IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF DOORS OR OTHER COVERS OF SAFES OR DEPOSITORIES, AND IN PARTS CONNECTED THEREWITH, FOR THE PURPOSE OF OBTAINING
Year: 1865

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Matthias Hart, of Cheapside, in the City of
London, Lock Manufacturer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
THE CONSTRUCTION OF DOORS OR OTHER COVERS OF SAFES OR DEPOSITORIES, AND
IN PARTS CONNECTED THEREWITH, FOR THE PURPOSE OF OBTAINING INCREASED
Sealed the 22nd August 1865, and dated the 28th February 1865.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Matthias Hart at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
28th February 1865.
I, JOHN MATTHIAS HART, of Cheapside, in the City of London, Lock
Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IM-
PROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF DOORS OR OTHER COVERS OF SAFES OR
DEPOSITORIES, AND IN PARTS CONNECTED THEREWITH, FOR THE PURPOSE OF OBTAINING
INCREASED SECURITY," to be as follows:-
The object of the improvements is to obtain increased security against the
forcible opening of the doors or other covers of safes or depositories. In
ordinary arrangements of the doors or other covers of safes or depositories
the bolts as shot simply pass from the case near the edge of the door into
recesses formed for them in the rim or frame, or jamb, by which facility is
afforded for the introduction of means for forcible opening; and according to
one part of my improvements the door or cover is provided with an additional
plate or projection to that forming the edge of it, with a space between them

page_text: to receive a corresponding projection from a plate forming a part of the jamb
or frame of such door or cover, which for this purpose is continued to some
distance behind, and somewhat parallel to the face of the door or cover, and
the bolt when shot passes from the additional plate applied to the door through
that projecting from the jamb or frame of the door or cover, and then through
the plate forming the edge of the door into a recess formed for it in the rim
or jamb or frame, the object being to obtain repeated holding by the bolts
between parts of the door or cover and parts of the jamb or frame. If
desired the bolts may pass through several plates or projections from the door,
and through several corresponding projections or plates from the door frame
or jamb, and I apply chilled cast iron or steel between the outer plate of the
door or cover and parts carrying the bolts. When the bolts are "thrown'
or "shot," I cause a filling piece or stop to come between their inner end
and a suitable stop or abutment to retain the bolts in position. The holding
parts of the bolts, and that acted upon by the lock may be formed separately,
and be simply connected together by comparatively slight connections to
admit of the connecting part being removed by violence without interfering
with the holding parts. The back plate or lining of the door or cover I form
in several parts, to admit any one or more of them being forced off without
thereby necessarily removing the whole of them, and I connect these back
plates or lining to the door or cover by short screws from the inside in place
of by bolts through the door or cover. I form the edges of the doors or
covers with return or overlapping retaining and holding plates or stays. I
form the rebate of the door or cover (or that part of the jamb or frame
against which the door or cover shuts) inclined or bevilled instead of parallel
to the face of the door, to reduce the power of a screw lever passed through
the door or cover and acting on such rebate.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Matthias Hart in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 28th August 1865.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
MATTHIAS HART, of Cheapside, in the City of London, Lock Manufacturer,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-eighth day of February, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, in the twenty-eighth. year of

page_text: Her reign, did; for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said John Matthias Hart, Her special licence that I, the said John
Matthias Hart, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as
I, the said John Matthias Hart, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all
times thereafter during the term therein expressed, should and lawfully might
make, use, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain
and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF DOORS OR OTHER COVERS OF SAFES OR
DEPOSITORIES, AND IN PARTS CONNECTED THEREWITH, FOR THE PURPOSE OF OBTAINING
INCREASED SECURITY," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
John Matthias Hart, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in
writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should particularly
describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner
the same was to be performed, and cause the same to be filed in the Great
Seal Patent Office within six calendar months next and immediately after
the date of the said Letters Patent..
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said John Matthias Hart, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement thereof, that is to say :-
The object of the improvements is to obtain increased security against the
forcible opening of the doors or other covers of safes or other depositories.
In order that the Invention may be fully understood, I will by the aid of
the accompanying Drawings proceed to describe the means employed by me
for carrying it into practical effect.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
In ordinary arrangements of the doors or other covers of safes or depositories
the bolts used to secure such doors or covers when shot simply pass from the
case or chamber of the door near the edge of it into recesses fornied for them
in the rim or frame or jamb surrounding such door, and facility is thereby
afforded for the introduction of some instrument or means between the edgo
of the door and the surrounding parts for forcible opening, and one part of
my improvements relates to a mode of more securely holding the door or other
cover and the frame or other surrounding parts together.
Figure 1 shows by a sectional view an arrangement according to one
modification of this head of the Invention. A shows a portion of a door or
cover, and B a portion of a jamb or frame for the door or cover to shut into

