US524974A - brooks - Google Patents

Description

(Nd Model.)

B. J. BROOKS; SNAP SEAL.

' No. 524,974. Patented Aug. 21, 1894.

ing is a specification.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

EDWARDJ. BROOKS, OF EAST ORANGE, JERSEY, ASSIGNOR TO THE E. J. BROOKS & COMBANY, OF NEW YORK,N. Y.

SEAL.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 524,974, dated August 21, 1894. Application filed April 27, 1894.: SerialNo. 509.270. (Homodel-l .To all whom it may concern: Be it known that I, EDWARD J. BROOKS, a. citizen of the United States of America, and a resident of East Orange, in the State of New Jersey, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Snap-Seals, ofwhich the follow- This invention relates to self-fastening seals, or snap-seals as they are now termed, adapted for use as substitutes for lead-and wire seals and other press-fastened sealing devices to secure railway car-doors and the like, as set forth in my previous specifications, forming part of United States Letters Patent No. 303,417,dated August 12,1884; No. 304,258, dated-August 26, 1884; No.3l2,963,

.dated February 24, 1885; N 0. 314,994, dated April 7, 1885; No. 340,932, dated April 27, 1886; No. 345,764, dated July 2O, 1886; No. 348,509,dated August 31, 1886, and No. 353,246, dated November 23, 1886.

The improved snap-seal in a preferred form having a hollow sheet-metal seal-part, "is adapted to be made very light, and of a large variety of shapes, and to be provided with any required distinguishing marks or letter-. ing with the utmost facility.

The present invention consists in an open coil of wire within a snap-seal to coact with its snap or snaps, as a guard fagainst tampering therewith and as an anti-rattling device, and in the combination with a seamed sealpart of a snap-shackle having such a coil formed on one of its ends,as hereinafter set forth and claimed.

A sheet of drawings accompanies this specification as part thereof.

Figures 1, 2 and 3 of these drawings show respectively the several parts of an improved snap-seal as preliminarily formed by means of dies; Fig. 1 being an elevation of the shackle. wire, Fig. 2 sectional and face views of one piece of the seal-part, and Fig. 3 end and sectional views of its other piece. Fig. 4 shows in elevation the shackle wire threaded through one seal-part piece and provided with a coil on its threaded end. Fig. 5 shows the improved seal as finished at the factory, with the seal-part in longitudinal section. Fig. 6 is a like sectional view of the fastened seal. Fig. 7 is a small-scale elevation of the improvedseal illustrated by Figs. to ti 1110111.

sive, as in use. Fig. 8 is a sectional elevation of a modified seal, fastened. Fig. 9 shows end and sectional views of a modified seal-part for use as in Fig. 8. Fig. 10 shows end and sectional views of a like seal-part of another shape. Fig. 11 is a perspective view of a sheet-metal shackle, and Fig. 12 is an end view of an improved seal-part adapted to coact with the latter.

Like letters and numbers refer to corresponding parts in all the'figures.

The flexible metallic shackle A of each of the improved seals is provided at one or each end witha long spring hook or snap 1, formed on the shacklebysuitable bends. .The shackle may be of round or square wire in the forms represented in Figs. 1 and 4 to 8, or of suitable sheet-metal in the form represented by Fig. 11, and in this form may conveniently be provided with double snaps 1 projecting in opposite directions at each end, as shown.

The hollow seal-part B of each seal is composed of two pieces, marked respectively 2 and 3, permanently united at the factory by a secure joint; and in said preferred style, to which the drawings are confined, its pieces being of sheet-metal are interlocked with each other bya circumferential sheet-metal seam? 4, and it. is provided with the required distinguishing marks or lettering 5, and a hole 6 matching each snap, in the pieces 2 and 3 as preliminarily formed by machinery.

