Improvements in Actuating or Partly Actuating Locks or Latches Used for Securing the Doors of Railway Carriages and other Vehicles.
Year: 1886

page_text: Date of Application, 11th Nov., 1886.
Complete Left, 4th July, 1887.
Complete Accepted, 5th Aug., 1887.
Improvements in Actuating or Partly Actuating Locks or Latches
Used for Securing the Doors of Railway Carriages and other
Vehicles.
I FRANCIS WILLIAM WEBB of Crewe, in the County of Chester, Mechanical
Engineer do hereby declare the nature of the said invention to be as follows:-
My invention relates to means for unlatching or unlocking the doors of railway
carriages and other vehicles from the inside of the vehicle, and its object is to obtain
greater safety and security from accident than when handles or other means 'inside
the vehicle are used as hitherto, which inside handles are placed on the door itself.
My invention consists in arranging a lever and spring, or a lever sliding bolt and
spring, or other mechanism, on or in the door post, which lever or bolt or other
mechanism, acts upon the latch or bolt or its equivalent on the door, so as to move it
the same as when it is moved by the ordinary handle on the outside of the door,
provided for the purpose, and thus allows the door to be then pushed open.
The mechanism applied according to my invention does not interfere with the
ordinary action of the lock, latch or bolt for securing the door.
By such arrangement of mechanism the person unlatching the door from the inside
has one hand at least upon the handle on the door post while the other is used to push
open the door, and will thus not be so liable, as with the ordinary arrangements, to
fall out of the carriage by getting overbalanced, or to be otherwise injured.
I prefer to place the handle for actuating the mechanism according to my invention
on the door post inside the vehicle at such elevation that it may be conveniently
reached by a person when standing but so as to be out of the way of children.
I also arrange the mechanism so that it may be put out of action when required by
inserting a peg in a hole passing through the actuating lever, or by screwing in a pin
into the lever or bolt this pin, screw, or equivalent mechanism, being actuated either
from the inside or outside the vehicle; but when the mechanism for unlocking or
unlatching is so put out of action, it leaves the ordinary latch, lock or bolt, free, and
so that the door may be opened shut and secured by the ordinary handle for the
purpose.
My invention is also applicable, when the lock latch or bolt for securing the door,
is on the door post and not on the door as in the common arrangement.
PETER J. LIVSEY.
Agent.

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Actuating or Partly Actuating Locks or Latches
Used for Securing the Doors of Railway Carriages and other
Vehicles.
I FRANCIS WILLIAM WEBB of Crewe, in the County of Chester, Mechanical
Engineer, 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 stateinent :-
1
My invention relates to means for unlatching or unlocking the doors of railway
carriages and other vehicles from the inside of the vehicle and its object is to obtain
greater safety and security from accident than when, handles or other means insido
the vehicle are used as hitherto, which inside handles are placed on the door itself.
My invention consists in arranging a lever and spring, or a lever, sliding bolt and
spring or other mechanism on or in the door post which lever or bolt or other
mechanism acts upon the latch or bolt or its equivalent on the door, so as to move it
the same as when it is moved by the ordinary handle on the outside of the door
provided for the purpose, and thus allows the door to be thon pushed open.
The mechanism applied according to my invention does not interfere with the
ordinary action of the lock, latch or bolt for securing the door.
By such arrangement of mechanism the person unlatching the door from the inside
has one hand at least upon the handle on the door post while the other (on the knees
of the person) is used to push open the door and will thus not be so liable as with the
ordinary arrangements to fall out of the carriage by getting overbalanced, or to be
otherwise injured.
I prefer to place the handle for actuating the mechanism according to my invention
on the door post inside the vehicle at such elevation that it may be conveniently
reached by a person when standing but so as to be out of the way of children.
I also arrange the mechanism so that it may be put out of action when required by
inserting a peg in a hole passing through the actuating lever or by screwing in a pin
into the lever, or bolt, this pin, screw or equivalent uechanism being actuated either
from the inside or outside the vehicle but when the mechanism for unlocking or
unlatching is so put out of action it leaves the ordinary latch lock or bolt free, so that
the door may be opened, shut and secured by the ordinary handle for the purpose.
My invention is also applicable, when the lock latch or bolt for securing the door,
is on the door post and not on the door as in the common arrangement.
Fig. 1 is an elevation taken in a vertical plane in a direction across the carriage
showing the edge of the door frame of the carriage, with my improvements applied.
Fig. 2 is an elevation taken in the plane of the lengthway of the carriage or at a
right angle to the elevation represented by fig. 1 and shows a part of the door, and
the side frame of the carriage looking from the inside when the door is shut.

