IMPROVEMENTS IN MECHANISM FOR FASTENING CARRIAGE DOORS."
Year: 1880

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Edwards, of No. 1, Harringay Villas, Wood Green,
Tottenham, in the County of Middlesex, for an Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
MECHANISM FOR FASTENING CARRIAGE DOORS."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Edwards at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents on the 14th February 1880.
JOHN EDWARDS, of No. 1, Harringay Villas, Wood Green, Tottenham, in the
County of Middlesex. "IMPROVEMENTS IN MECHANISM FOR FASTENING CARRIAGE
DOORS."
My improvements consist in making a suitably formed fastening or stop to
prevent the doors getting into their proper positions and remaining there when not
fastened. For this purpose I interpose an elastic body so arranged with suitable
mechanism that as the doors move towards their proper position they are made to
come in contact with this elastic body, and not being able of themselves to
compress this elastic body the doors are thereby fastened open, shewing that
they are not fastened in their proper position; also, in making a spring bolt of
any suitable form, so arranged that as the doors are forced into their proper
positions this bolt, which is held back by a side bolt, is released; the bolt is thus
allowed to move forward into a suitably formed recess in the door jamb and fastens
the door; sometimes I make this bolt in the form of a camb and operate it by hand,
thus it will be seen in the one case that unless the doors are forced into their
proper positions they will remain open, and in the other case, if the doors are
forced into their proper positions they can be fastened by the action of the bolt.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said John Edwards in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 12th August
1880.
JOHN EDWARDS, of No. 1, Harringay Villas, Wood Green, Tottenham, in the
County of Middlesex. "IMPROVEMENTS IN MECHANISM FOR FASTENING CARRIAGE
DOORS."
My improvements consist in making a suitably formed fastening or stop to
prevent carriage doors getting into the proper position and remaining there when
not fastened. For this purpose I interpose an elastic body so arranged with suitable
mechanism that, as the doors move towards their proper position they are made to
come in contact with this clastic body, and not being able of themselves to compress
this clastic body the doors are thereby fastened open, in proportion as the
mechanism is set, thus shewing that the doors are not fastened. Figs. 1, 2, 3, 4,
shew two plans or methods of accomplishing this according to my Invontion.
Fig. 1 shews a suitably formed casting which is fixed to the door pillar, Fig. 5, and
Fig. 2 shews a suitably formed casting which is fixed to the standing pillar, Fig. 6;
this casting, Fig. 2, is made hollow, and a hollow socket or tube, Fig. 7, as shewn
by the dotted lines, is made to work backward and forward as it is pressed by the
point of Fig. 1; inside this socket or tube is a spiral spring or other elastic body,
which, as the door is opened, presses the socket or tube outwards and so fastens the
door open according to the length of its travel. Figs. 3, 4, shew another plan of
accomplishing this; in this case I form a curved flat bar of metal, Fig. 4, about two
inches wide; this curved flat bar is made to travel along a curved round rod, Fig. 3;
on the end of this rod, and between the nut on the same and the turned end of the
curved flat bar, Fig. 4, I place a spiral spring or any other suitable elastic body;
the end of this curved flat body 4 a is fixed to the door pillar, Fig. 5, in the usual
way as leathers are, and moves with it; the end of the curved round rod 3 a is
fixed to the standing pillar, Fig. 6; it will be seen that, as the door moves towards
its proper position, the turned end of the curved flat bar, Fig. 4, comes in contact
with the spiral spring or other elastic body, Fig. 8, and not being able to compress
it the door is thus fastened open. Fig. 9 shews how the curved round rod, Fig. 3,
is fixed to the standing pillar, Fig. 6; Fig. 22 shews an india rubber or other
elastic body put on the rod, Fig. 3, to give elasticity to the door when fully opened.
Also my improvement consists in making a spring bolt of any suitablo form, so
arranged that, as the doors are forced into their proper positions, this bolt, which
is held back by a side bolt, is released, the bolt is thus allowed to move forward
into a suitably formed recess in the door jamb and fastens the door. Fig. 10 shews
the internal arrangement of the spring bolt, which will be readily understood;
Fig. 11, 11 a, being the case in which the bolt is held; Fig. 12 is tho bolt; Fig. 13
is the follower by which the bolt is forced back into the case; Fig. 14a is an edge
view; Fig. 14 shews the side bolt which holds the main bolt back while the door
is open; Fig. 15 shows the spiral spring or springs carried on rods 2, 3, 4; these
rods are rivetted to the bar 154, which force the main bolt forward when it is
liberated, the liboration being effected by the side bolt being pushed in when the
door is closed by the sido bolt coming in contact with the standing pillar and so
forcing it in and liberating the main bolt; Fig. 16 shows the top plate of the case,
Fig. 11, with the square hole which acts as a guide for the side bolt, Fig. 14, to
work through; Fig. 17 shews the side bolt; Figs. 18, 19, 20, shew the arrange-
ment of the hollow cap which is screwed on to the end of the side bolt, and by
which the side bolt is forced in; Fig. 18 shews the top of this hollow cap, Fig. 19
shews the bottom of the same; Fig. 20 shews the same in section, with the spiral
spring which operates it inside; Fig. 21 shews a main bolt in the form of a cam or
quadrant. This form of main bolt has the advantage of keeping dust or grit out of

page_text: the works inside the case, the slot through which this main bolt works being closed
when the door is shut; the line drawn across this bolt represents the face of the
case; this bolt is applicable to many kinds of door fastenings, and can either be
worked by hand as ordinary bolts or can be made a spring bolt by forming a tail,
as shewn by the dotted lines, and attaching one end of a suitable spring to the tail
and the other end of the spring to the bolt case.
Having now described the nature of my said Invention it will be seen in the one
case that unless the doors are forced into their proper positions they will remain
open by the action of the resistance of the elastic body as described, and in the
other caso if the doors are forced into their proper position they can or will be
fastened by the action of the bolt.
In witness whercof, I, the said John Edwards, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this 12th day of August, in the year of our Lord One thousand
eight hundred and eighty.
JOHN EDWARDS. (LS.)