US314994A - brooks - Google Patents

Description

(No Model.)

E. J. BROOKS.

, SEAL. N0. B l 4,994. Patented Apr. 7, 1885.

llll

WITNESSES INVENTOR Edwardlliraoks By his. flttpmey v NITEV STATES PATENT OFFICE.

EDWARD J. BROOKS, OF EAST ORANGE, NEN JERSEY, ASSIGNOR TO E. J.

BROOKS 85 00., OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

SEAL.

EJF'EOL'FEGATEOIQ' forming part of Letters Patent No. 314,99 dated April 7, 1885.

Application filed June 21, 1884.

To a. whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EDWARD J. BROOKS, a citizen of the United States, residing at East Orange, in the State of New Jersey, have in 5 vented a new and useful Improvement in Seals, of which the following is a specification.

In a previous specification, forming part of an application for United States Patent filed April 10, 1884, Patent No. 303,417, I set forth 1O self-fastening seals of that general class a characteristic of which is the employment or use,as a part or the whole of each seal, of a flexible shackle the ends ofwhich are united or fastened at the sealing operation after passing the shackle through a pair of staples or otherwise applying the same, and which is or may be easily cut to open or unseal a cardoor or other object secured by the seal, the said self-fastening seals set forth in said previous specification having double seal parts, of pottery or other hard and frangible material, within which the ends of sheet-metal shackles are secured by interlocking snap-.

catches formed on the respective extremities of the shackle, the two halves of each sealpart being fast on the respective shackle ends.

The present invention consists in improved self-fastening seals of the same general class, and adapted, like those above named, to be made with sheet-metal shackles and pottery seal parts,and to be quickly opened, to unseal the object to which it is applied, either by cutting the shackle or by breaking the seal part, as may be most convenient, the shackles being adapted, furthermore, to be passed through small staples or the like, and the seal parts to be made each in one simple piece, the latter having a narrow threadinghole, and provided internally with a metallic catch to coact with snap-catches integral with the threading end or ends of the shackle, to fasten the latter securely within the seal part, notwithstanding any inequalities in the pottery itself, and without straining said integral snap-catches in the fastening operation, each seal part having an internal springcatch distinct fromthe shackle, and a narrow threading-hole leading thereto, each shackle having snap-catches at its respective extremities, 0 whereby I am enabled at once to manufacture and pack the parts separately, and to unite (No model.)

them by the aforesaid mode of fastening preliminary to applying the seal,so as to facilitate carrying and using the same.

A sheet of drawings accompanies this specification as part thereof.

Figure 1 of the drawings is an elevation of the two parts ofa seal, illustrating this invention. Fig. 2 represents a horizontal section through the seal part, with the fastening-catch therein in elevation. Fig. 3 is a sectional edge view of the parts preliminarily united. Fig. 4. is a like view of the seal fastened, and Fig. 5 is asectional edge view of another fastened seal, illustrating modifications.

Like letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the several figures.

This improved self-fastening seal in each of the forms represented by the drawings consists of a single hard and brittle seal part, A or A, adapted to be made of pottery or baked clay, and preferably of this cheap and readilymanipulated material, and a flexible sheetmetal shackle, B or B, adapted to be made of frangible tin (hard tin -plate) cut into suitable strips, which is preferred for seals of the customary small sizes. The seal part is,

moreover, in each form made hollow, with a said internal catch of the seal part, for which i purposes short rigid catches adapted to enter without material strain will suffice. The seals would preferably be packed for shipment, or leave the factory with their shackles straight, as shown in full lines in Fig. l, and with the parts united at one end of the shackle, as shown in Fig. 3, so as to be convenient] y carried as one part. The free threading end is readily passed through a pair of cardoorstaples, O, or the like, even of small size, after which, by simply inserting this end of the shackle, the seal is fastened, as shown in Figs. 4 and 5, so as to seal the object to which it is applied,which is quickly unsealed,

as aforesaid, either by cutting the sheetmetal shackle or by breaking the brittle seal-part, as may be most convenient.

In the form represented by Figs. 1 to 4:, inelusive, the two parts A. B are adapted to be made and packed for shipment separate from each other, as seen in Figs. 1 and 2. The seal part has an internal spring-catch 8 formed by a bent strip of flat metal, preferably steel, with recurved ends which project into the recess 1' and form central fastening-shoulders. Both ends of the shackle are threading ends 6, and terminate in catches a, which, being single, are adapted to project outwardly when the shackle is bent in use, as shown in dotted lines in Fig. 1, and when inserted to coact with said internal catch, as aforesaid. One shackle end is inserted to unite the parts preliminarily, as shown in Fig. 3, and the seal is fastened by inserting the other end, as shown in Fig. 4:.

In that analogous form represented by Fig. 5 the two parts A B may be made and used in the same manner; but the internal springeatch s is double or of arrow-head shape, with a roughened shank, 00, around which the material of the seal part is solidified, and the shackle ends terminate in snapcatches c" 0, adapted to project inwardly when inserted, as shown in the figure.

Other materials adapted to be molded or cast into a hard and brittle seal part, sufficiently cheap, strong. and weatherproof, may be used instead of pottery; and flat wire, band-iron,

and the like are considered equivalents of 5 sheet metal for the purposes ofthis invention; and the seal parts and shackles may each or either be provided with suitable distinguishing-marks in any approved ways.

Having thus described my said improvement in seals, I claim as my invention and desire to patent under the present specification- An improved self-fastening seal composed -of a hard and brittle seal part, having a per- EDWARD J. BROOKS.

XVitnesses;

HENRY L. G. VVENK, NORMAN S. KLINE

Images