IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF LOCKS, AND IN APPARATUS FOR CUTTING KEYS
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George William Hart, of 5, Osborne Terrace,
Southsea, in the Parish of Portsea, in the County of Southampton,
Accountant, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF
LOCKS, AND IN APPARATUS FOR CUTTING KEYS."
Sealed the 21st May 1858, and dated the 24th December 1857.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George William Hart
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
24th December 1857.
I, GEORGE WILLIAM HART, of 5, Osborne Terrace, Southsea, in the Parish
of Portsea, in the County of Southampton, Accountant, do hereby declare the
nature of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF LOCKS,
AND IN APPARATUS FOR CUTTING KEYS," to be as follows :--
This Invention has for its object improvements in the construction and
manufacture of locks and keys. The lock is furnished with a series of
tumblers acted on by a key as in an ordinary Chubb's lock, only that the
tumblers are not formed with openings or gates for the passage of a stump
as in that lock, but they are so arranged that when they are moved by the
key to withdraw the bolt, they lift each of them a slide which works up and
down in guides attached to the bolt. Each of these slides is furnished with
a projection or part, which, when the slides are properly ranged, and the bolt
is shot back by the key, enter into recesses or corresponding parts in a piece
or pieces attached to the plate of the lock; but if the slides are not properly

page_text: ranged then the slides and the piece or pieces attached to the plate come
in contact and prevent the bolt going back. In order to prevent the
arrangement of the slides from being changed when the bolt has been
pushed partially back, I form the slides with teeth like a comb, and as soon
as the bolt begins to move, a projection on the back place enters between
these comb teeth, and so prevents the slides from being moved vertically; if
then the slides have not been ranged correctly at first, the error cannot bo
corrected after the bolt has begun to move. With a similar object I some-
times make the slides, and the piece or pieces with which they come in
contact, so that as soon as they approach each other, they shall lock together
so as not to permit of any vertical movement of the slides, or I make the
slides with holes into which pins are pressed by the first motion of the bolt for
the same purpose.
The same object may also be attained by forming teeth in the edges of the
tumblers, and when the tumblers are raised to withdraw the bolt, and directly
the bolt begins to move a catch falls into the teeth and locks the tumblers
into the position they then occupy, and so prevents the position of the slides
being changed after they come in contact with the piece or pieces attached to
the plate of the lock. A similar catch may be used to lock the tumblers of
an ordinary Chubb's lock, so as to hold them in the position they occupy when
the bolt begins to move; in this arrangement sometimes the catch may fail to
enter the teeth of the tumblers, and when this is the case, it will project
beyond its proper position and so prevent the bolt going back. Or the
tumblers may be formed with teeth in such a way that the catch will project
so as to stop the bolt going back at all times; but when it is in a deeper tooth
of each of the tumblers, the catch is also so arranged that pressure on the
bolt raises it and allows all the tumblers to fall down to their starting point.
In order to prevent access being obtained through the keyhole to any part of
the lock except to the tumblers, I so form the tumblers as completely to sur-
round the key when it is introduced.
The last part of my Invention consists in improvements in apparatus for
cutting keys for tumbler locks. For this purpose I employ a series of cutters
or punches each of the width of the tumblers of the lock, to which series of
cutters a to-and-fro motion is communicated by means of an excentric or
other suitable means, and the key to be cut is held in a frame so as to be
acted on by the cutters or punches, and the cutters or punches are arranged
so that their relative positions can be varied to cut different shaped keys.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said George William Hart in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 24th June 1858.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
WILLIAM HART, of 5, Osborne Terrace, Southsea, in the Parish of Portsea, in
the County of Southampton, Accountant, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fourth day of December, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven, in the twenty-first year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her beirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said George William Hart, Her special licence that I, the said
George William Hart, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said George William Hart, 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 AND IN
APPARATUS FOR CUTTING KEYS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
said George William Hart, my executors or administrators, by an instrument
in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should par-
ticularly 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 George William Hart, 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 thereof, that is to say:
This Invention has for its object improvements in the construction of locks.
The lock is furnished with a series of tumblers acted on by a key as in an
ordinary Chubb's lock, only that the tumblers are not formed with openings
or gates for the passage of a stump as in that lock, but they are so arranged
that when they are moved by the key to withdraw the bolt, they lift each of
them a slide which works up and down in guides attached to the bolt.
Each of these slides is furnished with a projection or part, which when the
slides are properly ranged, and the bolt is shot back by the key, enter into
recesses or corresponding parts in a piece or pieces attached to the plate of

