Two-part or Escutcheon or Shield for Keyholes.
Year: 1898

page_text: Date of Application, 14th June, 1898-Accepted, 16th July, 1898
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Two-part or Escutcheon or Shield for Keyholes.
I, WILHELM REINHARD, Merchant, of No. 11, Friedenstrasse, Berlin, in the
Empire of Germany, 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 ;-
-
The present application, which relates to escutcheons or shields for the keyholes
of room & house doors, has for its object to provide, as a substitute for the solid
escutcheons or cover plates at present in use for covering the keyholes of door-
locks, a two-part escutcheon, which will have the advantage, that a simple pressure
of the key will suffice to open it, and thus obviate the employment of two hands,
one to insert the key in the lock, while the other puts aside the covering plate,
as is now generally necessary, an inconvenience more particularly felt when the
hands are filled with parcels and an umbrella.
In the accompanying drawing are shewn, by way of illustration, three con-
structions embodying this invention, of which
Figure 1 is a front view of one form of escutcheon closed, and
Figure 2 is a similar view of the same in its open position.
Figure 3 shews a second form, closed, and
Figure 4 the third form, open.
a and b are the two halves of the shield, pivotted respectively at c and d; e is a
concave depression formed in the front of the shield a, b. When the key is thrust
into the cavity e, the two halves of the shield will part from each other, and leave
free way for the key to pass into the lock. The one of the two halves may be
provided at the back, near the foundation plate h, with a projecting or engaging
tongue f, which takes into a corresponding groove g on the other half of the shield,
thus enclosing the projecting part f, when the two halves a and b are closed, and
rendering it impossible to see through the key hole.
The two halves of the shield may also, as shewn in Figure 3, be mounted upon a
common pivot, k.
To automatically return the two halves of the shield to their closed position,
when this not effected by their own weight, there may be provided a spring or
springs upon the common pivot k, or upon both pivots c and d, in any convenient
position, said springs serving, when the key is withdrawn from the lock, to draw
the plates together.
In a further modification, Figure 4, of this escutcheon, the two halves, when the
key is thrust into the lock, move outward horizontally, on parallel guides and m,
and, by a suitable spring device r, after the key has been withdrawn, are drawn
together again. The two edges of the halves a and b, therefore, remain parallel to
each other.
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 ;-
1. A two-part escutcheon for house and door locks, so constructed that, on

page_text: pressing the key against it, it leaves a free path for the key to enter the lock, and,
on the withdrawal of the key, automatically covers the keyhole by its own weight,
or by the aid of springs.
2. A form of construction of the escutcheon claimed under Claim 1, in which,
by means of a concave depression e, the outward movement of the halves
and b
of the escutcheon is facilitated, and the entrance of the key into the keyhole
rendered easy.
3. A form of construction of the escutcheon claimed under Claim 1, so con-
structed, that the two halves a, b, move upon a guide or guides and m, and are
thrust apart by the passage of the key, and, on its withdrawal, are again auto-
matically drawn together by springs n, substantially as set forth.
Dated this 14th day of June 1898
NEWTON & SON,
Agents for the Applicant.