AN IMPROVED DETONATING ALARM, TO BE USED FOR GIVING WARNING OF ANY ATTEMPT TO FORCE DOORS, WINDOWS, OR OTHER PLACES
Year: 1883

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Edmund Edwards at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents on the 28th December 1883. A communication
to him from abroad by Henry Gibout, of Paris in the Republic of France.
EDMUND EDWARDS, of the firm of Edwards and Co:-Patent Agents and
Engineers, of 35 Southampton Buildings, Chancery Lane, in the County of
Middlesex " AN IMPROVED DETONATING ALARM, TO BE USED FOR GIVING
WARNING OF ANY ATTEMPT TO FORCE DOORS, WINDOWS, OR OTHER PLACES."
[A communication to him from abroad by Henry Gibout of Paris in the Republic
of France]
"
This invention is applicable to all doors, windows, or other openings which it is
required to secure against being illicitly forced, and it may be fitted either above
or below the lock or staple of the door or window.
The apparatus is made entirely of metal, and consists of a plate of suitable size
and shape, which is fixed by two or more ordinary screws to the door frame or
window frame. To this plate is rivetted a support or hinge upon which is pivotted
the end of a hammer the other end of which is provided with a striker so arranged
that when the hammer is depressed it falls upon the detonating pin of a cartridge
placed beneath it.
The hammer is provided with a knob or handle by which it can be raised when
required, and a strong flat spring is arranged behind it one end of which is
attached to the plate and the other end presses upon the hammer and forces it
down. Or, instead of a flat spring a helical spring may be used, one end being
attached to the plate and the other to the hammer which it draws down. Or,
both the flat and the helical springs may be used together.
Under the striking end of the hammer, is rivetted to the plate a small cylindrical
cartridge holder, closed at one end and having at its upper side a slot of sufficient
size to allow the detonating pin of the cartridge to pass.
A hinged catch or tappet is arranged upon the staple or lock of the door or
window and held by a screw which passes through a slot in the base of the tappet
in such manner that the position of the latter can be adjusted as desired so as
either to hold up the hammer when the latter is raised or to be free from it.
To prepare the apparatus for use, the hammer is raised by its knob and the catch
is pressed forward until its end holds up the hammer when the latter is released,

page_text: and a cartridge is then placed in the holder with its detonating pin under the
hammer ready to explode the cartridge when the hammer falls at any attempt to
open the door.
The arrangement described may be more or less modified in its details. For
instance, instead of a hammer as described, a striking bar may be used operated
by a helical spring contained in a cylinder, the spring being compressed when
the bar is forced into the cylinder where it is retained by an adjustable catch
upon the staple or lock of the door as in the arrangement first described, and
the end of the striking bar being provided with a point which strikes and
explodes the detonating cartridge when the catch is released by any attempt to
open the door.