US788718A - Nut-lock. - Google Patents

Description

PATENTED MAY 2, 1905.

E. S. HAWKINS.

NUT LOCK.

APPLICATION FILED AUG.11.1904.

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wi tmeoow iTED STATES Patented May 2, 1905.

EDWARD SIDNEY HAWVKINS, OF FRANKFORT, INDIANA.

NUT-LOCK.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 788,718, dated May 2, 1905.

Application filed August 11, 1904. Serial No. 220,328.

To (all whom it 'l'mty concern:

Be it known that I, EDWARD SIDNEY HAW- KINs, residing at Frankfort, in the county of Clinton and State of Indiana, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Nut- Locks, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description,such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to nut-locks, more specifically to that class wherein a piece of metal or other suitable substance is placed like a washer between a nut and a surface adjacent thereto against which the nut is ordinarily adapted to press. I

One of the objects of this invention is to provide a more simple and efiicient means for holding nuts in a fixed yet movable position such that under the conditions attendant upon daily wear and tear they will not loosen, but will remain relatively fixed and yet will readily yield to manual pressure, as when applied by means of a wrench.

Another object is to provide a resilient means for controlling the nut when in position adapted to prevent crystallization of metals caused by metal jarring against metal or in the case of other materials to prevent breaking thereof by shocks or vibration.

Other objects will be in part obvious and in part pointed out hereinafter.

The invention accordingly consists in the features of construction, combinations of elements, and arrangement of parts, which will be exemplified in the devices hereinafter described and the scope of the application of which will be indicated in the following claims.

In the accompanying drawings, wherein are shown several of various possible embodiments of my invention, Figure 1 is a plan view of one of the above embodiments with a nut screwed on in position. Fig. 2 is a perspective of the same without the nut. Fig. 3 is a cross-section of a portion thereof, taken substantially on line w of Fig. 1. Fig. tis a perspective of an embodiment of a different configuration and provided with a different type of securing means. Fig. 5 is a crosssection of a portion thereof, taken substantially on the line 1 51 of Fig. 4.

Similar reference characters refer to similar parts throughout the several views.

One of the most serious obstacles heretofore met with has been the short life of nut-locks, with a consequent increase in cost of maintenance where they are used. This is overcome in my invention by means of the employment of a washer of such character that it will not materially resist the movement of the nut when screwed on nor prevent the reverse movement in unscrewing and yet in the absence of manual pressure will hold it firmly.

Referring now to Fig. 3, 1 represents a nut of the usual form, preferably square, as shown; 2, a member having a smooth surface; 3, a bolt upon which the nut 1 is mounted, and a a nut-lock interposed between member 1 and member 2, embodying some of the more im portant features of my invention.

Fig. 1 is a plan in which the position of the nut l with reference to the nut-lock at is clearly shown. 5 5 are spurs adapted to hold the washer in a fixed position with reference to the surface of member 2, as appears in Fig. 3. 6 6 are lips separated by a notch 7, within which corners of the nut 1 are adapted to rest.

Fig. 2 is illustrative of the curvature of my invention in the embodiment preferred, showing the perforation 8, through which a bolt is adapted to pass.

The washer preferably consists of a rectangular piece of curved sheet metal, as steel or any other resilient material, having a central aperture for a bolt to pass through. It may be here noted that the washer may have any convenient con figuration, although that shown and preferred has been found especially adapted to accomplish the objects of my invention. On opposite sides of the aperture 8 lips 6 6, separated by a notch 7, are curved upward, whereas the spurs 5 5 are curved downward.

The manner of using the above-described embodiment of my invention is as follows: When a nut is screw-threaded upon a bolt passing through the aperture 8, the washer 4 is pressed down to a greater or less degree, thus tending to cause the spurs 5 5 to engage the surface upon which it is imposed. As

the nut is threaded downward, the lips 6 6,

lying on either side of the notch 7, are likewise pressed downward, but, being resilient, spring back into normal position when the corners of the nut have passed by or are in position in the notch. It will be observed that the mode of operation embodies the pawland-ratchet idea. It follows that there may be a plurality of lips of any desired number and that instead of the corners of the nut above noted there may be a projection or projections, the essential requirement being that the notch or notches between the lips shall hold the nut by means of projections thereof resting therein. Inasmuch as the nut is held under tension there can be no rattling of parts held together and the nut cannot unloosen itself.

Fig. 4 is similar to Fig. 2, except that the washer is not curved, but flat, and has spurs 9 9, (more clearly shown in Fig. 5,) preferably formed by slits 10 10 in the periphery of the perforation 8, formed by bending downward the portion between said slits.

When the embodiment of my invention as shown in Fig. 4 is used upon any substance, as wood, which is adapted to receive impressions, the spurs 9 9, as shown in Fig. 5, penetrate the surface, and thus hold the washer fixedly.

It will thus be seen that I have provided a means for locking nuts which embodies all the advantages hereinbefore noted. It will also be apparent from the construction set forth that a great advantagelies in the cheapness of my device.

Vith reference to the terms notch, lips, and spurs it should be noted that no precise forms are essential other than such as are required to attain the objects and advantages of my invention.

As many changes could be made in the above construction and many apparently widely different embodiments of my invention could be made without departing from the scope thereof, I intend that all matter contained in the above description and shown in the accompanying drawings shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense. 1 desire it also to be understood that the language used in the following claims is intended to cover all of the generic and specific features of the invention herein described and all statements of the scope of the invention which as a matter of language might be said to fall therebetween.

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

1. A nut-lock comprising a resilient, perforated washer having a series of parallel slits in opposite sides thereof extending from the outer edge toward the perforation, the material of which the washer is formed being bent upwardly intermediate said slits in order to form a detent-notch and being bent downwardly outside said slits.

2. A nut-lock comprising a resilient, rectangular, perforated washer having three parallel slits at each end thereof extending from an edge toward the perforation, the material of which the washer is formed being bent upwardly intermediate said slits so as to form two upwardly-extending lips having a slit between them on a line substantially central of the washer.

3. A nut-lock comprising a resilient, rectangular, perforated washer having three parallel slits at each end thereof extending from an edge toward the perforation, the material of which the washer is formed being bent upwardly intermediate said slits so as to form two upwardlyextending lips having aslit between them on a line substantially central of the washer, the material outside said slits being bent downwardly to form downwardlyextending spring-spurs at the corners.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

EDWARD SIDNEY HAVKINS.

Witnesses:

GEO. H. BOND, HARLAN P. Runs.

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