Alerts Say “You’ve Got Mail”

Alerts Say “You’ve Got Mail” FARM HOME Miscellaneous Lee Egleston can quickly see if he has mail even though his mailbox is 500 ft from his house His homemade mailbox alert does the job and does it better than alert systems on the market “I’ve tried an electrical alert and mechanical alerts too ” says Egleston “The electrical one was too far from the house and mechanical ones with tennis ball and flag ends weren’t visual enough This one has a bright red pointed arm that really shows up It has withstood 60 to 70 miles per hour winds ” Egleston’s steel arm rotates 90 degrees In the set position the arm is held in a horizontal position by a magnet attached to the door When the mailbox door is opened the magnet is pulled away and the arm rotates to the vertical position Once the mail has been removed the arm is lowered back into set position The arm pivots on a bearing fashioned from a roller salvaged from a sliding closet door The roller is clamped to the side of the mailbox The rotation is accomplished by the placement of a lead weight just past the pivot point of the arm “I needed some weight in a form that would fit the arm ” says Egleston “I had some lead for fishing sinkers that I melted and cast to the half round shape I wanted Once cast I drilled a hole in it and bolted it to the end of the arm It works great and the only time the arm moves is when the door is opened ” Contact: FARM SHOW Followup Lee Egleston 1805 Wiese Garden Rd Marshalltown Iowa 50158 ph 641 752-1630

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