MENTS IN SAFES AND OTHER SUCH DEPOSITORIES, AND FURTHER IMPROVEMENTS IN THE LOCKS OF THE SAME
Year: 1854

page_text: MENTS IN SAFES AND OTHER SUCH DEPOSITORIES, AND FURTHER IMPROVEMENTS
IN THE LOCKS OF THE SAME
"
Sealed the 30th March 1854, and dated the 20th December 1854.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Milner at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
20th December 1854.
I, WILLIAM MILNER, of Liverpool, in the County of Lancaster, Fireproof
Safe Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of my said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN SAFES AND OTHER SUCH DEPOSITORIES, AND FURTHER IMPROVE-
MENTS IN THE LOCKS OF THE SAME" to apply principally to that part of the door
of safes called the "lock case," that is, the chamber between the inner and
outer door plates, in which the large bolts are usually placed and secured by
the lock, when shot or thrown into their corresponding recesses or bolt holes
in the top, bottom, and side of the safe.
The first part of my improvements is designed to extend the principle of
preventing the destructive effect of gunpowder or other explosive compound or
agent, exactly in a similar manner as that secured to me by Letters Patent,

page_text: dated the Twentieth day of February, One thousand eight hundred and fifty-
four, as therein particularly applied to "locks of safes."
The present improvement consists in filling up all the open space or spaces
usually left between the inner and outer plates, forming the door, with wood or
other similar suitable material, leaving only sufficient space for the seat or
position of the lock, and the working or passage of the bolts. It will be there-
fore evident that the great space forming the "lock case" in doors of safes, &c.,
which has heretofore been a receptacle for a large and destructive quantity of
gunpowder, is by this Invention prevented from being available, as it is filled or
reduced to the smallest possible capacity.
The second part of my improvement is a further reduction of the space or
room for the action or presence of gunpowder, and applicable only to the
description of lock before mentioned as the subject-matter of the Patent recited,
and is effected by filling up nearly two-thirds of the space ordinarily left in
locks for the passage of the key, and leaving only sufficient room to pass the
key in, perform the operation of locking and unlocking, and withdrawing the key
immediately it has performed these operations, instead of turning the key round
a complete revolution, as hitherto done, and by this improvement the available
space for the presence or action of gunpowder is reduced to the minimum.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Milner in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
20th June 1855.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
MILNER, of Liverpool, in the County of Lancaster, Fire-proof Safe Manu-
facturer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twentieth day of December, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four, in the eighteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said William Milner, Her especial licence that I, the said William
Milner, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I,
the said William Milner, my executors, administrators, 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 "IMPROVE-

page_text: MENTS IN SAFES AND OTHER SUCH DEPOSITORIES, AND FURTHER IMPROVEMENTS IN
LOCKS FOR THE SAME," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
William Milner, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, 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 imme-
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Milner, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement and accompanying Drawings (that is to say):-
These improvements apply principally to that part of the door of fire-proof
or fire-resisting safes called the "lock case," that is, the chamber between the
inner and outer door plates, in which the large bolts are usually placed and
secured by the lock when shot or thrown into their corresponding recesses or
bolt holes in the top, bottom, and side of the safe.
The first part of my improvement is designed to extend the principle of pre-
venting the destructive effect of gunpowder or other explosive compound or
agent, in a similar manner as that secured to me by Letters Patent, dated the
Twentieth day of February, One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four, as
therein particularly applied to "locks of safes."
The present improvement consists in filling up all the open space or spaces
usually left between the inner and outer plates forming the door, with wood or
other similar suitable material, leaving only sufficient space for the seat or
position of the lock, and the working or passage of the bolts. It will be
therefore evident that the great space forming the "lock case in doors of
safes, &c., which has heretofore been a receptacle for a large and destructive
quantity of gunpowder, is by this Invention prevented from being available,
as it is filled or reduced to the smallest practicable capacity.
The second part of my improvements is a further reduction of the space or
room for the action or presence of gunpowder, and applicable to the description
of lock before mentioned as the subject-matter of the Patent herein recited,
and is effected by filling up nearly two-thirds of the space ordinarily left in locks
for the passage of the key, and leaving only sufficient room to pass the key in,
perform the operation of locking or unlocking, and withdrawing the key
immediately it has performed these operations, instead of turning the key round
a complete revolution, as hitherto done, and by this improvement the available
space for the presence or action of gunpowder is reduced to a minimum.
In order that my Invention may be the better understood and explained in

