Improvements in Locks for Safes and the like.
Year: 1898

page_text: Date of Application, 30th Apr., 1898-Accepted, 11th Feb., 1899
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Locks for Safes and the like.
I, NICOLAS FELIX VETERE, Subject of the Kingdom of Italy, and residing at
Number 570, Calle Gascon, in the City of Buenos Aires, Argentine Republic,
Machinist, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner
the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement:-
My invention relates to improvements in locks for safes or the like, character-
ized principally by the especial form of the frame, divided by a partition which
completely separates the locking bolt from the combination plates; by the female
double warded key, whose grooves or teeth act simultaneously; by two sets of
combination plates, the one upper and the other lower, formed of levers and
springs placed over each other and turning upon two fixed pivots; by the double
guides of the locking bolt, which must exactly combine with the incisions or
grooves of the combination plates; the locks being so arranged that upon the
introduction of the key the slightest variation in the thickness or length of any
one of its teeth would be sufficient to prevent its acting upon the particular plate of
the combination which that tooth is designed to move.
The system of locks for iron safes in use until now is generally composed, as
is well known, of a locking bolt loosely attached to two pivots with holes which
limit exactly its movement, and with a number of combination plates moving
upon a pivot and which return to their normal position by means of springs.
The keys, having only a single ward, with teeth which fit to the given combina-
tion of the plates, on being turned within the lock bring the openings in the plates
into such a position as to permit the movement of the locking bolt which is
impelled by the force exercised directly by one of the teeth of the key which is
introduced into a slot with which the bolt is provided.
This system is liable to the grave defect of the wearing out of the internal
mechanism of the lock, because this tooth of the key pressing directly against
the slot of the bolt, and the sliding grooves of the bolt colliding violently with
the pivot, the said bolt naturally is worn away by the friction which finally results
in increasing the length of its movement, so that, as it is the bolt which determines
the release of the combination plates, if this is worn away the result will be that
when the lock is locked the tooth of the key which pushes the bolt will escape
from its slot before carrying the bolt to its proper position, the plates of the
combination remaining in consequence in the relative position as if they had been
opened by the key, rendering it an easy task to push back the bolt and open
the safe by means of a simple pick-lock.
Another defect of this system of locks consists in that, the combination plates
being simple, each tooth of the ward acts directly on one of these plates, so that it
is a very easy matter for an expert lock-smith to take the impression of these teeth
and make a false key or a metallic bar indented like the key, with which to open
the lock.
With my system of locks I have avoided all these inconveniences; I provide my
lock with an especial system of combination plates double in number, turning

page_text: freely each set upon its respective pivot, and intermounted alternately one above
the other. The key is double warded and female in order to maintain a secure
position. Each one of its teeth comes in contact with a part of one of the upper
plates and another part of one of the lower, while others enter into the plates,
so that any difference however slight which might exist in the width, length or
thickness of any one of the teeth would be sufficient to prevent the proper opening
of its corresponding plate to admit the bolt-guides. Each of the plates has a
groove at one end, and is acted upon by the key at the other end.
As above stated, I have divided the frame of my lock by means of a partition
upon which rests the set of combination plates. Below this partition slides the
bolt provided with two guides which enter into the upper and lower grooves of the
sets of plates.
In order to avoid the inconvenience of the wearing away of the bolt by the direct
action of the teeth of the key, I have provided the former with a nut or tumbler
which is moved directly by the wards of the key after this has been introduced and
given three quarters of a turn in the opening of the lock. In this manner the
pressure exercised by the key upon the bolt amounts to almost nothing; there is
no friction and consequently no wearing away of the metal.
For the better comprehension of this description, drawings are annexed in
which the same letters of reference indicate the same parts of the apparatus. In
these:
Figure I is an exterior lateral view of the lock.
Figure II is an exterior front view, showing by dotted lines all the internal
pieces of the frame-work of the lock.
Figure III is a vertical section on the line of the principal pivot of the lock,
showing the interior of the frame-work.
Figure IV is a transverse section of the same.
Figures V & VI are two views of the female key with double combination wards
and of variable section.
Figure VII represents specimen transverse cuts of keys of various forms but of
the same system.
Figure VIII is an interior view of the lock, showing the position of the combina-
tion plates and springs and of all the parts of the apparatus when the lock is
closed.
Figure IX is a vertical section upon the central line of the lock, showing all
the principal parts of which it is composed.
Figure X is a view showing the position of the plates and springs of the com-
bination when the lock is open. In this as also in Fig. XVI, for better comprehen-
sion the lock has been represented without the key, although the key can not be
withdrawn when the lock is unlocked.
Figure XI is an exterior view of the lock as seen from above, showing how
the openings or grooves of the combination plates are situated when the lock is
ciosed.
Figures XII & XII' are front and side views of the tumbler O, with its con-
centric cams M, N, and an eccentric pivot S, designed to transmit the alternating
rectilinear motion to the locking bolt F.
Figures XIII & XIII¹ are views in profile and plan of the locking bolt F,
showing the two guides E and F, which must enter into the grooves D of the
combination plates.
Figures XIV & XIV are views in profile and plan of the combination plates
which are placed in the center of the lock as shown in the Figures VIII, X & XI.
Figures XV and XVI are views in profile and plan of the plate or partition which
sustains the two bolts B and C which serve as pivots for the movement of the
combination plates.
Figure XVI is a general view in perspective of the lock when open.
Figure XVII is a general view in perspective of the same when closed.
Introducing the key upon the pivot A until it reaches the bottom on the opposite

