Improvements in Nut Locks.
Year: 1890

page_text: Date of Application, 6th Mar., 1890-Accepted, 12th Apr., 1890
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Nut Locks.
I, GEORGE FREDERICK REDFERN, of the firm of G. F. Redfern & Co., The General
Patent Office, No. 4, South Street, Finsbury, in the County of London, Patent
Agents, do hereby declare the nature of this invention (a communication from
abroad by Benjamin Butler Barney, of New Bedford, Massachusetts, United
States of America, Lawyer,) and in what manner the same is to be performed to be
particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement :-
This invention relates to an improved lock for the nuts on fish-bolts for railway rails
and on other bolts.
The improved nut-lock consists of an open steel spring-ring spirally twisted and
tempered, and having its ends bevelled longitudinally and transversely like a turning
chisel, so as to make the outer edge or point of each end of the washer so sharp and
strong that it will cut into the nut and fish-plate, thus causing it to act against the
fish-plate and nut and thereby prevent the nut from backing off.
In the accompanying drawing-
Figures 1, 2, 3 and 4 are views of the four different sides of the bar from which
the nut is made.
Figure 5 is a perspective view showing the two bevelled ends.
Figure 6 shows the chisel-edged washer cutting into a nut and fish-plate as the
nut is being unscrewed.
Figure 7 is a perspective view of the chisel-edged washer as it is bent into a circular
ring ready for use as a nut lock.
Figure 8 is a cross-section of figure 5 on the line xx, showing the shape of the bar
from which the washer is made.
Figure 9 is a side view of the nut-lock in position on the bolt, and showing also a
portion of the fish-plate and rail.
The ring is formed from a bar a of spring-steel, say one-fourth of an inch square
and four inches long. It may be made of any desired heft or rigidity, and is
spirally-twisted, as shown. The inside diameter of this open spirally-twisted spring-
ring is, say one-sixteenth of an inch larger than the diameter of the fish-bolt, and
the ends are bevelled at an acute angle to the outer surface and to each helical surface
on the back and front sides or face, as shown in figure 1, forming chisel ends b, c in
the true helical plane of the washer. This ring is placed on the bolt, as shown in
figure 6, so that in turning on the nut the ring may freely revolve with it and
slide around on the side of the fish-plate; or the inner face of the nut may slide on
the outer face of the ring, until the ring owing to its elasticity is compressed and held
between the nut and fish-plate, when the nut will be "home." If now the nut is
turned backwards, the chisel end 6 of the ring will cut into the fish-plate and the
chisel end c will cut into the inner face of the nut; when by applying sufficient
power the nut is unscrewed the chisel ends b and c of the ring will plane off a thin
portion of the fish-plate or nut, or of both as shown at d figure 6, until the ring has
assumed its spiral form.
This ring may be repeatedly used with no loss of elasticity, and the chip cut from
the fish-plate or nut, or from both, will be so thin that no perceptible diminution of
strength of the fish-plate or nut will take place.
When the nut is for use in connection with right handed screw-threads, the said ring
must be a portion of a. left hand helix, and vice versa when it is intended for use with a
eft handed thread.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
nvention and in what manner the same is to be performed, I wish it under-
tood I am aware that heretofore an annular spring-washer has been made, the
TDC37

page_text: transverse edges of which, next the cut or section, project beyond the true helical
plane; also that spring-washers having ends with biting-points bent without the plane
of the ring have been used for locking nuts, but such devices will not lie close and
firm between the nut and the fish-plate and so prevent the nut from being turned
home and such rings are destroyed by removing the nuts; also that there are
spring-washers which have bulbs., on the ends of the rings, which bulbs fall into
depressions in the nut and fish-plate to prevent them from jarring off; and also that
there are others with bevelled ends to produce friction against.the nut and fish-plate;
none of these devices, however, have chisel ends in the plane of the ring to hold the
nuts from turning off, and which will chip off the face of the nut, and I therefore
mako, no claim to any of these, but I declare that what I claim is :
1. A spring nut-lock consisting of an open ring bent to a helical form and
having its end surfaces slanting away from the acting edges at an acute angle to the
outer surface and to each helical surface, substantially as described.
2. A nut-lock consisting of a helix, having oppositely-extending ends tapered both
longitudinally and transversely so as to form a nut-lock with acute-angled cutting-
points and inclined cutting edges, as described and shown.
3. A nut-lock consisting of a severed helix-shaped washer, having its ends provided
with edges, bevelled in two directions and forming acute-angled, cutting-edges,
substantially as, and for the purpose, specified.
4. The manufacture and use of the improved nut-lock hereinbefore described and;
illustrated in the accompanying drawing.
Dated the 6th day of March 1890.
G. F. REDFERN & Co.,
4, South Street, Finsbury, London, Agents for the Applicant.