Improvements in the Construction and Arrangement of Locks for Doors.
Year: 1887

page_text: Date of Application, 15th Mar., 1887
Complete Left, 14th Dec., 1887
Complete Accepted, 20th Jan., 1888
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in the Construction and Arrangement of Locks
for Doors.
1 JAMES JOHNSTONE BOURNE of 28 Gracechurch Street London in the County of
Middlesex Civil Engineer do hereby declare the nature of my Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION AND ARRANGEMENT OF LOCKS FOR CARRIAGE,
AND OTHER DOORS to be as follows :-
My said improvements relate to that class of locks in which the handle shaft or
latch when turned in opening the door is held back by a catch which when the door
is closed is released and permits of the handle shaft or latch acting automatically for
the purpose of locking the door.
In carrying out the said improvements, the handle of the lock (which may be of
any desired shape) has cast with it, or has attached to it, a round shaft somewhat
longer than the thickness of door pillar, & this shaft works in, as its bearings, two
seperate castings screwed firmly to the door pillar, one on the outside and the other
on the inside of the door-The former of these castings, that is the one to be fixed
preferably upon the outside of the door, is of a circular form & has cast upon it, two
stops, & upon a part of its circumference, a short length of inclined plane upon
which is revolved with the handle, a small trigger block attached to a spring in such
a manner that the block while sliding up the incline is constantly pressed against it,
& when the handle has been revolved to its "opened" position, the trigger block
having arrived at the abrupt conclusion of the incline, & having been raised by it
some little distance from its plane of normal rest, is pressed down & against the butt
end of the incline, & thereby prevents any return of the handles or latch to their
closed position, until by a slam or complete closing of the door, the trigger block having
been brought in contact with, & elevated by, a striking plate fixed upon the door
post, slips back over the incline again, the shaft, handle, & locking socket revolving
backwards at the same time by the action of a helical or spiral spring coiled around
shaft (either in one or many planes) & so locking the door.
The trigger block is enabled to regulate the movement of the shaft & handles by
reason of its attachment to, & if desired enclosure within, a hollow tube or solid strip
cast in one with (or attached to as may be desired) the shaft, & at right (or other)
angles to it & working upon in its revolution, as a bearing the circular (or other

page_text: shaped) casting on front of door (either inside or outside) upon which are placed
the inclined plane & necessary stops, suitably placed for it to bring up against, upon
the sudden closing of lock, the internal dimensions of the tube (rectangular by
preferrence) being such as to allow of a sufficient to & fro movement of a flat (or other
shaped) spring (in duplicate by preferrence) which extends along it, being fastened
securely at one end, & attached to the sliding trigger block at its other extremity of
the tube, which whilst being slotted out itself so as to clear in its revolution the
inclined plane, allows the sliding trigger block to be guided by it (the inclined
plane) in one direction & the tube in other direction) in its revolution, thereby
locking and freeing the shaft, handles, & latch socket in the desired positions.
A helical or spiral spring as aforesaid of steel or other suitable material having
been coiled with sufficient freedom around the shaft, is attached firmly at one end to
the casting upon one or other sides of the door, the other end being left free until
entered into a slot for its reception formed in a nut which-the shaft being screwed
for any desired portion of its length is, together with a lock nut (as may be found
necessary for its after secure retention) screwed down to meet it, & upon the entry
of spring & a sufficient revolution of nut having been given to obtain any required
tension of spring, the lock nut may be screwed hard down & jammed against it, & both
nuts having been turned down to suit the size of bearing, nothing remains but to
enter the shaft, with outer handle, outer casting trigger motion, spring & holding
nuts complete, into a circular hole prepared for it through door pillar, when the
position of inner bearing can be readily obtained, the casting fixed to door pillar by
suitable screws, & the inner handle & locking socket (which by preference form one
piece & turned with a shoulder to fit into bearing casting) can then be readily screwed
down shaft until the end of shoulder bears hard & jamins against the nut, or nuts,
securing spring to shaft, a little adjustment of course being required to bring the
lock & handle into their correct positions, & for this purpose a thin washer of
slightly compressible matter, or otherwise, may be employed. The inner handle & its
lock projection may then be considered as one with the shaft & will revolve with it,
but for greater security a jam nut may be screwed on at back of inner handle, & if
necessary, absolutely secured by a pin passing through it & the spindle, at a place
where no strain of any moment is experienced.
A projection being placed on door post in suitable position for correctly striking
& lifting the trigger of regulating motion (the spring of which it may be noted has
no strain upon it except during the lifting action) has in one piece with it a strip
of metal extending across the door post at an inclination & with a suitable flange on
inner side to form an appropriate bed for the lock, the incline being so regulated as to
gradually revolve the lock which rubs against it, & with it the shaft & trigger motion,
so as to take all side strain off trigger before it is struck, as well as to give a more
gradual closing of the door.
It is optional whether trigger motion or its
outside of door pillar-Also the latch may be
connection with trigger motion & aforesaid
desired.
equivalent be placed upon the inside or
readily arranged on outside of door in
bottom tube to work in staple when
I claim that locks as thus fitted are, by reason of a newly (& original) designed
combination of new devices with those already in use--adaptable for use where
locks of other design are inapplicable from the weakening effect produced by their
need of the removal of far more wood either by mortice cutting or slotting from side,
than locks of my design, & that they can be applied more readily & cheaply & are
more suited for R'y Carriage Road Carriage, House, Ship's State Room & other
doors, being capable of more ready, cheap, & efficient application.
3r
1 1003

