US777868A

US777868A - Self-locking seal.

Info

Publication number: US777868A
Authority: US
Inventors: Emil Tyden
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1904-01-30
Filing date: 1904-01-30
Publication date: 1904-12-20
Anticipated expiration: 1921-12-20

Description

PATENTED DEC. 20, 1904.

E. TYDEN.

SELF LOCKING SEAL.

APPLICATION FILED JAN. 30. 1904.

N0 MODEL.

UNITED STATES Patented December 20, 1904.

EMIL TYDEN, HASTINGS, MICHIGAN.

SELF-LOCKING SEAL.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 777,868, dated December 20, 1904.

Application filed January 30, 1904. Serial No. 191,296-

To all whom, it may concern.-

Be it known that I, EMIL TYDEN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Hastings, in the county of Barry and State of Michigan, have invented new and useful Improvements in Self- LockingSeals,of which the following'isaspecification, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part thereof.

The purpose of this invention is to provide an improved seal or device for securing packages or receptacles against unauthorized tampering of the class commonly known as selflocking.

It consists in the features of construction set out in the claims.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a plan view of my improved seal shown in unlocked position of the parts. Fig. 2 is a section at the line 2 2 on Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a section at the line 3 3 on Fig. 1. Fig. 4. is a section at the line 4: 4: on Fig. 3. Fig. 5 is a section at the plane corresponding to the lines 2 2 and 3 3 through the seal with its cooperating parts interlocked. Fig. 6 is a plan view of a blank from which the securing device is formed.

In the more usual form of my present invention it comprises asecuring device 1, which is conveniently and preferably made of a strap or strip of sheet metal, and at one end of said securing device a housing 2, made fast to the strap 1, the other end of the strap being provided with means for lodging an engaging device 3, which is preferably a spring-ring, which normally tends to stand closed by lapping its ends, but which in construction of the seal is spread open, ready to react,however, into closed position, as hereinafter explained. The means for holding the spring-ring 3 thus spread consists, preferably, of certain leaves or folds of the strap-1, though not necessarily made integral with the strap. The construction may be understood from Fig. 6, which shows the blank before folding, and Fig. 2, which shows the completed form. In blank (see Fig. 6) a strap 1 has at the end designed to hold the spring-ring a lateral offset or wing 4, which is severed from the body of the strap by a slot 5 for a distance commencing at the end and extending back toward the commencement of the wing, stopping short thereof at a distance about equal to the width of the body of the strap, leaving a neck 5 connecting the wing to the body, and from the outer edge of the wing in position corresponding transversely to said neck 5 there is a further lateral extension 6, which is in width equal to the neck 5 and in length somewhat more than the width of the body of the strap. The body of the strap and the wing 4 have similar notches or slots 7 7 extending in from the end about the middle of their width and at a little distance back from said notches similar small apertures 8 8. The body and the wing are both folded back upon their length at the dotted line 9 9 (see Fig. 6) and are folded at the line 10 10 at a right angle in the opposite direction from the first-mentioned fold and again at the line 11 11 at a right angle in the opposite direction from the fold made at the line 10 10. The blank is then folded at the dotted line 12 across the neck in direction to bring the end portions having the slots 7 7 and apertures 8 8 facing each otherthat is, at the inner side, as seen clearly in Fig. 2the result of all the folding being also clearly manifest from said Fig. 2, in which it will appear that the slots 7 7 face each other, and the apertures 8 8 likewise face each other, an interval or throat 13 being left between the two end portions of the body and wing, respectively, having said apertures and slots, and said end portions being spaced a little distance from the inner surfaces of the remaining portions of the wing and strap separated by the slot 5. The wing or lug 6 is now folded outside the body of the strap, so that the latter is completely enwrapped, said lug or wing being long enough so that its edge may be clenched about the fold made at the line 12, and thus the folded elements are securely held in the position described and shown in Fig.2. The spring-ring 3 is lodged as seen in Fig. 2, its ends being spread by the enfolded, slotted, and apertured terminal portions of the body and wing, the ends being lodged against the opposite outer sides of said terminal portions at a little distance back toward the fold 9 from the apertures 8, the opposite or middle portion of the ring being engaged in the end slots 7 7 of both terminals. The opposite end of the strap from that which has the wing and holds the spring 3, as described, is widened for a short distance at 15, and onto this widened end there are clenched, by means familiar to the tinners art, two

caps

16 and 17, which together form a housing which is closed at the end back toward the body of the strap and opened at the extreme or farther end. The strap does not extend through the whole length of this housing, but stops short, as seen in Fig. 3, at a little distance back from the open end of the housing. At a distance back from the end of the strap substantially equal to the diameter of the ring 3 the strap has an aperture 18, adapted to admit the ends of the ring.

In using this seal the securing device or strap 1 is passed around or through the handles, hasps, staple, or corresponding means for connecting and closing the bag, box, door, or other thing to be secured by the seal, and the end of the strap in which the spring 3 is lodged, as described, is then thrust into the open end of the housing. In this action the end of the strap within the housing passes into the interval 13 between the two terminals in which the spring is lodged, and the end of the strap encountering the ring where it extends across this interval at its lodgment in the slots 7 7 pushes the ring before it until the ends reach the apertures 8 8, which at this juncture will coincide with the aperture 13, and the end of the strap and the ring closing together elastically will thrust its ends through all three apertures, and so completely engage the two ends of the strap within the housing. In thus snapping through the ap ertures the ring will fly around to an indeterminate position, so that the point at which its lapped or meeting ends lie cannot be conjectured. The open mouth of the housing, it will be understood, is completely closed by the folded end of the strap inserted thereinto, so that no access can be obtained for manipulating the ring to disengage the parts.

