US619022A - Mail-bag - Google Patents

Description

Patenten Feb. 7, |899.

G. R. HowAnD.

M AIL BYA G Application filed Sept. 15, 1898,

(N Model.)

1m: Nonms crans co., vnowmo.. wAsHlNuToN. n cA UNITED f STATES PATENT OFFICE.

GEORGE RILEY HOWARD, OF NEOLA, IOWA.

MAIL-BAG.

SPECIFICATION formingpart o f Letters Patent No. 619,022, dated February '7, 1899. Application filed September l5, 1898. Serial No. 690,996. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.'

Be it known that I, GEORGE RILEY How- ARD, a citizen of the United States, residing at Neola, in the county of Pottawattamie and State of Iowa, have invented a new and useful Improvement in .Mail-Bags, of which the following is a speciiication.

My object is to facilitate the opening an closing of a mail-bag and to produce a simpler, stronger, more efficient, and durable means of securely closing and lockingit as required for protecting and carrying Inail-matter.

My invention consists in the form of the top of the bag and the arrangement and combination therewith 'of mechanism for closing and locking the top and means for detaching marked directions relative to where it is to go. Fig. 3 is a sectional View on the line of Fig. 2, showing the relative positions of the overlying parts when the bag is closed and locked and marked with a label. Fig. 4 is a perspective of the label-holdin g device connected with the pivoted outside bar of the locking mechanism.

The letter A designates a bag, preferably made of leather, that may vary in size, as desired. v

B is an extension of the bag at one side of its top portion (preferably integral) and adapted to serve as a flap tobe doubled down ovei` the top portion of the other and lower side, as shown in Fig. 2.

c and c are mating straight metal bars riveted to the opposite sides of the top edge of the flap B to bind and stiften the top edge and to produce a joint at the center of the flap that will allow it to bend outward, as shown.

d and d' are straight metal bars riveted to the outside of that portion of the top of the bag that is designed to be covered by the iiap B when the bag is closed and to extend parallel with the bars c and c' on the edge of the iiap, as shown in Fig. 2. They are hinged together at their inner ends, and the bar d terminates in an eye f, adapted for attaching a padlock thereto. The end of the bar d has a shortportion g of a jointed flat bar H pivoted thereto in such a manner that the bar will hang down at the side of the bag when open and, as shown in Fig. l, be out of the way while placing mail-matter in the bag. lt is also adapted to be extended acrossthe ap B and in parallel position with the fixed bars o and c' and d andd, as shown in Figs. 2 and 3, to securely fasten the iiap B as required to close the bag. g

The free end of the bar H'terminates in an eye f', adapted to overlie and coincide with the eye f on the end of the bar d as required to securely connect the bars by passing the hook or shackle of a padlock through the coinciding eyes and then fastening it in the lock in the manner padlocks are operated.

A label-holder is combined with the bar H,

and consists of a metal plate c, riveted at its end portions to the outside flat face of the bar H and provided with an elongated open space between its fixed end portions.

m is a dat plate pivotally secured to one end of the plate 7o and to the bar H by means of one of the rivets, so itWill have a hinged connection with the bar H and adapted for doubling a flexible label around it, as shown in Figs. 3 and 4, and securely holding the label in place, as shown in Fig. 2, so the 'directions or address on the label will be visible through the open space in the fixed plate la.

n is an integral finger-hold and clasp on the free end of the hinged label-holder m, adapted to overlie the top edge of the bar'H and to aid in retaining it in Vparallel position with the bar, as required to keep the label securely fastened.

It is obvious a label can be readily removed by drawing the hinged plate outward, so a new label may be put in the place of the one removed. It is also obvious that by doubling a exible label around the hinged plate m it is thereby readily and securely placed in proper position relative to the iixed plate fm, having an elongated slot, through which the IOO directions on the label will be visible, by simply pressing the plate m into its normal and parallel position with the bar H and plate K.

I am aware that label-holders have been detachably connected with mail-bags; but my manner of utilizing a locking-bar that is permanently connected with a mail-bag as an essential portion of a label-holder is new and greatly advantageous in the art to which my invention pertains.

Having thus described the construction and function of each operative part, the practical operation and utility of my invention will be readily understood, and what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent therefor, isv l. In a mail-bag a label-holderconsisting of a metal locking-bar permanently connected with the bag, a metal plate having an elongated opening in its central portion and its end portionsfixed to the outside face of said bar, and a iiat metal plate hinged at one of its ends between the locking-bar and the said metal plate fixed to the bar, to operate in the manner set forth.

2. In a mail-bag, an extension or flap at the top, metal bars fixed to the top edge of the fiap on its outside to extend to the center of the flap, metal bars fixed to the inside of the Hap and the metal bars on the outside, a jointed metal bar fixed to the outside of the bag near its top edge and provided with an eye at one end and a jointed bar pivotally connected With the other end of said fixed bar and provided with an eye at its free end to operate in the manner set forth for the purposes stated.

3. A mail pouch or bag comprising an opentopped bag having a flap extending upward at one side and adapted to be doubled down to overlie the top portion of the other side of the bag, metal bars fixed to the outside and inside of the top edge of the flap in overlying positions to extend from the corners of the iiap to its center, a jointed metal bar having an eye at one end fixed to the outside of the top portion of the bag, a straight bar having a joint near one end pivoted to the end of the said jointed fixed bar and provided with an eye at its other end and a label-holding device fixed to the said jointed and pivoted bar, and a United States mail-lock adapted to be connected with the eyes of the fixed jointed bar and the pivoted bar having a joint near its pivoted end, all arranged and combined to operate in the manner set forth for the purposes stated.

4. The mail-bag lock-bar I-I permanently connected with a mail-bag, the plate 7c having an elongated opening and the plate m having an integral projection n arranged and combined as shown and described for the purposes stated.

GEORGE RILEY HOWARD.

Witnesses:

H. MENDEL, W. I-I. KILLPARK.

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