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in the Construction and Arrangement of Locks
for Doors.
I, JAMES JOHNSTONE BOURNE of 28 Gracechurch Street in the City of London,
Civil Engineer, 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 said improvements relate to that class of locks in which the handle shaft or
latch when turned in opening the door is held back by a catch which when the door
is closed is released and permits the handle shaft or latch to act automatically for the
purpose of locking the door.
To clearly explain the nature of my invention, reference is made to the accom-
panying drawings which form part of this specification and in which :
Fig. 1 is a perspective view of the lock applied to a portion of the door frame.
Fig. 2 is a sectional view with the catch in its raised position.
Fig. 3 is a plan view on the line a x.
Fig. 4 is a plan view on the line y y with the catch and part of the handle stem
resting against the stops, and-
Fig. is an elevation showing an end view of the catch.
The handle A of the lock may be of any desired shape and has cast with it a
circular shaft a somewhat longer than the thickness of the door pillar, and this shaft
works in bearings formed of two separate castings B, B', secured upon opposite sides
of the door pillar G. The plate B has cast or secured upon it two stops b, b', and a
short length of inclined plane 62 ending in a step or drop. The handle is provided
with a hollow casing a slotted or cut away at the sides of one end so as to embrace
incline over which it can travel without absolute contact as most clearly seen in
Fig. 1. Within casing a¹ is a block or catch a² carried on spring a³ (which may be
advantageously formed of two or more laminated plates) the tendency of which is to
keep block a² down upon incline 62 or plate B depending upon the position of the
handle. If the handle be turned from the position shown in Fig. 1, the block a² will
be raised against the pressure of spring a³, as said block travels up the incline 6ª
against which it will be constantly pressed until the handle has been revolved to its
open position, when the block a having arrived at the abrupt conclusion of the
incline and having been raised some little distance from its plane of normal rest,
is pressed down against plate B and rests against the butt end of incline bf, thereby
preventing any return of the handles to their closed position until by a slam or
complete closing of the door, the block a² has been brought into contact with and
elevated by a striking plate C, fixed upon the door post F, when the shaft, handles
and locking part are caused to move by the action of the spiral spring D which
carries the block a back over the incline 62, and locks the door as hereinafter
set forth.

page_text: The spring D is coiled around the shaft a, between its outer and inner bearings,
and is attached firmly at one end by a screw pin a to the plate B, the other end
being left free until entered into a hole for its reception formed in a nut a³ which is
screwed on the shaft a and coils the spring until the desired tension is obtained, when
it is secured by a lock-nut aª.
The inner handle E is provided with a threaded boss e which is screwed on shaft a
until it presses against the lock-nut a and is held in position by lock-nut e¹. With
this construction the handle and its lock projection may then be considered as one
with the shaft a with which it will revolve.
The projection C on door post F is part of a strip of metal C which extends across
the whole depth of said post at an inclination, and may be provided with a suitable
flange on inner side to form an appropriate bed for the lock, the incline being so
This motion will
regulated as to gradually turn the lock which rubs against it.
slightly turn the shaft a and so take all side strain off block a before it is struck,
and will also give a more gradual closing of the door. When fully closed the action
of spring D will turn shaft a, and bring lock projection e' over the end C² of the
striking plate.
The action of the lock may be briefly described as follows:-
When handle A. or E is turned to unlock the door, block a travels over incline 62
and drops behind its abrupt end where it remains until the door is closed when said
block is raised by striking plate C and the shaft and handles are turned to their
locked position by the action of spring D, the limit of play being governed by the
stops b, b. Although I have shown the lock plate e as being placed on the inside
of the door, it will be evident that an ordinary catch or other lock actuated by shaft a
may be employed, but locks fitted as described are adapted for use where locks of
other design are inapplicable from the weakening effect produced by their need of the
removal of far more wood from the door-pillar than is requisite for locks of my con-
struction and therefore the latter can be applied, and are well suited for, not only
railway carriage doors, but also for road carriages, house doors, ship's state rooms
and other doors and the like.
I am aware that it is not new to make locks which will be locked automatically by
the simple closing of the door, and I do not broadly claim such construction, but―
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:
1st. In automatic locks the combination with the handle A of block or catch a²
attached thereto and moving therewith said catch being adapted to hold the lock in
its open position until the door is closed substantially as set forth.
2nd. In automatic locks the combination with the handle carrying a lock or catch
of plate B carrying incline 62 substantially as and for the purposes described.
3rd. In automatic locks the general construction and arrangement of parts
substantially as hereinbefore described and as illustrated in the accompanying
drawings.
Dated this 14th day of December 1887.
PHILIP M. JUSTICE,
55 & 56, Chancery Lane, London,
Applicant's Agent.