IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF Locks
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Daniel Rowlinson Ratcliff, of Liverpool, in the
County of Lancaster, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
CONSTRUCTION OF Locks."
"
1
Sealed the 9th April 1874, and dated the 24th October 1873.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Daniel Rowlinson.
Ratcliff at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his..
Petition, on the 24th October 1873.
I, DANIEL ROWLINSON, RATCLIFF, of Liverpool, in the County of
Lancaster, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF LOCKS," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to that class of locks wherein two keys are..
employed, the principal or primary key to raise the levers or tumblers
and shoot the bolt, and the secondary one to close the key hole of the
former by means of a sliding plate, the principal object of the Invention
being to make the same set of tumblers act for both purposes. >_
:>
I employ balanced levers or tumblers (that is tumblers which oscillate >
on a central pin) having an open gating at one side of the centre, into

page_text: which the stump of the bolt passes in unlocking; and a rack gating
upon the other side of the centre, in which works a stump fixed to the
sliding plate which closes the primary keyhole, and also to a second
sliding plate connected to the former and placed between the bolt plate
and the tumblers, and acted on by the "bit" of the secondary key.
The two keys not only act upon the tumblers on different sides of the
centre pin, but the pins upon which they turn and the key holes through
which they pass are placed one above and the other below the tumblers,
so that one key acts by raising the levers or tumblers at one end and the
other acts by depressing the levers or tumblers at the other end, the
effect upon the levers or tumblers being the same, namely, to bring the
gatings into a line for the passage of the stumps.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent
filed by the said Daniel Rowlinson Ratcliff in the Great Scal Patent
Office on the 23rd April 1874.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, DANIEL
ROWLINSON RATCLIFF, of Liverpool, in the County of Lancaster, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fourth day of October, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, in the
thirty-seventh year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said Daniel Rowlinson Ratcliff, Her
special license that I, the said Daniel Rowlinson Ratcliff, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Daniel Rowlinson
Ratcliff, 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 LOCKS," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Daniel Rowlinson Ratcliff, my
executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my,
or their, or one of their hands and seals, should particularly describe
and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner

page_text: 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 Daniel Rowlinson Ratcliff, 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 and accompanying Drawings (that is
to say):-
This Invention relates to that class of locks wherein two keys are
employed, the principal or primary key to raise the levers or tumblers
and shoot the bolt, and the secondary one to close the keyhole of the
former by means of a sliding plate, the principal object of the Invention
being to make the same set of tumblers act for both purposes.
Such being the nature and object of my said Invention, I will
now proceed to describe more in detail the manner in which the same
is to be or may be performed or carried into practical effect, and in
order that the same may be clearly understood, I have annexed
hereunto. a Sheet of Drawings illustrative thereof, and have marked the
same with figures and letters of reference corresponding with those in
the following explanation thereof :-
I employ balanced levers or tumblers (that is tumblers which oscillate .
on a central pin) having an open gating at one side of the centre into.
which the stump of the bolt passes in unlocking, and a rack gating upon.
the other side of the centre in which works a stump fixed to the sliding.
plate which closes the primary key hole, and also to a second sliding.
plate connected to the former and placed between the bolt plate and the
tumblers, and acted on by the "bit" of the secondary key. The two
keys not only act upon the tumblers on different sides of the centre pin,
but the pins upon which they turn and the key holes through which
they pass are placed one above and the other below the tumblers, so that
one key acts by raising the levers or tumblers at one end and the other
acts by depressing the levers or tumblers at the other end, the effect
upon the levers or tumblers being the same, namely, to bring the gatings
into a line for the passage of the stumps.
Fig. 1 in the annexed Drawing is an external view of the improved :
lock, a, a, being the principal or primary key hole for the admission of
the key which shoots the bolt, and b, b, the secondary key- hole for the
kev which closes the key hole a. a.
1

page_text: Fig. 2 is an interior view of the lock with all the working parts|
removed, excepting the bolt and bolt plate c, c, the position of the lower
sliding plate d, d, being indicated by dotted lines. Fig. 3 shows the
lower sliding plate d, d, the relative position of the upper sliding plate
e, e, (see Fig. 4) for closing the primary key hole being indicated by
dotted lines. These two sliding plates are connected together by a
stumpff, (see also end view, Fig. 5) which stump works through the
rack gatings g, g, in the double balanced tumblers h, h, as shown at
Fig. 6, which is a view of the interior of the lock complete with the
exception of the upper sliding plate e, e. i, i, is the bolt stump, and
k, k, the open gating in the tumblers into which the said stump passes
in unlocking; 1, 2, is the pin for the primary key, and m, m, the pin for
the secondary key; n, n, is the centre pin on which the tumblers h, h,
oscillate; o, o, are the tumbler springs.
key at m may
It will be evident that if preferred the positions of the primary and
secondary key pins may be reversed, that is to say, the
be the primary key and act upon the bolt, and the key at
key and act upon the sliding plate to close the primary key hole.
.
the secondary
Having now described the nature and object of my said Invention,
together with the manner in which the same is to be or may bo per-
formed or carried into practical effect, I wish it to be understood that I
claim as my Invention the peculiar novel construction and arrangement
of the tumblers and other working parts of the lock, whereby I am
enabled in constructing locks with two key holes to employ only one set
of tumblers with two gatings acting for both stumps.
In witness whereof, I, the said Danicl Rowlinson Ratcliff, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Twentieth day of April, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
four
DANIEL ROWLINSON RATCLIFF. (L.S.)
Witnessed by
GEORGE DAVIES, C.E.,
Patent Agent,
Manchester.