Improvements in Coin-freed Door Fastenings.
Year: 1891

page_text: Date of Application, 4th Feb., 1891-Accepted 25th Apr., 1891
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Coin-freed Door Fastenings.
I, CHARLES DE SAINT-CYR, Director of La Compagnie Nouvelle des Chalets
de Nécessité pour la France et l'Etranger, of 80, Boulevard Magenta, Paris, in
the Republic of France, do hereby declare the nature of this invention, and
in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascer-
tained in and by the following statement:-
This invention for improvements in coin-freed door fastenings has for its object
to dispense with the services of the usual attendant at private closets and other
reserved places to which the public can obtain admittance on payment of a specified
sum and so to reduce the charge for attendance and consists essentially in causing
a coin inserted in a slot in the door to release mechanism which withdraws a bolt
in the door, the parts of the said mechanism being automatically returned to their
normal positions on the door being opened and in causing the same motion, by
which the person who has entered the said reserved place locks himself therein,
to also close the slot so that another coin cannot be inserted. On the person
finally letting himself out the parts return to their normal position with the door
locked.
In the accompanying sheet of drawings,
Fig. 1 represents a front elevation of the door of a private closet constructed
according to this invention, and
Fig.
mechanism.
The door is provided with a slot a through which the coin is inserted whence it
slides down the channel b, actuates a balance lever d having its fulcrum at o; and
finally falls into the receptacle f. The lever d is connected by a cord g to a catch
lever provided with a catch capable of engaging with a shoulder on a rod,
arranged so as to slide in a horizontal direction in suitable guides as shown. This
rod is forced in one direction by the helical spring arranged around the rod and
bearing against a fixed support and on a collar on the rod. A flat zigzag spring
arranged behind the plates tends to force the lever upwards so that its catch is
in position to engage with the shoulder on the rod j. The rod buts against the
lever connected to the spring bolt of the lock which is also arranged to be operated
independently from the inside by means of the knob t. A. pivoted plate n works in
front of the slot z and is provided with a tail operated by a projection on an
ordinary bolt a so that it closes the slot at the same time that the door is bolted.
The rod is also connected to one end of a chain m secured at its other end to the
is a back elevation of the same showing the arrangement of the
door post.
The operation is as follows:-The coin is inserted in the slot a passes down the
channel and actuates the balance lever d which in turn withdraws the lever hand
catch. The rod is thus released and, is forced forwards by the spring r, and
unlatches the door by means of the lever . The person then opens the door, which
is hinged so as to open outwards, and the chain m' draws back the rod j against the
resistance of the spring r, the said rod being retained in this position by the
catch. The person then closes the door and bolts himself in and thus also closes
the slot.
To again pass out the door is unbolted and thus also the slot c
uncovered the latch is drawn back by means of the knob t and after passing out
the door closes.
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 The anuancamant of machanism by means of which on the insertion of a coin

page_text: of predetermined amount in a slot or opening mechanism is released which with-
draws a bolt and allows the door to be opened, the parts of the said mechanism
being returned to their normal position on opening the door substantially as
described.
2. In doors unlocked on the insertion of a coin, in a slot or opening, covering the
said opening by the same operation that bolts the door from the inside so that a
second person cannot insert a coin in the slot or enter substantially as described.
Dated this 4th day of February 1891.
WHEATLEY & MACKENZIE,
40, Chancery Lane, London, W.C., Agents.