An Improved Nut-lock.
Year: 1887

page_text: Date of Application, 6th Oct., 1887
Complete Left, 24th Dec., 1887
Complete Accepted, 27th Jan., 1888
G
n
An Improved Nut-lock.
I, WILLIAM WILSON HORN, of the firm of Horn & Son, of 151 Strand W.C.
(a communication to me from abroad by Richard T. Sylvester, of Rosenfeld,
Manitoba, Canada), do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as
follows:-
:-
This my said invention relates to certain new and useful improvements in nut-locks
and which invention has for its object to prevent nuts from becoming loose by
vibration after having once been screwed tightly home upon the bolt. My said invention
is more especially valuable for locking the nuts which secure the first plates to rails
and which nuts soon become loose by reason of the incessant vibration caused by
passing trains. By this my said invention the above referred to disadvantage is
entirely overcome, in a cheap, simple, and efficacious manner, and which invention I
now proceed to describe.
My said invention consists essentially of a metal strip or band, both ends of which
are bent up at an angle to form a shoulder and which bent up pieces are again bent
over parallel to the main portion of the strip, thus forming flanges which pass over
the faces of the nuts when the said band is in place. The said flanges are cut out at
their edges to grasp the projecting threaded ends of the bolts and which flanges are
provided with suitable slots to receive the ends of a manipulating tool.
When the said band is pressed into place, the shoulders formed by that portion of
the band bent at an angle to the main portion, is brought to bear upon the sides of
the nuts, and the flanges abovementioned are caused to grasp the projecting ends
of the bolts, thus preventing the said nuts from becoming loose after once having been
tightened.
HORN & SON,
Applicant's Agents.

page_text: An Improved Nut-lock.
I, WILLIAM WILSON HORN of the Firm of Horn and Son, Patent Agents of
151 Strand, in the county of Middlesex (a communication to me from abroad by
Richard T. Sylvester of Rosenfeld, Manitoba, Canada,) 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 certain new and useful Improvements in Nut-Locks, of
which the following is a specification.
My improved nut-lock is made preferably of spring-steel, but may be made of any
other equally strong and flexible material. In placing the lock between two nuts a
iongs (shown in drawings) is used, and by means of which the shoulder ends of the
lock are so compressed that it may be forced between the two nuts, after which the
tongs is removed and the shoulders of the lock allowed to spring against the nuts.
In the accompanying drawings, which illustrate my invention, Fig. 1 is a face view
of the lock, Fig. 2 is a longitudinal section of the same on line, and also showing
the tongs for applying the same. Fig. 3 shows the lock as applied to a railway-rail
joint. Fig. 4 shows a modification of the lock as shown in the foregoing figures,
having slots formed in it for receiving and holding the corners of the nuts.
In its normal shape and when not sprung into position, as when in use, the body A
of the lock is bowed outward between its two shoulders, 13, as shown in Fig. 2. The
shoulders B are splayed outward, being farther apart at their angles a where they
join the flanges C, than at their angles b, where they join the body A. These
shoulders are made equal in length to the thickness of the nuts, so that the flanges C
will lie closely against the outsides of the nuts when the angles are held against the
fish-plate D. In each of the flanges Ca slot, E, is made, extending from near the
angle a toward the outer end of the flange. The outer and opposite corners of
the flanges bounding these slots are rounded out, as shown in Fig. 1, so as to fit part
way around the projecting ends of the bolts. The spring of the body A holds these
concave edges F in between the screw-thread on the projecting ends of the bolts, and
thereby prevents the nut-lock from slipping out of place.
In the lock shown in Fig. 4 slots g are made in the shoulders, and are for the
purpose of taking over the corners of nuts when necessary, so that with
nuts may be set either face to face, corner to face, or corner to corner.
are extended for some distance along the body A, by which the body is
stiff for the shoulders.
this lock the
These slots
not left too
In setting the nut-lock in place, the tongs H is used, the nibs i grasping the inner
ends of the slots E and springing the shoulders inward, so that the lock may be
pressed back between the nuts. The tongs is then removed, and the shoulders are
allowed to spring outward and hold the ends of the flanges between the threads of the
bolt-screw.
I do not claim, broadly, an elastic strip of metal bent to bear upon and between two

page_text: nuts for the purpose of preventing their rotation; but I believe myself to be the first to
form a nut-lock as herein described, with the two faces to bear against the nuts, and
with the extended notched ends adapted to engage the bolts outside of the nuts.
Thus constructed, the device may be sprung into position after the nuts are in place
and employed in connection with nuts of ordinary form, bearing at their inner faces
closely against a fish plate or its equivalent.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is -
1. A nut-lock consisting of a metal strip or band bent twice at the end to form a
shoulder at an angle and a flange parallel to the main portion of the strip, the shoulder
being slotted to receive the corner of the nut and the flange being slotted to engage
the threaded portion of a bolt, substantially as and for the purpose specified.
2. A nut lock consisting of a strip or band provided at the ends with shoulders at
an angle thereto and flanges at an angle to the shoulders, the said flanges having
slots to receive the ends of a manipulating tool, and which terminate in concave edges
to grasp the threaded ends of the bolts, substantially as and for the
described.
purpose