IMPROVEMENTS IN INDICATING DOOR FASTENINGS FOR APARTMENTS AND CLOSETS
Year: 1882

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Arthur Ashwell, of West Dulwich, in the County of
Surrey, for an Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN INDICATING DOOR FASTENINGS
FOR APARTMENTS AND CLOSETS."
"IMPROVEMENTS ·
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Arthur Ashwoll at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 17th February 1882.
ARTHUR ASHWELL of West Dulwich in the County of Surrey.
IN INDICATING DOOR FASTENINGS FOR APARTMENTS AND CLOSETS."
The object of this invention is to provide an indication on or near the door of an
apartment that such apartment is for the time occupied, and access is not allowed
thereto.
The Invention is particularly applicable to consulting rooms, bath rooms, water
closets and lavatories and admits of modification without the principle of action
being changed. Supposing the Invention to be adapted to a lavatory or water-
closet, I provide a sliding bolt which I fit in the ordinary manner to the innerside
of the door of the apartment. Upon the upper or under side of this bolt I cut
rack teeth and fit a pinion to gear therein. The spindle for carrying this pinion I
pass through a drilled hole in the door and mount upon its outer end an indicator
disc bearing the word "engaged" or some equivalent term. This disc I cover by
a cap piece which is partly transparent to enable the word carried by the disc to
be read when brought into position. This will occur when the bolt is thrown by
the occupant of the apartment and thus, at the moment the door is bolted from
within there will be an indication on the other side of the door that no entry is
permissible.
As a modification I may use a swinging arm in place of a sliding bolt such
arm being fixed to the spindle which carries the disc, and entering a staple
secured to the door jam. When the arm is thus set it will hold the door
fast and in moving to the locking position it will give, say, a quarter turn to the
disc, thereby bringing into view the word "engaged" which on throwing back the
arm to its normal position will disappear behind the opaque portion of the cover.
Provision must be made for retaining this arm in its normal position and this may
be done by inserting in the door a stop to limit its back motion and putting
friction on the arm to retard its movements.
.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said Arthur Ashwell in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 16th
August 1882.
ARTHUR ASHWELL of West Dulwich in the County of Surrey.
"IMPROVEMENTS
IN INDICATING DOOR FASTENINGS FOR APARTMENTS AND CLOSETS."
The object of this Invention is to provide an indication on the door of an
apartment that such apartment is for the time occupied and access is not allowed
thereto.
The Invention is particularly applicable to consulting rooms bath-rooms water
closets and lavatories and admits of modification without the principle of action
being changed.
In Sheet I of the accompanying drawings Figures 1 and 2 show the indicating
apparatus applied to the door of, say a lavatory, or watercloset Fig: 1 representing
the apparatus as seen from the outside and Fig: 2 from the inner side of the door,
Fig: 3 is a sectional plan taken at the line 1, 2, of Fig: 1.
In these Figures A is a flat sliding bolt which is fitted in the ordinary manner
to a bolt plate a screwed to the inner side of the door of the apartment. This bolt
enters a staple A* affixed to the door jamb. Upon the upper edge of the bolt
rack teeth are cut, into which teeth gears a pinion B mounted on a spindle C.
This spindle is passed through a drilled hole in the door it being provided with
metallic bearings, the one formed in the bolt plate and the other by a circular
plate c at the opposite side of the door. Mounted on the outer end of the spindle C
is an indicator disc D which stands concentric with the circular plate c bearing the
word "engaged" or it may be some equivalent term. This disc is covered by a
glazed cap piece E attached by countersunk screws through the rim to the door
and adjusted to its position by the circular plate c fitting a rebate in the cap piece
(see the detached views Figures 4.) The glazed cap piece is transparent only at it
upper part to enable the word carried by the disc to be read when that word is
brought into position. This will occur when the bolt is thrown by the occupant
of the apartment into the position shown in Fig: 2 and thus at the moment the
door is bolted from within there will be an indication on the outer side of the door
that no entry is permissible.
The staple A is by preference made with a thick front plate that projects into
the apartinent to prevent the door being closed as far as it otherwise would be when
the bolt has been accidentally thrown out and thus shew more readily that the door
has not been purposely closed.
The disc D may be made of enamelled sheet metal or it may be a metal plate
fitted with a ring of porcelain which is the plan shewn in front view and sectional
elevation at Figures 5 and 6. This plato is provided with a central sleeve which
fits the spindle C. Fig: 7 shews the spindle detached. It is made of round rod
of a length somewhat exceeding the ordinary length required for the spindle the
object being to provide for any excess of thickness in the door to which the
apparatus is to be applied. The pinion B is made fast to its spindle by a key but
the disc I secure by a key or wedge in the following manner I split the outer end
of the spindle and make two saw cuts or splits in the disc and sleeve corresponding
to the slit in the spindle as will be seen by reference to the detached views
Figures 5 and 6. Into the saw cuts and split I insert when the disc is in place a
thin key or wedge as shewn at Fig: 3 to hold the parts together. This key or
wedge is shewn detached at Figures 8 and by its use the disc is not only made fast
to its spindle but its position thereon relatively to the position of the bolt is

page_text: determined. In order to limit the axial motion of the spindle and disc the bolt is
provided with a stop pin a¹ which striking against the rear guide of the bolt plate
limits the back traverse of the bolt the forward traverse being limited by the knob
or thumb piece of the bolt striking against the front guide of the bolt plate.
Thus the rotation of the pinion B (and consequently the indicator disc) is limited
in both directions.
As a modification of the disc DI propose in some cases to fit it with a
shifting piece on which the word "engaged" or equivalent indication is printed or
engraved.
Fig: 9 Sheet II shows in front view this arrangement applied to a door, the
enclosing cap being removed; Fig: 10 is a horizontal section of the same all the
parts being in place, and Fig: 11 is a similar view the parts being detached but
arranged in proper line d is the shifting piece which stands between two parallel
strips did projecting from the face of the disc d. These strips form rests or
supports for the shifting piece d and they are attached to the disc as shewn best
in the detached view Fig: 12, which represents one strip in position, the other being
shewn detached at Fig: 13. The space between the two strips d' d¹ may be about
double the depth of the shifting piece d to allow of its falling from one strip to
the other when a half-turn is given to the disc. The shifting piece is formed with
two guide pins d² d² which play through guiding holes made in the strips d' and
serve to steady the falling movements of the sliding piece. The word carried by
this sliding piece is so situate thereon that when the sliding piece is in the
indicating position the word will stand across the centre of the disc. The
transparent cap piece is made to correspond to this central position of the
indicating word as shown in Fig: 14 which is a front view of the cap
detached.
I would remark that I am aware that indicating door fastenings have been
designed and carried out with some success but none have to my knowledge
offered sufficient facilities for their application, as the cost of manufacture, the
want of a positive action, or the necessity for cutting into the door has rendered
their use prohibitory, under ordinary circumstances. By my Invention however a
simple and efficient indicator combined with a bolt admits of speedy application
to a door the drilling of a hole through the door for the passage of the
spindle being the only operation required to adapt the door to receive the indicating
fastening.
Having now set forth the nature of my Invention of "Improvements in indicating
door fastenings for apartments and closets" and having explained the manner of
carrying the same into effect I wish it to be understood that under the above in
part recited Letters Patent I claim
The arrangement of apparatus above described in which the sliding bolt is caused
to transmit a positive and determinate amount of axial motion to the indicator
disc for the purpose above set forth.
In witness whereof I the said Arthur Ashwell have hereunto set my hand and
seal this Eleventh day of August in the year of our Lord One thousand
aight hundred and nights two