AN IMPROVED LOCK, AND KEY TO BE USED THEREWITH, AND AN IMPROVED SLIDE BOLT FOR THE SAID LOCK, APPLICABLE ALSO TO OTHER PURPOSES
Year: 1842

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOSEPH
DUCE the younger, of Wolverhampton, in the County of Stafford, Lock
Manufacturer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at West-
minster, the Twenty-fourth day of May, in the fifth year of Her reign, did,
for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Joseph Duce the younger, Her especial license, that I, the said Joseph Duce
the younger, my exors, adññors, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Joseph Duce the younger, my exors, admors, or assigns, should at any time
agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times during the term
of years therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise,
and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, and
in all Her said Majesty's Colonies and Plantations abroad, my Invention of
"AN IMPROVED LOCK, AND KEY TO BE USED THEREWITH, AND AN IMPROVED SLIDE
BOLT FOR THE SAID LOCK, APPLICABLE ALSO TO OTHER PURPOSES;" in which said
Letters Patent is contained a proviso, obliging me, the said Joseph Duce the
younger, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, particularly
to describe and ascertain the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, and to cause the same to be enrolled in Her
said Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and
L

page_text: immediately after the date of the said in part recited Letters Patent, as in
and by the same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at large
appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Joseph Duce the younger, do hereby declare the nature of my said Invention
to consist (as regards the lock when furnished with a lock bolt) in a tumbler,
which (instead of moving up and down, as is usual,) moves sideways in a
direction backwards and forwards from front to back of the lock; and (as
regards the lock when furnished with a latch bolt) in a handle, with a spindle
acting on a lever and follower, hereafter explained, and which spindle can be
easily adjusted to the thickness of the door without any alteration in the actual
length of the spindle; and (as regards both lock and latch bolt locks) in
certain arrangements which adapt them to my said improved key to be used
therewith; as regards which said key, my said Invention consists in certain
inclined planes formed thereon, to give the sideway motion aforesaid to the
said tumbler, or to the tail of the said latch bolt, as may be required; and as
regards the said slide bolt, my Invention consists in causing the necessary
motion to be given to it by means of an inclined plane. And in further com-
pliance with the said proviso, I, the said Joseph Duce the younger, do hereby
describe the manner in which my said Invention is to be performed by the
following statement thereof, reference being had to the Drawing annexed, and
to the figures and letters marked thereon, that is to say :-
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING.
Figure 1 represents the outside view of one of my said improved locks,
furnished only with a lock bolt; Figure 2 is a view of the other side of the
same lock. A is the lock bolt; B is a projection on the tail end of the bolt.
better shewn at Figure 3 (which is a separate view of the bolt detached from
the lock); this projection has a groove C cut in its under side; D is a tumbler,
having a projection or elevation at E, which catches against the projection B,
and prevents the bolt from shooting until the projection E is brought in line
with the groove C, when the bolt will shoot either way; the tumbler D is
merely a long piece of thin metal, held fast at one end by the fixed pin F, and
the cross pin r, and thus forming, in fact, a spring, lying flat and close up
against the tail of the bolt until disturbed purposely from that position by the
key, in order to shoot the bolt, as will be hereafter described. Figure 4 is an
edge view of Figure 2; and Figure 5 shows the bolt (which is shewn in a
quiescent state in Figure 2) in the act of being shot by the key, the projec-

