posted on 30 January 2012
We have most of the normal luxury items that a home needs - including some that aren't entirely necessary such as a bathroom tv - but we are always in search of that little something extra that really makes a home a home. In our community, the postal service will only deliver mail to a standard mailbox located near the curb at the front of the house. It dawned on me that to avoid the long walk out to the mailbox just to check and see if the mail has arrived, it would serve us better to have a mail delivery system that would whisk the mail directly into the house. The design I came up with has several qualities. Foremost, you would never know that there is anything unusual about the mailbox itself. The rock stand which holds the mailbox up is actually hollow, and the bottom of the mailbox itself is hinged. When I press a button inside the house, a solenoid at the base of the mailbox releases the bottom to open downward, dropping the mail into a tube through which a vacuum has been applied. Whoosh and the mail is delivered, through the tube, into a receptacle next to the front door. Turn off the switch and the vacuum would cease, allowing the hinged trap door on the mailbox to return to its upright position. (It has a spring for this purpose. And the solenoid returns to its locked position. Life in America is sweet enough, but we all need a little mailbox luxury to make it special. |