Improvements in Fastening Devices for Trunks and the like.
Year: 1893

page_text: Date of Application, 29th May, 1893-Accepted, 1st July, 1893
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Fastening Devices for Trunks and the like.
A communication from JOSHUA L. JONES, of 621, Lasalle Avenue, Chicago,
State of Illinois, United States of America.
I, ALFRED JULIUS BOULT, of 323 High Holborn, in the County of Middlesex,
Chartered Patent Agent, 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 :-
Referring to the herewith accompanying drawing, and forming a part thereof,
like letters of reference denote like parts.
Fig. 1 shows, in front elevation, the trunk fastener in locked position, the upper
portion, A, being attached to the fragment of a metal band usually attached to
that part of a chest or trunk.
Fig. 2 shows the part, B, or lower part of the trunk-fastener in rear elevation,
ends reversed, without the locking-bar for tongue e.
Fig. 3 shows a longitudinal vertical section of the locking-bar immediately below
its upper lip, or, above the upper edge of the spring i.
Fig. 4 shows an inside or rear view of the locking-bar, f, with ends reversed to
those shown in Fig. 1.
Fig. 5 shows a transverse vertical section of both parts of said device, as shown
in Fig. 1, taken through its centre without cutting the part g.
Fig. 6 shows a transverse vertical section of both parts of said device, as shown
in Fig. 1, taken through the nearest one of the lugs h.
Fig. 7 shows the part, A, consisting of the head, a, and tongue, e, in front
elevation, as a rigid or single piece.
The said upper part, A, consists of a head, a, provided with holes, or other
means, to fasten it to said part, b. At the lower end of said head, a, are the
internal and external shoulders, c, d, and below the shoulder, c, is a tongue, e, with
sides sloping towards each other as they descend. The lower end of said tongue
has two rearwardly bevelled parts, e, between which is a square ended portion, e¹,
and in said tongue are one or more holes k which receive said lugs h.
There are
also corner pieces, m, in the corner made by the edge of the tongue and head which
fit into the notches, m', cut into the rear part of B for them. There are also
bevelled notches, e³, which receive the bevelled parts, e³, of the tongue.
The part, B, consists of a flat plate, or bed-plate, o, from which rises a rectangular
wall p, which is cut on its upper side to receive the tongue, e, and provided with a
cap to receive under it the spring latch, 9, at one end and with a larger cap with
inner bead at its other end to receive the locking-bar, f, which has notches in its
sides, r, to receive said bead.
Said sides, r, are connected at their rear ends by a transverse wall, r¹, which has
a lip projecting forward against said bead. Said bead and notches serve as a
hinge for the locking-bar f, and it is further held and actuated in said position by
a spring, i, which passes through a slot in the upper end of a transverse bar, s,
which connects the wails, p. One end of said spring rests under the wall, 1, while
the other end extends forward and is held in some convenient part and said end,
more particularly, as well as the shorter end tend to throw the latch, f, into its
closed position from the open position shown in Fig. 3, each part of the spring acts
as an independent spring fulcrumed in said slot.
In the free end of the locking-bar, f, is a lock with a key-actuated spring-bolt q
and under the end, e', of the tongue is a chamber in which plays a spring actuated
rod in suitable guides which lifts the tongue and trunk-lid when the lugs of the
latch,, are released from the tongue. The latch can open only far enough to

page_text: release the tongue fron the lugs, h, and as the tongue rises the head a follows it
and rests in the shoulder, t, under the lug, t¹.
As the head, or check, rests against the side of the trunk, or; upon a strap
of iron like the plate, 61, it is evident that the latch or locking-bar, f, cannot
be closed by force on its face side, and, in fact, that it cannot be closed at all
except by letting the tongue, e, down upon the head, or part, g, which depresses
it below the latch, f, as shown in Fig. 5, thus permitting said latch to close.
As the tongue depresses the stop, or check, 9, the double spring, i, closes the
latch, f, and its spring-bolt g, into locked position and thus by the mere closing
of the trunk-lid the trunk is locked securely.
In this construction of a trunk-fastener the locking-bar comes closely to the
trunk-lid which thus requires but a short tongue which is therefore propor-
tionately much stronger and both locking-bar and tongue may extend a much
greater length on the trunk with less added weight than any like device now
known.
The part herein called the locking-bar, or latch, f, may be fastened in any
suitable way, as by a pin through its end, but it needs no other fastening than
such as will hold its fixed end within the walls, p, when closed, and it may be
made to swing much, or little, and held in any suitable manner within the range
that it moves, which is, or, need be, only far enough to let the lugs out of the
tongue.
The beveled corner-pieces, m, and the beveled end of the tongue with its
slanting edges and corresponding notch in the plate, o, and notches to receive
said corner pieces, all aid to both guide the tongue to its place and to hold it
securely therein.
The walls, p, are a part of the plate, o, which is the foundation for them,
they rise to or even beyond the top of the latch, if desired, which they thus
house and securely protect from injury and makes a stronghold from which the
latch cannot be wrested.
The check, or stop, y, which holds the latch in its open position, is here
shown in the best form now known to me. It may be made in many other
ways and changed entirely in appearance but the principle of the combination
made evident by this example of the invention cannot be evaded thereby so long
as there is a latch engaging with a tongue and a stop, or check, operating on
the one and operated by the other of said parts, substantially as herein shown.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention as communicated to me by my foreign correspondent, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, I declare that what I claim is :
1st. The combination with a trunk-lid having a rigid tongue of an automatically
acting check and a latch, said check and latch operated by said tongue and it
locked by the latch, substantially as specified:
2nd. The combination with a trunk-lid having a rigid tongue of an automatically
acting check and a latch provided with an automatic lock, said check and latch
operated by said tongue and it locked by the latch, substantially as specified..
3rd. The combination with a trunk lid having a rigid tongue of an automatically
stopped latch provided with automatically locking bolt a notched wall on a bed-
plate surrounding and holding said latch and means for fastening said bed-plate,
substantially as specified.
D
W. P. THOMPSON & BOULT,
Of London, Nottingham, Liverpool, and Manchester,
Agents for the Applicant.