Home Delivery Box

DESCRIPTION:

The home parcel and package delivery services have an interesting and colorful history in the United States. The forerunners of the package delivery and mail services began with the early providers such as the Butterfield Overland Stage, Wells Fargo, and the Pony Express. There are numerous other providers of early delivery services, but the services above are the most famous and well-known. Eventually, Wells Fargo became the prominent delivery service until the advent of the transcontinental railroad system was completed. Packages moved much more efficiently and rapidly by rail, and eventually, the United States government created the Parcel Post system providing package delivery along with regular mail services.

The Parcel Post services created a substantial rise in catalog sales throughout the country, and the Well Fargo company exited the business in favor of their banking operations. During this time period the air mail service began regular service and was used for high-value and perishable goods primarily at that time. The development of airlines provided regular service when their operations were established and the “hub and spoke” systems were created to deliver packages to most of the country.

The improvement of the highway system after World War II provided a system for motor freight along with the development of gasoline and diesel trucks. The package delivery services including the United States Postal Services fashioned the delivery system that is known currently. The package delivery system established the ability to deliver packages as soon as overnight from practically any source to almost any destination. The advent of these rapid and reliable delivery systems provides the means for large companies such as Amazon, eBay, and other online services to sell and deliver goods all over the world.

Along with the delivery services come the usual security risk involved with having a package delivered to the home. Package orders for home delivery arrive at non-specified times. The delivery services deliver packages during the day during work hours when many people at not a home. The consequences of the regular delivery and work schedules mean that delivery persons leave parcels at the front of residences on the porch or stoop next to the front door. Home delivery at unoccupied residences leaves the package readily available for unscrupulous people to take advantage of the situation. The media has been reporting a rise in theft of packages left at the door of residences especially during holiday and gift giving seasons. The security of such packages is always a concern, and even with security cameras and other technology, it seems little can be done to curb such instances.

The Home Delivery Box is an innovative and practical solution to security issues concerning packages left at the front of homes after delivery. The Home Delivery Box hides and keeps secure any delivery packages left at the front of a residence. Constructed of sturdy and tamper resistance material the home delivery box will keep packages secure until the recipient can retrieve them. The Home Delivery Box has a large lid at the top that covers the entire top of the box. Delivery persons can easily open it, and the package is placed inside. Once the package is inside, and the lid to the Home Delivery Box is shut the unique functions of the hinged shelves will be activated. Once activated the hinged shelves will swing downward and drop the package into the secure area underneath. The hinged shelves will automatically swing up to their original position and lock into place.

The secure lower section cannot be accessed when the top of the Home Delivery Box is open. The package can only be accessed via the locking side door at the base and side of the Home Delivery Box. Additional packages can be delivered as well as multiple packages at once. The home delivery will provide peace of mind for anyone expecting products to be delivered to their front door. The Home Delivery Box is recognizable and easily operated by delivery persons and persons retrieving the delivered packages.

An alternate design for the Home Delivery Box would feature an electromagnetic lock that is activated when the barcode on the delivery box label is scanned by a barcode scanner attached to the top of the box. Once the barcodes match up the lock would open, and the delivery is placed inside. This alternative would eliminate the interior hinged shelves or flaps. The electromagnetic lock would relock the box after delivery is complete.

SPECIFIC, UNIQUE FUNCTIONS OF INVENTION:

• Secure and weatherproof box
• Works for home or businesses
• Box is obvious point of delivery
• Large upper lid allows packages to be deposited
• Closing lid activates hinged shelves
• Lower secure area cannot be accessed through top of box
• Hinged shelves drop packages into secure lower section
• Locking lower door accesses secure area
• Accommodates different size packages
• Prevents thefts of packages
• Keeps packages out of weather
• Barcode scanner and electromagnetic lock available as alternate version

PRODUCT COMPONENT CLARIFICATION:

The “Home Delivery Box” is an innovative package protection product that has been designed to fit on the front stoop or porch and allow the package delivery person to place the package within, where it is protected from the weather and theft until removed from the enclosure. The enclosure is made of steel and can be secured to the porch or stoop using the supplied security hardware. The enclosure can accept several deliveries and the previously, or current, deliveries will be protected until the homeowner or renter gets home to remove them.

Currently, theft of delivered packages is rampant. Several methods of protection are employed, such as security cameras that warn the homeowner or renter that a person has crossed the arbitrary security threshold and has ‘pinged’ the homeowner’s phone so they can observe the video image of the intruder. The video image is also stored so the authorities can observe the perpetrator. These cameras come in many configurations; however, they cannot protect the package. They can only passively view the theft in progress. Some allow bi-lateral voice communication so the homeowner can talk to the thief and, hopefully, convince them to not take the package(s). Most porches/stoops are unprotected, allowing the thief to amble up, grab, and then walk away with the package. With more and more online purchases being executed, this delivered package loss is a very serious problem and over time, is increasing.

The “Home Delivery Box” resolves most of these problems by providing an enclosure that can be accessed by the delivery person and then, after the lid is shut, translates the package to a secure area at the bottom of the enclosure, and then restores the security shelves to protect the delivered package from theft. Multiple deliveries can be effected, providing there is room below. The enclosure is too big to easily be stolen and it can be secured to the porch or dwelling wall to further enhance the security of the deliveries. The lid is weatherproof and the enclosure remains dry, dust, and debris free, protecting the package until it is removed using the securely locked side door.

