IMPROVEMENTS IN LOCKS
Year: 1853

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Decimus Julius Tripe, of the Commercial
Road East, in the County of Middlesex, Student in Medicine,
for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN LOCKS."
Sealed the 2nd January 1854, and dated the 5th July 1853.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Decimus Julius
Tripe at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 5th July 1853.
I, DECIMUS JULIUS TRIPE, do hereby declare the nature of the
said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN LOCKS" to be as follows:-
They consist principally in arrangements to prevent the opening
thereof by skeleton or picklocks, or false keys, and in detecting such
attempts, when made, by causing the interior mechanism to assume
such position that the right key only will relieve the bolt of the lock,
and that only by a reverse action.
To effect this I use the ordinary mechanism known to locksmiths,
but, in addition, underneath the bolt 1 place a slide having thereon a
pin which serves to support the tumblers, and at its back a spring
causing it to slide forward when required; in the bolt 1 cut a
rectangular slot (through which the pin on the slide also passes), which

page_text: allows it to move freely; at the right of the bolt (supposing the lock to
be a drawer lock) 1 fix a catch, the top part of which is so formed as
to admit the tumblers. When an attempt is made to pick the lock
this catch is pressed forward, and thrown underneath the bolt. Pick-
locks or a false key will fail to cause this catch to release the bolt, but
the true key being placed in the lock will relieve the mechanism by
using such key reversed.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Decimus Julius Tripe in the Great Seal Patent
Oflice, on the 5th January 1854.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, 1,
DECIMUS JULIUS TRIPE, of the Commercial Road East, in the County
of Middlesex, Student in Medicine, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Fifth day of July, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three, in the sixteenth
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and
grant unto me, the said Decimus Julius Tripe, Her special licence that
I, the said Decimus Julius Tripe, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as 1, the said Decimus Julius Tripe, my execu-
tors, 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
Locks," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Decimus
Julius Tripe, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal,
should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Inven-
tion, 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 Decimus Julius Tripe, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the

page_text: same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement, reference being had to the accom-
panying Sheet of Drawings, illustrative of the apparatus used in the
performance or carrying out my Invention, and forming part of this my
Specification, in which will be seen diagrams with letters of reference
denoting the several parts.
The object of this Invention is at once understood by the title
thereof, and it is only necessary to say that the following description
will point out the improvements made by the use of certain levers and
catches in locks, whether such locks be used for drawers, desks, safes,
doors, or other places where goods, cash, or documents of value are
deposited.
The accompanying Drawing represent eight views of or parts of
locks, with the outer plate removed in each case to shew the details
of the internal construction; they are all drawn to the full size, and
similar letters of reference refer to corresponding parts; Figure 1.
being an elevation, with the bolt removed; Figure 2, a similar view,
with the bolt, shewing the action of the pick preventives; and Figure 3,
shewing the action of the slide of the tumbler acting on the lever
catch. The means employed for preventing pressure on the tumblers
of the lock consists in the use of certain levers working on fulcra
that are allowed to catch at one of their extremities in the upper (or
underside, in some modifications of the Invention,) of the bolt. But it
is necessary that it should be understood here, that the particular
examples shewn in the Drawings, both as regards the respective forms
as well as respective positions of those levers, and the mechanism con-
nected therewith, are given only to illustrate the principal of the
invention, as they can and, in fact, must be modified in various ways,
according to the various requirements of particular cases, the size of
the lock, the position in which it is to be placed in the safe, drawer, or
other place, the nature of the material or materials employed, or other
considerations likely to affect the design. In the two first Figures of
the Drawings two of these levers are shewn at a, a, and 6, 6: they are
drawn shewing the catches a, and 6, raised so as to allow the free
motion backwards of the bolt; and the dotted lines in each case shows.