The seal-part Bis in all cases preferably attached at one endof the shackle A, as in i Fig. 5, at the factory, and in this form is shipped and carried by the sealer. In applying-the seal, the shackle is passed through a pair of car-door staples 0, Figs. 7 and 8, or the like, and the free end of the shackle is then fastened by springing its snap 1 through the matchinghole 6. When the snap opens within the seal-part the seal is securely fastened, and cannot be unfastened without sufficient injury to the. seal-part and shackle, either or both, to insure detection. To remove the seal the shackle is cut.

In the species of the improved seals represented by Figs. 1 to 7 inclusive, the shackle A has a snap 1 on one end only, and as preliminarily formed its other end is straight, as

isshown in the'piece 2.

in Fig. 1; and the pieces 2 and 3 of the sealpart B are conveniently of one and the same form and dimensions except their flanges b, Figs. 2 and 3, which are subsequently interlocked to form the seam 4. The snap-hole 6 It may be in either piece. The other piece is provided with a threading-hole 7 fitted to the wire of which the shackle A is composed. Said straight end of the shackle as preliminarily formed, Fig. 1, is threaded through said hole '7 and provided with a sharp bend 8, and an open coil 9 beyond the same, as in Fig. 4. The seal- part pieces 2 and 3 are then put together, with said coil within their cavities, and the seam 4 is formed by a suitable press, which completes the seal for the market as in Fig. 5. When the seal is fastened the snap l, sprung through the hole 6 as above, interlocks with one of the convolutions of the open coil 9, as in Fig. 6. Its withdrawal is thus prevented, and the seal is kept from rattling.

The modifications represented in Fig.8 consist in providing both endsof the shackle A with snaps 1, which coact with an open coil 9 distinct from the shackle within the seal-part B; uniting the seal-part pieces '2 and 3 by a double seam 4 as compared with the single seam represented in Figs. 5 and 6; forming the lettering5 in one end of the seal partinstead of-in its sides, and providing its other end with a pair of snap-holesfi and making this end concave to facilitate inserting the snaps, which interlock with the convex inner surface of the perforated end.

The modification illustrated by Fig. 9, apart from a change of shape, consists in locating the lettering 5and snap-holes 6 in one and the same piece, 2, of a seal-part B, inclosing.

part and providing the seal-part B with snapholes 6 adapted to receive the fiat shackle ends. Otherwise the seal-part may be of any of the forms above described, and with a shackle of fiat wire the snap-holes of any of the seal-parts would be substantially of the shape represented at 6 in Fig. 12.

A shac'kle A with a snap 1 at each end as in Fig. 8 or in Fig. 11 would be used in connection with each of the modified seal-parts B represented by Figs. 9 and 10; and in the seals so formed, as well as in those represented by Fig. 8 and Figs. 11 and 12, the sealpart would be' preliminarily attached to one end of the shackle, as in Fig. 5, by springing one of the snaps'l through one of the snapholes 6. One end of the shackle may be preliminarily secured within the seal-part, as in Fig. 5, by other suitable means, as by soldering it fast, without materially departing from this invention; the lettering 5 may in all cases be either cameo or intaglio as preferred; and other like modifications will suggest themselves to those skilled in the art.

Having thus described the said improvement, I claim as my invention and desire to patent under this specificationv 1. An improved snap-seal having a hollow seal-part provided with an open coil within it and with an open snap-hole, in combination with a shackle-wire preliminarily secured within the seal-part at one end, and provided atits other end with a self-fastening snap adapted to be sprung-through said snap-hole and to interlock with said coil, substantially as hereinbefore specified.

2. The combination, in a snap-seahot a sealpart composed of two pieces provided respectively with a snap-hole and a contracted threadinghole and securely interlocked with each other by a circu mferential seam, and a shackle extending through said threading-hole from an open coil within the'seal-part and provided at its-other end with a self-fastening snap adapted .to be sprung through said snap-hole and to interlock with said coil, substantially as hereinbefore specified.

EDWARD J. BROOKS. Witnesses:

J AS. L. EWIN,

GEO. M. WHITNEY.

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