US552566A

US552566A - williams

Info

Publication number: US552566A
Authority: US
Publication date: 1896-01-07
Anticipated expiration: 1913-01-07

Description

(No Model.)

J. E. WILLIAMS.

SEAL.

Patented Jan. 7, 18 96.

NITED STATES ATENT OFFICE.

JAMES E. \VILLIAMS, OF ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI, ASSIGNOR TO LIN'FON IVILLIAMS, OF ATHENS, WISCONSIN.

SEAL.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 552,566, dated January 7, 1896.

. Application filed June 10, 1895.

To aZZ whom, it may concern.

Be it known that 1, JAMES E. WILLIAMs, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of St. Louis, in the State of Missouri, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Seals and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof.

My invention has for its object to provide a simple, economical seal that may be secured in place .without the use of a seal-press and which cannot be opened without it being apparent at a glance that such an operation has taken place.

A further object of my invention is to facilitate the keeping of seal-records by trainconductors and others.

The several objects above enumerated I attain by the construction and combination of parts hereinafter set forthwith reference to the accompanying drawings and subsequently claimed.

111 the drawings, Figure 1 represents an elevation of a seal constructed according to my invention, the view being partly in section on line 1 1 of Fig. 2; Fig. 2, a plan view partly in horizontal section on line 2 2 of Fig. 1; Fig. 3, a detail elevation of one extremity of the shackle, and Fig. at a like view showing the seal in position.

Referring by letter to the drawings, A represents my shackle, herein shown as made from a strip of sheet metal bent to form a circular band having quarter-twist extremities that are lapped on each other after said shackle is run through a hasp, staple or eyelet.

\Vhile I have shown a single-piece sheetmetal shackle it is practical to utilize other material, and it is also practical to joint said shackle as well as to vary its shape without departure from my invention.

In any of the various possible forms of the shackle I provide for an engagement of its extremities, and as a preferable construction I show the extremityb having a spring-tongue c struck out from the metal, the other extremity cl being formed with a slot 6 for the engagement of said tongue, but where material. other than sheetunetal is employed in the Serial No. 552,242. (No model.)

manufacture of the shackle it may be necessary to slightly change the detail concerning the aforesaid tongue and catch for the same.

The sleeve B for the shackle is in the form of a tube made from lead or other suitable material in such shape as may be found necessary or desirable.

In practice the sleeve is slipped onto one extremity of the shackle and the other extremity is pressed into said sleeve to effect a catch of the spring-tongue, after which it is impossible to open said shackle without splitting the aforesaid sleeve, the latter being secured against endwise displacement at the time the engagement takes place, because of the quarter-twist of each shackle extremity. It is also intended to have the sleeves cast with characters designating stations from which they issue, and thus train-conductors and others can always obtain the proper data for their records, a matter that is sometimes difficult or impossible with the ordinary seals carelessly set by a seal-press.

My seal is especially designed for freightcars, but it is also applicable for use in connection with mail and express receptacles.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

In a seal a shackle, having its extremities one-quarter twist from the remainder thereof, a tongue struck up from one of said extremities, and the other of the same provided with a slot, in combination with a sleeve in the form of a tube that being placed on one of the shackle-extremities receives the other and prevents disengagement of the automaticallyinterlocked tongue and slot, said tube being of itself held against longitudinal displacement by the quarter-twists of the shackle.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing I have hereunto set my hand, at St. Louis, in the State of Missouri, in the presence of two witnesses.

JAMES E. WVILLIAMS.

\Vitnesses: G.-I-I. TEN BURK, E. T. KARWATZ.