US833094A

US833094A - Time-lock.

Info

Publication number: US833094A
Authority: US
Inventors: Herbert C Stockwell
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1905-08-07
Filing date: 1905-08-07
Publication date: 1906-10-09
Anticipated expiration: 1923-10-09

Description

No. 833.094. PATBNTED 00T. 9, 1906. H. o. vSTOG'KWBLLI TIME LOOK.

Arrmonlon nun AUG. 1. 1905.

Tur' @infuus rrrxns cai, vusumaron, o. c,

the line a02 x2, Fig. 1.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

TIME-LOCK- speeincation of Letters Patent.

Patented Oct. 9, 1906.

Application filed August 7, 1 905 Serial No. 2 72,9 7 7.

.T0 ctZ iii/1,0m t lmay concern.-

Be it known that I, HERBERT C. STOCK- WELL, a citizen ofthe United States, residing at Los Angeles, in the county of Los Angeles and State of California, have invented a new and useful Time-Lock, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to time-locks; and one obj ect of the invention is to provide a timelock which is self-contained-that is,built to its own frame and having all of its parts assembled, fitted together, and articulated in one frame or case, thereby forming a unit independent of the safe-door. The time-lock may thus be readily removed for cleaning or repairs without requiring the services of an expert.

Another object is to provide a time-lock which is capable of-being set so that after being wound up it will remain unlocked for any period of time desired and which at the end of the desired period'will automatically lock the bolts for the time desired and will automatically unlock the bolts at the expiration of the time set, thus permittin access to the safe during a period of time a ter the time-lock has been wound up and before it looks the bolts.

Another object is to provide a novel and eifective means whereby the'bolts will be unlocked at the time set if the movement has been overwound.

Another object is to provide means for preventing displacement of the retainingbolts of the time-lock and to maintain the retainin -bolts in position in the frame of the time-loc (when it is removed from the door of the safe, a further object being to prevent accidental loosening of the retaining-bolts when screwed into the door of the safe.

Further objects of the invention relate to details of construction, which will be brought out in the following description.

The accompanying drawings illustrate the invention, and, referring thereto, Figure 1 is a front elevation of the time-lock, showing a portion of the locking-dog, a portion of the case of the time-lock being broken away adjacent the locking-dog. The door of the timelook is shown open.

Fig. 3 is a section on the line Q03 :123, Fig., 1. Fig. 4 is a detail in front elevation of the device for automatically stopping the movement if it runs faster than its normal speed. Fig. 5 is a front elevation Fig. 2 is a section on of the time-lock, showing it in position on the safe-door, the wall of the safe being sectional and the locking-bolts being shown in locked position. Fig. 6 is a section taken diametrically through the adjustable device for controlling the locking-bar. Fig. 7 is a perspective view of the latch-bar.

Referring to Fig. 5, 1 designates the wall'of the safe. 2 is the door of the safe. 3 designates locking-bolts. 4 is the bolt-carrier with a locking-dog 5. 6 designates the case of the time-lock, which is provided at each corner with a lug 7. Each lug 7 (see Fig. 2) is bored centrally and counterbored to form an inside annular flange 8, situated about midway of the ends of the lug. The case 6 contains or carries all of the parts of the timelock and is detachably fastened to the safedoor 2 by means of retaining studs or bolts 9, which pass through the respective lugs 7 and are screwed to the safe-door. Each stud 9 has a flange 10, which abuts against the safedoor and serves to position the stud. Each stud has a removable slotted head 11, which is screwed to the shank ofthe stud and prevented from accidentally unscrewing by means of a small locking-screw 12. (See Fig. 1.)

Within each lug encircling the stud and on opposite sides of the flange 8 are coil-

springs

13 and 14, the spring 13 being interposed between the head 11 and the flange 8 and the spring 14 being interposed between the flange 8 of the lug and the liange 10 of the stud. Thus the two springs in each lug by their pressure prevent the studs from accidentally unscrewing from the safe-door and also rmly hold the time-lock in place on the studs. The slotted heads 11 are made removable for the purpose of assembling the studs and springs in the lugs. Another function of this construction of studs and springs is to support the time-lock resiliently with respect to the safe-door, so that if the safe sustains 'a hard jar-as, for instance, from an explosive-the time-lock is cushioned from the shock by the springs 13and 14 and is thus very much less liable toinjury from such a cause than if it were attached rigidly to the safe-door. A most important advantage of this construction is that when the time-lock is detached from the safe-door the studs are held in the lugs and cannot become lost or misplaced.

