Year: 1888

page_text: Date of Application, 1st Sept., 1888
Specification Accepted, 16th Nov., 1888
I, HUGO STEINTE of 112 Gneisenau Strasse Berlin in the German Empire, editor
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 object of this invention is to dispense with the use of springs in safety locks,
which I effect by the employment of locking or ward plates actuated by means of one
or two keys and moveable either in straight lines or on a pivot. The keys may be
either push keys or turn keys with bitts according to the motion of the locking plates
being effected from their edges or from their middle or flat sides.
On the sheet of drawings appended hereunto some ways in which my invention can
be carried into effect are shewn.
Figs. 1, 2, 3, and 4 showing the application of locking plates with rectilinear
movement and actuated by one push key to a padlock.
Figs. 5, and 6 the application of locking plates with rectilinear movement and two
push keys.
Fig. 7 the application of oscillating locking plates and one or two push keys.
Figs. 8, 9, 10 and 11 the application of locking plates turning centrally and two
koys, one being a push key and the other a turn key.
The locking plates in the preceeding arrangement are all actuated from the outer
edges, while figs. 12 and 13 show locking plates actuated from the inner edges of
openings formed in the locking plates.
Fig. 12 shewing oscillating and
Fig. 13 rectilinearly moving locking plates,
Fig. 14 shewing the key for these arrangements.
Fig. 15 shows an arrangement in which the locking plates themselves are first moved
horizontally and afterwards the lock bolt is moved vertically.
Fig. 16 shewing the key for this arrangement.
As stated herein before the locking plates may be of various forms and moved in
various ways.
The springloss safety padlock with locking plates with rectilinear movement and one
push key is shown by fig. 1 with the shackle a thrown, back or opened and by fig. 4
closed, fig. 2 shewing a section along line xx and fig. 3 a view from below.
D927
The

page_text: hook of the shackle a rests when the lock is closed against the full edges of the
locking plates c, c1, c2, c³, (fig. 4) but when the lock is opened in the several clefts or
notches d, d, d³, d, of the locking plates (fig. 1 and 2).
The locking plates made of any suitable kind of metal have besides the lateral
notches d d¹²d with equal depth for the hook 6 other clefts or notches e, e¹, e², e³,
also of equal depth for the key f, and the steps g, g', 9, 3 of the key are so arranged,
that when the key is insorted into the lock up to the shoulders h the locking
plates cc, c, c, are so shifted relatively to one another that the notches d d' d² d³
formed in them at different distances from the bottom edge are ranged at the same
height in the lock and allow the hook of the shackle a to enter them, so that the
shackle can be thrown back and the lock opened (fig. 1 and 2).
This arrangement requires that the locking plates arranged one on the top of the
other in the case i should he easily moveable and drop down to the bottom by their own
gravity when the key is with drawn. In locks that are exposed to the danger of dust
or effects of the weather and in which the plates might stick in consequence, two keys
are used, a lower key f¹ fig. 6 for lifting the locking plates and an upper key fig. 5
for limiting their movement. In this case the lower key is made without shoulders.
As shown by lines dotted stroke and point in fig. 4, a key hole k is arranged in the lock
for the upper key which is simply pushed through as shewn by fig. 5 and thereby
prevents the plates being raised above the positions which permit the hook to enter
the lateral notches of the plates.
To close the lock the shackle a is simply pressed down and the two keys are with-
drawn. The locking plates being liberated shift their position and the hook again
rests upon the full edges of the locking plates. The lock cannot possibly be opened
by turning it about, as the locking plates will not thereby be brought into such a
position that the notches for the hook & lie in an exactly straight line. The safety of
the lock increases with the number of locking plates employed, as the variations in the
positions of the lateral notches are increased thereby.
Fig. 7 shows a padlock made on the same principle only the locking plates do not
move rectilinearly but swivel on a pivot 7. With this arrangement one or two push
keys may be used, a slot k¹ (dotted on fig. 7) being arranged in the latter case for the
second key.
Figs. 8, 9, 10 and 11 show a lock and keys in which lock the locking plates are
put on a contrally placed pivot m and consequently turn round this centre. Two keys
are used for this lock, namely a push key n for shifting the locking plates and a turn
key n for limiting their movement. The shackle a has a tail end with eye o into
which the tongues 7 or q¹ of the locking plates enter. Supposing the tongues q to
be pushed through the eye, the lower edges of the locking plates would be moved
against the small ledge n on the case i. If the key n¹ is now put in and turned till its
bitt comes against the case i as shewn on the drawings, and the key n pushed into its
keyhole as far as possible, then the locking plates will assume the position shewn on
the drawing which allows the shackle end to be withdrawn and the lock to be opened.
For shutting the lock, the shackle is pushed in, the key n¹ withdrawn and the key n
pushed in as far as it can be, so that the tonges g of the locking plates again enter the
eye o and hold the shackle.
If that side of the locking plate on which the tongues 9, 9 are arranged, be made
heavier than the opposite side, the shutting of the lock after the shackle has been
pressed down is effected by the unbalanced weight of the plates and in that case the
keyn can be dispensed with.
Locking plates arranged as shewn by figs. 12 and 13 are operated by the double
bitt key shewn by fig. 14, which enters into the openings t and acts upon their inner
edges.
Fig. 12 shews a locking plate of this kind swivelling on a pivot u, while the locking
plate in fig. 13 moves in a straight line. The notches v and v v receive the hook of
the shackle. The key is made with two bitts w, w¹, of which w serves to move the
locking plates and w¹ to limit their movement as indicated on figs. 12 and 13 by the
dotted positions.

page_text: Fig. 15 shows an arrangement of lock and fig. 16 the key appertaining to it in
which the locking plates are first moved in a straight line, after which the lock bolt
proper is lifted and with its projections or ledges enters corresponding notches of the
locking plates. The key for this lock has two bitts 1, the stepped bitt acting on
the locking plates c and the plain bitt on the lockbolt A, which is shewn closed.
On the key being turned from the position shown by full lines on fig. 15 into that
shewn by dotted lines, the locking plates c are moved so far to the right that the ledges
or projections B B' on the bolt A are directly below the notches d d. The koy being
further turned by a quarter turn, the ledges B B¹ enter the notches dd and the bolt is
lifted and the lock opened. When the lock is closed, the ledges B B' are butting
against the solid edges of the locking plates.
I do not confine myself to the special arrangements of locks and shapes of locking
plates or keys shown, but the arrangement and movement of the locking plates and
shape of keys may be varied according to the purposes for which the locks are intended,
but in each case locking plates with notches into which the shackle, bolt or other
locking medium enters are employed.
The locks hereinbefore described, besides, the safety they offer, and which can be
increased to any desired degree by multiplying the locking plates, possess the advantage
that they can be made very cheaply in consequence of the simplicity of the mechanism
and parts and do not require repairs.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is,
The arrangement or construction of safety locks without springs of any kind and
with an optional number of locking plates actuated by one or two keys so as either to
slide rectilinearly or turn or swivel on pivots and provided with notches for the entry
of the shackle-hook or shackle-ond or of a bolt or ledges or projections on a bolt,
substantially as herein before described and illustrated.
Dated this 30th day of August 1888.