IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF LOCKS AND KEYS
Year: 1865

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Fry Heather, of No. 12, Marlborough Road,
Old Kent Road, in the County of Surrey, Master of Arts, for the
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF LOCKS AND KEYS,"
Sealed the 2nd January 1866, and dated the 8th July 1865.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Fry Heather at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
8th July 1865.
I, JOHN FRY HEATHER, of No. 12, Marlborough Road, Old Kent Road,
in the County of Surrey, Master of Arts, do hereby declare the nature of
the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF LOCKS AND KEYS,"
to be as follows:-
The lock contains two or more plates or pieces so connected that, in order
to open the lock, they must be moved at relative speeds, which can only be
given them by the proper key. The key moves these pieces by means of its
spindle, and of curved pieces or cams at right angles to it, and these cams
may be placed between plates attached to the spindle, so as to be completely
guarded or shielded. The lock being first constructed with the plates or
pieces above mentioned in a free state, so that any one can be moved inde-
pendently of the others, one or more holes are drilled in them and needle
points inserted, and the key being then introduced and turned round, setting

page_text: the plates in motion at relative speeds depending upon the forms given to its
cams; each needle point inserted in one plate or piece traces upon another of
the plates curves depending upon their relative speeds. The plates are then
cut or grooved to the forms of these curves, and studs inserted in the places
of the needle points to work against the grooves or curved boundaries. Other
short grooves can then be cut in the plates branching off from the curves
traced by the proper key, so that a false key or pick will drive the studs into
these false grooves, and all further motion will be stopped. If curves are
traced by more than oue key, every such key would open the lock.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Fry Heather in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
8th January 1866.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
FRY HEATHER, of No. 12, Marlborough Road, Old Kent Road, in the County
of Surrey, Master of Arts, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eighth day of July, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, in the twenty-ninth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said John Fry Heather, Her special licence that I, the said John Fry
Heather, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said John Fry Heather, 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 LOCKS AND KEYS," upon the con-
dition (amongst others) that 1, the said John Fry Heather, 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 per-
formed, 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 Fry Heather, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be

page_text: performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement :-
The lock contains two or more plates or pieces, which are so connected
that in order to open the lock they must be moved at relative speeds, which
can only be given them by the proper key. The key moves these pieces by
means of its spindle and of curved pieces or cams at right angles to its
spindle, and these cams may be placed between plates attached to the spindle,
so as to be completely guarded or shielded. The lock being first constructed
with the plates or pieces above mentioned in a free state, so that either can
be moved independently of the others, one or more holes are directed in them
and needle points inserted, and the key being then introduced and turned
round, setting the plates in motion at relative speeds depending upon the
forms given to its cams, each needle point inserted in one plate or piece
traces upon another curves depending upon their relative speeds. The plates
are then cut or grooved to the form of those curves, and studs inserted in the
places of the needle points to work against the grooves or curved boundaries.
Other short grooves can then be cut in the plates branching off from the truo
curves traced by the proper key, so that a false key or pick will drive the
studs into these false curves, and all further motion will be stopped. If curves
were traced by more than one key, every such key would open the lock.
The Drawings represent a lock for throwing two disks over the keyhole of
an ordinary lock, and thus rendering the latter impregnable; this form shewing
the principle of the Invention in one of its simplest forms.
Fig. 1 represents the key; Fig. 2 is an exterior view of the lock with a
portion of the face plate removed to shew how the key enters the lock;
Fig. 3 shews the interior of the lock with the true curve c, c, traced by the
action of the key itself, and the false curves h, h.
The key passing through the face plate into a slot in a revolving disk r,
turns round beneath the face plate with the disk until it can enter the interior
of the lock through the slot s. The square head of the spindle of the spindle
of the key then enters into and turns the disk A until the curved cam a, a, of
the key engages with the pin p upon the disk B, when the two disks move
simultaneously, and owing to their combined movement the pin q, attached
to the disk A, moves through the curve c, c, which has been orginally traced
by this combined action, and any attempt to open the lock without the proper
key will only result, if it move the disks at all, in driving the pin into one of
the false curves h, h, and being there stopped. The pieces set in motion
separately by the key need not necessarily be disks, but
consistent with such a motion as is above described, and may be made to act
may
have
any
form

page_text: upon and drive bolts suited to any form of lock. The number of pieces also
set in motion in the manner above described may be more than two.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Fry Heather, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Eighth day of January, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six.
JOHN FRY HEATHER. (L.S.)