IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF SAFES, STRONG ROOMS, AND OTHER LIKE DEPOSITORIES INTENDED TO CONTAIN VALUABLE PROPERTY
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Rhodes and James Rhodes, both of
Wade Street, Bradford, in the County of York, Whitesmiths, for
the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF SAFES, STRONG
ROOMS, AND OTHER LIKE DEPOSITORIES INTENDED TO CONTAIN VALUABLE
PROPERTY."
Sealed the 15th December 1868, and dated the 17th June 1868.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Rhodes and
James Rhodes at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,
with their Petition, on the 17th June 1868.
We, WILLIAM RHODES and JAMES RHODES, both of Wade Street,
Bradford, in the County of York, Whitesmiths, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION
OF SAFES, STRONG ROOMS, AND OTHER LIKE DEPOSITORIES INTENDED TO CONTAIN
VALUABLE PROPERTY," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to a novel and improved mode of constructing
safes, strong rooms, and other like depositories intended to contain

page_text: valuable property for preventing the introduction of a wedge or other
instrument for breaking open the safe; and consists principally in the
use of strong bars of iron made of such a form and placed in such a
manner in connection with a secret hinge to the door as to render the
safe very strong and difficult if not impossible to break open.
A further improvement consists in the use of a Lewis and wedge or
dog and wedge arrangement to act as a locking bolt for binding or con-
necting together the sides of the door near its edges with the sides of
the safe when closed, as that they cannot be forced asunder either by
a wedge or screw; also in so coupling the front bar of the safe to the
outside plate thereof that they cannot be forced off by a wedge or other
instrument.
The following is an example of the means by which safes may be
constructed according to this Invention:-
First. As regards the mode of hinging the door to the safe. We propose
to fix the hinge at the back of the door the whole depth thereof, and
form this edge of the door and hinge curved, such curved part fitting
into a corresponding shaped recess formed in the framing that carries
the doors. We also form a groove in the front of the door extending
from top to bottom thereof near the hinge, and a corresponding
projection on the framing, so that when closed the door will hook on to
the said projection on the framing and prevent the separation sideways of
the framing from the door, and we construct the top and bottom edges
of the door and framing upon the same hooking plan, making the groove
at the back of the door instead of the front thereof. We also form
recesses in the top and bottom rails of the framing to receive locking
bolts. When safes are constructed with two doors we form the meeting
edges thereof so as to hook one into the other to prevent them from
being forcibly separated sideways, and we lock the two doors together
by a Lewis and wedge operated upon by a handle at the outside of the
door, the spindle of the said handle being made as a two-throw crank,
which taking into a slotted plate operates the wedging mechanism; in
connection with which we employ a secret lock of any approved
Construction

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters
1. место
filed by the said William Rhodes and James Rhodes in the Great
Seal Patent Office on the 17th December 1868.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, WILLIAM
RHODES and JAMES RHODES, both of Wade Street, Bradford, in the
County of York, Whitesmiths, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Seventeenth day of June, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, in the thirty-
first year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto us, the said William Rhodes and James Rhodes,
Her special licence that we, the said William Rhodes and James
Rhodes, our executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as we,
the said William Rhodes and James Rhodes, our executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others,
from time to time and at all times thereafter during the term therein
expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend,
within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel
Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CON-
STRUCTION OF SAFES, STRONG ROMS, AND OTHER LIKE DEPOSITORIES INTENDED
TO CONTAIN VALUABLE PROPERTY," upon the condition (amongst others) that
we, the said William Rhodes and James Rhodes, our executors or
administrators, by an instrument in writing under our, or their, or
one of their hands and seals, should particularly describe and ascertain
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same was to be
performed, and cause the same to be filed in the Great Seal Patent Office
within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the
said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that we, the said William Rhodes and James
Rhodes, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following statement, that is to say :-
This Invention relates to a novel and improved mode of constructing
safes, strong rooms, and other like depositories intended to contain
valuable property for preventing the introduction of a wedge or other
instrument for breaking open the safe; and consists principally in the

page_text: use of strong bars of iron made of such a form and placed in such a
manner in connection with a secret hinge to the door as to render
the safe very strong and difficult if not impossible to break open.
A further improvement consists in the use of a Lewis and wedge or
dog and wedge arrangement to act as a locking bolt for binding or
connecting together the sides of the door near its edges with the sides.
of the safe when closed as that they cannot be forced asunder either
by a wedge or screw; also in so coupling the front bars of the safe
to the outside plates thereof that they cannot be forced off by a wedge
or other instrument.
The following is an example of the means by which safes may be
constructed according to this Invention:―
First. As regards the mode of hinging the door to the safe. We
propose to fix the hinge at the back of the door the whole depth thereof,
and form the edge of the door and hinge curved, such curved part fitting
into a corresponding shaped recess formed in the framing that carries the
doors. We also form a groove in the front of the door extending from
top to bottom thereof near the hinge and a corresponding projection on
the framing, so that when closed the door will hook on to the said
projection on the framing and prevent the separation sideways of the
framing from the door; and we construct the top and bottom edges of
the door and framing upon the same hooking plan, making the groove
at the back of the door instead of the front thereof. We also form
recesses in the top and bottom rails of the framing to receive locking
bolts. When safes are constructed with two doors we form the meeting
edges thereof so as to hook one into the other to prevent them from
being forcibly separated sideways, and we lock the two doors together by
a Lewis and wedge operated upon by a handle at the outside of the
door, the spindle of the said handle being made as a two-throw crank,
which taking into a slotted plate operates the wedging mechanism,
in connection with which we employ a patent lock of any approved
construction.
And in order to explain our said Invention as completely as possible
we now proceed to describe the best means we are acquainted with for
carrying the same into practical effect, reference being had to the
illustrative Sheet of Drawings accompanying these Presents, and to the
numeral figures and letters of reference marked thereon respectively, as
follows:

