US39010A - Improvement in locks - Google Patents

Description

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.,

RANDOLPH S. FOSTER, OF SING SING, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR TO HIMSELF, CORNELIUS WALSH, AND JOHN O. NOBLES.

IMPROVEMENT'.` IN LOCKS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 39,0! 0, dated June 23, 1863.

.To u/,ZZl whom it may concern,-

Be it known that I, RANDOLPH S. FosTER, of Sing Sing, in the county of Westchester and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Pad or Mail Locks; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the construction and operation of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, making a part of this specificaion, in which- I Figure l is a perspective view of the lock. Fig. 2 represents the interior thereof. Fig. 3 represents the key. Fig. 4 represents the turning-hub, and Fig. 5 represents the bitplates.

This lock in its general characteristics resembles that for a trunk-lock for which I have made a separate application for Letters Patent, differing, however, from that, mainly, in the construction of the bit-plates and their action in connection with a hinged hasp.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use my invention, I will proceed to describe'the same with reference to the drawings. 1

As a pad or mail look, on account of its portable and exposed condition, requires more securities against injury than any other locks, I have taken this fact into consideration and duly provided against such liabilities. Its side plates and rim may be united in any of the known modes of making and uniting such locks. The hub A has two short journals, a a, which are supported in suitable bearings on the cheek-plates B of the lock, and, besides the key-slot b and the cut-away portion c, is furnished with the disk d, which turns in a covered recess under the plate e. The cheeks B are thus firmly braced against any blows the lock may receive. The hasp Gis hinged at f, and its catch g enters at h when it is shut down. These points f and h are strengthened and protected against a pick or other forcing-tool by the additional plates i i, so that the hasp -pivot and catch can neither be seen nor readily reached. The bitplates D are three in number, (more or less,

being equally applicable, if required or found desirable,) corresponding with the three bits 1 2 3 of the key E. The bit-plates have three active openings, j 7c Z, and one passive opening, m, and in addition to these one of the plates has an extra opening, n, in its lower bar, o, to allow the key to be entered in the lock, and each of them has a spring, p, to keep them in proper position when not acted upon by the hub A or key E. The bit-plates are, moreover, held in proper position vertically by the plates 7 s at their upper and lower edges. Thus protected, and the lockcase strengthened, it would be impossible to disarrange the interior of the lock by any of the ordinary casualties that such locks are subjected to. The slots j lin the bit-plates are in the arc of a circle whose center is at f, so that the hasp-catch may freely and neatly enter therein. The slots k extend horizontally both ways from the lower end of the slot j, so as to form bolts or tongues to enter the catch of the hasp, and the slots Z are quadrangular, and large enough to allow the hub and key to turn therein. The slotsm are merely to allow a rivet to be passed through from cheek to cheek of the lock without interfering with the movement of the bit-plates When the hasp is locked in, the bit-plates rest against the cut-away portion c of the hub, being held there by their springs p. When the key is inserted and turned, it carries with it the hub A, and this hub partially moves back the bit-plates, not far enough, however, to release the hasp; but when the key-bits come around they arrange the bit-plates so that the hasp-catch is released, and it may then be swung out of the lock. A threequarter turn of the key arranges the bitplates so that the hasp may be swung out or in, and the remaining quarter-turn in the same direction again locks the hasp. Besides the security against picking that the hub affords to the lock, it further enables me l to use a very delicate key, light and convenient to carry, its bits projecting but very little beyond the perimeter of the hub, and the other portions of the key perfectly protected in the hub -and lessening the leverage upon its bits, allowing it to be very delicately made. structed and operating substantially in the Having described my improvement in padmanner and for the purpose herein set forth looks, what I claim therein as new, and deand described.

sire to secure by Letters Patent, is RANDOLPH S. FOSTER.

The combination of the key, hub, bit- TWitnesses: plates, and their openings, with a hinged STEPHEN R. HAINES,

hasp and the cheek-plates, the whole cou- JOHN C. NOBLE.

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