It is looking like my modified mailbox may survive its second year against the county snow-plows. This is a tiny bright spot in an otherwise long and bitter Ohio winter.
Here is what the mailbox across the road looks like after the latest blast of snow. Not a pretty sight.
And here is my mailbox, still standing [so far!]. The difference may be the energy-absorbing mechanism I added to the design.
The idea is that the mass of snow-plow generated ice and snow, travelling 45-55 mph and striking the mail box assembly, causes the large gray hinged part of the mailbox to swing with the blow. This does two things: 1) As the hinged mailbox part rotates, the cross-sectional area exposed to the flying wall of snow/ice is reduced (side versus back). Some of the trailing part of the wall of snow/ice will “miss” hitting the mailbox because the box will have partially rotated out of the way – exposing the back of the box instead of its maximum broad side. 2) The movement/acceleration of the box as it rotates on the hinges absorbs energy along with the increasing resistance provided by the stretching spring.
The net result is that the shock of a ”broadside hit” is reduced and, “rolling with the punch”, the energy is dissipated over a longer period of time. The spring auto-resets the mailbox to its normal position… ready for the next snow-plow.
So far, so good…!
UPDATE: a commenter below asked whether the a violent rotation might fling out the contents of the mailbox. I made some snide comment, but this commenter has proven to be absolutely correct! I need to adjust the door latch to be a bit stiffer…
We had another 6-inches of snow several days ago, and the mailboxes along my road were subsequently attacked by the snow-plows. Afterwards I found various pieces of my mail frozen to the road surface, extending to about 50 feet downstream from my still-standing mailbox. One key item, what was supposed to be a tax return, is pictured below, chiseled from the road’s surface ( ! )
Not bad, how does it handle bored hooligans and baseball bats?
Comment by Donovan — February 3, 2011 @ 5:57 pm
Yeah, this design doesn’t take that into account. Nor does it deal with the issue of errant vehicles or insertion of celebratory pyrotechnics ( ! )
Comment by nateholt — February 4, 2011 @ 9:59 am
Clever… but does the mail fly out as the mailbox flails?
Comment by Jonathan — February 15, 2011 @ 10:56 am
Donno. Guess I’ll find out when the snow melts ( ! )
Comment by nateholt — February 15, 2011 @ 11:05 am