Motorized Mailbox Runs 800 Ft To Road

Motorized mailbox runs 800 ft to road FARM HOME Miscellaneous 15-1-31 If you're tired of walking down to the road every day to get your mail, you'll be impressed with this motorized mailbox that does the job automatically. Built by Jack Haiar, Lindsay, Neb., the 800-ft. long mail retrieval system looks like a ski lift. At either end of the system is a big horizontally-mounted pulley. The pulley down by the road is mounted on an old wheel hub attached to a front axle spindle from a car while the pulley up by the house is mounted on a hub attached to a car rear end. A cable runs between the two big pulleys and across 7 10-ft. high posts with 5-ft. crossbars that stand between the farm-yard and the road. There are two mailboxes attached to the cable, one at either end. A 1/ 2-hp. electric motor drives the rear end attached to the pulley up by the yard, bringing up the mailbox from the road and sending out the one from the yard. "When one mailbox comes in, the other goes out and stops in the first one's place," says Haiar says. "The whole process takes about 3 1/2 min." A switch by the kitchen sink in the house turns the system on. It automatically shuts off when the mailbox from the road reaches the stopping point by the house. Since he built it Haiar has retired from farming and moved into town. Glenn and Lori Beller now live on the farm and still use the mailbox.

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