The casing 6 of the time-lock has a slot 15 yto receive the locking-dog, and the back of IOO IIO

the casing 6 in the rear of the slot15 is cut away, as at 16, leaving a beveled edge 17, as shown in Fig. 3, which allows the time-lock to be removed from the door of the safe without disconnecting the locking-dog 5. When the bolts 3 are shifted into their locking position, so that the end of the locking-dog 5 is retracted and its end only projects slightly into the slot 15, as shown in Fig. 3, the timelock may readily be detached and withdrawn from the safe-door without interfering with the locking-dog,as the recess 1 6 allows the casing 6 to freely clear the locking-dog as it is drawn out, Sufficient clearance is allowed between the front wall of the slot 15 and the edge of the locking-dog 5 to permit the play or vibration of the time-lock along the studs toward and from the safe-door without interfering with the locking-dog. The timelock is not moved out of register with the locking-dog if it sustains the vibration along the studs, as the slot 15 is sufficiently wide, and as the internal flanges 8 bear upon the studs the casing is prevented from moving laterally of the studs to bring the slot 15 out of vertical register with the locking-dog.

vA latch-bar 18 has its ends mounted to slide in brackets 19 and 2O and on its back side is provided with three lugs 21, 22, and 23. mounted in the bracket 19 has a shoulder 24, and the adjacent end of the latch-bar is slightly narrower than the ways in the bracket 19 to permit of a slight vertical play of that end of the latch-bar in .the bracket sufficient to allow the shoulder 24 to engage the edge of the bracket19 when the latch-bar is slightly tilted, which edge forms a stationary abutment. When the latch-bar is tilted down,its shoulder 24 isfree of the stationary abutment formed by the edge of the bracket 19, and the latch-bar may be slid to the left. When the latch-bar is tilted up so that its should er 24 engages the stationary abutment,

" the latch-bar is prevented from sliding to the The latch-bar has a thumb-piece or' left. knob 25, by means of which it may be tilted.

A plate 26 is arranged in the lower part of the casing 6, and screwed thereto isa stud 27, to whichis pivoted a bell-cranklever 28, having 'arms 29and 30, the end of the arm 29 lying against 'thev lug 21, the arm 30 having a perforation 31, into which projects a pin 32, carried by an intermediate lever 33, which is situated back of the plate 26 and pivoted to a shaft 34, the plate 26 having a slot 35, through which the pin 32 projects and which is curved concentrically with the shaft 34 to allow the pin to play freely up or down when it is actuated by the lever 28, the pin fitting loosely enough in the perforation 31 to give the necessary freed om of movement.

The end of the intermediate lever 33 rests upon a locking-lever 36, pivoted to a shaft 37. A flat spring 38 on the intermediate le- The end of the latch-bar which isver, which bears against the frame, yieldingly holds the intermediate lever 33 depressed, and the latter in turn holds the locking-lever 36 tilted so that its end lies close to and directly behind the slot 15, as shown in Figs, 1 and 3, thus standing in front of the end of the locking-dog 5 and preventing the latter from being slid to the left, which is the direction of movement of the locking-dog when the bolts are operated to unlock the safe-door. Thus when the locking-lever stands in front of the locking-dog the safe-door cannot be unlocked.

In order to unlock the safedoor, the locking-lever 36 must thus be depressed so that its end will stand below the slot 15 and the locking-dog 5 to allow the latter to be operated, and this action is accomplished by shifting the latch-bar to the right, the lug 21 of which acting against the bell-crank 28 tilts the latter, which raises thek pin 32 and lifts.l the intermediate lever 33, allowing the outer end of the locking-lever to swing down by gravity, thereby allowing the locking-dog to be operated.

The latch-bar is shifted automatically by either one or all of the three devices carried by dials a, b, and c, which dials are respectively operated by the three movements A, B, and C. In the present form of the invention the dials are respectively provided with pins a', b/ and c. The dials are operated counterclockwise by the respective movements, land thus each dial when operated by its movement will in a certain time bring its pin against the respective lug of the latch-bar, and thereby shift the latch-bar to the right.

