end;
the first door having at least one member extending from a bottom end of the first door inside of the columnar body;
a box drawer disposed within the columnar body, resting upon the at least one member when the first door is in the closed position, a center of gravity of the box drawer disposed on the at least one member of the first door, whereby the at least one member of the first door provides stable support for the box drawer.
2. The residential mailbox of claim 1 , further comprising:
the back having a second door therein, the second door forming part of the back when in a closed position, the second door having at least one hinge allowing it to move to an open position by swinging outward at a top end;
the second door having at least one member extending from a bottom end of the second door inside of the columnar body, the at least one member of the second door being disposed so that the at least one member of the first door and the at least one member of the second door do not occlude one another;
the center of gravity of the box drawer disposed on the at least one member of the second door, whereby the at least one member of the second door provides stable support for the box drawer.
3. The residential mailbox of claim 2 , further comprising:
a slanted chute inside the residential mailbox, the slanted chute disposed so as to receive letters entering the mailbox via a first letter delivery slot, the slant of the chute allowing the letters to slide into a first letter drawer.
4. The residential mailbox of claim 1 , further comprising:
the front door having two side panels, the side panels concealed within the columnar body in the closed position, each side panel having a respective slot therethrough, each slot being oriented at an angle to the vertical axis when in the closed position;
an elastic member having two ends, each end having a respective fastener thereon, each fastener sliding within one slot whereby the elastic member is suspended loosely between the two slots and moves along the slots.
5. The residential mailbox of claim 4 , the side panels further comprising:
a relative angle between the front door and the side panels of slightly less than 90 degrees.