IMPROVEMENTS IN SAPES, AND IN PROTECTING THE LOCKS AND BOLTS OF SAFES, AND OTHER LOCKS AND BOLTS
Year: 1865

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Joseph Groves and George
Robinson at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with their
Petition, on the 23rd December 1865.
We, JOSEPH GROVES, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Safe
Manufacturer, and GEORGE ROBINSON, the younger, of Birmingham aforesaid,
Safe Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN SAPES, AND IN PROTECTING THE LOCKS AND BOLTS OF SAFES,
AND OTHER LOCKS AND BOLTS," to be as follows:-
Our improvements in safes consist, firstly, in making on the side of the body
of the safe, opposite that to which the door of the safe is hinged, as well as on
the top and bottom of the body of the safe, flat projecting pieces, which pro-
jecting pieces when the door of the safe is closed enter corresponding shaped
depressions or recesses made in the side and top and bottom of the outer door
of the safe. The sides and door of the safe are thus engaged together
when the door is closed, and the wrenching of the said sides from the
door effectually prevented.
Our improvements in safes consist, secondly, in making the front part of
the open side of the safe against which the door shuts of plates or bars of
iron or steel made of an inverted trough shape with flanges, or of the shape
of the ordinary bridge rail. The said trough-shaped plates are rivetted by
their flanges to the outer plates of the safe, and constitute a hollow projecting
rib running all round the open front of the safe. When the door of the safe
is closed it shuts against the side of the said hollow rib, and the bolts of the

page_text: door engage with the summit of the said rib to fasten the door. The said
inverted trough-shaped plates or bars are made by rolling.
Our improvements in safes consist, thirdly, in making a square or angular
groove or depression near the edge of the side plate of the safe to which the
door is hinged, into which groove the edge of the inner steel door of the safe
enters when the door is shut. The introduction of a chisel or instrument
between the joint of the door and side of the safe is thereby prevented.
Our improvements in protecting the locks of safes and other articles consist of
the arrangement of parts herein-after described for preventing the introduction
of gunpowder or a picking instrument into the lock through the keyhole.
This part of our Invention is especially applicable to the protection of the
locks of safes, and we will describe it in connection with a safe.
In the outer door of the safe and at the part where the ordinary escutcheon
is situated, we fix a steel plate or block, in the middle of which steel block is
a disc or circular plate capable of a partial rotation. In the said circular disc
is a hole similar to a keyhole, which can at pleasure be made to coincide or
not with the keyhole of the lock of the safe, the partial rotation of the said
disc in one or other direction covering or uncovering the said keyhole of the
lock. When the hole in the circular disc coincides with that of the lock the
key can be introduced through the said holes, and the bolts of the lock shot
or withdrawn. After the locking of the safe the disc is turned a quarter
rotation, so as to cover the keyhole of the lock, and prevent the introduction
of gunpowder or a picking instrument through the keyhole into the lock.
The circular disc is fixed in the position last described in the following
way: In the inner door of the safe is a small supplementary lock, the key-
hole of which is situated opposite a small hole made in the steel block in
which the circular disc turns. After the safe has been locked and the circular
'dise turned so as to cover the keyhole as before described, a steel pin or cotter
is passed through and made to fill up the hole in the said disc, a groove in the
end of the said pin or cotter being placed in a line with the bolt of the sup-
plementary lock. By shooting the said bolt by means of a key introduced
through the hole in the steel block, it is made to engage with the end of the
pin or cotter, and thus fix or lock the circular disc in its place. In order to
unlock the door of the safe to which a protector made according to our
Invention is applied, it is necessary first to withdraw the bolt of the second or
supplementary lock, so as to release the pin or cotter which fixes the disc in
its place. The pin or cotter can now be removed from the hole in the disc,
and the said disc turned a quarter rotation, so as to make the hole in it coincide
with the keyhole of the lock of the safe. This having been done the key

page_text: may be introduced through the said hole in the disc into the safe lock and
made to withdraw the bolts and unfasten the safe.
On the withdrawal of the bolt of the second or supplementary lock the
pin or cotter is raised by a spring in the hole in the disc sufficiently far to
enable its head to be grasped by the fingers and removed.
We protect the bolts of safes and other bolts in the following manner :-
To the axis of a knob, fixed by preference in the middle of the door, we attach
a follower, which said follower on the turning of the knob projects two or
more bolts into the sides of the safe or the sides of the door to which our
Invention is applied. A lock is fixed underneath the knob, the position of
the said lock being such that when its bolt is shot it engages with the follower
and prevents the withdrawal of the bolts connected with the follower.
This part of our Invention is especially applicable to the backs of safes and
strong rooms and to warehouse doors.