Rural mailbox flexible support

Abstract

A rural mailbox used for temporarily mails storage having a flexible support system or a flexi-modular that absorbs and reduces lateral impact through its spring system/mechanism by allowing the support arm to deflect and soften the magnitude of shock impact. The flexible support system or flexi-modular is a horizontal member of the mailbox post and can be utilized or mounted on any traditional mailbox vertical member or post that made of woods or hard plastics. The flexible support system or flexi-modular includes a base, a leaf spring, a horizontal support member and a pivot bolt assembly. The base is a main interface to the vertical post, as well as other sub-components of the flexi-modular. It is integrated with two extended lugs that hold the horizontal member through the pivot bolt and allow it to swing in plane to the left or right of the mailbox. The leaf or coil spring is attached to the base by fasteners, and its duty is to reposition the horizontal member after every impact, also acts like a load damper, which minimizes or absorbs impact and help to prolong the mailbox and its post support through many more winters. More importantly, the flexi-modular maintains a classy and traditional appearance of the rural mailbox assembly.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

In general, a conventional rural mailbox assembly has a vertical post and a horizontal member that support the mailbox in a fixed position. Or an integrated plastic molded mailbox that has an integral post and mailbox as one entity. The mailbox is bolted to the horizontal support member by fasteners.

However, a conventional rural mailbox post is fairly disadvantage because it is fixed relatively to the ground; therefore, the mailbox and the support post are often being damaged by the snow plow-trucks during the snow cleaning operation; however, this generally happens in the winter time and snowy region.

U.S. Pat. No. 3,899,150 to R. J. Herschel discloses a self-righting mailbox support having a tubular vertical element with an incorporated coil spring assembly. U.S. Pat. No. 5,029,783 to A. Alvarez discloses a flexible mailbox stand comprised of two sections joined by a spring assembly. U.S. Pat. No. 7,032,811 to K. Paulic and D. Atrkhmovich disclose a rotatable mailbox with flexible support that has a rod assembly and a support plate positioned on the ground, between the rod and the plate is a coil spring that supports the rod assembly and the mailbox. U.S. Pat. No. 4,792,088 to R. Bonnell discloses a mailbox supported by a ground engaging post having a spring stem for absorbing shock such as impact from a vehicle.

While these inventions may be suitable for the particular purpose employed, or general use, they would not be as suitable for the purposes of the present invention as disclosed hereafter.

Accordingly, it is desirable to provide an effective and durability enhancement support system for the mailbox, which is flexible and absorbs horizontal forces/impacts that a plow-truck generates during its snow cleaning operation. During plowing, the truck creates a continuous flow of snow powders, which mass and velocity form a momentum force that pushes against the mailbox and its support post several times for each winter. The flexible support system will help to protect the post as well as the mailbox to be damaged by the said forces described above.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

A flexible mailbox support system or flexi-modular of the present invention is to provide durability enhancement or improvement to the conventional mailbox that is not capable to absorb impact that may damage the mailbox as well as its support post.

The present invention is about durability improvement or enhancement, and more particularly to a stand alone rural mailbox support system in the snowy region that is fixed relative to the ground, where is high probability of mailbox and its support system being damaged by plowing trucks during snow plowing operation.

The primary aspect of this present invention is to provide a flexible support system or flexi-modular for a rural mailbox assembly that comprises several components that can be produced in details and manually assembled together (see figures for details). The flexible support system or flexi-modular has three major components; a mounting base, a horizontal support member and a leaf or coil spring and several fasteners. The objective of this present invention also includes a philosophy of retaining the mailbox support appearance classy as a traditional.

A fully assembled and installed flexible mailbox support system or flexi-modular comprises a base, which is a main interface to the vertical post, as well as other sub-components of the flexi-modular. A leaf or coil spring is attached to the base by fastener, where the spring works like a shock absorber or a load damper; more importantly, it returns the horizontal support member to a center position every time after impact. The base has two integral extended mounting lugs that hold the horizontal member through its mounting holes and retained by a pivot bolt assembly. The horizontal support member has a single degree-of-freedom (DOF) mount system, which is only allowed to swing laterally in plane to the left or right of the mailbox. The flexible mailbox support system or flexi-modular can be mounted to a solid wood or an extruded plastic post

A preferable bill-of-material (BoM) for the flexi-modular consists of a base 01, which can be made from a durable plastic molded process or hogged-out from a plastic or corrosion resistant steel block; a horizontal support member 02, can be made from an extruded hollow durable plastic post (or fence post); and the spring 03, can be made from a corrosion resistant spring material. Lastly, the pivot bolt assembly 04 and other fasteners are preferably made from corrosion resistant and can be purchased off-the-shelve from local hardware stores.

