US1337985A - Seal - Google Patents

Description

E. BEICH.

, SEAL. APPLICATION FILED J ULY N11916- Patented Apr. 20, 1920 2 SHEETS-SHEET I.

' INVENTOR flJZCVSZ A TTORNE Y E. REICH.

'SEAL.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 14.1916.

Patented Apr. 20, 1920.

' 2 SHEETSSHEET 2.

Q w y. E m v. m Z r 2 r 5 M I. l s H E a 5 WM m 71 W a iirnn strains PAT NT OFFICE.

ERNEST REICI-I, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNQR TC HILL PUMP VALVE COMPANY, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, A GOBPGRATION OF ILLINOIS,

SEAL.

Specification of Letters l atent.

Patented Apr. 20, 1920.

Application filed July 14, 1916. Serial No. 189,300.

To all whom it may concern.

Be it known that I, Ennnsr Enron, a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Seals, of which the following is a specification.

The invention relates to seals preferably used upon car doors, but adaptable to any purpose wherever seals of this type are required.

The purpose of providing seals of this character consists in enabling the quick detection of tampering therewith since opening of the seal can only be effected by means of force and is attendant by visible signs of destruction.

The sealshitherto placed on the market, in spite of many endeavors to perfect the same so as to meet practical requirements possess certain advantages which are obtained by the loss of others. While it is comparatively easy to construct a seal which in locked condition cannot be opened without mutilation, the objectionable features of most seals is found in the presence of a casing which formed at one end of a strip rec vives the other end thereof, thus rendering it difficult to detect whether attempts have been made to open the seal.

It therefore constitutes the principal object of my invention to provide a seal with its parts accessible to inspection, and which in spite'of this arrangement obviates any possibility of tampering therewith, and renders opening thereof without mutilation entirely impossible.

A subsidiary object consists in so constructing the parts that in spite'of the absence of a casing the locking elements are not easily accessible to instruments or tools for the purpose of separating them, but may be freely inspected to ascertain surreptitious manipulation.

iidditional objects embrace the provision of a seal which may be readily closed without exerting great pressure; the adoption of closing elements which are partly covered by the strip from which they are stamped out; and the arrangement of an elongated opening in one of the tubular locking elements to facilitate closing of the seal.

specifically pointed out in the appended claims.

In the accompanying drawings- Fi ure 1 is a top plan view of a seal in open position, made in accordance with the invention.

Fig. 2 is a sectional elevation.

Fig. 3 is a sectional elevation of a seal in closed position.

Fig. 3 is a sectional elevationof a seal of known construction.

Fig. 3 is a similar view of the seal in closed position.

Fin. 4 illustrates in sectional elevation a modification of the seal in closed position. F i 5 is a top plan view of a further modied form of a seal which is equipped with an additional locking element adapted to oppose separation of the locking members.

Fig. 6 shows a sectional view of the seal.

Fig. 7 is a similar view with one locking member folded upon the strip preparatory to closing the seal.

8 illustrates a sectional view of the l in closed position.

Fi 9 is a top plan view of another modi- (ion. 10 is a ectional view thereof.

11 illustrates in section the closed .2 illustrates in section a still further modification of the seal.

Fi 3 shows an enlarged section through part of a seal shown in Fig. 9 and Figs. 1% and 15 are sections on respective lines of Fig. 9.

Referring to the drawings, and particularly to Figs. 1 to 3, 1 designates a strip of tin or other suitable material or metal which adapts itself readily to the requirements of seals. At one end of said strip a locking member 2 of tubular or other suitable or preferred form is stamped out. If

preferred or suitable the member 2 may be made separate and secured to the strip 1 in any approved or suitable manner. The looking member 2 at its upper extremity is bent back upon itself to form a flange or flaring portion 3. As is obvious from Fig. 1 the opening 4. at the base of the flaring portion is formed elliptical or elongated for a purpose presently to be described. At the other end of the strip at a suitable distance from the locking member 2 another look ing member 5 is stamped out from or may be made separate and secured to the strip 1. This member extends in a direction opposite to that of the other member 2 and is formed at its lowermost extremity with an upturned flange or bead 6. The locking 7 members 2, 5 which may also be termed plug and socket members extend in vertical direction with respect to the strip 1. In closing the seal the member 5 is turned clockwise until the flange 6 is above and in alinement with the flaring portion 3 of member 2. Thereupon slight pressure is exerted upon the member 5 until the bead 6 is forced through the opening 4: of the other member whereupon said bead engages thelower edge of the flaring portion and the seal is locked. The provision of the elliptical or elongated opening 1 greatly facilitates the interlocking of the members as the'short diameter of the opening is at least equal to the diameter of the flange and hence engagement of the parts takes place at only two diametrically opposite points. In order to facilitate the folding of the strip and to predetermine accurately the engaging parts viz: the flaring portion 3 and the flange or bead 6. The open side of the member 5 (Fig. 3) is not covered since it is impossible to insert there an instrument for the purpose of bending the flange 6 so that it forms an extension of its integral member whereby the locking members could be separated from one another.

