US52995A - Improvement in locks - Google Patents

Description

llNirEn .STATES PATENT OFFIC.

ANSON HARDY, F. L. WALKER, AND G. A. WALKER, OF BOSTON, MASS.

,l M PROVEM ENT I'N LOCKS.

To all whom fit may concern.-

Beit known that we, ANSON HARDY, F. L. WALKER, and G. A. WALKER, all of Boston, in the county of Suffolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Locks; and we dohereby declare th at the following, taken in connection with the drawings which accompany and form part of this specification, is a description of our invention sufficient to enable thoseskilled in the art to practice it.

This invention relates to improvements in that class of locks employing a cylinder which can be turned in a ring by the key whenever the plungers, which work in both ring and cylinder, are properly placed, each of these plungers heingin two partsone in the cylinder and one in the ring-so that the former cannot be turned in the latter, except when the abuttingjoint vof the two parts'of each of the plungers used is in theline ofthe joint between the cylinder and the ring. In such locks the key-hole has heretofore been cylindrical, and the plungers have extended into the key-hole radially in direct lines or rangesthat is to say, the centers of any one row of plun gers were all in one plane. The objection to the cylindrical key-hole is that it affords facility for blowing the lock to pieces by powder, because it is easily tapped, so that aplug can be screwed into the mouth of the key-hole, thus makin g a perfect powder-chamber, which can be easily loaded and exploded.

Part of this invention consists in making the key-hole of such locks as have been referred to and the key thereof in a thin rectangular form, which enables me to use a key of much less size and weight than the old cylindrical one had, while the key-hole affords less room for a charge of powder, and cannot be tapped out without being rst counterborcd.

Another part of this invention consists in the location or arrangement of the plun gers in key-holes of long and narrow formation in such locks as have been before generally referred to, they being placed out'of line or Adirect range or in a zigzag manner, by which the key-hole is more filled'up and obstructed, as to the operation of pick-locks, than it would loe if the plungers were placed in range, and by which also a key can be made with anges on alternate sides of the inclines, which operate the plungers, this rendering it impossible Speciiication forming part of Letters Patent No. 52,9975, dated March 6, 1&66; antedatcd February'ZB, 1866 to take any single impression, which alone will form a guide from which a false key can be made; and another part of this invention consists in the employment at the inner end of the key-hole, and beyond all ofthe plungers therein, of a safety check or slide arrangedto be operated by the end of the key, and fitted so'closely as to prevent enough rotationof the cylinder in the ring to cause the plungers to bind therein, thus guarding the lock from indicative binding ofthe plungers, bywhichexperts have heretofore shown the old cylinder-andplunger lock to be pickable.

Of the drawings, Figure l is an elevation of my improved lock, showing the key-*hole side and the plunge-rs within the key-hole, the bolt being represented as withdrawn or fully back. Fig. Z'shows a cross-section ofthe lock, taken in the line z z through the key-hole, and showing the'position of the plungers whenthe key is withdrawn, and the locationof the slide at 'the rear of the key-hole. Fig. 3 shows-a longitudinal section through the lock on the line x w, Figs. l, 2, and 5, showing the position of the parts of the lock with the holt drawn'back, and especially showing the zigzag location of the plungers. Fi g. et is the section seen in Fig. 2 in all respects, except that the key is shown in place, illustrating the position of the plungers when so placed that the bolt can be thrown. Fig. 5 is an elevation of the lock, showing the side opposite that exhibited in Fig. 1,'part of the lock-case being broken away to disclose the check-slide, which is shown in the position it has when the bolt is thrown forward.

The key is shown in Fig. 4 and in the de tailed Views not numbered.

It will be seen that the thickness of the key is equal to the width of the key-hole, while the diameter of the plungers in the key-hole is less than its width. This permits the formation of flanges on one side of each incline of the key, by which the plungers are lifted, and as the zigzag arrangement of the plungers admits of the anges being on opposite sides of the key, it will appear that no single impression of the key in plastic material will give a correct model from which a burglar can construct a duplicate key.

a a are the plungers, which are formed with shoulders, to prevent them from dropping too far into the keyhole, these plun gers being free to slide in the cylinder b and to drive their counterparts a' ct in the ring `c outward, so that when moved just the right amount, as by the key of the lock, the joints between (t a and a a come just in the joint between b and c, and in this condition, when the bolt is back, there is nothing to prevent'rotation of the cylinder b, which carries the stud d, and this, working in a slot in the bolt e, throws it forward. j

The bolt e is fitted to slide closely across the inner end of the cylinder, and the relation of the stud d and the slot in the bolt in which the stud works is such that there is no communication from the inner end of the key-hole with The interior of the lock-case, by which powder could be introduced therein when the bolt is unlocked, as in Fig. 3, or is locked or thrown forward, as in Fig. 5.

The position and relation of the stud d and its slot 'in the bolt with reference to the keyhole iscle'arly shown in Figs. 3 and 5.

The springsj'f serve to keep the plungers a a a apressed inward, and act in conjunction withthe key.

When the bolt is thrown forward the guides g g, in which the check-slide h 7L is fitted, assume the position` shown in Fig. 5, and when the-key is withdrawn the spring t' forces 7L across the joint between the cylinder and the ring and forces hinto the key-hole, a small pin in the side ot' h/ preventing too great 4ran ge of inward motion to h'. The reversed position of h and h when the bolt e is thrown back is shown in Fig. 3, and in Fig. 4 may be seen inV dotted lines beyond the inner end of the key, when in place in the lock, the piece 7L, which, it will be evident, willwhen the bolt e is forward, be pushed outward by the endl ot' the key till' the joint between It and h coincides with the joint between b and c.

The purpose of the check-slides, which, from its peculiar location,A can only be reached with great difticulty by any instrument other than the key, is to prevent all play of the cylinder, both rotative and lateral, or endwise, which otherwise might be had from misiitting the parts of the lock, or otherwise, and thus prevent or check all indicative binding of the pluugers, rendering the lock secure against the methods hitherto employed by experts in illustrating how locks embodying the cylinderand-plunger construction might be picked.

We claiml. The key constructed as described, viz: with its operative portion of a thickness equal only to about the diameter of that part ofthe plungers which enters the key-hole, plus the amount needed for a flange on either side, when provided with inclines on its edges, each of which has a flange, said anges being part on one side and part on the other of each edge of the key.

2. In such a lock, provided with such akeyhole as described, the arrangement of the plungers so as to enter the key-hole in a zigzag manner, substantially as and for the purpose specified.

3. In a lock with a cylinder, ring, and plungers, the employment or" the check-slide, when arranged at the inner end ot the key-hole, and operating substantially as specified.

In witness whereof we have hereunto set our hands this 15th day of June, A. D. 1865.

ANsoN HARDY. FAL. WALKER. e. A. WALKER.

Witnesses:

J. B. CROSBY, F. GoULD.

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