Improvements in Nut Locks, also Applicable for securing Wheels, Pulleys, and the like to their Shafts.
Year: 1898

page_text: Date of Application, 22nd Feb., 1898-Accepted, 20th May, 1898
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Nut Locks, also Applicable for securing Wheels,
Pulleys, and the like to their Shafts.
I, WORTH ERNEST CAYLOR, of 604 Schiller Building, Chicago, Cook County,
Illinois, United States of America, Lawyer, do hereby declare the nature of my in-
vention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described
and ascertained in and by the following statement:―
The object of my invention is to make a lock to prevent the nuts on bolts used
in different kinds of machinery from becoming loosened or coming off in use, as
will occur unless some special means be employed to prevent, and which is also
applicable to prevent a wheel, pulley, cone of a ball bearing, or other member
arranged on a shaft from turning; and my invention consists in the features and
details of construction hereinafter described and claimed.
In the drawings, Figure 1 is a side elevation of a bolt and nut provided with my
improved lock; Fig. 2 a side elevation of the same with the nut portion shown
in section, taken on line 2 of Fig. 1 looking in the direction of the arrow; Fig. 3
an end elevation of the bolt and nut; Fig. 4 a transverse section, taken on line 4
of Fig. 2 looking in the direction of the arrow; Fig. 5 a perspective view of the
locking key spring; and Fig. 6 an end elevation, showing the application of my
invention to wheels, pulleys, or similar devices mounted on the shaft.
For convenience I have described my invention in its application to bolts and
nuts, to lock the nut on a bolt; though, as above intimated, I do not intend to limit
myself simply to this use or application of the invention.
In making my improved nut lock, I take a bolt A, which may be made of the
ordinary construction and provided with screw threads at one end to receive a
nut in the usual way. I provide a bolt at its threaded end with one or more slots a,
as it is obvious that any desired number may be employed. I have shown the
slot in the form of a longitudinal groove extending part of the way into the bolt,
although, if desired, it may be extended entirely across the bolt and be of a
desired depth. I make a nut B, which may be of the ordinary construction and
provided with screw threads to adapt it to be screwed on to the threaded portion of
the bolt in the usual way. I provide this nut with a number of radial grooves b,
which may be cut to a desired depth into the face of the nut, and any desired
number of them may be employed. If desired, the nut may be made of greater
thickness to compensate for any weakness that may be caused by providing it
with these radial grooves; but, of course, this is a matter of construction to which I
do not attach any importance so far as my invention is concerned. I provide the
face of the nut also with a circular groove b¹. When I speak of this groove being
circular, I do not mean to require it to be a true circle, as the benefit and utility
of this groove does not depend upon its being circular. This groove may be ex-
tended entirely around the face of the nut, as shown in the drawings, or it may
be simply made as the arc of a circle, or, if preferred, several grooves each sub-
stantially in the arc of a circle-may be made in the face of the nut, or if preferred,
several substantially straight grooves may be employed. In all cases, however,