The end of the strap within the housing which serves for releasing the ring to cause it to engage, it will be seen, has the function of thus releasing the ring, not dependent upon the fact that itis a part of the strap, though this construction is obviously economical and convenient and desirable for that reason.

The employment in a seal of an elasticallyoperating engaging device, which is by construction held under tension ready to react for engagement of the parts and which is unattached from though engaged with the parts which are thus connected, is an invention shown and claimed in my former patents, No. 594,580 and No. 647,052. When this engaging device is lodged in the housing and is tripped by the insertion of the other end of the securing device or strap, the structure is open to the objection that it is impossible to tell whether the engaging device has been released and closed by the mere inspection of the device before attempting to use it by insertion of the other end for locking, and seals thus constructed are liable to be rendered valueless by the accidental dislodging of the spring-engaging device or by the intentional tampering with them, which may be done by inserting a blind strap-that is, a strap without an aperture-to push the rings from their lodgment. The present invention avoids this objection by lodging the elastic engaging device not in the housing, but in the other end of the strap that is, in the inner of the two elements which are to be engaged for locking so that it is clearly visible before the insertion of said inner element in the housing for locking and the condition of the seal can be known beforeattempting to use it. I do not limitmyself, therefore, to the specific con-- struction herein described either of the housing, the inserted element, or the engaging device, though the constructions shown for these parts and their relations for cooperation are specifically desirable for economy and compactness and serviceability and are therefore specifically claimed.

I claim 1. In a self-locking seal in combination with a housing; a securing device having one end adapted to be inserted into the housing; an elastically-operating engaging device lodged in said end under restraint, ready upon being released to react into engagement with the housing, and means within the housing for encountering such engaging device to efiect such release.

2. In aself-locking seal in combination with a housing and a securing device having one end adapted to be inserted into the housing; an elastically operating engaging device lodged in said inserted end, the latter having means which holds the engaging device under restraint ready to react into engagement with the housing upon being released; of said engaging device and holding means, one being movable relatively to the other for such release, and means within the housing for encountering and moving the movable one.

3. A self-locking seal comprising a housing and an element adapted to be inserted into the housing; said element having an elasticallyoperating engaging device and means for holding it under restraint, said device and holding means being relatively movable for releasing the engaging device, and means within the housing for encountering the movable part to effect such release.

4. A self-locking seal comprising a housing and an element adapted to be inserted thereinto; an elastically-operating engaging device lodged in the inserted element under restraint and adapted to move in its lodgment to released position, and means within the housing for encountering and releasing it.

5. In a self-locking seal in combination with a housing; an element adapted to be inserted gaging device lodged in the inserted element,

said element having means which holds it under restraint ready to react for engagement with the housing when inserted thereinto, and means within the housing encountered upon such insertion to release the engaging'device.

7. A self-locking seal comprising a securing device having at one end a housing and at the other end an element adapted to be inserted into the housing; an engaging device lodged unattached in said element and comprising a spring under restraint, and means within the housing for encountering said engaging device to release its spring and cause it to react automatically into engagement with the housing.

8. A self-locking seal comprising a securing device having at one end a housing and at the other end an element adapted to be inserted into the housing; an elastically-operating engaging device lodged in said inserted element under restraint, ready upon being released to react into engagement with the housing, and means within the housing for encountering said engaging device and effecting such release.

9. A self-locking seal comprising asecuring device having at one end a housing and at the other end an element adapted to be inserted into the housing; an elastically-operating engaging device lodged in said inserted element; the latter having means which hold the engaging device under restraint, ready to react into engagement with the housing upon being released, said engaging device and holding means being movable relatively, and means within the housm g for encountering the movable one to effect such release.

10. A self-locking seal comprising a housing and an element adapted to be inserted thereinto and to close the aperture through which it enters; a ring formed to close elastically, engaged with but unattached to the inserted element; the latter having means holding the ring spread open; the housing having means which, upon the insertion of the spring-holding element. enters the open ring, encounters and releases it and is interlocked with it by its closing.

11. A self-locking seal comprising a securing-strap; a housing comprising caps, 16 and 1'7, fast on opposite sides of one end of the strap and forming a housing open at one end, the portion of the strap within the housing having an aperture back of the end of the strap; an element at the opposite end of the strap adapted to be inserted into the open end of the housing and to close the opening and the ring, 3, lodged in said element, the latter having detainers for holding the ring open and provided with apertures for engaging the ring when it closes, said detainers being in position to admit the end of the strap in the housing between them when the spring-holding element is inserted into the housing.

12. A self-locking seal comprising a securing-strap which has at one end two parallel elements slightly spaced from each other; a spring-ring, 3, spread to clasp said elements, the latter having corresponding apertures through which the ends of the ring may en gage when it closes; the other end of the strap having a housing open at one end, adapted for the insertion of the ring-holding element at the other end of the strap, and having within it an obstruction in the path of the interval between said spaced elements, adapted thereby to pass between them within the ring and to encounter the latter for releasing it from said elements.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand, in the presence of two witnesses, at Chicago, Illinois, this 19th day of January, A. D. 1904.

EMIL TYDEN In presence of- FREDK. G. FIscHER, M. G. ADY.