Germ-Zapping Mailbox Wins Patent

A Florida inventor has patented a germicidal mailbox that would let consumers sterilize their incoming letters through irradiation, as the Postal Service has done for White House and congressional mail since the anthrax scare of 2001. John Cunningham's prototype invention uses the standard metal mailbox commonly found on suburban driveways. It is fitted inside with an ultraviolet light like those used in laboratory sterilizers and a wire basket, where mail is placed.

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