page_text: detail, I have attached to these Presents a Sheet of Drawing; Figs. 1 and 2
being made upon a scale of about half size, and Figs. 3 and 4 full size, having
marked on the Figures therein similar letters of reference referring to
corresponding parts of the same.
Fig. 1 represents a front elevation of a safe door, exhibiting these improve-
ments; the face or outer plate a, a, of the door being removed, so as better
to illustrate the wood packing or filling, and key-hole admitting only of the
partial revolution of the key. Fig. 2 exhibits a sectional clevation of Fig. 1;
the door being shewn complete, and with the fire-resisting composition
chamber b, b, shewn as well as the "lock chamber." c, c, represents the back
plate, forming the "lock chamber" or "lock case;" and d, d, wood packing
or filling, which effectually prevents any lodgment of powder, or any other
explosive or deleterious agent; e. c, (Fig. 3,) exhibits by dotted lines the run
or chase of the bolts, hollowed out on the inner side of the wood or other
packing to admit of the "throw" of the bolts; f, f, represents the key-hole, for
the introduction and withdrawal of the key without completing a revolution
when locking or unlocking the safe. This will be seen more plainly on
reference to Figs. 1 and 3; the dotted line 9 representing the extreme limit
of the necessary revolution of the key for the purpose of either locking or
unlocking. h, h, represents the solid gunpowder-proof lock, which is bolted,
screwed up, or secured to the outer door plate, as hereafter described, and not
to the inner lock case, as hitherto done. Fig. 3 represents (full size) a front
view, and Fig. 4 a section, of this improved gunpowder-proof lock, which con-
sists of a slab of solid metal h, h, with the exception of that part only necessarily
perforated or hollowed out for the reception and action of the works. This
lock h is placed upon a slab of solid metal i, strongly rivetted upon the outer
door plate; another inside slab of metal j is then placed upon the lock, and
these three slabs are drilled through the holes, also going half way into the back
side of the half-inch thickness of the outer door plate. Very strong screw
bolts k, k, (six or more in number, are strongly screwed up to the door from
the inside, making the three slabs into one complete strong mass of metal,
in the centre of which the key-hole is situated. It will also be seen clearly, in
Fig. 3, that the back or tail of the tumblers or levers 7 of the lock abut solidly
against that part of the lock in which they are placed, which assists in pre-
venting their being displaced or broken off their pin or fulcrum by internal
explosion.
Having now fully described the nature of my said Invention, and the
manner in which the same may be put into practical effect, I wish it to be
distinctly understood that I claim,―

page_text: First, the novel application, employment, and use of wood for the purpose
of packing or filling the space usually left empty or vacant in the doors of fire-
proof or fire-resisting safes, and other such depositories, as herein particularly
described and set forth, and fully illustrated in the accompanying Drawing at
Figs. 1 and 2; or the novel application, employment, and use of any other
similar suitable material, as metal, baked earthenware, corkwood, &c., for the
same purpose; although I prefer wood, owing to its cellular or spongy and
elastic nature, causing the fibres to close quickly on the withdrawal of a boring
instrument.
And, secondly, I claim, as further improvements in locks for safes, the
reduction of the space in locks hitherto available for the reception of gunpowder
or other destructive agent, together with the system of securing the lock, and
particularly the rounded tails or ends at the fulcrum or joint of the levers
working or abutting solidly against the mass of metal surrounding the works,
as also herein particularly described, and exhibited clearly at Fig. 3 in the
Drawing annexed.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Milner, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Eighteenth day of June, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five.
WILLIAM MILNER. (L.S.)