US759794A - Snap-hook. - Google Patents

Description

PATENTED MAY 10, 1904.

J. A. ZERBE. SNAP HOOK.

APPLICATION FILED JAN. 18, 1904.

N0 MODEL.

Witnesses Y e m m A Patented I/ Iay 10, 1904.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN A. ZERBE, ()F LEBANON, PENNSYLVANIA.

A sNAP-HooK.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 759,794, dated May 10, 1904..

- Application filadJannary 18,1904. Serial No. 189,564. (No modal.)

To all whom it may concern,-

Be it known that 1, JOHN Zens n, a citizen of the United States, residing at Lebanon, in the county of Lebanon and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Snap-Hooks; and I do declare the following to be afull, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

The object of my invention is to provide a simple and effective attachment for snap-hooks whereby the sliding tongue of the hook may be locked from movement, the locking device being in the form of a sleeve mounted to retate upon the stem of the hook, said sleeve being formed from a flat blank of sheet metal bent into approximately cylindrical form and provided at its meeting edges with projections which are bent at an angle to serve as an operating finger-piece and space the walls of the sleeve to provide a slot which when alined with the knob of the tongue will allow the latter to be retracted and when moved out of alinement with said tongue will prevent its retraction, thus providing a device for the purpose which may be readily applied to any snaphook and manufactured. at small cost.

In the accompanying drawings, illustrating the invention, Figure 1 is a top plan view oil a single form of snap-hook, showing the application of my invention thereto. Fig. 2 is a longitudinal section through the hook and locking-sleeve. Fig. 3 is a cross section on line 3 3 of Fig. 2, showing the finger-piece turned sidewise to bring the slot of the sleeve out of alinement with the latch-knob. Fig. at is a plan view of the blank from which the locking-sleeve is made. Fig. 5 is a perspective view showing the blank bent into nearly circular form in readiness to be applied to the stem of the hook; and Figs. 6 and 7 are respectively a plan view of a double snap-hook, showing a modified form of sleeve applied thereto, and aperspective view, similar to Fig. 5 of the modified form of sleeve.

Referring now more specifically to the d rawings, the numeral 1 designates a snap-hook of ordinary construction comprising a slotted tnbular stem 2, a link or connector 3 at one end of the stem, a-hook 4 at the opposite end of the stem, and a sliding tongue or latch 5, adapted to coi'iperate with said hook, said tongue being fitted to slide in said stem and provided with aknob or linger-piece 6, the narrow neck of which fits and slides in the slot of the stem in the customary manner. The spring 6 in the stem serves to projectthe tongue.

Mounted onthe stem 2 is my improved locking-sleeve 7, which is formed from the blank showninFig. 5, the same being struck up from a single piece of sheet metal, the .?aid blank be ing of oblong rectangular form and provided at its side edges with lateral projections 8. In the forms shown in Figs. 1 to 5, inclusive, these projections are arranged near one end of the sleeve and the latter is formed from the blank by first bending it longitudinally into channeled or nearly circular shape, as shown in Fig. 5, fitting the incomplete sleeve so formed. about the stem of the hook and then completing the sleeve by contracting it until the meeting edges thereof approxin'iate, when the projections 8 are bent at right angles in parallel relation and secured together in any approved manner, as by soldering them or mechanically connecting them, so that they will form a finger-piece 9 and at the same time act as connectors for the edges of the blank and spacing devices to hold the meeting edges in advance thereof apart, thus providing a slot 10, which is adapted by rotating the sleeve upon the stem, through the medium of said linger-piece, to be brought into and out of register with the slot in the stem, as shown, respectively, in Figs. 1 and 3, thus allowing the linger-pieee of the hook to be actuated to retract the tongue or to abut against the narrow neck portion of the finger-piece and prevent rearward movement thereof, and consequently retraction of the tongue. It will thus be seen that by the simple construction of the locking-sleeve formed as thus described an efiective form of locking device is provided in which the number of parts is reduced to the minimum and a rotary device of such form furnished as may be readily applied to snap-hooks of any use by the aid of simple tools.

Figs. 6 and 7 show the application of the invention to a double form of snap-hook having oppositely-arranged hooks and sliding tongues. In this application of the invention the structure of the locking-sleeve is necessarily modified in order to adapt it to cooperate with both sliding tongues. This is accomplished by arranging the finger-piece 9, formed by the engaged projections 8, at the center of the sleeve, so that the spaced meeting walls of the sleeve on opposite sides thereof will be spaced to form oppositely-projecting slots 10 to cooperate with the finger-pieces of the tongues.

From the foregoing description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, the construction, mode of operation, and advantages of the invention will be readily understood, and it will be seen that a form of lock is provided which may be quickly and conveniently attached to existing snap-hooks and which is simple of construction and may be manufactured at small cost.

Various changes in the form, proportion, and the minor details of construction may be resorted to Without departing from theprinciple or sacrificing any of the advantages of the invention.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is v In a snap-hook, the combination with a hook having a stem and a sliding tongue, the latter being provided with an operating device, of a locking device for the tongue, the same comprising a sleeve rotatable on said stem and formed from a blank bent into form, having connected projections at its meeting edges forming a connector and finger-piece, portions of said edges being spaced to provide a slot to allow the operating device to move When brought into alinement therewith, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in presence of two subscribing witnessesf JOHN A. ZERBE.

Witnesses: 1

BENJ. F. WARD, ISAAC MILLER.

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