The time required for a movement to bring its dial-pin against its lug to shift the latchbar obviously depends upon the degree the dial has been turned when winding up the movement, and thus the movements may be wound to lock the locking-dog for any desired length of time within the capacity of the movement. The movements are set when winding them with the key-that is, by turning the key the spring of the movement is wound and at the same time the dial of the movement is turned a corresponding degree. Thus to set a movement the key is turned to rotate the dial to the point at which the proper time-numeral of the dial stands under the pointer 44, and during this movement of the dial the spring is wound to a tension suficient to run the movement for the number of hours corresponding to the setting of the dial. Thus the terms winding and setting are in a sense synonymous, since when the movement is said to have been set it is necessarily wounc and vice versa.

In setting the time-lock all three movements are wound up the desired degree, so that if anything should happen to prevent the proper operation of one or two of the movements in running down the third-one will be sufficient to shift the latch-bar.` If all these movements run down perfectly, they will obviously all act together to shift the latch-bar, but the operation of any one only of the movements is sufficient.

Referring to Fig. 1, the small left end of the latch-bar 18 is held in elevated position in the bracket 19 when the time-lock is set, by the friction of its shoulder 24 bearing against the edge of the bracket 19, which friction is considerable, being caused by the pressure of arm 29 against lug 21, the arm 29 being pressed to the left by downward pressure of pin 32 acting on arm 30, pin 32 being carried by intermediate lever 33, which is downwardly pressed by the fiat spring 38.

Adjustably fastened on the dial d by means of a screw 40 is a latch-trip 41, having a nose 42, which is adapted to be carried around as the dial rotates to strike against the upper surface of the lug 21 and depress the latchbar, so that its shoulder 24 is moved down slightly, and thereby disengaged from the bracket 19, whereupon the spring 38 will force down the intermediate lever 33 and cause the bell-crank lever 28 to act against the lug 21 and shift the latch-bar to the left. At the same time the locking-lever 36 is tilted upwardly by the intermediate lever 33 and stands in front of the locking-dog 5, so that the bolts are locked. The'latch-trip 41 has a hand 43 diametrically opposite the nose 42, while the movement A has a fixed pointer 44, affording a gage for setting the latch-trip at the point desired.

This device allows of winding up the movements and shutting the safe-door with the bolts unlocked, the device acting to lock the bolts automatically after the desired interval. For example, by setting the latchtrip to lock the bolts within a half-hour after the door has been closed opportunity is afforded to open the safe before the time-lock goes on, this being a great convenience. Again, a bank may close in the afternoon, but open for a short time in the evening to receive deposits. In such case the movements may be wound up at the close of the afternoons business, and before shutting the safe-door the latch-trip should be set to lock the bolts at the time the evening business is concluded. Thus the safe-door may be locked by the combination-lock at the expiration of the afternoon business and unlocked at the commencement of the evening business and again locked at the expiration of the evening business, the time-lock automatically locking the bolts at the time limit set. The movements continue operating from the time they are jwound up, but the bolts are not locked until .the desired interval has passed.

Attached to the dial b is an adjustable latch-bar shifter 45, constructed very much like the latch-trip 41 and shown in section in Fig. 6, being adjust-ably secured to the dial l) by screw 46, and has a nose 47, which is adapted to strike against the lug 22 and shift the latch-bar, there being a hook 48, which is adapted to strike against the pin b to prevent the hook 48 being adjusted to a point behind the pin b lf the movements should be overwound, so

that they will require a longer time than desired in running down before operating the latch-bar, the mistake can be rectified by adjusting the hand of the latch-bar shifter to the proper numeral on the dial b, which will set the nose 47 ahead of the pin b a degree corresponding to the amount the movement has been overwound. Thus the movement in running down will bring nose 47 against the lug 22 and shift the latch-bar at the right time. For example, on all week days except Saturdayfa bank each night might set the time-lock to release the locking-dog after a period of, say, fifteen hours, while on Saturday or the day before a holiday the timelock would be set for a period of twenty-four hours longer which, would be thirty-nine hours. This setting of course is always indicated by the dials. In other words, after the time-lock has been set the official before he closes the safe-door can tell by a glance at thedials for what time it has been set tol open. Assume that the official, being under the impression that the next day was a holiday, set the time-lock to open after thirtynine hours. He did not immediately close the safe-door and soon after learned that the next day was not a holiday. He therefore upon discovering this mistake can rectify it in the manner above described, so that the safe can be opened after the fifteen-hour period at the proper hour the next day. Obviously he must discover and rectify the mistake before he closes the safe-door, for after the safe-door is shut he cannot change the setting of the time-lock.

