IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF DOOR LOCKS, LATCHES, AND SUCH-LIKE FASTENINGS, PROAL SP-LIK, AND IN KNOB AND HANDLE SPINDLES, AND FURNITURE USED THEREWITH
Year: 1865

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Benjamin Pitt, of 18, Hatton Garden, in the
County of Middlesex, Engineer, for the Invention of " IMPROVEMENTS
IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF DOOR LOCKS, LATCHES, AND SUCH-LIKE FASTENINGS,
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Benjamin Pitt at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
9th November 1865.
I, BENJAMIN PITT, of 18, Hatton Garden, in the County of Middlesex,
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF DOOR LOCKS, LATCHES, AND SUCH-LIKE
FASTENINGS, AND IN KNOB AND HANDLE SPINDLES, AND FURNITURE USED THEREWITH,”
to be as follows:-
The first part of this Invention consists of certain improvements in the
construction of locks, latches, and such-like fastenings, and in the knob
and handle spindles and furniture used therewith, and by means of which
the spindles attached to the knobs and handles, and by which the locks or
latches are actuated, can be readily adapted and adjusted to any thickness
of door or lock, while at the same time the knobs and handles are securely
connected with each other. These objects are effected in the following
manner: In the case of mortice locks, a metallic slide plate is fitted on

page_text: the exterior of the lock, such plate being so arranged as to be moved
backwards and forwards by a screw which works in a stud attached to the
plate, the head of the screw being placed in the fore end of the lock. The
knobs or handles, instead of being constructed with a continuous spindle
in one piece, are each fitted with a spindle either of a rectangular or poly-
gonal section, corresponding portions of each spindle being cut away, so
that when such portions are brought together and overlapped, they
constitute one spindle of uniform diameter and section. The spindles are
furnished with grooves cut thereon and corresponding with each other, so
that by shifting the knobs the spindles can be adjusted to different thick-
nesses of doors and locks, while the coincidence of the grooves is preserved.
The spindles pass through an opening in the before-mentioned sliding
plate, such opening being at the end of a slot formed therein. The plate
is then actuated by the screw until the edges of the slot take into the
grooves upon the spindles, thereby connecting the same, and thus holding
the knobs or handles at the required distance from each other. In order
to remove the knobs or handles, it is only necessary to turn the screw in
the reverse direction, when the sliding plate will be moved and allow of
the spindles being withdrawn through the opening in the said plate. These
arrangements will be more clearly understood by reference to the accom-
panying Drawing. Figure 1 is a horizontal section of a portion of a door
with a mortice lock fitted thereon. A is the door; B, the sliding plate;
C, C, the spindles attached to the knobs, with the grooves cut therein; and
D, the screw by which the plate is actuated. Figure 2 is a view of the
side of the mortice lock detached from the door; A is the side of the
lock; B, the sliding plate; C, the screw; D, a stud fixed to the plate, and
through which the screw works, and E the slot, F being the spindles shewn
in section, and passed through an opening in the plate at the end of the
slot. Ordinary rim locks can be constructed with arrangements similar to
those before described, the sliding plate being placed on that side of the
lock which is next the door. It should be observed that the locks
constructed with the before-mentioned improvements are provided with
suitable followers" for the purpose of actuating the bolt or latch, as will
be well understood by persons acquainted with the construction of
locks and latches.
The second portion of the said Invention relates to certain improvements
in the construction of lock furniture, for which Letters Patent were
granted to me, bearing date the Fourteenth day of May, One thousand
eight hundred and forty-four, and numbered 10,182. Under the said

page_text: last-mentioned Invention, the spindle was not fastened to the knobs, or at
all events only to one of them, the knobs, or one of them, being connected
with a rose, which was fastened to the wood of the door so as to allow the
knob to turn freely round, but in such manner as to sustain the knob in
its intended place on the door without the same being fastened to the
spindle, which in consequence would adjust itself to doors of different
thicknesses without alteration of the length of the spindle. It has been
found in practice that when the fittings last described have been applied
to doors possessing no great thickness and strength, the roses have been
apt to become loosened and detached from the doors. This objection may
be obviated by means of this part of the present Invention, which consists
in substituting for the roses formerly employed plates or escutcheons
through which the shanks of the knobs pass, the latter being held to the
plates or escutcheons by rings or collars formed on or attached to the ends
of the shanks. The plates or escutcheons are connected with and secured
to each other by screws passing through the door. These arrangements
will be more clearly understood by reference to the accompanying Drawings.
Figure 3 represents a transverse section of a mortice lock and door, to
which the last described portion of my Invention has been applied; A is the
door; B, B, the knobs, and C, the spindle; a, a, being metallic rings or collars
attached to the ends of the shanks of the knobs, and by which the latter
are held to the plates or escutcheons; D, D, E, E, are the screws passing
through the door, and connecting the respective plates or escutcheons.
Figure 4 represents one of the last-mentioned plates or escutcheons, the
screws being shewn at A, A, A, A.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Benjamin Pitt in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 9th May 1866.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, BENJAMIN
PITT, now of Wolverhampton, in the County of Stafford, but formerly of
18, Hatton Garden, in the County of Middlesex, Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Ninth day of November, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, in the twenty-ninth
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and
grant unto me, the said Benjamin Pitt, Her special licence that I, the

page_text: said Benjamin Pitt, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said Benjamin Pitt, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF DOOR LOCKS, LATCHES,
AND SUCH-LIKE FASTENINGS, AND IN KNOB AND HANDLE SPINDLES AND FURNITURE
USED THEREWITH," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
Benjamin Pitt, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing
under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should particu-
larly 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 I, the said Benjamin Pitt, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed,
and to the figures and letters marked thereon, that is to say :-
:-
The first part of my said Invention consists of certain improvements in
the construction of locks, latches, and such like fastenings, and in the knob
and handle spindles and furniture used therewith, and by means of which
the spindles attached to the knobs and handles, and by which the locks or
Jatches are actuated, can be readily adapted and adjusted to any thickness
of door or lock, while at the same time the knobs or handles are securely
connected with each other. These objects are effected in the following
manner In the case of mortice locks a metallic slide plate is fitted on
the exterior of the lock, such plate being so arranged as to be moved back-
wards and forwards by a screw which works in a stud attached to the plate,
the head of the screw being placed in the fore end of the lock. The
knobs or handles instead of being constructed with a continuous spindle
in one piece, are each fitted with a spindle either of a rectangular or poly-
gonal section, corresponding portions of each spindle being cut away, so
that when such portions are brought together and overlapped they consti-
tute one spindle of uniform diameter and section, or the spindles may be
fixed in metallic sockets constructed to receive them and screwed into the
knobs. The spindles are furnished with grooves cut thereon and corre-
sponding with each other, so that by shifting the knobs the spindles can

page_text: be adjusted to different thicknesses of doors and locks whilst the coinci-
dence of the grooves is preserved. The spindles pass through an opening
in the before-mentioned sliding plate, such opening being at the end a
slot formed therein. The plate is then actuated by the screw until the
edges of the slot take into the grooves upon the spindles, thereby connecting
the same, and thus holding the knobs or handles at the required distance
from each other. In order to remove the knobs or handles it is only
necessary to turn the screw head in the fore end of the lock in the reverse
direction, when the sliding plate will be moved, and allow of the spindles
being withdrawn through the opening in the plate. These arrangements
will be more clearly understood by reference to the accompanying Drawings.
Figure I is a horizontal section of a portion of a door with a mortice lock
fitted therein. A is the door; B, the sliding plate; C, C, the spindles
attached to the knobs with the grooves cut therein, and D the screw by.
which the plate is actuated. Figure 2 is a view of the side of the mortice
lock detached from the door. A is the side of the lock; B, the sliding
plate; C, the screw; D, a stud fixed to the plate, and through which the
screw works; and E, the slot; F being the spindles shewn in section, and
passed through an opening in the plate at the end of the slot. Arrange-
ments similar to those before described can be applied to ordinary rim
locks, the sliding plate being placed on that side of the lock which is next
the door. Figure 3 in the accompanying Drawings shews a section of a
door with a rim lock attached thereto. A is the door; B, the sliding plate;
C, the screw; D, the nut; and E, E, the spindles.
Another mode of applying the same principle as that embodied in the
before-mentioned modifications of my Invention is as follows, and is espe-
cially applicable to cases in which glass, porcelain, or ebony knobs are
employed. The metal mounts attached to the knobs are constructed with
a screw thread on the exterior thereof, and which screws fit into additional
detached cylindrical mounts or collars, the interiors of which are furnished
with corresponding screw threads. Each of the said last-mentioned mounts
or collars is provided with a groove cut on the exterior thereof at the end
which is placed nearest to the lock, and which grooves are adapted to
receive the sliding plates, of which latter there are two, one on each side
of the lock, instead of one as in the herein-before described modifications
of my said Invention. The knobs are capable of being adjusted to the
utmost nicety as to distance from the door by means of the screws, the
knobs themselves being connected together by an ordinary angular spindle
which is inserted into the knobs through the mounts, the sliding plates

page_text: being then worked into position by the screw at the fore end of the lock
(and which acts upon both plates at the same time) so as to fit into the
grooves cut in the cylindrical mounts or collars as before mentioned. The
knobs being thus connected together will upon being turned in either
direction operate upon the spindle only, which in its turn will actuate the
"follower" of the lock. Figure 4 in the accompanying Drawings will
more fully explain the nature of the last-mentioned modification of my said
Invention. This Figure shews the lock in section. A is the door; B,
the sliding plates; C, the screw; D, the nut; E, E, the mounts with
external screws fitting. into the detached collars F, F. It should be
observed that the locks and latches constructed with the several before-
mentioned improvements are provided with suitable "followers" for the
purpose of actuating the bolt or latch, as will be well understood by
persons acquainted with the construction of locks and latches.
The second portion of my said Invention relates to certain improve-
ments in the construction of lock furniture, for which Letters Patent were
granted to me bearing date the Fourteenth day of May, One thousand
eight hundred and forty-four, and numbered 10,182. Under the said last-
mentioned Invention the spindle was not fastened to the knobs, or at all
events only to one of them, the knobs, or one of them, being connected
with a rose which was fastened to the door so as to allow the knob to turn
freely round, but in such manner as to sustain the knob in its intended
place on the door without the same being fastened to the spindle, which,
in consequence of such arrangement, would adjust itself to doors of different
thicknesses without alteration of the length of the spindle. It has been
found in practice that when the fittings last described have been applied to
doors possessing no great thickness and strength, the roses have been apt
to become loosened and detached from the doors. This objection may be
obviated by means of this part of my present Invention, which consists in
substituting for the roses formerly employed plates or escutcheons, through
which the shanks of the knobs pass, the latter being held to the plates or
escutcheons by rings or collars formed on or attached to the ends of the
shanks. The plates or escutcheons are connected with and secured to each
other by screws passing through the door. These arrangements will be
more clearly understood by reference to the accompanying Drawings.
Figure 5 represents a transverse section of a mortice lock and door to
which the last described portion of my said Invention has been applied;
A is the door; B, B, the knobs, and C, the spindle; a, a, being metallic
rings or collars attached to the ends of the shanks of the knobs, and by

page_text: which the latter are held to the plates or escutcheons D, D; E, E, are the
screws passing through the door and connecting the respective plates or
escutcheons.
Figure 6 represents one of the last-mentioned plates or
escutcheons, the screws being shewn at A, A, A, A.
Having thus fully declared and ascertained the nature of my said Inven-
tion, and the manner in which it is to be performed, I would observe in
conclusion, that what I consider novel and original, and therefore claim as
constituting the said Invention secured to me by the said herein-before
in part recited Letters Patent are,-
First, the construction and combination of the before-mentioned sliding
plates and of the spindles and metallic mounts, fittings, and mechanism
connected therewith, and their application to door locks, latches, and such
like fastenings, as substantially herein-before set forth and described, or
any mere modifications thereof.
And, secondly, the construction and combination of lock furniture
herein-before mentioned as constituting the second portion of my said
Invention, as substantially herein-before set forth and described, or any
inere modifications thereof.
In witness whereof, I, the said Benjamin Pitt, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Ninth day of May, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five.
Witness,
E. P. H. VAUGHAN,
54, Chancery Lane,
Agent for the Patentee.
BENJAMIN PITT. (L.S.)