Improvements in Safes.
Year: 1898

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Safes.
I, JOSEPH THOMAS WITHERS, trading as Thomas Withers & Son, Safe Manu-
facturers, of The Phoenix Safe and Lock Works, Sandwell Road, West Bromwich,
in the County of Stafford, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in
what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following statement:-
This invention has for its object the production of a self-wedged wedge-proof
safe by the shooting of the bolts in angular directions from the lock-case into
angular slots provided in the sides and ends of the safe.
I will now proceed to describe with reference to the accompanying drawings
the manner in which my invention is constructed and used.
Figure 1 represents a section of Figure 2 on the line A, B with the addition
of the front-plate of lock-case.
Figure 2 represents an elevation of a safe and a safe-door the front-plate of
the door being removed.
"
In carrying out my invention I provide solid angular bolts a connected to
side-plates a and to end-plates b, such side-plates and end-plates are connected to
a central bolt operator technically known as a follower," the follower consists
of a metal plate carrying one, two, three, four or more arms, the follower illus-
trated is provided with four arms as shewn at c and is mounted on a square
spindle connected to a knob e actuated from the outside of the safe door.
The side-plates and the end-plates are secured to side connecting bars f
and to end connecting bars y and the side and end plates are operated by and
through the said connecting bars f and g
The acute angle at which the locking bolts take their outward thrust into the
sides of the safe or into the frame of the safe has a tendency to jam or wedge
the door, this jamming or wedging of the bolts on every side of the door frame
produces a self-wedged door and it is apparent that such a self-wedged or self
jammed door would be in a sense wedge-proof because there would be a great
difficulty in forcing the angular slotted bolts out of their slots by means of the
wedges usually used by burglars in attempting to force open the door of a safe.
In operating a safe fitted with my self-wedging bolt mechanism the door of
the safe would be closed and the knob e turned thereby revolving the follower and
its four arms cand causing the studs or horns h provided on the arms c of follower
to move within the driving slots j of side connecting bars f and end connecting
bars g, the studs or horns h moving within their driving slots j and at the same
time the angular slots formed in the connecting bars f and move over their
guide studs m; the axis of the guide slots k corresponds with the axis of the
angular bolts and their slots, the follower when moving the connecting bars f
and conveys a vertical movement to the bars g and a horizontal movement to
the bars f such vertical and horizontal motion is then guided in the desired
angular direction by means of the angular slots k moving over the fixed studs m.
The effect of the angular slots in the connecting bars f and g in correspon-

page_text: dence with the angle or axis of angular bolts n is to move the set of bolts n con-
nected to their side-bars a equally and end bars 6 equally so that when one of the
bolts n of a set is clear of its mortise (at the time when the door is about to be
opened) the remainder of the angular bolts n are also clear of their mortises and
in consequence of the four arms of the follower acting on the angular slotted
connecting bars at the same time, the whole of the bolts are released by one motion
of the handle e.
4
To lock the bolts n within their mortises a bar o is provided pierced with a
slot suitable to receive the bolt p of any ordinary or suitable lock 9 the bar o
is secured to the side plate or to the end plate but this bar o I do not claim as
new excepting in combination with my new angular bolts and angular mortises.
I am aware that side-plates and end-plates of safe doors have been moved by
means of connecting bars actuated from a follower, and all such old-style mechan-
ism I disclaim, as one of the essential novelties of my invention consists in the
angular slots provided in the.connecting bars.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is:
1st. A self-wedged wedge-proof safe consisting of a chamber to which is hinged
a door, the door being provided with angular locking-bolts and the sides or frame
of the chamber being provided with angular bolt-slots, the angular locking-bolts
being operated by means of side-plates and end-plates secured to vertical and
horizontal connecting-bars, such vertical and horizontal connecting-bars being
provided with angular slots the angular axis of which corresponds with the
angular axis of the bolt-slots, the vertical and horizontal connecting bars being
operated by means of a follower connected to a spindle actuated from the outside
of safe.
2nd. In the bolt-actuating mechanism of a safe door the utilization of angular
slots working on fixed pivots as a means of guiding angular locking-bolts into
angular bolt-slots as illustrated and described.
Date HS Cay
Witness:
-
ALFRED WM. TURNER,
International Patent Agent,
Cobden Buildings, Corporation Street, Birmingham.
JOSEPH T. WITHERS.