The onl oaenin which would permit the y l g insertion of a tool to accomplish separation of the member is at the base of member 2 and here the strip 1 makes such attempts futile.

Figs. 3 and 3 illustrate a seal of known construction where the locking members 2 and 5 are arranged at the same side of the strip 1. it is obvious that the opening the safety of the seal the locking member 5 is provided with a flaring portion 6 which obviates the possibility ofinserting a fiat instrument between the locking members.

The modification illustrated in d is distinguished from the form shown inFigs. 1 to 3 by the fact that a strip 9 of suitable length is folded to form a loop with its ends interposed between the locking members. The strip ends are provided with openings 10 of sufficient diameter to permit passage of the plug member 5 upon closure of the seal and at which time they are placed in alinement with one another andwith the locking members.

Referring to Figs. 5 to 8, 11 designates a strip of tin or other suitable material which in contradistinction to the first form is of greater length. In this case the tubular member 12 extends upwardly and includes also a flaring portion 13 which is provided with an elliptical or elongated opening At a suitable distance another locking mem ber 15 extends downwardly from the strip 11. This member is also bent back upon itself to form an annular flange or head 16 and is provided with a' flaring portion 21 at its base. 'Manifestly the two locking members can have other than tubular form and instead of being stamped out from the strip they can bemade separate and fastened thereto in any suitable or approved manner.

At the other end of the strip ii an additional locking member 17 is stamped out in the form of a truncated cone having the larger diameter at its base. If desired this member may be made separate andmay be secured to. the strip in any suitable or approved manner. In order to enhance the. resiliency of the. member 17 a plurality of slots 18 are provided, but if desired they may be dispensed with without affecting the operativeness of the seal. From the d awing it is apparent that the slots may be mace deep enough to obtain a plurality of tongues which act independently from one another. To further increase tie resiliency of the additional locking member 17 a beat 22 is stamped out therefrom from its body portion close to its base. 7

.Between the members 12 and 15 a portion of the strip is cut out as at 19 and between the members 15 and 17 two similar cut-out portions 20 are provided.

In order to fold the sealthe member is turned counter-clockwise to the position shown in Fig. 7 so as to engage with its base portion the under side of the strip 11'.

Thereupon the opposite end of the strip is folded in clockwise direction-so as to place the member 17 in circumferential engage ment with the locking member 15 and finalTy the member 12 together with the contiguous end of the strip is again bent about the remote transverse edge of a cut-out portion 19 so as to force the flaring portion 13 into engagement with the flange 16 of member 15 whereby the seal is locked.

From theforegoing it is obvious that the open side of the member 12 corresponding to member 2 of' the first described modification is again covered so as to prevent access to the engaging parts with a pair ofpliers or other instrument for the purpose of surreptitiously forcing the locking members apart. The function and purpose of member 17 will be explained in connection with the subsequently described .modification but it may be briefly statedthat it serves as an additional locking means to prevent relative movement of the locking members or plug and socket members 12 and 15 upon manipulation. The flaring portion 13 having the elliptical or elongated opening 14 engages thev annularflange 16 of member 15 at only two points upon closing the seal which thus may be eflected with slight pressure.

The seal illustrated in Figs. 5 to 8 requires three distinct folding movements to be closed and in order to reduce the number of motions the further modification presently to be described is constructed with this end in view. The locking strip 23 is provided with the socket and plug members 2%, 26, the former having the flaring portion 25 while the latter is formed with the flange 27 and the-flaring portion3l at its base. The locking member 28 is slotted and is provided withthe annularbead 29 as indicated inFigs. 9 and 10. 'The'plug member 26, however, is arranged at the end of a tongue 30 stamped out from an intermediate portion of the strip 23. In closing the seal the member 28 is turned in counter-clockwise directionuntil it is seated on'the flaring portion 25 of the socket member 24 thereupon the plugmember 26 is turned clockwise until it is above and in alinement with the socket member. By exerting a slight pressure the plug and socket members are then interlocked.