page_text: the depresseil altered respective positions after an attempt to pick the
lock has been made; they are prevented from falling by a spiral or
other binding spring, or any other convenient mechanical means.
c, c, the line traversed by the outer periphery of the motion of the key,
working on the centre, which, when reversed, provided the lock be
locked, acts on the vertical plate, and lifts the levers, . This plate,
when depressed, works round the centre of motion f, and is carried
by a projecting pin in the bolt in the direction shewn by the red dotted
line at Figure 1, thus allowing.free play to the key. The bolt itself is
shewn at g. g. Figure 2; and h, and, are the respective modifications
or depressions left on the plate of the said bolt for the catches a².
and b, to work into. They are in the Drawing relieved from the
catches, the bolt being drawn back, but the dotted lines at, and ²,
shew their respective positions after the attempt to pick the lock las
been made, either by pressure having been made on the bolt plate, or the
tumbler having been over lifted, and the dotted lines of the levers a",
and b, shew the action of the catches. Over the bolt are placed the
tumblers, one of which only, j, for the sake of greater clearness and
simplicity, is shewn in Figure 3, (but any number of tumblers may be
used.) It is kept down by means of a spring k, at its extremity, and it
is as well as the other tumblers are cut into the shape shewn at l, m, (or
other convenient form,) to prevent the introduction of a wire or
other pick beyond the extremity o, of the metal wall q². '', a metal
wall on the bolt side of the key, similar and parallel to p; to protect the
inside portion of the lock on the opposite side; and q², a small wall
placed at the extremity of the tumbler to protect the lever catch con-
nected with the sliding plate. Tho sliding plate, is placed between
the tumblers, bolt, and tumblers, or case of lock and tumbler, and so
connected with the lever detector B, ns to prevent, when pressure is
applied to the bolt, the gatings of the tumblers being ascertained.
This plate is kept in position by a spiral or binding or other spring
placed in the tumbler. In all cases of drawer bolts a simple catch
and lever, such, for instance, as the one shewn at r, Figure 4, or other-
wise, and kept down and acted upon by means of a metal springs,
should be substituted. Another kind of lever in many cases may
any

page_text: be used with advantage, is shewn in Figure 5. ., t, is a lever of
the first kind, working in the fulcrum u, having a pin i, at its lower
extremity, projecting so as to be acted upon by the sides, and a
of the slot y, of the bolt.. In the Drawing, Figure 5, the lever t¹; is
shewn raised, the catch levers a, and b, being lifted; and the dotted
lines represent the catches after they have been depressed, and
previously to their being raised by the longitudinal pressure of the
side, of the slot y. Figure 6, shews one mode of preventing the
return of the lever catch, without the addition of mechanical force, by
suspending it below its centre of gravity, and partly filling a longitudinal
cavity a, b, with mercury. When pressure or other mechanical, force
tilts the lever sufficiently to enable the mercury on the hollow side a,
to fall in its opposite extremity b, the gravity of the mass is then on
that side of the line of direction situated below the point of support:
when mechanical force is applied to tilt it back to its original position
the mercury returns also to its former position. In the Figures 7,
and 8, are given views of a smaller lock, in which A, represents the
plate or case of the lock; B, a sliding plate placed behind the bolt
plate C, and acted upon by spring D; to the plate is rivetted the
tumbler pin e, which passes through the rectangular slot f, left in the bolt
to support tumbler; G, a spring catch, pressed into the notch H, by the
spring I; J, a smaller notch, to receive the catch when the bolt is
unshot; K, a lever catch, similar in use and application to that
illustrated at a, a, in Figures 1, and 2. L, is a notch to receive the
end of the lever eatch when depressed by the action of a pick or other
instrument; M, the tumbler; N, the pin or centre in which the key
works; O, a metal wall to prevent access to the interior of the lock on
the left; and P, another metal wall for the similar purpose on the right.
In Figure 8, one of the tumblers is shewn in position; R, is a spring
acting on the tumbler; S, is a lever having its fulcrum rivetted in the
bolt at the extremity; nearest the drill pin a slot u, is left, through
which a pin V, rivetted in the bolt passes. Pressure being made on a
bolt of a lock of this construction, without the spring catch G, being
first raised, the force is thrown on the catch and not on the tumblers,
which are cut sufficiently large to allow their being raised without the

page_text: stump w, binding. If the tumblers be overlifted one end of the lever
catch K, will be thrown into the notch L. To relieve the bolt the key
must be reversed, as for locking, which, acting on the lever plate S,
raises the tumblers, and the catch is thrown off.
In witness whereof, I, the said Decimus Julius Tripe, have herein-
before aflixed my hand and seal, this Fourth day of January, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-
SAUE
Witness,
JOHN GEDGE,
DECIMUS J. TRIPE. (L.B.)
Patent Agent,
4, Wellington Street, Strand,
London.