Patent GB-335924-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in or relating to safes
IPC: E05G1/00
Filed: 1929-05-03
Abstract: 335,924. Pritchard, F. May 3, 1929. Receiving and delivery devices for doors and the like.- A " night " safe for banks and the like comprises a receptacle behind a slot in the wall through which packages for deposit are passed, and the receptacle is mounted on a conveyer which is actuated by a shutter closing the slot and is adapted to convey the receptacle bodily to an aperture through which the package is discharged into the safe proper. A shutter 6, Fig. 3, with a handle 7 is secured to two wheels 8 fitted with segmental counterweights 14 and capable of rotating on spindles 10- mounted on ball bearings in the walls of the housing 1. These spindles are connected by sprocket wheels and chains to a shaft 23 carrying sprocket wheels 24 over which run two chains 26, each fitted with a tension adjusting device. A receptacle comprising hinged members 40 - - 42 fastened to and between the chains 26, normally lies in the position shown but, as the shutter is opened, the chains are actuated and the receptacle descends to the slot covered by the shutter and is caused to fold up by the member 41 running over a curved track 46 and levers such as 51 on the members 40, 42 running in tracks 53. The track in which the lever 51 runs bends more sharply at its upper end than the other track and, as the shutter 6 closes and the container rises to its upper position and opens out, the member 40 sweeps over the member 42 and sweeps any package in the receptacle through an aperture 3 into the safe proper. In the upward travel of the container, a spring constrained pawl on the member 42 engages in a rack 59 and prevents the receptacle being lowered again until the pawl is disengaged from the rack at the end of the upward travel. A rubber buffer 80 is provided at the top of the housing. An inner shutter 60 situated behind and actuated by the shutter 6 remains closed until the receptacle reaches the lower limit of its travel. This inner shutter is mounted on end discs 62, Fig. 5, freely rotatable on the spindles 10 and one of the discs is provided with a bell-crank lever 63, 64; the end of the arm 63 carrying a roller which is normally spring pressed against a stop 67 on a fixed plate. During rotation of the spindle 10, an arm 70 affixed to it strikes against the arm 64 of the bell crank, thus disengaging the arm 63 from the stop 67 and rotating the discs 62 and with them the inner shutter. A counterweight on the inner shutter causes the latter to close as soon as the outer shutter is closed. The outer shutter has a lock, preferably from which the key cannot be withdrawn while the shutter is open; it may be self-closing and may be provided with means to arrest the closing movement if an obstruction is met. An electric light 84, Fig. 3, such as a strip light, behind the plain or ornamental front 4 of the housing, may be placed so as to illuminate the shutter. The receptacle may be in the form of a comb, the teeth of which can pass between the teeth of a second comb near the aperture 3 so as to discharge any wallet, &c. from the receptacle. Operation of the outer shutter may cause an electromotor to operate the conveyer and the motor would continue working until the receptacle was again behind the shutter, or the electromotor may only assist the mechanical actuation of the conveyer. The receptacle may be in the form of a drum partly cut away, and the package be placed on a hinged flap in the drum ; external members coacting with a stop or the like in the vicinity of the aperture 3 to tilt the flap and discharge the contents of the drum.