page_text: Figure 1 represents an elevation of the front of a single-door safe
as it would appear when locked up and constructed according to our
said Invention; Figure 2 is a horizontal section of the said safe taken
through the line A, B, at Figure 1; Figures 3 and 4, vertical sections
through the lines C, D, and E, F, respectively at Figure 1; Figure 5
represents a top plan view of the top and bottom wedge bars herein-after
particularly described and referred to. The part marked a at this Figure
shews a cross section of those parts of the said wedge bars of the safe
where the hinge of the door works, and 6 is a cross section through the
line c, d, and also of the front bar of all single door safes constructed
according to our said Invention. Figure 6 is a front elevation of the bar
shewn at Figure 5; Figure 7 is a top edge view of the door of the safe
shewing the centre on which it turns affixed thereto; Figures 8 and 9
respectively represent front and edge views of the said centre piece;
Figure 10 is a section shewing the meeting edges of a double door safe
and the mode of constructing such parts to prevent the doors being
wedged or otherwise forced asunder; Figure 11 is an elevation of a
Lewis shoot denoted by solid lines, the wedge shoot connected therewith
being shewn by dotted lines; also the position of the notches in the tail
bars thereof for drawing them back and shooting them forward by the
double-crank piece G shewn in plan view at Figures 12 and 13, and in
elevation at Figure 14. Figure 13 shews a horizontal section of a wedge-
proof locking arrangement constructed according to our said Invention,
and as it would appear when adapted to a safe constructed with double
doors; Figure 15 is an edge view of the dog and wedge form of locking
arrangement before referred to; Figure 16 is an elevation of our improved
wedge-proof locking arrangement as it would appear when fixed to the
door of a safe and when the safe is locked. At each of the foregoing
Figures we employ similar letters of reference to denote corresponding
parts in so far as such parts appear or can be seen at each of such said
Figures respectively, observing that Figures 1, 2, 3, 4, and 16 are
drawn to a scale of one inch to a foot, the other Figures are to a
scale of half full size.
As regards Figures 1, 2, 3, 4, A, A, marks the top and bottom bars of
the safe; B, B, the side bars; C, the inside case, made in the ordinary
manner; D, the outside case, the side and top and bottom plates of

page_text: which are fixed to the bars A, B, as shown at Figure 5, by welding rivets
or otherwise, in a such a manner as to prevent them being forced off or
separated from the bars A, B, by a wedge or other instrument. The
bars A, A, are formed with a solid swell at x and a hole y therein,
bushed with steel to receive the pivots or centre e of the door, serving as
the hinge thereof; the piece e is fixed to the inside of the door by screws
or rivets, and extends from the top of to the bottom of the door; this edge
of the door, as also the edge of piece e, are formed of the same curvature
as the side bar marked a at Figure 5, so that when the door of the safe
is closed this 'edge of the door and hinge fit closely in the port a, and the
door is further secured thereto wedge-proof by the groove f in the door
fitting over and locking into the projection g formed on the side bar, as
shewn at Figures 5 and 7. The inside of the door is also formed with a
groove h therein, which takes over the projection i formed on the top
and bottom and front bars of the safe, thus preventing the introduction
of a wedge or other instrument between the edges of the door and the
bars of the safe.
As regards Figure 10, H, H, mark portions of the doors of the safe;
I, the lock bolt; K, the lock case.
And as regards Figure 13, it shows our improved wedge-proof locking
arrangement as it would appear when put together and secured to the
door of the safe by strong locking bars L, L, rivetted, or welded, or other-
wise securely fixed to the inside of each door flush with the edge thereof.
The bars L have holes made through them to receive the Lewis bolts M
and wedge bolt N, which are operated upon by the double-crank
piece G for drawing and shooting the bolts M and N, which may be
effected by turning the handle O round from the outside of the safe.
The small lock P, shewn at Figure 16, is employed for locking the
bolts of the main lock, for which purpose an unpickable lock of the best
construction should be employed.
Having now fully described and set forth the nature and object
of our said Invention for "Improvements in the Construction of Safes,
Strong Rooms, and other like Depositories intended to contain Valuable
Property," together with the best means we are acquainted with for
carrying the same into practical effect, we would remark in conclusion
that we hereby declare our Invention to consist in and we claim,
constructing safes and other depositories in the manner above described
with reference to the accompanying Sheet of Drawings for rendering

page_text: them wedge-proof; and especially we claim the application to safes and
other depositories of the wedge and Lewis and dog and wedge locking
arrangements above described and represented; and also the method
above described of connecting the outside plates of the safe to the bars
or frames thereof for rendering such parts wedge-proof.
In witness whereof, we, the said William Rhodes and James
Rhodes, have hereunto set our hands and seals, this Fifteenth
day of December, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight
hundred and sixty-eight.
WILLIAM RHODES.
(L.S.)
JAMES RHODES.
(L.S.)