page_text: the groove b¹ must intersect or cross the radial grooves in the face of the nut.
I prefer, however, as a matter of convenience in, construction, to make the groove bl
as a circumferential groove extending entirely around, as shown in the drawings.
I also prefer to have this circumferential groove inclined outwardly as it extends
inwardly into the face of the nut, as shown in Fig. 2, as in this form it will, I
think, better subserve the purpose for which it is intended; but as to this, the
groove may be made in the face of the nut as convenience or preference on the
part of the constructor may make desirable. I make a locking key C of a piece
of metal preferably sheet steel-adapted to be received in the longitudinal slot
in the bolt and one of the radial grooves in the nut. To permit its reception into
this groove, the nut must of course be turned to a position where the slot in the
Bolt and one of the grooves 'in' the nut will register, as shown in the drawings: The
key is then placed in position; so that its inner end rests in the slot in the bolt,
and its outer end in the radial groove in the nut in which it may be arranged,
so that the nut cannot 'be turned on the bolt while it is in place. I prefer also to
provide the key with an extending leg or portion. c, which is intended to fit down
into the slot in the bolt beyond the groove in the nut. The object of this extending
leg or portion is to more securely retain the key in place and to adapt the lock to
those cases where the nut is only screwed partially on the bolt, as there may be
occasions where, owing to the shortness of the bolt, a nut cannot be screwed entirely
on. In such cases the depth of the radial groove in the nut might be insufficient
to cause it to register with the slot in the bolt; and by providing the extending
leg or portion running in, the lock is made practical and operative for such cases.
This extending portion running down into the slot in the bolt, will, as already
intimated, tend to prevent the removal of the key in a direct movement along
the radial groove in the nut and require it to be lifted out' before it can be removed.
I provide the key with a spring 1, shown particularly in Fig. 5, which may be
extended out on both sides of the key as shown, or only on one side as preferred,
or as the exigencies of use may render advisable. "This spring is preferably made
of spring wire either round or flat as desired-but possessed of sufficient resiliency
to enable it to perform the office intended for it. When the nut has been secured
on to the bolt and turned into the desired position, so that 'one of its radial grooves
registers with the slot in the threaded portion of the bolt, the key is slipped into
place and the spring sprung into the groove b', crossing the radial groove in which
the key is arranged, where it will rest and, bear against the outer side of the
groove b¹. I have shown the spring as when extended a part of the way around in
the circular groove in the face of the nut, though it is obvious that it may be made
and used long enough to extend entirely around when sprung into place in the
circular groove. If the circular groove be made inclined, as shown in Fig. 2,
the more difficult will the removal of the spring from the circular groove be
rendered. Of course it will be understood that in all cases whether the groove bl
be made circular, or partially circular, or simply crossing the radial groove in the
face of the nut, the spring is intended to be sprung in so as to bear against the
outer side of the. groove to prevent it from being jarred or shaken out in use,
and so that, it will be retained in place by its resiliency and the friction between
it and the outer edge of the groove b¹. At the same time, the nut may be unlocked
by simply springing the spring D out of the groove in the face of the nut and
removing the key, without in any way destroying or injuring any of the parts.
In Fig. 6 I have shown another use to which my invention is applicable. In
this case I have shown a member, as a pulley on a shaft, which it is desired to
prevent from turning. Where my invention is used to prevent the wheel,
pulley, cone of a ball bearing, or other member mounted on a shaft from turning,
the wheel, pulley, cone, or other member, need only be provided with one radial
groove, as it may be adjusted in position to make such groove register
with the longitudinal slot in the shaft. The key is inserted precisely as
in the case of the bolt and nut, and the spring holds the key in position and

page_text: locks the shaft and the member mounted on it just as it does in the case of a bolt
and nut.
I have explained the applicability of my invention to a shaft and member
mounted on it as a wheel, pulley, cone of a ball bearing, or other member-simply
to show that my invention is not confined solely to bolts and nuts, and so that no
inference can be drawn against me in favor of a narrow or restricted construction
of my invention or the claims in which I specify it. I may also say that in using
the terms "shaft" and "bolt"in the specification and claims, I do so in very broad
signification and as the equivalents of each other, as I regard a bolt on which a
nut is placed as, in a broad sense, nothing more than a shaft.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is:
1
1. The combination of a shaft having a longitudinal slot in its side, a member
mounted on the shaft having a radial groove and a groove crossing the radial
groove on its face, a key adapted to be received in the longitudinal slot in the
shaft and the radial groove in the face of the member mounted thereon, and a
spring extending out from the key and adapted to be sprung into the groove
crossing the radial groove in the face of the member, substantially as described.
2. The combination of a bolt having a longitudinal slot in its threaded end, a
nut having a radial groove and a groove crossing the radial groove in its outer
face, a key adapted to be received in the slot in the bolt and the radial groove in
the nut, and a spring extending out from the key and adapted to be sprung into
the groove crossing the radial groove in the face of the nut, substantially as
described.
3. The combination of a bolt having a longitudinal slot in its threaded end,
a nut having a radial groove and a groove crossing the radial groove in its outer
face, a key adapted to be received in the slot in the bolt and the radial groove in
the nut and having an extending portion received into the slot in the bolt to a
greater depth than the radial groove in the nut, and a spring extending out from
the key and adapted to be sprung into the groove crossing the radial groove in the
face of the nut, substantially as described.
די
1000
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
45, Southampton Buildings, London, W.C., Agents for the Applicant.