page_text: tion B on the latch being in the act of passing over the projection E on the
tumbler by means of the groove C, through which the projection E is now
supposed to be sliding; and it may be as well here to state that similar letters
are used to denote similar parts wherever they occur. Figure 6 is an end
view of Figure 2, in section, taken on a line through the centre of the key
hole; and Figures 7 and 8 are a side and an edge view of the improved key
to be used with the said lock; upon the parts G, G, of which it will be seen
there are inclined planes, which, as the key is turned round in the lock, force
the tumbler D away from the bolt, and bring the projection E on the tumbler
in range with the groove C of the projection B on the bolt, and so allow the
bolt to be shot; in Figure 9, the same principle is shown applied to a latch
bolt. The sort of tumbler shown at D in the other Figures is here dispensed
with, and the inclined plane of the key allowed to act on the tail of the latch
bolt, forcing it off the pin S, over which it otherwise rests, as here shown, and
shooting the bolt forward, after which the knob handle or spindle can exercise
no influence over the bolt until it is thrown back again by the key, which, by
means of its inclined planes when unlocking, forces out the tail of the bolt
again and drops it in its former position on to the pin S, when the action of
the knob handle will, of course, draw it backwards and forwards by means of
the revolving lever T, with its friction roller acting upon the two inclined
planes V, W, of the follower X. Figure 10 shows the latch bolt shot, and the
tail of the bolt off the pin S. Figure 11 shows the kind of tumbler used with
the latch bolt lock, when the inclined planes of the key are made to act upon
the tail of the bolt and not upon the tumbler, which, it will be seen in these
cases, is merely lifted up like any ordinary tumbler, the projecting piece H on
this tumbler being lifted up out of the way of a corresponding projecting pieco
on the tail of the bolt, when the bolt is to be put in action one way or the
other. It will be observed that Figure 9 shows the latch bolt at rest;
Figure 10 the latch bolt thrown out by the key or locked; Figure 11 shows
the latch bolt in red lines, half thrown out or half locked by the key; and
Figure 12 shows the latch bolt also in red lines, and drawn in by the knob
handle or spindle; the latch bolt, in both the two last-mentioned Figures is
drawn in red lines, so as to show the kind of tumbler used on these occasions,
when the tail of the bolt is acted upon by the inclined planes of the key, as
distinguished from the tumbler D, which is used when the tumbler is to be
acted upon by the inclined planes of the key, and then the tail of the latch bolt
is acted upon by the inclined planes of the key. The spring shown at Y,
Figure 22, must be added, which comes into position when the back plate is

page_text: fixed, as shown at Figure 21. Figures 9, 10, 11, and 12, also show my im-
proved slide bolt, which it will be seen acts by means of the projection J passing
along the inclined plane K, in manner so fully illustrated by the 'Drawing as
not to require further explanation. Figures 13, 14, 15, and 16 show how my
said slide bolt may be made applicable to other purposes, as, for instance, to
fasten a sash or shutter for a window. Figures 17 and 18 show an under side
and under edge view of the latch bolt. Figure 19 shows the knob handle of
my said lock, which I call an adjusting spindle knob handle, from its capability of
being adjusted to the thickness of the door, to which it is to be applied in the
following manner:-L represents the door; unscrew the knob M, and screw
the nut O on the spindle fixed to the knob N, towards the knob, to suit the
thickness of the door; then pass the spindle through the door so that the nut
just lodges inside the passage and even or flush with the wood; next put on
the lock Q, letting the end of the spindle which projects beyond the door
pass through it also; then screw on the knob M against the lock, which will
bring the spindle and knob N to the exact thickness of the door and lock, and
finally put in the small screw P. This arrangement of the handle, it is obvious,
will admit of its being adjusted to any door by the carpenter without having
recourse to the smith. Figure 20 shows the handle complete; through the
door and the lock, the two latter being in section.
And now having described the nature of my said Invention, and the manner
in which the same is to be performed, I hereby claim as my Invention,-
First, the improved lock, herein-before described, having a tumbler, such as
described at D, that is to say, with a motion to be given by the key from side
to side of the lock, instead of up and down as usual, or with any ordinary
tumbler, but with the tail of the bolt made to receive a similar motion from
side to side of the lock from the action of the key, as herein-before described,
and with the adjusting spindle knob handle, also herein-before described, as
also the lever turned thereby, and the inclined planed follower against which
it acts, as herein-before described.
Secondly, the key, with inclined planes, to be used with the said lock, as
shown at Figures 7 and 8 on the Drawing.
And thirdly, the slide bolt, herein before described, as a projection acting
against an inclined plane.
And such my Invention being, to the best of my knowledge and belief,
entirely new, and never before used within that part of Her said Majesty's
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland called England, Her said
Dominion of Wales, or Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, nor in any of Her

page_text: said Majesty's Colonies and Plantations abroad, I do hereby declare this to
be my Specification of the same, and that I do verily believe this my said
Specification doth comply in all respects fully and without reserve or dis.
guise with the proviso in the said herein-before in part recited Letters Patent
contained; wherefore I hereby claim to maintain exclusive right and privilege
to my said Invention.
In witness whereof, I, the said Joseph Duce the younger, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-first day of November, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and forty-two.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Twenty-first day of November,
in the year of our Lord 1842, the aforesaid Joseph Duce the younger came
before our said Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the
Specification aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and specified,
in form above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped
according to the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Enrolled the Twenty-second day of November, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and forty-two.