US1112123A - Car-seal. - Google Patents

Description

P. DOW.

CAR SEAL.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 20,1914.

1, 1 1 2, 1 23, Patented Sept. 29, 1914.

[/3 /Z 44 /3.// /O L L UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

FLOYD DOW, 0F WYANET, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOB OI ONE-HALF '10 30H]! C. BASHUBSEN, OF WYANET, ILLINOIS.

CARSIAL.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed Kay 20, 1914. Serial No. 888,722.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FLOYD Dow, a citizen of the United States, residing at Wyanet, in the county of Bureau and State of Illinois, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Car-Seals, of which the'following is a specification.

My invention relates to an improvement in the class of car seals, in which the shackle is a strip of frangible sheet-metal (usually tin bent upon itself and carrying on one end a hollow head, into which the o posite end of the strip is insertible to be he (1 against withdrawal by automatically locking means in the head.

In the accompanying drawing, the views in which show the parts exag erated beyond actual size, Figure 1 is a brien plan view of the shackle-blank; F ig. 2 is a section of the car seal on line 2, Fig. 3, showing the shackle broken away and in its condition be,-

fore applying the seal; Fig; 3 is a plan section on line 3, Fig. 2, and Fig. 4 is a view like that presented by Fig. 2, but showing the insertible end of the shackle locked in the head.

The head 5 is formed of a rounded top provided with a recessed flange 6 about its ed e and a bottom part having a flat base an a flange 7 about its edge confined in the recessed flange 6 for securing together the two parts of the head. The flat base contains' a central slotc8 of a width to permit the shackle 9 to pass through it. The shackle, which is a strip of tin so frangible that it will not withstand repeated bending without breaking, has an eye 10 formedin it near one end. Near the opposite end of e the shackle is formed a rectangular cut 11,

and some distance from the latter a similar cut is formed. Between these cuts, at the same distance from each, slots '12 are rovided having narrow elongated depressions or sockets 13 extendin from their relatively opposite sides; and tween these slots a narrow elongated slot 14 is formed in the shackle centrally between its edges; The material severed by each cut 11 in the shackle is bent outwardly to a right-angle to form a stop shoulder 11', for the purpose hereinafter explained.

For assembling the parts to produce the car-seal in a form ready for application to its use, the two parts of the head are separate. The shackle is bent upon itself into 'endsbent to project inwardly, as shown at 15", is then applied in a manner to introduce the'ends 15 intothe sockets 13 and extend the ring through the bowedslot 14, as shown in Figs. 2 and 3. With. the ends 15" thus yieldingl confined in the sockets 13, the ri-n is he d under tension to clamp itself sta ly in place to be displaced for performing its locking functio n as hereinafter explained. The to member of the head is then applied tot e base-member and the flangefi is clenched about the flange 7 to secure the two head members together.

To lock the seal}! in applying it in the usual manner, the .form to insert its end containing the eye 10 into the head through the base-slot 8. In thus inserting the shackle-end, it is guided between the portions ofthe shackle containing the openings formed at the cuts 11 bybending the sections to produce the shoulders 11'; and when the inserted shackle-end abuts against the ring 15 in its path, the continued pressure withdraws the ring-ends 15 out of the sockets into registration with the slots 12, with which the eye 10 also then regackle is bent intoloop isters. The resilient action of the ring then springs its ends past each' other through those slots and the shackle-eye, thereby causing the ring to lock the shackle end against withdrawal.

will be seen, the described construction precludes the possibility of a false introduction of the inserted shackle-end into the head, since its only path into the latter is under the described central guidance throu h the slot 8. It will also be apparent that t e' end of the shackle permanently in the head is secured therein without requir ing any means for the purpose other than or separate from the shackle itself; that the stability of the locking ring, before it is contracted by displacement in inserting the eye-containing shackle-end, and afterward when in its contracted condition wherein it is confined in the bowed slot 14, prevents the ring from tiltin into a osition wherein that end of the s ackle mig t be withdrawn 'between the overlapping ring-ends; that the confinement 10f the ring-ends in the sockets prevents the ring, as by accidental jarring, from assuming its locking position, with the ends overlappin through the slots 12,- wherein it woul obstruct introduction of the eye-end of the'shackle and thus render the seal inoperative; and that the only. way

to undo the seal is to break the shackle by bending or twisting-it apart, at the sections outside of the head which are weakened by openings formed by the cuts 11, though this would leave the parts in the head to prevent insertion into the latter through the slot 8 of the broken shackle-ends (which insertion would tend to prevent detection), so that such breaking would inevitably lead to detection of tampering with the seal. These and other advantages are afforded by my improved construction, which, besides, is comparatively simple and inex ensive to manufacture, involving only ibur parts.

site slots, and a split resilient locking ring extending through both legs of said longitudinal slot and having in-turned ends yieldingly confined in said sockets, the shackle extending from the head through said insertion-slot and having its eye-containi ng end insertible into the headthrough said insertion-slot to release and actuate the,

locking ring' FLOYD now In presence of W. I. KENDALL, CLAUDE BROWN.

Images