Im- PROVEMENTS IN LOCKS AND LATCHES
Year: 1866

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Joseph Beverley Fenby, of Birmingham, in the
County of Warwick, Mechanical Engineer, for the Invention of "Im-
PROVEMENTS IN LOCKS AND LATCHES."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Joseph Beverley Fenby
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 4th June 1866.
I, JOSEPH BEVERLEY FENBY, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick,
Mechanical Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN LOCKS AND LATCHES," to be as follows:-
My improvements in locks consist, firstly, in substituting an oscillating
tail for the prolongation of the bolt called the lath. The said oscillating tail
is secured to the bolt by a pin on which it turns, and is so shaped that the
key on being turned acts upon it so as to shoot or withdraw the bolt. This
oscillating tail either passes under a bridge with which in the shot or withdrawn
positions of the bolt it engages or is gated to a stump attached to the case of
the lock, thus acting as a lever as well as the bolt tail; more than one of
these oscillating tails may be employed, in which case one only may be so
shaped on its under sido as to be acted on by the key so as to shoot or with-
draw the bolt, or more than one or all the said tails may be so shaped. Any

page_text: of the oscillating tails which are not shaped for the key to act on to shoot or
withdraw the bolt are shaped to a curve to be acted on as ordinary levers.
My improvements in locks consist, secondly, in the employment of a cranked
paul for carrying a stump with which the gatings in the oscillating tails
engage so that any pressure brought to bear on the stump by the levers or
oscillating tails shall throw the longer arm of the said cranked pall into a
recess in the bolt, transferring the strain from the stump to the strong pin
upon which the paul turns, I employ one spring to act both on the oscillating
tail and on the paul, from which it results that there is not sufficient binding
between the oscillating tail or lever and the stump to serve for picking the
lock by pressure. The cranked paul may be maintained in its position by
friction alone without the action of a spring. In this case the bolt is provided
with projections to bring the paul to its normal position whenever the lock is
fully locked.
My improvements in latches consist in hanging latch bolts by the spring
which throws them forward, the said spring being made to perform the combined
office of spring and link rod. The lower end of the spring is rivetted or
screwed or otherwise fixed to the rear end of the bolt, and on the sliding of
the bolt the said rear end of the bolt describes a curve, having the spring for
a radius. The slight curvilinear motion of the rear end of the bolt produces
no sensible deviation from rectilinear motion in the free end of the bolt.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Joseph Beverley Fenby in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 1st December 1866.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOSEPH S
BEVERLEY FENBY, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Mechanical
Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fourth day of June, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-six, in the twenty-ninth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Joseph Beverley Fenby, Her special licence that I, the said Joseph Beverley
Fenby, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said Joseph Beverley Fenby, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all a
times thereafter during the term therein expressed, should and lawfully might

page_text: 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 LOCKS AND LATCHES," upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said Joseph Beverley Fenby, my executors or administrators, by
an instrument in writing under my, or their, or 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 perforined, 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 I, the said Joseph Beverley Fenby, 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 thereof, that is to say :-
My improvements in locks consist, firstly, in substituting an oscillating tail
for the prolongation of the bolt called the lath. The said oscillating tail is
secured to the bolt by a pin on which it turns, and is so shaped that the key
on being turned acts upon it so as to shoot or withdraw the bolt. This
oscillating tail either passes under a bridge, with which in the shot or with-
drawn positions of the bolt it engages or is gated to a stump attached to the
case of the lock, thus acting as a lever as well as the bolt tail; more than
one of these oscillating tails may be employed, in which case one only may be
so shaped on its under sido as to be acted on by the key so as to shoot or
withdraw the bolt, or more than one or all the said tails may be so shaped.
Any of the oscillating tails which are not shaped for the key to act on to
shoot or withdraw the bolt are shaped to a curve to be acted on as ordinary
levers.
My improvements in locks consist, secondly, in the employment of a
cranked paul for carrying a stump with which the gatings in the oscillating
tails engage, so that any pressure brought to bear on the stump by the levers
or oscillating tails shall throw the longer arm of the said cranked paul into a
recess in the bolt, transferring the strain from the stump to the strong pin
upon which the paul turns. I employ one spring to act both on the oscillating
tail and on the paul, from which it results that there is not sufficient binding
between the oscillating tail or lever and the stump to serve for picking the
lock by pressure. The cranked paul may be maintained in its position by
friction alone without the action of a spring; in this case the bolt is provided
with projections to bring the paul to its normal position whenever the lock is
fully locked.
My improvements in latches consist in hanging latch bolts by the spring