The function of the member 28 is best portion of the member 26, thus preventing the same from being raised .and from exerting an undue pull on its flange .27 by virtue of the engagement between said flange and the edge of the flaring portion 25 of the socket member. If on the other hand a blade is inserted into the space 33 confined betweenthe members 28 and 24:, an upward pressure acts on the member 28 forcing it into intimate circumferential engagement with the plug member and locking the same in place. Attention is called to the fact that the plug member is provided with a flaring portion 31 in order to limit the space into which a blade may be inserted when tampering with the seal. WVhen, for instance, forcing a flat object between the members 26 and 28 in the space 32 the Hat instrument will be arrested by the slanting wall of the plug member whereby only a small leverage can be secured when attempts are made to pry the seal open.

The modification illustrated in Fig. 12 differs from the modification illustrated in Figs. 9 to 11 by the omission of the additional locking member 28 and the respective end of the strip is provided with a plug member, while an opening 34 having a sufficient diameter to loosely surround the plug member and to permit the passage of the latter upon closure of the seal without any resistance whatever, is provided on the stamped out tongue.

The sectional views indicated in Figs. let and 15 disclose a method of forming the elongated hole in the flaring portion 25 of the socket member 24. It is readily seen that the wall of the flaring portion forms an angle 0. on the line 14-14 of Fig. 9 with the horizontal plane intersecting the lowermost edge of the flaring portion while a different angle 6 is formed on the line 1515. From this it is obvious that if for instance angle 0: is smaller than the angle [5 an elongated opening is obtained so that upon closure of-the seal the plug member engages the socket member only at two diametrically opposite points.

The form of the opening in the flaring portion of the socket member may be varied and in Fig. 5 the flaring portion of the socket member is provided with a circular opening provided in transverse direction of the strip with arcuate cut-outs whereby an elongated opening is obtained without unduly removing material.

When attemptsare made to open the seal it has been found by a series of break tests that it is impossible to force the seal proper apart unless the force applied is so great that it exceeds the strength of the material, in which case the locking members are torn about and are so completely destroyed that resetting of the members to hide their muv in tilated condition is impossible. In view of the fact that the strip is in the form of a loop it is clear that the force applied to the seal is more evenly distributed over the strip than over the seal proper, and for this reason it may occur that upon fraudulent manipulation the seal may break while the strip remains intact. To avoid these possibilities Ihave found it advisable to arrange a plurality of slots throughout the length of the strip and to this end in view I have provided the triangular cut-out portions 20 in Fig. 5, while in the modification shown in Fig. 9 a similar cut-out portion 35 is arranged which in addition to the cut-out portion given by the stamped-out tongue effectively weakens the strip.

I am aware that various changes and modifications may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention and for this reason I want to avail myself of any changes, alterations, modifications and d partures which fall within the scope of my invention as pointed out in the appended claims.

,I claim:

1. In a seal, a tubular member having a flange, a second tubular member having means for interlocking with said first named member, and a strip connecting said members, said members being arranged one on each side of said strip, the end portion of said strip being folded upon itself to afford a closure for the open base portion of the appertaining tubular member.

2. In a seal, a strip and a pair of tubular members having flanges and being arranged on said strip, said members being adaptal to interlock upon being brought into engagement by pressure, said strip being folded upon itself preparatory to locking said members, to afford a closure for the base opening of one of the members. 7

3. In a seal, a strip, a tubular member, and a second tubular member provided with means for interlocking with said first named member, said members extending in opposite directions with respect to each other and being arranged one on each side of said strip, the end portion of said strip being folded upon itself to afford a closure for the base opening of the appertaining tubular member.

4. In a seal, a strip, a socket member arranged on one side of said strip and extending upwardly therefrom, and a plug member arranged on the other side of said stripv at a distance from said socket member and extending downwardly from said strip, said 5. In a seal, a strip, tubular locking members adapted to interlock upon being brought into engagement, said tubular memrs be ng arranged one on each side of said strlp whereby the strip is folded prior to interlocking the members so as to form a closure for the base opening of one of said tubular members.

6. In a seal, a socket member, a plug member provided with means for interlockmg with said first named member, and a flexible element connecting said socket and plug members, said element being folded upon itself to form a closure for the base opening of said socket member upon closure of the seal. I I

7. seal comprising a socket member providedwith locking means, a plug member provided with means for interlockin wlth the locking of'said first named member a flexible element to which said first and second named members are secured, and an additional locking element for preventing separation of said members, after they are interlocked, said members extending in opposite directions from said element. 7

8. A seal comprising a socket member provided with locking means, a plug mem ber providedwith means for interlocking wlth the locking of said first named member, a flexible element to which said first and second named members are secured, and an additional locking element for preventmg separation of said members, after they are interlocked, said members extending in opposite directions with respect to each other whereby the locking means are arranged on opposite sides of said element 7 9. A seal comprising a socket member, provided with locking means, aplug member provided with means for interlockingwith the locking of said first named member, a flexible element to which saidfirst and second named members are secured, and an additional locking element for preventing separation of said members, after they are interlocked, said members extending upwardly and downwardly respectively from said element, said element being folded with an end portion thereof over the open base portion of said socket member.