page_text: or against. a shows the front and main plate of the door; b represents the
plate froin which the bolts are in ordinary arrangements shot into the frame
or jamb. But in this case the plate 6 is set back from the edge of the door
to admit of the application thereto of the additional plate c, and the space
between these plates b and c is adapted to receive a plate d from the jamb or
frame B; e is the bolt, and it will be seen that according to this arrangement
when it is shot from the plate 6 it passes first through the plate d, then
through the extra plate c of the door, and then into a recess B', which may
be of the ordinary character, in the rim, frame, or jamb of the door. The
bolte (and there may be a series of them, as is well understood,) may be shot
by means of a handle, or otherwise, and when shot it is retained in position
by means of a sliding filling piece f, which is slided into position with its
part f¹ behind the part e of the bolt e, when the bolt e will be retained in
position for holding the door closed. The sliding filling piece f may be
brought into position between the part of the bolt e and the abutment i, and
removed therefrom by a handle, or otherwise, and then locked when desired.
Figure 2 shows a front view, and Figure 2* an inside view of a portion of
the jamb or frame B, and Figures 3 and 3* sections of it separately. Figure 4
shows an inside view, and Figure 4* an edge view of a portion of the door,
and Figures 5 and 5* sections of it separately. The plates c and d may be
continuous round the edge of the door, or only at intervals, with strengthening
pieces in the intermediate portions between the parts b and c as at g, and
between the parts d and B, as at h, by which increased strength to these
additional plates will be obtained. If desired the bolts may pass through
several plates or projections from the edge of the door, and through several
corresponding projections or plates from the door frame or jamb; the form or
character of the bolts used may also be varied.
Figure 6 shows a modification of this portion of the improvements, in
which it will be seen that in addition to the plates b and c on the door or
other cover there is also a plate c', and the jamb or frame B of the door is
provided with an additional plate d¹, so that the bolt e passes from the plate b
through the plates d', c, d, and c¹, into the recess B₁ formed for it in the
jamb B, and if desired the number of these plates as thus arranged may be
increased. It will thus be seen that in these arrangements each bolt may
obtain a succession of holdings alternately of the door and its jamb or frame,
besides which that protection is given against lateral springing of the jamb or
frame from the door. If desired the additional plate next the edge of the
door, as c. or c¹, may simply act.as a protector to receive the end of the bolt
or bolts without such bolt or bolts passing through it. The part e is what