• In use, the delivery person lifts the lid and places the package on the closed security shelves. Then they shut the weatherproof lid. This action winds the spring in the security shelf latch. After 10 seconds, the latch releases, the spring loaded shelves drop down, forced by the weight of the package. The package drops to the bottom of the enclosure and the spring loaded shelves rebound, settle for about 30 seconds, and then the security latch engages, locking them in place. The security shelves are very durable and the mating surfaces are small, so they are difficult to damage enough to remove any packages below. When the homeowner or renter gets home, they can use the key and remove the packages in the secure area. While not totally secure, the “Home Delivery Box” is a very good deterrent.
• It is important to note that the supplied shims will have to be used if the enclosure is bolted to the wall of the dwelling so the lid will open fully without sticking the wall.

The enclosure, lid and shelves: The enclosure is fabricated from 1/8” thick cold rolled, high strength steel. The enclosure shape is cut out of the sheet stock using a computer controlled water jet machining center. After the product is cut out, it is formed on flywheel press in a specialty die. After forming, the unit is placed in a jig and robotically welded to make a secure enclosure. 3/16” thick cold rolled steel ovals are cut out of sheet steel stock and these are robotically welded in place to reinforce the bolt down pads in the base and back of the enclosure. The lid is stamped to shape after being cut out of the sheet material using the water jet machining center. The continuous hinge is welded in place on the lid and the cabinet.

The side security door is assembled after being cut out of the 1/8”sheet steel by the water jet machining center, the supports and hinge is robotically welded in place, and the door is painted with the cabinet and lid. Then the commercially available lock components are attached and bolted in place.

The security shelves are cut to shape using 1/16” thick steel material. After cutting, they are stamped on a flywheel press and the continuous hinge is welded onto the bottom edge of the shelves. After fabrication, the shelf hinges are robotically welded into position.

• As an option: The product can be supplied with a security system that will prevent the protective lid from being opened if the security shelves rotate downward and cannot return to the horizontal locked position. In this event, the lid latch engages and will not release until the packages are removed from the lower section of the enclosure and the security shelves are allowed to return to the horizontal and latched position, whereupon the system will work normally.
• As another option, The enclosure can be blow molded using brightly colored polypropylene plastic. The enclosure, lid, security door, and shelves can be molded separately and assembled using the same commercially available components as the steel product. This material is pre- colored and will not have to be painted.

Coating: The enclosure and lid are painted with aliphatic polyurethane coating. This extremely durable coating can be supplied in almost any vibrant color, so a distinctive color may be chosen to enhance the product recognition factor, which can dramatically improve the market adoption of the product. The coating is rust, corrosion, scratch and UV resistant, making it an optimum coating for this application.

Various components: The lock, hinges, shelf supports, security latches, and support arms are all commercially available from various vendors. The spring powered timing latch is available but will have to be packaged to work in the enclosure as stated. The security shelf springs will have to be balanced with the shelf weight to allow them to be slightly positive upward when no package resides on the shelves. This is relatively easy empirical engineering and must be done after the initial production unit short run.

The Home Delivery Box is designed to be aesthetic and effective in the application. The relative ease of manufacture and the moderately inexpensive components provide good marketability for the manufacturer. The user benefits from improved security for delivered packages and easy access to them by the homeowner or renter, which should provide considerable market interest in the product.

The invention is illustrated in the following drawings of the essential points as explained to us in the documentation.

Drawing 1, Block 1: Home Delivery Box – Front And Side Views Of Construction

(1) The cabinet is constructed using high strength cold rolled steel sheet, which has been formed to shape after being cut out of the sheet and has been robotically welded to make watertight, tamper resistant enclosure. The weather resistance is slightly compromised by the security mounting holes on the bottom and the back of the enclosure but is shipped with tight fitting plastic plugs to remedy this problem.

(2) Reinforcing bolt down pads are formed and then welded to the interior floor of the box so it can be affixed to the porch or stoop floor.

(3) The interior security shelves are hinged at the outer edges and drop down to drop the package into the secure area after the weather protective lid is lowered.

(4) When the lid is lifted initially, the security shelves remain fixed, allowing the delivery person to place the package on them within the enclosure.

(5) When the lid is shut completely after the placement of the package, the security shelves drop down momentarily to allow the package to fall to the bottom of the enclosure and then rebound to the fixed secure position.

(6) The protective id shields the interior of the box from weather, dust, and airborne debris, keeping the package clean and dry until removed from the box through the side door.

(7) The lid is propped up through the use of a friction wheel and the support arms mounted on each side of the cabinet, which fold compactly against the interior sides of the box when the lid is closed.

(8) The lid has a silicone rubber foam gasket all around the interior periphery of the lid, which seals against the upper edge of the steel cabinet.

(9) The security shelf engagement bar is operated by the lid when it is opened and closed by the delivery person.

(10) The cabinet is painted with aliphatic polyurethane coating for the optimum in wear, UV, corrosion protection.

(11) The delivered package is removed from the secure location within the cabinet and the package removal drawer is re-closed after the retrieval.

(12) The package removal door is securely locked using a tamper resistant keyed tumbler lock, which has two hardened bars that slide into receivers welded into the interior surface of the box, preventing unwarranted removal of the package.

Although a single embodiment of the invention has been illustrated in the accompanying drawings and described in the above detailed description, it will be understood that the invention is not limited to the embodiment developed herein, but is capable of numerous rearrangements, modifications, substitutions of parts and elements without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

This document has been prepared for the manufacturer’s elucidation. The manufacturer’s decision makers should consider this product for licensing (providing intellectual property protection for their sales of the product in return for a royalty payment for a period of years) or an outright purchase of the patent for a negotiated fee. The inventor and her team are standing by to consider offers for licensing or outright purchase of the patent.