ln order to automatically prevent the movements from running down too fast, each movement is provided with a disk A49, mounted on a fast-running arbor 50, geared in the train of the movement. A detent 5l is pivoted at 52 to the disk 49 and is normally held against a stop 53 by a spring 54. When the movement is running at normal speed, the detent is held by the spring against the stop; but if the movement should run faster than its normal speed the detent will fly out and strike against a stationary stoppin 55, which will stop the movement from running down. Thus, for example, if dynamite is used to blow open the safe and if the jewels of any of the movement should be broken from the concussion and an arbor thus shifted so that its gear is thrown out of mesh the movement will be stopped almost immediately by the detent 51 flying out from the centrifugal force due to the abnormally fast speed of the movement, and thus the timellock will not unlock the locking-dog prematurely.

What I claim is- 1. In a time-lock,a casing with lugs, studs passing through the lugs and secured to the safe-door, the diameter of a stud being less than the bore of the lug, the lug having an internal flange which fits the stud, the stud having a flange which abuts against the door, a removable head on the stud, means for locking the head on the stud, a coil-spring between the internal flange and the head, and a coil-spring between the internal flange and the flange of the stud.

2. In a time-lock, a casing with lugs, studs passing through the lugs and secured to the safe-door, the diameter of a stud being less than the bore of the lug, the lug having an internal flange which fits the stud, the stud having a flange which abuts against the door, a removable head on the stud, means for locking the head on the stud, a coil-spring between the internal flange and the head, and a coil-spring between the internal fiange and the flange of the stud, the length between the head of a stud and its flange being somewhat greater than the length of the lug.

3. In a time-lock, a movable latch-bar for controlling the opening of the safe-door, one end of which bar has a shoulder and has a limited vertical play, a stationary abutment adapted to be engaged by the shoulder to detachably hold the latch-bar from shifting, timing mechanism and means operated by the timing mechanism for disengaging the shoulder of the latch-bar from the abutment.

4. In a time-lock, a movable bar for controlling the opening of the safe-door, one end of which bar has a shoulder and has a limited vertical play, a stationary abutment adapted to be engaged by the shoulder to detachably hold the latch-bar from shifting, timing mechanism and means operated by the timing mechanism for disengaging the shoulder of the latch-bar from the abutment, means for automatically shifting the latch-bar in one direction when thus disengaged, and means operated by the timing mechanism for shifting the latch-bar in the opposite direction.

5. In a time-lock, a movable latch-bar, for controlling the opening of the safe-door, one end of which bar has a shoulder and has a limited vertical play, a stationary abutment adapted to be engaged by the shoulder to detachably hold the latch-bar from shifting, timing mechanism and adjustable means operated by the timing mechanism for disengaging the shoulder of the latch-bar from the abutment.

6. In a time-lock, a movable latch-bar for controlling the opening of the safe-door, one end of which bar has a shoulder and has a limited vertical play, the latch-bar having a lug,l a stationary abutment adapted to be engaged by the shoulder to detachably hold the latch-bar from shifting, timing mechanism, a disk operated by the timing mechanism, a latch-trip carried by the disk and having a nose adapted to bear against the top of said lug and depress the latch-bar to disengage its shoulder from the abutment.

7. In a time-lock, a movable latch-bar for controlling the opening of the safe-door, said bar having a lug, timing mechanism, a disk operated by the timing mechanism, a pin carried by the disk adapted to strike against the lug to shift the latch-bar, and an adjustable latch-bar shifter carried with the disk and having a nose adapted to strike against the lug and shift the latch-bar.

8. In a time-lock, a movable latch-bar for controlling the opening of the safe-door, ,said bar having a lug, timing mechanism, a disk operated by the timing mechanism, a pin carried by the disk adapted to strike against the lug to shift the latch-bar, and an adjustable latch-bar shifter carried with the disk and having a nose adapted to strike against the lug and shift the latch-bar and a hook on the latch-bar shifter adapted to strike against the pin on the disk to prevent the latch-bar shifter being set behind the pin.

9. In a time-lock, means for detachably fastening the same -to the safe-door comprising bolts revolubly mounted in the lock and adapted to be screwed to the safe-door, means lpreventing separation of the bolts from the time-lock, and means on the outer ends of the bolts for permitting turning of the bolts relatively to the time-lock to unscrew them from'the safe-door and allow the time-lock to be removed bodily and the bolts IOC)