page_text: side, it enters freely and with no obstacle whatever, and giving it only a half turn
from right to left, all of the teeth of the two wards encounter and push the
combination plates. Each one of the teeth of the wards of the key moves two
plates of the combinations, that is, each tooth comes in contact with a part of an
upper plate and another part of a lower plate.
The combination plates upon being moved by the teeth of the wards of the key,
effect a movement respectively about the pivots B and C, and as the existing
distance between the central pivot A and the pivots B and C is less than that
existing between these latter and the extremities of the combination plates, these
extremities move over a greater space than that of the movement imparted by the
double wards of the key.
As these plates, being composed as above stated of two sets which cross each
cther in their central or inner extremes, leave a space, on being opened, for the
entrance of some of the teeth of the wards; it is evident that any difference however
slight in the length, breadth or thickness of said teeth would be sufficient to prevent
some of the plates from combining their openings to form the two grooves D, D,
where the guides E and F must enter; thus making impossible the opening of
the lock.
After the movement of the key of a half turn from right to left, opening thus
the combination, the wards of the key come in contact with the cams M, N, on the
disc of the tumbler O(Figs. VIII, X, XII, XIII, XIII¹) imparting to the tumbler
a rotary movement, and as the pivot S is placed on an eccentric point of the
tumbler O, this imparts a rectilinear movement to the locking bolt by means of
the groove Z, during which movement the guides E, FI, enter respectively in the
grooves which have been formed by the union of the openings with which each of
the combination plates is provided, which upon being combined by means of the
teeth of the key, form the said groove D, D.
To close the lock the movement is simply reversed, the tumbler moved by the
wards of the key lifts the locking bolt carrying it out from the body of the lock,
causing it to enter in the central cross-piece of the bolts of the door of the safe
or strong-box which it holds firmly so that it will not yield to the movements
imparted to it by the knob or handle which works all the horizontal and vertical
bolts.
As soon as the bolt is locked, as its guides have come out from the grooves D), D,
and the key continues to turn, the springs oblige the combination plates to return
to their locked position, disarranging the combination and causing to disappear the
grooves which gave passage to the guides of the locking bolt.
A very essential advantage in my system of locks consists in the fact that, as
the key has double wards the teeth of both which act upon the combination plates
in the manner already described, it results that while the combination plates are
opened and the lock unlocked the key can not be withdrawn from the same, which
amounts to a guaranty and an assurance that the safe can never by carelessness
be left unlocked.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said in-
vention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is:-
1. An especial system of lock and key characterized principally by the division
between the locking bolt and the combination plates, by means of a partition to
which are secured two pivots about which turn two sets of combination plates
acted upon by a key of double wards; by the application of a nut or tumbler
provided with two cams, which tumbler turns upon an eccentric pivot causing
the locking bolt thus to ascend and descend, the said tumbler being moved inde-
pendently of the combinations by the wards of the key and not by the teeth, in
combination substantially as herein before described, with reference to the accom-
panying drawings.
2. In locks for iron safes or strong-boxes such as that mentioned in the first

page_text: claim, the especial system of combination plates composed of two sets placed so that
one covers part of the other, and provided with grooves in their upper and lower
parts, which grooves must coincide in both parts one with the other in such a
manner as to form two continuous grooves or passages for the entrance of the
guides, substantially as herein before described.
3. In locks for iron safes or strong-boxes such as are mentioned in the first
claim, the especial system of the locking bolt composed of a sliding bar and of
two guides, which locking bolt is moved by a tumbler provided with two cams,
and one pivot placed in an eccentric point of the tumbler, which enters a groove
of the locking bolt, which bolt moves independently of the combination plates,
being impelled by the wards of the key in contact with the cams of the tumbler.
4. In locks for iron safes or strong-boxes such as are mentioned in the first
claim, the application of a tumbler or nut 0, turning freely upon the central
pivot A and formed of a disc with concentric cams M and N and eccentric pivot S
which tumbler being turned by the key effects in its turn the movement of the
locking bolt, avoiding in this manner the direct action of the teeth of the key upon
the locking bolt.
5. In locks for iron safes and strong-boxes such as are mentioned in the first
claim, the especial form of the key composed of two wards provided with teeth
whose form, arrangement and size are varied according to the combination which
it is desired to form, which wards move the several combination plates designed
to form by the union of their grooves, passages for the reception of the two guides
of the locking bolt when it is required to open the lock, substantially as herein-
before described, with reference to the accompanying drawings, and for the
purposes indicated.
בד
0011
Otah 1907
F. WISE HOWORTH,
46, Lincoln's Inn Fields, London, W.C.,
Agent for the Applicant.