10. A seal comprising a socket member provi'declwith locking means, a plug mem ber provided with means for interlocking with the locking of said socket member,.an

additional locking member adapted to be interposed between said members, and a flexible element serially connecting all of said members, said first two members being arranged one on each side of said element and extending in opposite directions with respect to each other.

11. A seal comprising a socket member, a plug member provided with means for interlocking with said socket member, an additional locking member adapted to be inteposed between said members to oppose separation of the same, and a flexible element serially connecting all of said members, said first two members extending in opposite directions, said plug member extending in slanting directionwith respect to said element.

12 A seal comprising a tubular member having a flaring portion forming an elongated opening at its smaller end, a locking member provided with means for interlocking with said tubular member, additional locking means adapted to be interposed between said first two members to oppose sep aration of the same, and a strip connecting all of said members, said first two members extending in vertical and slanting direction respectively with respect to said strip and being arranged one on each side thereof.

13. A seal comprising a tubular member having a flaring portion, the wall of said flaring portion forming diflerent angles with respect to a horizontal plane intersecting its lower-most edge, a locking member provided with means for interlocking with said tubular member, additional locking means adapted to be interposed between said first two members to oppose separation of the same, and a strip connecting all of said members, said first two members extending in vertical and slanting direction, respectively, with respect to said strip and being arranged one on each side thereof.

14. A seal comprising a strip, a socket member arranged at one end of said strip, a locking member provided at the opposite end of said strip, said strip being formed intermediate its ends with a stamped out tongue, and a plug member formed on said tongue and means for securing the socket and plug members together.

15. A seal comprising a strip, a socket member arranged at one end of said strip, a tongue stamped out from an intermediate portion of said strip, a plug member arranged at the end of the tongue and provided with means for interlocking with said socket member, and a locking element adapted to be interposed between said socket and plug members to oppose separation of the same, said socket and plug members extending in opposite directions with respect to said strip.

16. A seal comprising a strip, a socket member arranged at one end of said strip, a tongue stamped out from an lntermediate portion of said strip, a plug member arranged at the end of the tongue being provided with a flaring portion at its base and with means for interlocking with said socket member, and a locking element adapted to be interposed between said socket and plug tion of the same, said socket and plug members being provided with means for interlocking.

18. As an article of manufacture, a seal comprising a strip, a socket member formed at one end of said strip, a tongue stamped out from said strip, a plug member arranged at the end of said tongue, and a locking memher at the other end of said strip adapted to be interposed between said socket and plug members to oppose separation of the same, said locking member being formed with slots and with a bead at its base, said socket and plug members being provided with means for interlocking.

19. As an article of manufacture, a seal comprising a strip, a socket member formed at one end of said strip and extending vertically and upwardly therefrom, a tongue stamped out from an intermediate portion of said strip, a plug member arranged at the end of the tongue and extending downwardly and in slanting direction with respect thereto, said socket and plug members being provided with means for interlocking and a locking member at the other end of said strip adapted to be interposed between said socket and plug members to oppose separation of the same, said locking memher being formed with slots and with a bead at its base substantially as described.

20. A self-locking seal, comprising a flexible sheet-metal shackle provided at a short distance from one end with an externallyflanged locking-stud and having the metal at said end forming a laterally-projecting cup, with the bottom wall thereof perforate and dished inwardly to afford an internal locking flange, the end portion of the shackle being folded upon itself so that a portion of the shackle afiords a Wall covering the open base-portion of the cup, said shackle having a perforate end adapted to engage said stud and lie beneath the bottom of said cup when the seal is locked.

21.. In a seal, a tubular member, a second tubular member having means for interlocking with said first named member, a flexible element connecting said members, and means for closing the base opening of one of said members, said closing means heing formed integral with said flexible element.

22. In a seal, a tubular member, a second tubular'member having means for interlocking with said first named member, a flexible element connecting said members, and

means for closing the base opening of one of. said members, said tubular members and said closing means being formed integral with said flexible element. 7

i 23. A seal comprising tubular locking members adapted torinterlock upon being access to theinterlocking parts of said member, said means being formed integral with" i said flexible element. g

In testimony whereof I have herewith set my hand.

,VERYNEST EIGE.

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