page_text: the lock, but if the slides are not properly ranged, then the slides and the
piece or pieces attached to the plate come in contact and prevont the bolt
going back.
Figure 1 shows a lock constructed in this manner, the front plate being
removed to expose the working parts. a is one of a series of tumblers placed
one over the other as usual, and all mounted on the pin & carried by the back
plate of the lock; these tumblers are furnished with springs, which, however,
are not shewn in the Drawing; c is the pin for receiving the key; d is the
bolt; it is actuated by the key in the ordinary manner and carries guides e, e,
between which the slides f, f, work freely. These slides correspond in
number with the tumblers employed, and they are each furnished with a pro-
jection f, which when the bolt is shot enters a notch in the corresponding
tumbler as is shown at Figure 1*; the slides are also furnished with other
projections f*. Attached to the back plato of the lock are plates g, (one for
each slide,) and each of these plates has cut in it a notch g' to receive the pro-
jection of the corresponding slide. In the Drawing, to avoid confusion only
one of the tumblers a is shown, and the same is the case in respect to the slides f
and the plates g. When the key is introduced into the lock either to shoot the
bolt forward or to withdraw it, it first acts to range the tumblers, and when
this is done the bolt commences to move, and when shooting the bolt the
projections enter the corresponding notches of the tumblers, and when
withdrawing the bolt the projections få enter the notches g' of the plates g.
It is evident that neither of these motions can take place unless the tumblers
be previously ranged correctly.
'
In order to prevent the arrangement of the slides from being changed when
the bolt has been pushed partially back, I form the slides with teeth like a
comb, and as soon as the bolt begins to move a projection on the back plate
enters between these comb teeth, and so prevents the slides from being moved
vertically. If, then, the slides have not been ranged correctly at first, the
error cannot be corrected after the bolt has begun to move.
Figures 2 and 2* show a lock constructed in this manner. h, h, are pro-
jections from the back plate. As soon as the bolt begins to move, and before
the projections can enter the notches in the plate g, the projections h enter
between the comb teeth of the slides f, and prevent them from moving
vertically. In other respects the lock resembles that already described.
With a similar object I sometimes make the slides and the piece or pieces
with which they come in contact so, that as soon as they approach oach other
they shall lock together, so as not to permit of any vertical movement of the
slides.

page_text: Figures 3 and 3* show a lock constructed in this manner. Its arrangement
is so clearly shewn by the Drawing that no detailed description of it will be
necessary. Or, I make the slides j with holes, into which pins are pressed by
the first motion of the bolt for the same purpose.
Figures 4 and 4* show a lock similar to that first described, with this
additional arrangement added. is a catch having pins fixed at its upper
end corresponding in number with the slides employed. It turns at its centre
on a pin which is carried by the bolt, and its lower end is pressed forward by
a spring, so as to cause the pins to enter the holes formed in the slides f, of
one of which an edge view is shewn. The catch i has a projection i' entering
a slot in the front plate of the lock, and this slot is so formed that when the
bolt is fully shot the pins are held out of contact with the slides f, but if the
bolt is at all pressed back, they will immediately come against the slides, and
enter the holes formed in them. The same object may also be attained by
forming teeth in the edges of the tumblers, and when the tumblers are raised
to withdraw the bolt, and directly the bolt begins to move a catch falls into
the teeth, and locks the tumblers into the position they then occupy, and so
prevents the position of the slides being changed after they come in contact
with the piece or pieces attached to the plate of the lock.
.
Figure 5 shows a lock constructed in this manner.
the plate of the lock.
a is one of the tumblers
with teeth formed on it, and i is a spring catch mounted on an axis carried by
When the bolt is withdrawn, as shewn in the Drawing,
the catch is kept out of the teeth by a projection on the bolt coming in
contact with the upper end of the catch. The catch is also kept out of the
teeth when the bolt is fully shot by another projection on the bolt coming
against the tail or lower end of the catch. If when the bolt is shot it is
pressed back before the tumblers are ranged, before the slides f come in
contact with the plates g, the catch enters the teeth of the tumblers, and
locks them.
move.
A similar catch may be used to lock the tumblers of an ordinary Chubb's
lock, so as to hold them in the position they occupy when the bolt begins to
In this arrangement sometimes the catch may fail to enter the teeth
of the tumblers, and when this is the case it will project beyond its proper
position, and so prevent the bolt going back.
Figure 6 shows a Chubb's lock with a catch applied in this manner. a a: e
the tumblers, and i is the catch, turning on a pin fixed in the plate of the
lock. When the bolt is fully shot the catch is kept out of the teeth of the
tumblers by a projection from the bolt coming against the upper end of
the catch, but directly the bolt begins to move the end of the catch comes

