Connecticut woman, 90, invents pulley system to retrieve mail

Credit: Jeff Swensen

Credit: Jeff Swensen

A 90-year-old Connecticut woman invented a pulley system to retrieve her mail, allowing her to skip the walk to a busy street, WFSB reported.

Betty Feret of Canton used to navigate her way to the mailbox daily but found it increasingly difficult.

"The last time I went, I tripped there and fell,” Feret told WFSB. “If I picked my foot up that much further, I wouldn't have fallen and that's when I thought, ‘You better start looking for something.’ And we did.”

Feret devised a pulley system with a clothesline running from her porch to the street, enabling her to get and send out her daily mail as the mailbox travels from one location to the other.

Mark Wilcox, a landscaper who has done work at Feret’s house for many years, put her idea into action.

"The top cable is what keeps it secure so it runs straight and doesn't sag,” Wilcox told WFSB. “Otherwise, the string would lose its tension and sag down real low.

“(Feret) put a clip in here and connects it to her mail, so if the mailman goes in there and it falls, she just has to grab the string and it won't be on the ground.”

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