Mailbox Decorative Attachment

The present invention relates to a method of making and applying a decorative attachment to a mailbox, as well as the resulting product.

Previously, stand-alone mailboxes placed adjacent to a road for mail delivery were painted or covered on both sides of the mailbox with a picture. The picture appeared on the flat side surfaces facing the road. Consequently, the painted pictures, which may be in the form of birds, dogs, or the like, were flat and did not project depth.

In order to produce a mailbox pictorial cover having depth it is known from the present applicant to have a mailbox with an outer cover of a weatherproof material provided with a pictorial background and, for example, an animal or a fish having a portion such as a head or tail projecting from the outer surface of the mailbox. This decorative mailbox is expensive to fabricate since the mailbox and decorative attachment is purchased as a single unit. On the other hand, in order to overcome the cost of such a mailbox and to provide means whereby the ordinary homeowner could convert his or her plain mailbox to a decorative mailbox, the present method has been devised to die cut a single sheet of slightly flexible material having two substantially identical parts and provided with a common connecting point so that the flexible material having pictorial material thereon can be applied to a standard mailbox much less expensively than the prior art construction, and achieve substantially the same look as the previously known construction. Furthermore all constructions and designs comply with current postal regulations.

It appears that residents who live on a rural mail route may have a vocation, or an avocation, and would like a dynamic representation of their interests depicted on their mailbox inexpensively.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a method of fabricating a decorative attachment for a mailbox from a single sheet of slightly flexible material, which is die cut, and having two similiar but slightly different parts which are connected by a common connecting point. The die cut sheet is so formed that parts of the sheet are applied to the opposite sides of a mailbox while the other parts which are mirror images of each other and adjacent to the connecting point project away from the mailbox. Consequently, the projecting parts from the mailbox give the appearance of depth, and are more or less three-dimensional.

A further object of the present invention is to provide a die cut flexible sheet for applying to a standard mailbox having an adhesive on opposite inside surfaces of the sheet for securing the sheet to the mailbox with drawings on the outer surfaces representing either an animate or inanimate object, and where parts of the flexible sheet with the pictorial representations thereon project outside of the mailbox to form a character.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a mailbox cover which remains intact even in the event the mailbox itself is dented or otherwise damaged.

A further feature of the present invention is to provide a mailbox cover which can be readily removable in order to affix another mailbox cover with another picture, legend, or motif.

An object of the present invention is to provide projecting parts of the flexible sheet which may either protrude from the top, sides, front, bottom or rear of the mailbox.

The foregoing objects and features of my invention will be more fully understood by the following description of the construction and method in the specification and by reference to the accompanying drawings forming a part thereof and in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the mailbox decorative attachment fabricated and applied in accordance with the teachings of my invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a die cut slightly flexible sheet which has been cut-out and provided with two parts connected at a common point.

FIG. 3 is a top plan view showing the flat die cut sheet having opposing mirror image parts connected at a common point prior to attachment to a mailbox.

FIG. 4 is a bottom plan of the die cut sheet of FIG. 3 showing adhesive applied to the bottom surface thereof.

FIG. 5 is a front elevational view of the assembled mailbox corner having a pictorial representation.

FIG. 6 is a side elevational view of a mailbox cover provided with a pictorial representation, and

FIG. 7 is a side elevational view of another mailbox cover having a further pictorial representation.

The present invention relates to a method for making a decorative attachment cover for mailbox M and applying the same thereto. The mailbox cover referred generally by the reference numeral 12 is fabricated of a sheet of flexible but fairly rigid material, such as thermoplastic resin or silicone rubber material. The pictorial representation may be a Christmas tree, as seen in FIGS. 1-5, or animate objects, such as a dog as seen in FIG. 6, or a duck in FIG. 7. It should be evident that a large number of pictorial representation, and blank silhouettes for individual coloring may be selected and not just those shown by way of illustration herein. As seen in FIG. 2, the sheet of material is die cut for a particular pictorial representation, and is painted or otherwise applied to the exterior surface thereto. The sheet 12 is provided with parts 14 and 16 having mirror image sections 18 and 20 connected at a common point 22. In order to effectively connect the parts 14 and 16 of the cover 12 so that the edges 28 and 30 of the respective parts are aligned and abutting when the cover is applied to the curved outer surface of the mailbox, and as seen in FIGS. 1 and 2, tabs 32 on part 14 are inserted in the corresponding slots 34 on part 16. The flat sheet is provided with adhesive surfaces 24 on the inside surfaces of parts 14 and 16 as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3. Initially, the adhesive surfaces 24 are provided with peel-off covers (not shown) which can be removed in the usual manner prior to applying the adhesive surface on the inside of the flat sheet to the opposite sides of the curvilinear outside surfaces of a mailbox, and consequently securing the sheet thereto.

When the mailbox cover sheet 12 is applied to the mailbox the common connecting point 22 of the sections is positioned outside the mailbox, either above, in the rear, bottom on the front or on sides thereof. The mirror image sections 18 and 20 are pressed together, or are otherwise attached to form a substantially three-dimensional part of the pictorial representation which is displaced from the body of the mailbox.

It is also contemplated within the present inventive concept to cut out parts of a flat sheet to form a mailbox cover with a portion projecting beyond at least one surface of the mailbox, and in which the cut-out sheet is unadorned until the user draws, designs, colors or styles the sheets for a particular purpose, for example to commemorate an important event.

While the present invention has been disclosed and described with reference to certain embodiments thereof it is apparent that other variations and modifications may be made which fall within the true scope of the invention, as defined in the following claims: