Improvements in Locks.
Year: 1898

page_text: Date of Application, 7th Oct., 1898-Accepted, 12th Nov.,
1898
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Locks.
I, ROBERT BRUNO JENTZSCH, Engineer, of IV Wiedener Haupstrasse, No. 6,
Vienna, Austria, 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:-
My invention relates to that class of locks in which a bolt or an equivalent
thereof is retained or arrested in a certain position in certain positions by one or
more tumblers or equivalents thereof which must be set or adjusted in a certain
position by a key or similar device introduced into the lock, before the bolt or its
equivalent can be moved, and has for its object the construction of a lock of this
kind which will permit the using of any one out of a certain number of differently
cut or notched keys, only that particular key, however being able to reopen the
lock which was employed for closing it.
In the annexed drawing a simple lock of this kind is shown by way of example,
a indicating the bolt and b a tumbler. There is only one tumbler shown, but,
as a matter of course, any desired number of tumblers or their equivalents may
be placed into one lock, according to the degree of safety or to the number of
different keys that are desired to be obtained.
As in any ordinary lock the bolt a carries a rigid pin or similar part a¹, which
travels through a slit into the locking aperture or recess of the tumbler when the
bolt is shot. Now instead of one such slit and aperture, I provide the tumbler
or tumblers of my lock with two or more locking apertures or recesses c c each
one of these having a separate and independent slit or passage for the locking
pin a', of the bolt. The tumblers may either be placed over the pin a¹ with a
common aperture 2 from which the slits or passages el c¹ lead into the locking
apertures or recesses c c as shown in the drawing, or the tumblers may be so
placed with reference to the pin a¹ that the latter will enter from the outside
through the slits c¹ into the apertures c.
The advantages gained by a lock constructed in the manner just described are
obvious as will be seen from the following example.
Supposing a lock were made with three tumblers, each having three locking
apertures or recesses c with the corresponding passages c¹ for the locking pin a,
this lock would give all the security of an ordinary three tumbler lock, but would
permit the employment of 27 differently cut or notched keys, this number corre-
between the nine different locking
sponding to the possible combinations
apertures c in the three tumblers. When the lock is operated by any one of these
different keys, the tumblers will be set according to the way that key is notched:
for instance, the first of the three tumblers may be set by the key so that the
locking pin a¹ will enter the third locking recess c of that tumbler, the second
tumbler may be set for the passage of the pin a' into the first locking recess c, and
the third tumbler for the second opening. When the bolt is shot, these recesses
will drop over the pin a¹, the same as in any ordinary lock, and will arrest the
bolt. It is immaterial whether the tumblers are held down by springs or by any

page_text: two or
other means known for this purpose. From the foregoing follows that any key
differently cut or notched from the one used for locking, will be unable to reset
the tumblers for the return passage of the pin a', as it is bound to raise one,
all of the tumblers either too high or not sufficiently high, according to the
difference in the notching. When, however, the bolt is returned home and all
the tumblers at rest, as the drawing indicates, any other of the in the present
example 27-keys will fit the lock again for shooting the bolt; setting the
tumblers in the combination for which it is notched.
As a matter of course, different kinds of tumblers may be employed in one
and the same lock, as for instance one or more tumblers with two locking recesses,
one or more with three locking recesses and so forth. Or, my improved tumblers
with a plurality of locking recesses may be placed into a lock together with one
or more ordinary tumblers.
Having now fully described and ascertained the nature of my said invention,
and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I claim
and desire to secure by Letters Patent is;-
1. Lock, in which one or more tumblers or their equivalents are provided with
a plurality of locking apertures or recesses, each of which apertures or recesses
is accessible to the locking pin or medium by a separate passage.
2. In a lock the combination with a bolt and its locking pin or medium of a
tumbler or tumblers 6 or their equivalent having a plurality of locking apertures
or recesses c and a corresponding number of separate slits or passages e¹ for the
locking medium; substantially as and for the purpose set forth.
The 7th Onto 1000
GEORGE DOWNING & SONS,
8, Quality Court, London, W.C., Agents.