page_text: which throws them forward, the said spring being made to perform the com-
bined office of spring and link rod. The lower end of the spring is rivetted,
or screwed, or otherwise fixed to the rear end of the bolt, and on the sliding of
the said bolt the said rear end of the bolt describes a curve having the spring
for a radius. The slight curvilinear motion of the rear end of the bolt
produces no sensible deviation from rectilinear motion in the free end of the
-bolt.
Having explained the nature of my Invention I will proceed to describe,
with reference to the accompanying Drawings, the manner in which the same is
to be performed.
Figure 1 represents in elevation (the top plate being removed) a door lock
provided with oscillating tails according to my Invention, the bolt being shot;
and Figure 2 represents the same with the bolt withdrawn; Figure 3 is an
edge view of the bolt and oscillating tails.
a is the bolt sliding between the guide pins; b and c are the oscillating
tails used in place of the prolongation of the bolt called the lath, the said
oscillating tails being secured to the said bolt by a pin or axis d on which the
said tails turn. The parts of the oscillating tails c nearly opposite the keyhole
are shaped for the key of the lock to act upon them, so that on turning the
said key the latter acts upon the tails and shoots or withdraws the bolta. The
oscillating tails c are pressed down by the springs c, the upper free ends of
which bear and travel against the lock case. The oscillating tails c, c, pass
under a bridge e, with which bridge one or other of the slots f, g, of the said
tails engages when the bolt is shot or withdrawn, as illustrated in the Drawing.
In shooting or withdrawing the bolt a the key on being turned first raises
the tails c sufficiently high to liberate them from the bridge when the
further rotation of the key shoots or withdraws the bolt. Instead of the
oscillating tails c passing under and engaging with a bridge as described and
illustrated the said oscillating tails may be gated to a stump on the lock caso,
the said tails in this case acting as levers as well as the bolt tail.
In the Drawing, Figures 1 and 2, both the oscillating tails are shaped to bo
acted upon by the key to shoot or withdraw the bolt, one only however may
be used or more than two. When two or more oscillating tails are employed,
one only of the said tails may be shaped to be acted upon for moving the bolt,
while the others are shaped to a curve to be acted on as ordinary levers; or
the oscillating tails may be arranged to act only as levers, as in the lock herein-
after next described.
Figures 4 and 5 represent elevations (with the top plate removed) of a
door lock containing a cranked paul and oscillating tails according to my

page_text: Invention. In Figure 4 the cranked paul is represented in position to permit
of the withdrawal of the bolt when the true key is employed, and in
Figure 5 the said cranked paul is represented engaged with the bolt of the
lock by the action of a false key upon the oscillating tails or levers;
Figures 6, 7, and 8 represent parts of the lock as herein-after described, and
Figure 9 represents the key. The same letters indicate the same parts in
Figures 4, 5, 6, and 7.
a is the bolt of the lock, to which the oscillating tails or levers 6 are
jointed at, the said bolt a being recessed at a to receive the jointed ends
of the said oscillating tails. The bolt a is represented separately in front and
edge views in Figure 6; and one of the oscillating tails b is represented
separately in Figure 7. To the end of the bolt a a plate or diaphragm a³
is connected, which plate or diaphragm divides the lock case into two com-
partments, in one of which the keyhole is situated, and in the other the
greater part of the oscillating tails or levers b, and also the cranked paul d, d³,
are situated. By means of the plate or diaphragm a³ access to the cranked
The rear end
paul d, d, by a tool passed through the keyhole is prevented.
of the plate or diaphragm a³ works upon a pin c and against the fixed plate a*,
so that whether the bolt a is shot or withdrawn there is no break in the
division or diaphragm of the lock. In addition to serving to divide the lock
case into two parts, the plate or diaphragm a' also serves to shoot or with-
draw the bolt by the key acting against the loop as in the said plate, instead
of the key acting upon the oscillating tails, as in the first described arrange-
ment. The oscillating tails or levers b in this arrangement project and work
through a cut away part a' in the plate or diaphragm a³, and are acted upon
by the key as ordinary levers. The cranked paul d, &, turns on the strong
pin on the lock case, and carries a stump d', which stump engages with
the gatings e, e, of the oscillating tails or levers b. The cranked paul d, d³, is
represented separately in Figure 8. The oscillating tails or levers bare
pressed down by springs f, the upper ends of which springs bear against the
under side of the said paul and maintain the said paul in its normal position
so long as the bolt is not acted upon by a false key or attempted to be picked.
By the use of the same springs to act both on the oscillating ta'ls or levers
and on the paul there is not sufficient binding between the oscillating tails or
levers and the stump d' of the paul to serve for picking the lock by pressure.
Instead of maintaining the cranked paul d, d³, in its position by the action of
a spring or springs, the lock may be provided with projections to bring it to
its normal position whenever the bolt is fully locked. In shooting or with-
drawing the bolt a of the lock, Figures 4 and 5, the true key, Figure 9, on

