US320213A - bloom - Google Patents

Description

(No Model.)

B. BLOOM.

SEAL LOCK. No. 320,213. Patented June 16, 1885.

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NITED STATES ATENT rFrcE.

ELIZA BLOOM, OF NEWV YORK, N. Y.

SEAL-LOCK.

ijPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent N0.32 0,213, dated June 16, 1885.

Application filed January 20. 1885.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ELIZA BLOOM, a citizen of the United States, residing in New York city, New York, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Seal-Locks, of which I declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description, so that any person skilled in the art to which it appertains can make, construct, and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, which form part of this specification, and to the letters and figures of reference marked thereon.

The object of the presentinvention is to provide a more convenient and certain sealing device than those at present in use; and it consists of the devices hereinafter described and claimed.

Referring to the drawings, Figure 1 is a front view, and Fig. 2 a side view, of my improved sealing device, a part being broken away. Figs. 3 and 4 are separate views of details, and Fig. 5 is an enlarged sectional view of a part of the device.

The improved sealing device consists of an open ring or a staple of metal, A, of any desired shape, made of two or more pieces of metal securely riveted together. .The legs of this open ring or staple, between which the opening or break occurs, have two slots, B B, of such size and so arranged that the strip F, hereinafter described, can be pushed through one slot across the opening in the ring to and through the other slot, thereby closing the gap in the ring or staple. This is clearly shown in Figs. 1, 2, and 5 of the drawings. These slots B B run through chambers O 0, (shown in Figs. 2 and 5,) preferably one in each leg of the staple A, in which chambers are placed the locking devices D D. These locking devices are shown in all the figures of the drawings, particularly in Fig. 4. As there shown they consist of a steel wire having resistance enough for a springrecurved onitself, the arms completing a circle or rectangle, or any other convenient shape adapted to the shape of the chambers O G and ending in two points that pass each other for a little distance. These points are beveled, as shown in the drawings, both points on the same side, the plane of the bevel being at right angles to a (No model.)

linejoining the centers of the two slots B B. This beveling may be accomplished either by cutting or bending the points, or both. Any flat and thin instrument-such as the strip Fcan be forced between the spring-points if it be forced against the points on the side and in the direction of the bevel, the effect of such pressure being to force the points apart, but the same fiat and thin instrument it will be found impossible to force between the points by pressure from any other direction. This locking-spring D is placed in the chamber 0,

as shown in Figs. 1, 2, and 5. When so placed its beveled points cross the slot B at about the center of that slot and prevent the passage through the slot of any instrument that strikes the points and presses upon them in the direction of its movement through the slot-that is, at right angles to the plane of the bevel of the spring-points themselves. The points, however, yield to any thin instrument pressing against them on their beveled sides and pressing in the direction of the bevel-that is, substantially at right angles to the direction of motion of the instrument through the slot.

Any concealed catching device may be used in place of the spring-points D, which will normally extend across the slot B, barring passage through it, and will resist pressure from the outside in the direction of the passage of the slot, but which is constructed to be pushed out of its obstructing position by the side pressure of the beveled point of the strip F as the latter is pushed into the slot on the beveled side of the catch. A spring-latch placed with its bevel on the same side as is the bevel of the points D would be an instance of such a catching device.

