US95739A - Improvement in permutation-locks - Google Patents

Description

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Leiters Patent No. 95,739, dated ctober 12, 1869.

IMPROVEMENT 1N Pia:R15/:trauernolv-LocKs.

The Schedule referred to in these Letters Patentand making part of the s ame.

To all whom it may concern.:

vBe it known that I, DANIEL SNELL, of Little Falls, in the county of Herkimer, and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Safe or Vault-Locks; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the lconstruction and operation of the same, reference Jock.

`Similar letters of reference, where they occur in the separate figures, denote like parts in all of the drawings. y A

My invention relates, tirst, to a lock, in which the bolt and its side-plates' are of uniform, or nearly so,

size, so that the 4lock may be the door of the vault or part of the door, and hinged or .pivoted toit; and I l My invention further relates to a lock, in which the 'bolt is held or controlled by two or more independent locking-devices, both of which must be actuated before the bolt can be moved; .and ,p

My invention further relates to a lock, in which the knob or knobs serve asknobsand key both, and in connection'with which the tumblers act by permutation, and in whicliitumblersfthere are false depressions or openings for the bolt,"o`r a projectionl thereon, to take into and thus mislead the person attempting to pick the lock or complicate the attempt at finding the wards and tumblers by machinery, as is now done.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and useA` myinvention, I will proceed'to describe' the same, with reference to the drawings. l

A represents thelpck as partially swung out ofthe frame B, by which arrangement the lock serves as a door; but the lock may be set in a door, which door and lock 'could swing together in the ordinary way.

The lock is composed of three plates, a b o, of uniform, or nearly so, size. The outside plates a c are rinly-united together, and the central plate b, which is thelock-bolt, moves between the side-plates orcheeks powder, or other explosive material, cannot be worked moved, and -the bolt.

in between them, and they are so thick and solid that they cannot be damaged or disarranged. y

T hese three plates a b c, two rigid and one movable, maybe said to constitute the lock, the other features ot' it being the appliances by which the movable plate b is looked to the side-plates, or moved between them.

G I) are knobs, secured to the side-plates a c, so that they cannot be drawn ont, or driven in, and they may be thick enough and hard enough to prevent their being sawed ofi', except withgreat labor and much time.

On these knobs, there is a ring, d, having letters, figures, or characters thereon; and this ring, by means of a tooth or cog, e, on its interior perimeter, and the series of notchesfon the knob, maybe changed and set at pleasure.

The knobs, or, rather, their shanks g, pass through hubbed. rings or disks, or what may be termed tinnblers, Ji h, ofwhich there may be one,two, three, four, or more.

In the drawings, I have shown'bpt two hubs, i i,

Veach of which has its flange or diskjj, while, in connection with the knob D, there is a ring, k, interposed between the anges, in which ring there is a pin, m, that may beset into any onel of the series of holes, I, in the under flange, so as to change the letters, or characters, or combinations, when desired todo so.

On the flanges that are visible, letters, characters, or marks are made, by the proper arrangement of which the tumblers are s'et, to allow the lbolt to be 4disarrangement of which llocks the lhiscombination of letters simply for designating an arrangement of tumblers, or a disarrangement ot' them, has been used in various ways, and is well understood, and need not be' elaborated further than to explain the mechanical devices that they are placed on.

In the'shan'k of the knob I) are formed, first, a recess, n, into which, when'the knob or knobs are prop'- erly turned, the lock-bolt b may pass; second, a slot,

o, into which the sub-bolt p, on the regular bolt, may

move or enter; and, thirdlya series ot' false holes, q, nto which the sub-bolt p may move a short distance, but not far enough to allow the real bolt to be unlocked, while this small movement would defeat the finding of the true movement, by what is'known as the clock-work system of finding the interior arrangement of a lock.

The bolt proper, b, has openings, 1' r, Src., through it long enough to allow itf'to slide past the screws that pass through them, and hold th'e outside plates together. It has also grooves, s s s, in it, into which tongues, u, of which there are three, but one only seen in the section on one of the facer or cheek-plates, enter openings t t, through which the Shanks of the knobs pass, the. latter, t', being oblong, so that the bolt may slip past the shank of the knob D, which its shank not only turn,but slide with the bolt b,

turns, but does not slide, while the other knob G and' though they can only slide when they are in the precise proper position to do so, and which position the combination of letters only can designate, and that the exact combination.

The shank of the knob C has a recess, v, in it, which will just receive the central one of the tongues -u on the cheek-plate, when exactly opposite to it, and the tumblers and their openings are matched and set, which only the proper arrangement of the letters will accomplish; then the bolt and the knob C can be moved, but not otherwise. But before that knob and the bolt can be moved, the other knob D and its tum blers must be properly set, to allow its sub-bolt p to enter the recess or slot o, when the bolt can be moved;

and a second, third, or more checks or locks like that, D, may be used, all of which must be exactly set before the bolt could be used or moved.

There is no spring to give, or yield, when feeling for the tumblers, or` to indicate when they are free or have friction upon them.

The only indications of yielding, or feeling;1 in my lock, arev false ones, and misleadinstead of showing any-definite arrangement within.

The hubs of the'tumblers 'i are furnished with openings w, which, though they admit thesnb-bolt p, a short distance, do not allow it to pass through, the hole in one partially closing that in the other, and the bolt can only move when the opening :vin the tum blers comes fairly and squarely in line with the subbolt p. l

lhe Shanks have shouldered recesses, which fit into similar recesses in the back-plate c, and then, when properly fastening by nuts which cannot be turned from the exterior, the knobs `can neither be driven ihrouglrnor drawn ont, or the lock easily damaged or disarranged.

Having thus fully described my invention,

XVhat I claim therein as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. The combination ofthe plates a b c, of which a c are the lock-plates, and b is the bolt, for constituting a lock, which may serve as a door also, when said bolt is arranged to occupy the entire space between the outer plates, to resist the introduction of powder, substantially as described. l

2. Also, in combination with the siderplates and the bolt occupying the entire space between said plates, the openings rs t t in said bolt, as herein explained, the two knobs and their shanks and tuinblers, eachforming a locking and unlocking-mechanism, in connection with the sliding bolt, one of said knobs turning and sliding, the other turning only, as and for the purpose substantially as described.

3. Also, iucombiuation with the plates, bolt, and knobs, or their shauks, constructed and arranged as herein described, the tumblers h, composed of the hubs i'and iianges j, and their openings, x, w, and Z, real and false, substantially as and for the purpose described. p

4. Also, in combination, the cheek-plates we and the bolt b, capable of fitting and filling .the space, and sliding between them, the knobs and Shanks acting both as knobs and keys, tulnblcrs, in which there are real and false openings, a: w l, and set by permutation, the whole being arranged as and for constituting a vault or safe-lock without springs, or a removable key, substantially as described.

DANIEL SNELL.

Witnesses:

A. B. S'ronen'rox, EDMUND MASSON.

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