The present invention concerns a front device to be mounted on a box, e.g. a mailbox, said device being suited for containing a message from or to the owner of the box.

It is previously known devices with the same purpose, for example from US patent 5.323.959, disclosing a top which may be mounted on a mailbox, and wherein messages in the form of paper sheets may be secured between two lips. Such a device may, however, be subjected to theft of the mes¬ sage, loss of the message or the message may in some other way be destroyed or fouled, e.g. by rain or snow.

Accordingly, there is a need for a device for such boxes or other box-formed containers (e.g. boxes for sand, boxes for sending or receiving mail, boxes for waste material etc.) where the message to the user is placed visibly, may be easily replaced by authorized persons and is not subject to damage by the weather. Such a device for a box is produced according to the present invention, the device comprising a depressed or removed area on one of the mainly vertical surfaces of the box, where the depressed or removed area includes a door or a slideable plate which mainly covers the depressed or removed area, and where the door or the slideable plate includes or lies next to a sheet made of transparent material, e.g. glass or plastic, and where a sheet of paper with a message can be placed between the transparent material and the back surface of the door.

The door may be hinged horizontally or vertically, or the slideable plate may be snapped into place in a correspond¬ ing depression in the box.

The door or she slideable plate may also be equipped with a lock.

The invention will be described more closely below, with reference to an embodiment showing a mailbox. As a support to the disclosure the following figures are attached, where:

Fig. 1 shows a mailbox with a recessed area which may contain a door or a slideable plate according to the inven¬ tion,

Fig. 2 shows the design of an embodiment of a door seen from the front and from the side, and which fits into the recess of the box according to the invention,

Fig. 3 shows an internal part of the door from the front and from the side, in which a message to the owner of the box may be placed,

Fig. 4 shows the assembling/functioning of a box with a recess in the door, an optionally transparent inner part and a door with a transparent section according to the invention,

Fig. 5 shows a different embodiment of the device according to the invention, comprising a thin, box-shaped body for- ming a false front, placed on a regular box, e.g. a mail¬ box, seen from the front,

Fig. 6 shows a device according to Fig. 5 depicting the different parts of the device according to the invention,

Fig. 7 shows an assembly/disassembly sequence for a device according to Figures 5 and 6.

In Figures 1-4 and 5-7 there is shown a mailbox, comprising a box body 1 with sides 2, a lid 3 and a front 4. The lid 3 of the box may be locked to the box's body 1 by means of a locking device 5 which is known per se.

Other box-formed bodies than mailboxes may be designed in a corresponding manner without departing from the spirit of the invention.

According to the invention, in at least one of the surfaces of the box (the front of the box is shown in Figures 1 and 6) there is a recessed area 6 which may contain a message to or from the owner of the box. The area 6 comprises a hinged or slideable door 8. The door 8 may be located in such a way in the recessed area 6 that the side of the box in which the door is located will display a substantially even surface which lies in the same plane as the rest of the box 1. Optionally, the door 8 may be mounted onto the front of a box, which door (8) includes a device (11) inside of which a message may be placed.

For locating the door 8 in the recessed area 6, the door 8 may be equipped with horizontal or vertical hinges, aper- tures 10 or pins 9 which cooperate with corresponding hing¬ es, apertures or pins 10 in the box 1 on the side 4 of the box 1 with the recessed area 6. In the embodiment shown according to Figures 1-4, the door 8 has lower pins 9 which may be placed in apertures 10, said apertures 10 being located inside the recess 6 in such a way that neither pins 9 nor apertures 10 are accessible from the outside when the door 8 is mounted in the recess 6 of the box 1.

In its simplest embodiment the door 8 may be made of a transparent material, so that the message which is placed therein may be observed from the outside. Thereby the message located in the door 8 will rest against the outer surface of the recessed area 6, and will be proteced from environment influence by the door 8. Further, the door 8 may be equipped with locking devices (not shown) which ensure that the door 8 will not fall or be loosened from the recessed area 6 unless the lock is operated.

Another alternative for designing the door 8 is to form the door 8 as an external frame with a transparent section 17, in which frame the relevant message may be placed. Such a frame may also comprise a second, internal plate or frame

11 with the purpose of pressing the message against the external frame or door 8. In the opening of the external frame or door 8 of this embodiment, there is a transparent material 15, e.g. plastic or glass. In this embodiment, the internal frame 11 may comprise a hinge 12 which may be hinged vertically or horizontally to the external frame or door 8. In a preferred embodiment it will be advantageous that the internal frame 11 is hinged via horizontal hinges

12 to the frame or door 8 if the frame or door 8 is hinged horizontally to the recessed area 6 of the box 1 (see the figures) or vice versa. It is preferred that the hinges 12 are directed inwards towards the recessed area 6 of the box 1 so that the external surface of the box is still mainly even, as mentioned above, and also because this will make the hinge 12 inaccessible without disassembling or opening the door/frame 8. In such an embodiment the internal hinges 12 may be placed in openings or recesses 13 which are located internally in the recessed area 6 of the box 1.

If the external door or frame 8 has a mounted internal plate or frame 11, it will be appropriate that the external frame or door 8 further includes locking devices 14 which secure the message which may be placed between the external door or frame 8 and the internal 11 plate or frame, which will make it inaccessible to persons other that those who have access to the locking device.

Also, for further securing the message against tampering from the outside, it may be appropriate to equip the doors/ frames 8,11 with packing strips either between the external and internal frames, between the external frame and the recessed area 6, or both.

Furthermore, for the box 1 to function as a conventional box, it may be equipped with apertures or sections 16 for the location of, for example, a name plate of the owner of the box.

One of the intentions behind the design of the box accor¬ ding to the present invention is to promote devices for protecting the public against "involontary" receipt of junk mail. Based upon this concept, the present design of a box has been developed in order to find new places for location of advertisements, where the public itself has an opportu¬ nity to approve or disapprove of such material being placed in their mailbox. According to the present invention a technical solution has been found, giving a well suited spot for placing of such advertisements, and where the advertisement may also be exchanged by authorized personel, such as the owner of the box, or another person who does not necessarily have access to the box, but who may have separate access to the door with the message.

In other respects, a box with a device as disclosed above will have the same function as a conventional box of the same type.

As an alternative, existing boxes may be equipped with an extra front constructed according to the principles of the mailbox front disclosed above. Such an extra front may have the form of a very thin box-formed body which may be secu- red to a conventional box front, where the thin box-formed body comprises a corresponding recessed section, hinges, transparent sections and doors as disclosed above. An embodiment of such a false front is shown in Figures 5 - 7.

The invention will not be limited to the embodiments de¬ scribed above, but will be defined by the appended patent claims .