A. COMBINATION APPLICABLE TO KEYS OF DOOR LOCKS, TO PREVENT THEIR BEING OPENED BY PLIERS OR OTHER INSTRUMENTS FROM THE OUTSIDE
Year: 1856

page_text: by the Act.)
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Lionel Weber at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 7th August
1856.
I, LIONEL WEBER, of Brussels, in the Kingdom of Belgium, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "A. COMBINATION APPLICABLE TO
KEYS OF DOOR LOCKS, TO PREVENT THEIR BEING OPENED BY PLIERS OR OTHER
INSTRUMENTS FROM THE OUTSIDE," to be as follows:-
The principal object of this Invention is to prevent door locks from being
opened from the outside, as instanced by the late hotel robberies in London
and Paris, by means of pliers or other instruments; it presents simultaneously
two additional advantages, the one of which is, that the keyhole is thereby
closed in a way which renders it almost impossible to introduce any instrument
into the interior of the lock for the purpose of picking it; the other advantage
is, that it offers a barrier to the gratification of indiscreet curiosity across
keyholes.
Figure 1 of the annexed Drawings represents a key armed at ats extremity
with the protecting appendage (A), which constitutes the Invention for which
the present Provisional Protection is asked.
Fig. 2 represents the key with the said appendage (A) turned aside so as to
shew the back front of the key-bit, at the lower part of which a small hole (B)
is perceptible, which is inteded as a catch for the small button (G) represented
in Figure 6. The tops of two flat screws (H & J) represent themselves like-
wise to the view.
Fig. 3 represents the key without the appendage A. This appendage,

page_text: which constitutes the Invention, consists of the following component parts,
viz.
1st, of a small tube (E), fitting exactly, but not tightly, on the part (D) of
Fig. 3; the same is strongly closed at one end, and the hollow part of the tube
just deep enough to join the key-bit when adapted to the key.
2nd, of a small bar (F), of about three-eighths of an inch in thickness,
attached to the tube where the same is left unclosed; its breadth and length.
corresponds exactly with the back front of the key-bit.
3rd, of a small knob (L) at the lower part of the small bar (F), projecting
about three-eighths of an inch; this knob is on each side about one-eighth of
an inch less in breadth than the back front of the key-bit, and in reducing it
to that size the reduction.comprises likewise a portion of the small bar (F).
The tube (E) is pierced by three screw holes (two of which, H & J, are
visible); the same are placed so as to find themselves exactly above the
incision (C, Fig. 3) when the appendage is applied to the key. The screws
to be inserted in said holes are fitted and made to descend into the said
incision, so as to fix the appendage in a solid manner to the key, allowing it at
the same time to turn round without the appendage turning round with it; in
fact, the key pivots round on the appendage.
Fig. 5 represents the outside front of the appendage.
Fig. 6 represents the inside front of the appendage, which has to close
against the key-bit; in in the middle thereof is enchased perpendicularly a
narrow spring, fastened to it at the top and provided at the lower part with a
small round button (G) intended to catch in the small hole (B, Fig. 2), in
order to prevent the appendage from dangling about the key. The cavity into a
which the spring is enchased has a sloping depth, and is at the lower part
just deep enough to allow the button (G) to recede whenever the key is
turning round; thus, when the key is applied to the lock, the knob (L, Fig. 4,)
being foremost, finds itself arrested and the appendage firmly settled at the
outside aperture of the keyhole, allowing at the same time the key to execute
its rotary functions without the slightest impediment. The opposite end of the
key (D, Fig. 3) being safely encased in the inside of the tube (E, Fig. 4), in
which it turns round, it finds itself fully secured against attempts made to turn
the key and open a door from the outside by the application of pliers or other
instruments.
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