page_text: against the tumblers, and locks them before the stump bears upon them; or
should the catch fail to enter the teeth, as may happen, then the projection j
on the bolt comes against the tail of the catch, which stops the bolt from
moving further back, and this takes place before the stump can be made to
press on the tumblers. If the tumblers have been correctly ranged before
the bolt begins to move, as when the key is used, then the catch descends into
the teeth of the tumblers, and afterwards as the bolt is withdrawn it is raised
out of them again by the projection j coming in contact with a third arm of
the catch: In place of the arrangement last described, the tumblers may be
formed with teeth in such a way that the catch will project, so as to stop the
bolt going back at all times but when it is in a deeper tooth of each of the
tumblers. The catch is also so arranged that pressure on the bolt raises it,
and allows all the tumblers to fall down to their starting point.
In order to prevent access being obtained through the keyhole to any part
of the lock except to the tumblers, I so form the tumblers as completely to
surround the key when it is introduced.
Figure 7 shows a lock constructed in this manner. a is one of the
tumblers with a hole for the key formed through the centre of it; i is the
catch arranged in the manner already described, except that it will not allow
the projection to pass unless its end has fallen into the deepest notch of each
of the tumblers.
The last part of my Invention consists in improvements in apparatus for
cutting koys for tumbler locks. For this purpose I employ a series of cutters
or punches, each of the width of the tumblers of the lock, to which series of
cutters a to-and-fro motion is communicated by menus of an excentric or other
suitable means, and the key to be cut is held in a frame so as to be acted on
by the cutters or punches, and the cutters or punches are arranged so that
their relative positions can be varied to cut different shaped keys.
Figure 8 is a vertical section, and Figure 9 is a plan of an apparatus
arranged in this manner. a, a, is the frame, and b is an axis on which a
series of cams c, c, c, are mounted, corresponding in number with the steps on
the key to be cut. With the first of the cams a ratchet wheel d is connected,
and by means of a handle e, and click or paul, this cam can be caused to
rotate step by step, and the first cam is so connected with the one next it,
that when it has made one complete revolution it causes this second cam to
move one step, and so when this has made a revolution it causes the third to
move a step, and so on. This arrangement is for the purpose of changing the
position of the cutters before confmencing to cut each key. During the
operation the cams are securely locked in position; f, f, are frames furnished

page_text: with projections f, f, which bear on the cams; they are kept up to them by
the springs g, g; h, h, are slides carried by the frames f, f, and having fixed to
them the saw or other cutters i, i. Through the whole of the slides h, h, a
bar j passes, and this bar has an up-and-down motion given to it by hand or
suitable machinery. is a block for receiving the key blank, to be cut; it is
capable of sliding horizontally in the openings through the frames f, f. The
block k is set up by screws, not shown in the Drawing, so as to bring the
key-blank in contact with the cutters, and the key is continually set up to
the cutters as the operation progresses, and until it is reduced to the desired
form.
In witness whereof, I, the said George William Hart, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-third day of June, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight.
Witness,
EDW CURTIS,
Southsea.
GEORGE WILLIAM HART. (L.S.)