AN IMPROVEMENT ON COMBINATION LOCKS
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Forbes Rutter, of the City and County of
Philadelphia, in the State of Pennsylvania, United States of America,
for the Invention of "AN IMPROVEMENT ON COMBINATION LOCKS.”
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION filed by the said William Forbes Rutter at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition and
Declaration, on the 29th April 1874, pursuant to the 9th Section of
the Patent Law Amendment Act, 1852.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
FORBES RUTTER, of the City and County of Philadelphia, in the State of
Pennsylvania, United States of America, send greeting.
WHEREAS I am in possession of an Invention for "AN IMPROVEMENT
ON COMBINATION LOcxs," and have petitioned Her Majesty to grant unto
me, executors, administrators, and assigns, Her Royal Letters Patent
for the same, and have made solemn Declaration that I am the true and
first Inventor thereof.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Forbes Rutter, do hereby
declare that the following Complete Specification, under my hand and
seal, fully describes and ascertains the nature of the said Invention,

page_text: and in what manner the same is to be performed, in and by the following
statement:-
-
My Invention relates to a series of revolving tumblers, held together
by means of heads and rods in combination with a sliding and partially
rotating hasp or bolt having a hook, lugs, and a guiding collar fully
described hereafter.
It also relates to a segmental lug on one of said heads in combination
with a segmental lug on a knob of the hook for limiting the rotary
movement of the latter as herein-after described.
In the accompanying Drawings which make a part of this Specifi-
cation Figure 1 is a side view of the lock; Figure 2 is a longitudinal
section of the same; Figure 3 is an end view; Figure 4 is a side view
of one of the rings A; Figures 5 and 6 are views at right angles to each
other of hasp or bolt D; Figure 7 is an end view of the head B¹;
Figure 8 is an end view of the knob h. Like letters of reference in all
the Figures indicate the same parts.
A, A, A, A, are rings or tumblers which fit together by means of
annular rebates 6, and are firmly connected between the heads B and B¹,
by the bolts C, C₁, C³. The said rings, one of which is represented in
detail in Figure 4, are recessed at their ends, so as to leave a plate c in
their middle in which is a central bore d. A radial slot e is extended
outwards from the central bore, and lugs project from each side of the
plate c to form radial recesses g. D is a hasp or bolt inserted in the
central bore d. It has a knob k on one end for manipulating it, and a
hook at the other end for connection with an eye or hook of the article
to be locked. The collar a of the hasp or bolt D, is used as a guide or
stop for the same.
When the bolt is brought into its locking position, the hook i enters
a corresponding hole in the lug j of the head B. The bolt D is provided
with lugs k, k, k, k, which are in line with the straight part of the bolt
and its hook i; they are free to move through the slots e. On the
peripheries of the rings A, at one end there are Figures 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and
6, corresponding to the number of the recesses g, on one side of the
plate cand the slote. The radial recesses into which the lugs / may enter
freely are merely deceptors so as to mislead any one attempting to open a
the lock.
The head B¹ has on its projection / a lug m extending one-half of its
diameter, and the knob h of the bolt D has a lug n of one-fourth of it

page_text: diameter, which engages with it on either side of the bolt, when the bolt
is turned around to the right or left, thus providing for the guiding of
the bolt.
The operation is as follows:-The rings A, A, A, A, are so adjusted
that the numbers on the peripheries in line with the slot e shall come
in line with the rod C with which the hook i is in line. The bolt is then
pushed forward until the hook is disengaged from the lug j and is
connected with the thing or things to be locked. The bolt D is then
moved back into its former position and the hook i brought into
connection with the hole in the lug j, as seen in Figure 2. When the
lock is set, the person setting it, as he knows what numbers on the
rings A should be in line with the rod C, turns the rings partly around
to bring the slots out of line; then if any other person should attempt to
open the lock in turning partly around the rings A, the lugs k will slip
into the recesses g and mislead him.
I do not confine myself to the number of rings A, nor to the number of
slots and recesses in the same, as they may be varied without departing
from the character of the Invention.
What I claim as my Invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent
is:-
First. The revolving rings or tumblers A, held together by means of
heads B, B', and rods C, C³, C², in combination with the sliding and
rotating hasp or bolt D, having a hook i, lugs k, and guiding collar a,
substantially as and for the purpose described.
Second. The lug m on the head B', in combination with the sliding
and rotating hasp or bolt D, having a knob h and lug n for limiting the
rotary movement of the hasp or bolt, substantially as set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Forbes Rutter, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this First day of April, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
four.
WILLIAM FORBES RUTTER. (L.S.)