page_text: may be called the holding part of the bolt, and this part is connected to the
plate (which is that acted upon for locking or bolting, or unlocking or
unbolting,) by comparatively slight connections e³, e, or by other suitable
slight connections to admit of such parts being readily separated by violence
without a necessary interference with or disturbance of the holding parts e.
In place of the sliding filling piece or stop acting on the inner ends of the
main holding bolts, it may act on recesses or on projections provided for it
towards the front ends of such holding bolts, and between the plates c, d,
or c, d, c, and d¹. The back plate or lining of the door I prefer to form in
several distinct pieces, j, j, the number of which may be varied, so that in the
event of their being acted upon by violence for the purpose of their dis-
placement, any one or more of them may be forced off without thereby
necessarily removing the whole of them. I also prefer to connect these back
plates or linings j, j, to the door or cover by short screws j, j¹, from the
inside, in place of by bolts through the door or cover.
Figure 7 shows a horizontal section, and Figure 8 a vertical section of
another modification of my improvements, in which the bolts pass through
several plates or projections from the door, and through several corresponding
projections or plates from the door frame or jamb. a represents the front
plate of the door; k, k, a series of bolts applied to a plate k¹, by which they
are simultaneously moved to and fro, and this plate k is provided with an
arm k, which is capable of being operated for such movement by a handle, or
otherwise. Each of these bolts k passes through a projection or plate l, of
which there is a series applied to the door frame or jamb, as well as through a
projection or plate m, of which there is a series applied to the door. Figures
9, 10, 11, and 11*, show the parts separately. If desired this method of
bolting may be applied to the opposite edges of a door or cover, and in such
case the bolts of one edge may point and have motion given to them for
bolting in the opposite direction to those of the opposite edge, and for this
purpose the plates of the opposite edges may be connected together and
operated simultaneously, but in opposite directions by levers.
Figures 12 and 13 show a modification of this part of the improvements, in
which after the bolts k have been thrown or shot into their plates and m,
they and the plate k¹ are then locked by other bolts n, n, and n'; these
bolts and are affixed to the plate n², which may be acted upon to give
motion to it by a handle or otherwise, and in either case the parts will when
in their locked position be securely retained as desired by suitable locking
means. Figure 14 shows the bolts withdrawn. Figures 15 and 16 show
some of the parts separately.

page_text: Figure 17 shows by horizontal section, and Figure 18 by vertical section
another part of my improvements, in which when a series of bolts are thrown
a filling piece or stop comes between their inner ends and a suitable abutment,
by which they are all uniformly held in position. p, p, shows a series of bolts
which are connected together and operated by the bar p¹, and when these
bolts are thrown or shot I cause the filling piece or stop 7 to be slided, so
that it may come between the inner ends of each of these bolts p, p, and the
stop or abutment r, to retain those bolts in position, as indicated by Figures
19 and 20. The series of bolts p, p, and the continuous filling piece or stop q
may be operated for their required movements by a handle or handles, as
desired, and the parts may be then locked, or they may be otherwise operated.
The object of this part of the improvements is to secure the holding of a
series of bolts, and it will be evident that the form of filling piece or stop may
be varied. When either of the previously described arrangements of bolting
is employed for the front edge of the door, the back edge thereof may be
secured, as indicated by Figures 21 and 22, in which a series of bolts o is
connected to a bar o', and is made capable of passing into recesses p¹ formed
to receive them in the plate p of the jamb, and then by a movement parallel
to the length of the bar o' the parts o³ thereof will be caused to pass behind
that plate p, as indicated by Figure 21, thereby forming overlapping, retaining,
or holding plates or stays for such parts. Figures 24 and 25 show parts
separately.
Having thus described my Invention, and means which I adopt in carrying
the same into effect, I would have it understood that I do not confine myself
to the precise details shown and described, as these may be varied without
departing from my Invention; but what I claim is,--
Firstly, the combining and arranging the parts of the doors or other covers
of safes or depositories, and their frames or jambs, with additional plates for
the repeated holding and greater security of the bolts of such doors or
covers, in manner substantially as described in respect of Figures 1, 2, 3, 4,
5, and 6.
Secondly, I claim the method of securing the doors or covers of safes or
depositories by series of bolts passing through several plates or projections
from the door, and through several corresponding projections or plates from
the door frame or jamb, as described in respect of Figures 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 11*,
12, 13, 14, and 16.
Thirdly, I claim the application of a filling piece or stop to act between the
inner ends of each of several bolts, and a suitable stop or abutment for the
purpose of locking them, substantially as described.

page_text: Fourthly, I claim the means employed for retaining or holding the parts, as
described in respect of Figures 21, 22, 23, 24, and 25.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Matthias Hart, have hereunto set.
my hand and seal, this Twenty-eighth day of August, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five.
JOHN M. HART. (L.8.)