IMPROVEMENTS IN LOCKS AND IN KEYS FOR THE SAME
Year: 1879

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by William Robert Lake at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents on the 6th May 1879. A communication
from abroad by Carl Wolfgang Ade, of Stuttgart, and Johann August
Stanislaus Biernatzki, of Hamburgh, both in the Empire of Germany.
WILLIAM ROBERT LAKE, of the Firm of Haseltine, Lake, & Co., Patent Agents,
Southampton Buildings, London. " IMPROVEMENTS IN LOCKS AND IN KEYS FOR
THE SAME." [A communication from abroad by Carl Wolfgang Ade, of Stuttgart,
and Johann August Stanislaus Biernatzki, of Hamburgh, both in the Empire of
Germany.]
This Invention relates to locks and keys so constructed that it is entirely impos-
sible for any person who might accidentally come into possession of the key to
unfasten the lock.
The said Invention is carried into practice as follows, that is to say :-
-I provide
a turn-bolt pivoted to a fixed tap, and receiving its oscillation by means of a round
pin which enters a slot in the tumbler. Upon the nave of the said turn bolt aro
placed five perforated sectors, four intermediate discs, and a press-plate. Between
every two plates or sectors a disc is placed. The said press-plate when screwed
upon the aforesaid turn-bolt cramps between it and the latter the five sectors in
such a manner that they will during the rotation of this turn-bolt be taken along
by friction until they meet with a resistance. In order to produce an obstacle each
one of the five sectors carries in its perforation a tag or piece fitting into a corre-
sponding interstice in one of two toothed plates of the key. Now if the key is
placed in the key-hole till it rests upon the bottom, and a small arm provided for
the purpose is turned by the handle the tumbler will be raised causing the said
turn-bolt, in conjunction with the five sectors, to oscillate, but each sector ceases its
motion as soon as the said tag strikes against the bottom of one of the teeth in the
key. When all five tags rest on the bottom of the teeth the sectors occupy such a
position in relation to each other that the deepest notches made in their circum-
ference lie exactly one above the other. They are now so placed that the tumbler
pin can easily enter that notch on the further rising of the tumbler which only in
its highest position allows the lock-bolt to be drawn back by continuing the rotation
of the aforesaid small arm.
If one of the aforesaid five sectors occupies any other position there is no farther
rising of the tumbler, and consequently no opening of the lock is possible. Any
attempts to turn a safety sector into the position in which the lock may be opened
is rendered quite unsuccessful by providing this sector at its circular circumference
with a certain number of false notches of smaller depth than that of the said deep
notch, whereby the right adjustment of the sectors is rendered entirely impossible
without the aid of the key.
I modify the construction for the same purpose as follows, that is to say :-I
provide five perforated sectors revolving about a socket. These sectors prevent the
tumbler and also the lock-bolt from being moved as long as they are not brought

page_text: into such a position by means of the introduced key, that the deeper notches of the
sectors are placed exactly one above the other, thus permitting the tumbler-pin to
enter into the deep notch.
But in this modified form of the said Invention each of the five sectors is provided
with a moveable pin, with a conical point instead of the attached tag or piece
herein before mentioned, for the purpose of bringing these sectors in the right
position. Each of these five points fits into one of five small tubes placed in the
key, the bore of which tubes is conical at different parts, so that the profile of the
bore of one tube is different from that of each of the others.
By introducing the key, and turning the aforesaid small arm by means of a
handle, the tumbler is first raised, and an oscillating motion is imparted to the turn-
bolt, which transmits the motion in its turn to the five sectors which are taken
along with it by friction. As soon as a pin of a sector enters the bore of the corre-
sponding tube in the key this sector will no longer be able to follow the motion of
the turn-bolt, therefore it will stop.
This operation is effected successively by all sectors occupying a position by
which all five of the deep notches are placed exactly one above the other, thus per-
mitting the tumbler-pin to enter them by raising the tumbler, which now allows
the lock-bolt to be drawn back.
In any other position of these sectors this is impossible, as the teeth of the
tumbler-pin will catch the teeth of the five sectors, thus preventing any further
motion or manipulation.
Any violent attempt to strike back the lock-bolt is rendered impossible by a
solid tumbler-hook which will not go out of its slot in the lock-bolt till the tumbler
is raised to its highest position.
The five pins of the sectors as well as the corresponding tubes in the key can be
interchanged one with another, so that the same lock not only may be put together
and operated in 120 different manners, but by interchanging the tubes in the key
one with another, after having closed the chest or other article to which the lock is
applied, an opening of the lock is not likely to occur by any person having obtained
possession of the key by chance.
The exchange of the tubes in a slide provided in the key can only take place
when the slide is pulled out of the key-body. A small spring-joint-tongue placed
in a groove in the slide is then pushed forward. It must however be observed that
the tubes should not fall down freely, which is the case when the said slide with
the openings of these tubes is in a downward direction.
It is of very great importance that the key should be so constructed as it is
impossible to imitate it.
To further increase the safety of the key I apply a second safety-device con-
sisting of two separate conical pins, which are placed at the bottom of the key hole,
and fit into two holes made in the front part of the key. These holes are of a bore
the cone of which is different, and they have steps. By introducing the key these
two pins are pressed back so far that two semi-circular notches which I make form
together a round hole which when pushed far enough allows in this position a round
tumbler pin to pass through.
To prevent dust and other matters from entering the interior of the lock, and to
render difficult the opening of the same by violent attempts, a special safety-cover
is applied, which shuts the key-hole in a self-acting manner as soon as the key is
pulled out. This cover consists of a piece which behind the cover-plate of the lock
is pressed from the inside upon the key-hole by the action of a spiral spring. A
plate covered with steel as hard as glass fixed on the cover-plate of the lock prevents
the safety tumbler pins from being bored out.