page_text: being introduced and turned first raises tho oscillating tails or levers b, b,
sufficiently high to bring the horizontal gatings in the tails or levers opposite
the stump d' of the cranked paul d, d. By the further rotation of the key
it bears against the loop a³ of the plate a³, and shoots or withdraws the bolt a,
the stump d' entering one or other of the vertical gatings of the said tails or
levers b. The positions of the parts of the lock when the bolt is shot is
represented in the Drawing. During the motion of the bolt a the springs f
travel against the cranked paul, but the said paul and the stump carried by
it are stationary, the said paul and stump occupying the positions represented
in Figure 4. If, however, a false key be introduced into the lock and turned,
and pressure be put upon the oscillating tails or levers in a direction proper
to withdraw the bolt, or pressure in the same direction otherwise applied be
brought to bear upon the said tails or levers, the latter act upon the stump d'
and give motion to the short arm d² of the cranked paul d, d, and cause the
free end of the longer arm d to engage with a recess g in the bolt a, and
thereby transfer the strain from the stump d' to the strong pin or axis upon
which the paul turns, and prevent the withdrawal of the bolt, as illustrated in
Figure 5.
Figures 10 and 11 represent elevations of a cabinet lock provided with a
cranked paul according to my Invention; Figure 10 representing the said
paul out of action, and Figure 11 the same in action; Figures 12 and 13
represent parts of the lock, and Figure 14 represents the key. In this lock
I employ the ordinary lath a to the bolt a, upon which lath the levers 6 are
situated and turn in the ordinary way. The bolt a and lath a³ are represented
separately in Figure 12. c, c, is the cranked paul, the stump of which
works in the gatings of the levers 6 in the manner herein-before described
with respect to the oscillating tails. The cranked paul is represented
separately in Figure 13. The springs e by which the levers aro pressed down
and the paul raised are arranged somewhat differently from the springs in the
previously described arrangement, that is, the springs bear against a stud on
the paul, and the free ends bear and travel against the lock case. The
action of the cranked paul in this lock is precisely similar to that in the lock
previously described. The bolt a is made to slide with some resistance by
means of the spring g, which when the bolt is shot drops into a notch in
the bolt as represented in Figure 10. Access through the keyhole to the
cranked paul in this lock is prevented by making the rear end of the lath a
of the bolt a with a projecting edge a³ which completely separates the com-
partment in which the keybole is made from that in which the cranked paul
is situated.

page_text: Figure 15 represents a combined door lock and latch, the mechanism both
of the lock and latch being constructed or arranged according to my Inven-
tion. In this lock the oscillating tails 6 of the bolt a are acted upon by the
key to shoot or withdraw the bolt, the said oscillating tails 6 turning upon a
projecting pin on the said bolt, as best seen in the separate view of the
bolt, Figure 16, instead of entering a depression or cut away part in the bolt,
as in Figures 4 and 5. Access through the keyhole to the cranked paul c, c³,
is in this lock prevented by a circular plate or guard d around the keyhole.
The latch bolt of this combined lock and latch is hung by the spring f to the
lock case.
The said spring f is connected to the fixed pin g, and one of its
limbs is connected to the rear end of the latch bolt e in the manner
represented in the Drawing, the free end of the said limb bearing against the
side of the lock case. The spring fis thus made to perform the combined
office of spring and link rod. An under side view of the latch bolt e is repre-
sented in Figure 17, the spring connected to the bolt being marked f;
h is the follower of the latch, the arms of which are made to act upon the
bolt so as to withdraw it in the ordinary way. When the latch is with-
drawn from its staple by the action of the follower the spring f is compressed
and turns upon the pin 9 as a centre, the rear end of the bolt having a
slight curvilinear motion. On the pressure being removed from the follower
the bolt is forced outwards by the spring f, the parts resuming the positions
represented in the Drawing.
The cranked paul described and represented may be applied to locks or
latches of the kind called night latches, and to all kinds of locks the bolts of
which have a sliding motion similar to those herein described.
Having now described the nature of my Invention, and the manner in
which the same is to be performed, I wish it to be understood that I do not
limit myself to the precise details herein described and illustrated, as the
same may be varied without departing from the nature of my Invention; but
I claim as my Invention,-
Firstly, the improvements in locks herein-before described and illustrated
in the accompanying Drawings, that is to say, substituting for the ordinary
prolongation of the bolt, called the lath, an oscillating tail or oscillating
tails, which said tail or tails turn on a pin or centre on the said bolt, the
said oscillating tail or oscillating tails being used for shooting or with-
drawing the bolt by the action of the key, substantially as described and
illustrated.
Secondly, the improvements in locks hercin-before described and illus-
trated in the accompanying Drawings, that is to say, the use of a cranked

page_text: paul carrying a stump, which stump works in the gatings of the oscillating
tails or levers of the lock, for the purpose and substantially in the manner
described and illustrated.
Thirdly, the improvement in latches herein-before described and illustrated
in the accompanying Drawings, that is to say, hanging the latch bolt by
means of a spring, which said spring serves both to shoot the latch bolt and
connect it to the lock or latch case.
In witness whereof, I, the said Joseph Beverley Fenby, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Thirtieth day of November, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six.
JOSEPH BEVERLEY FENBY. (LS.)
Witness,
RICHARD SKERRETT,
Clerk to George Shaw,
Birmingham.