F is a thin strip of metal of the general shape shown in Fig. 1. It should be of such size as to pass readily through the slots B B, except when the locking springs or catches are in place, and then to strike against such springs or catches. The strip should also have one or both ends beveled, the bevel being on both or on one side of the end. The strip should also have a slot, G, cut lengthwise of the strip through its center and wide enough to permit the crossed points of the spring D or the catch to snap into it and assume the unstrained ob- ICC) structing position. This slot should preferably be long enough to reach from one looking-spring D to the other in the position shown in Fig. 1. The ends of the slot or slots in any case should be cut square and not beveled. I prefer to put a locking device in both of the slots 13 B, as shown in Fig.1, in which case the slot in the sealing-strip F is preferably made long enough to reach from one locking device to the other, so that both locking devices may operate in it. There may, however, be two slots instead of one in the sealing-strip, as indicated by the dotted lines a a in Fig. 1, the strip between these lines being solid, provided one or both slots on their inner ends are beveled, as at a, or otherwise arranged so that the first slot escapes the first catch, as by being out of line with it; or the locking device in one slot, B, may be omitted entirely, in which case the strip would have a short slot square at both ends, as indicated at a in Fig. 1, at one end of the strip F. These slots, indicated by the bounding lines a a" in Fig. 1, are shown of alength sufficient to cause them to project a little outside of the leg ofthe staple A merely for convenience in cutting the sealing-strip in unsealing. The slots B B, in which are. placed the locking devices, should be'no larger than just sufficient to admit the strip F.

The operation of my device as applied, for instance, to a freight-car, is as follows: The door of the freight-car having been closed, and the hasp having been placed over the fixed staple in the usual way, one leg of the staple or open ring A is passed through the projecting part of the staple of the car exactly as if it were the ring of a padlock and the hasp of the door was to be locked onto the fixed staple of the car. The sealing-strip F is then introduced from the outside into theslot B andpushed into it on the beveled side of the springpoints D. The forward end of the strip passes by the points on their beveled or curved side; but the bevel of the strip gradually forces the strip against the points, which are thus forced apart, and the strip passes between them, the points snapping together again through the slot G. As the strip is pushed farther on it enters the other slot B in the other leg of the staple A, where the same operation takes place, the beveled strip forcing the points apart and passing between them until the points reach the slot G, into which they snap into their unstrained position. The parts are then in the position shown in Fig. 1, in which position it will be found impossible to remove the slotted sealing-strip F, the crossed springpoints D D being merely jammed sidewise against the walls of the chambers O O by the direct pressure of the strip F at the square ends of the slot G. The strip F is thus securely locked in place, and can only be removed by breaking some of the parts. It is therefore an effectual and convenient sealing device.

The strips F, I design to make of thin sheet metal, out out by a die, and to stamp on them any desired seal, and also, if desired, the number of the ear, or of the load, or the name of consignor and consignee, or the point of departure and destination, the weight, 8210. When the ear is to be unsealed, the strip F has merely to be cut across the slot or slots with shears, When the ends will pull right out. The mutilated strip may then be kept as a'rccord or for any purpose desired.

My improved sealing device merely seals the hasp of the door on the fixed staple, as'a padlock would look it on, and is in that respect like the sealing devices at present in use. It is superior in its simplicity of manipulation and its certainty, and allows of stamped directions,'&c., on the sealing device of the car. It may be applied as a sealing device in any case where the unsealing would require the mutilation of the strip F, as in sealing the escutcheon or plate of a look over the key-hole, where chambered and slottedknobs or projections of the metal door-plate on each side of the key-hole would constitute the legs of the staple A, and the hinged escutcheon or plate covering the key-hole would through it, the strip F when looked in position thus preventing the removal of the plate or escutoheon from over the key-hole without the mutilation of the strip.

I am aware that various sealing devices have been used employing concealed catches, and among them the devices shown in Letters Patent of the United States No. 153,819, granted August 4, 1874, to Foote, and Randall, and Nos. 88,959 and. 206,238, granted April 13, 1869, and July 23, 1878, respectively, to G. H. Hopkins, and I do not claim anything therein shown.

My improved device employing the slotted sealing-strip F avoidsthe use of heads or shoulders, and secures-the sealing-strip from movement in either direction by the direct action of the concealed catches upon the sealing-strip itself without intervening devices.

What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

A seal-lock consisting of a chambered and slotted staple, A, beveled springpoints D, and a beveled and slotted sealing-strip, F, sub stantially as and for the purposes set forth.

ELIZA BLOOM.

Witnesses:

CHARLES E. LYDEoKnR, 4 AMASA R. ANGELL.

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