Without this guy and his invention, we still maybe getting our mail delivered by a dude on a horse that may or may not get our shit right and give our mail to the neighbors or the grocer down the street. Or we would still be standing outside waiting for the mail carrier to bring our checks or our BIRTHDAY cards out in the rain, snow, sleet or sunshine. But we don't and it's all because of PHILIP B. DOWNING.
The street letter drop mailbox with a hinged door that closed to protect the mail was invented by Philip B. Downing. Downing, an African-American inventor, patented his new device on October 27, 1891 (US Patent # 462,093).
His designed incorporated the hinged-door opening that is a common feature on US mailboxes. The mailbox he invented consisted of a lid that covered and closed the mailing slot, a safety plate that hung vertically in the box, a transverse plate that provided a shelf for receiving the mail inside the box, a weather strip to prevent the mailed from being weathered of rain or snow from damaging the mail, and a rod extention for support.
This has been a little known fact about a little known black and this has been a moment in African American History.
sources:Black Inventors and Evia Davis
//signed//
An informed Cat's Meow
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