The various features and advantages of this invention 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.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates a general perspective of a rural mailbox assembly with a flexi-modular support and the vertical post. As shown in figure is a complete assembly of the mailbox and support post in an isometric view.

FIG. 2 illustrates a general perspective of a flexi-modular assembly. As shown in figure is an isometric view of a flexible support system or flexi-modular assembly.

FIG. 3 illustrates an exploded view of FIG. 2 or an exploded view of a flexi-modular assembly.

FIG. 4 illustrates a FRONT and TOP views of the mailbox and its support post assembly. The TOP view shows a broken-section-view of B-B. FIG. 4 also includes VIEW A, which is a detailed as well as larger scaled view of section view B-B.

FIG. 5 illustrates a FRONT and TOP views of the mailbox and its support post assembly. The FRONT view shows a broken-section-view of A-A. FIG. 5 also includes VIEW B, which is a detailed as well as larger scaled view of section view A-A.

FIG. 6 illustrates a TOP view of the mailbox and its support post assembly. The figure shows section B-B and the flexi-modular is in a default position.

FIG. 7 illustrates a TOP view of the mailbox and its support post assembly. The figure shows section B-B and the flexi-modular is in an instant-deflected position.

FIG. 8 illustrates a general perspective of a flexi-modular assembly with long mounting bolt type of fasteners and doublers that work with hollow plastic vertical post.

FIG. 9 illustrates a general perspective of a flexi-modular assembly with short mounting screw type of fasteners that work with solid wood vertical post.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The representative embodiment of the present invention will be described referencing to FIG. 1 thru FIG. 9. The mailbox flexible support system or flexi-modular assembly as shown are in accordance with the invention according to FIG. 1 thru 9, comprises of a base 01 that made of plastic molded component, a horizontal support member 02 that made of extruded plastic post, a leaf or coil spring 03 that made from a standard or corrosion resistant spring materials, four standard corrosion resistant bolt assemblies 4(a, b, c) and two standard corrosion resistant fasteners 05 that fasten the spring 03 to the base 01. The said fasteners can be purchased from off-the-shelf from local hardware stores.

The base 01, referenced to FIG. 3, has a flat surface that interfaces with the vertical post. It is also a main component that holds the horizontal support member 02 and the damper spring 03. The base 01 can be produced by casting/molding using durable plastic material or hogged-out from a block of corrosion resistant materials such Stainless Steel or Plastic.

The horizontal support member 02, referenced to FIG. 3, has double chamfers at the attached end, and these are needed for physical operational clearances. There is also a mounting hole that drilled thru surfaces, top and bottom at the same end. The horizontal support member 02, is constrained in the flexi-modular assembly by a long pivot bolt 4a. It can be simply produced by using extruded plastic fence post, cut to size then complete machining of features. It can also be produced by other method such plastic molding to avoid machining cost.

The spring or shock absorber 03, referenced to FIG. 3, that can be made of standard ferrous or non-ferrous spring materials in either form, leaf or coil spring. The spring is mainly designed to absorb horizontal forces/impacts and reposition the mailbox to the default position after impact.

Claims

1. A flexible rural mailbox support system or flexi-modular assembly that is capable to absorb lateral/side impact and prolong service life for the mailbox and its support post, comprising:

a. A base 01 of the flexi-modular depicted in an exploded view of FIG. 3 that has a flat mounting surface, several mounting holes and integral lugs which are normal to the mounting surface. The lugs also have mounting thru holes that are co-axis with the lug outer radius.

b. A horizontal support member 02 of the flexi-modular depicted in an exploded view of FIG. 3, is hollow and has double chamfers at mounted end and a mounting pilot hole thru surfaces.

c. A load absorber spring 03 of the flexi-modular depicted in an exploded view of FIG. 3, is a leaf spring style that has a flat surface and two mounting holes at center where the flat surface interfaces with the base 01. Both ends of the spring 03 have a curvature surface that designed for smooth rubbing contact with the inner surfaces of the horizontal support member 02. The spring 03 can be made from standard spring materials such ferrous or non-ferrous materials as well as high flexural strength plastics.

d. A pivot bolt of the flexi-modular assembly depicted in FIG. 3 has two washers, 4b and a nut, 4c. The bolt 4a has a longer shank where it interfaces with the base 01 and the horizontal support member 02. The bolt assembly 4a, 4b & 4c can be made of metal or plastic materials. However, this pivot bolt is a substitutable component. It can be used by other long bolts such a cutter-pin style.

e. Two counter-sunk fasteners that hold the spring 03 to the base 01.

2. The rural mailbox flexible support system or flexi-modular assembly as recited in claim 1, wherein said flexi-modular assembly having a shock absorber spring that is flexible and absorbs lateral forces/impacts that a plow-truck generates during its snow cleaning operation.