Story #18
A Patent From Peebles
David Francis Clark may have pondered for months, even years, over the problem of knowing when the postman had completed his rounds and deposited something in the Clark family mailbox. It could have been a letter or two, a newspaper, or perhaps a package? D.F., as he was known in the community, would look out his front window and wonder how to resolve the problem of determining if he had mail without making the trek to the mailbox that stood near the roadway and try to avoid any adverse condition, particularly in relation to the worst of atmospheric conditions. He put his mind to work and eventually came up with a plan.
His plan was called “Mail Box Signal.” It took four paragraphs to describe the piece of equipment he designed and presented to the U.S. Patent Office. Even though it was basically a flag on a metal rod that could be manually activated to raise upward on the side of the mailbox, it would be helpful to have a scientific mind to understand the patent's written description. The first paragraph reads: “A mail-box having a signaling device employing a quadrant effective for manual actuation, a pinion meshing therewith and carrying a signaling contrivance and retaining means for said pinion.” As the device's description continues, each of the following paragraphs gets a little more wordy, a little more technical and a little harder to understand.