page_text: Figs. 3, 4 and 5 are sections taken in the same plane as fig. 2 showing the vertical
sliding bar in the door frame, and part of the door when shut-These three figures
may be considered one section with parts broken away between figs. 3 and 4 and
figs. 4 and 5.
Fig. 6 is a sectional elevation, and fig. 7 a partial section and elevation, and fig. 8
an elevation, all taken in the same plane as fig. 1 and at a right angle to figs. 3, 4
and 5.
Fig. 9 is a plan section taken in the line A-B fig. 6 showing part of the door and
door frame and other parts when the door is shut.
Fig. 10 is a plan section taken on the line C-D fig. 5 showing part of the door
and door frame and other parts, when the door is shut.
Fig. 11 is an elevation of part of the door frame taken in the same plane as fig. 1
showing a handle on the door frame inside the carriage, to act without a sliding bar,
directly upon the latch of the ordinary handle at the outside of the carriage.
Fig. 12 is a sectional elevation in the same plane as fig. 2 and at a right angle to
fig. 11 looking from the inside of the carriage and showing part of the door and door
frame, and the mechanism for latching and unlatching.
"
a represents the door way frame, 6 the door, c the floor of the carriage, d part of
one of the seats of the carriage.
There is a lever handle e shown in figs. 1, 2, 6 and 9, which has its fulcrum e' on a
bracket e secured to the door frame (a) by screws as shown best in fig. 6.
There is a cavity formed in the door frame a for the inner end of the lever handle e
to allow of the movement required.
The end of the inner lever e is rounded as shown in fig. 6 and fits a hook or slot
formed in the upper end of a vertically sliding barf which is arranged to move freely
in a slot cut for it in the edge of the door framing a.
The upper end of the bar has a disc with a cavity upon it which receives the
lower end of a helical spring the upper end of which abuts against the upper end
of the slot formed in the door frame a and the upper end of the bar and the helical
spring is kept in position by a thin metal plate f³ secured by screws to the side
frame a of the doorway.
The lower end of the bar is made in the form shown in figs. 5 and 8-The slot in
the door frame a is made deeper at this point and there is a thin metal plate f* secured
by screws for the bent end of the bar to slide against as shown.
The lower end of the bar is kept within the slot in the frame.by a cover plateƒ³
secured by screws to the door frame a which cover plate also acts as the bevelled
surface against which the latch g of the handle g¹ comes when the door is shut, and it
is into the slot in this plate that the latch g enters to secure the door b when shut.
The ordinary outside handlu g' is shown best on fig. 10 and g is the latch upon the
spindle g of the handle g¹.
In fig. 5 the latch y is shown in full line in the position in which it is turned when
the door 6 is shut and fully secured. The latch g is also shown in fig. 5 in dotted line
when turned sufficiently to release it.
It will be seen from fig. 5 that the under side of the latch g rests or comes against
the upper side of the lateral bend of the lower end of the bar
When the door b is shut and fully latched and the lever handle e is depressed the
bar is lifted against the action of the spring and the latch g is thus turned to the
position shown in dotted line in fig. 5 just clear of the bevel part of the plate leaving
the door b so that it can be pushed open.
When the lever handle e is released the weight of the bar and the action of the
spring forces it to its lowest position namely that in which it is shown in fig. 5,
leaving the door 6 free to be shut and secured from the outside by the ordinary
handle g.
Besides the ordinary locking latch (h) in the door which can be turned to secure
the door when shut by the key for the purpose, there is a screw bolt i which can be
turned from the outside of the carriage by the same key as for the locking latch h to
prevent the use of the handle e, on the inside of the carriage for unlatching the door.

page_text: This is shown best in figs. 4 and 7 and consists of a plate ¹ with a boss secured in
-the door frame by screws as shown.
The interior of the boss is screwed, to receive the screw i which has a square hole
in it for the key to fit by which it can be rotated and there is a collar upon it to
prevent it being screwed out too far-When this screw i is screwed inwards its point
enters a slot formed across the bar and thus prevents it from moving and when the
point of the screw i is screwed out clear of the slot in the bar f the handle e is free
to act.
There is or may be also a pin inside the carriage which is attached to one end of
a chain j¹ the other end of which is secured to the plate or bracket e², which pin can
be passed through a hole in projections from the bracket e and a hole in the lever e
when the latter is not to be worked.
The modification shown by figs. 11 and 12 will be readily understood from the
previous description of figs. 5 and 8.
In this modification the projection or part k which acts upon the ordinary latch g
to turn it into the position in which the door can be pushed open is secured upon the
inner end of a spindle or axis ¹ having bearings in the door frame a the outer end
of this spindle coming inside the carriage and having a handle ³ for partly
rotating the spindle upon it.
There is or may be a spring arranged in any convenient manner, or the weight of
the handle (which may be reversed in position) is is may be made to act to keep
the projection k in the position in which it is shown in full line in fig. 12 when not
otherwise acted upon, so as to be clear of the ordinary latch g.
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
1. The combination and arrangement of mechanism whereby a handle inside the
vehicle is made to act to unlatch the ordinary latching arrangement of the door
actuated from the outside of the carriage, such unlatching mechanism inside the
vehicle being independent of the ordinary outside latching mechanisin and leaving the
latter free to act and be used in the ordinary manner substantially as hereinbefore
described and illustrated by the drawings.
2. The arrangement of the handle and mechanism inside the vehicle 'fixed in the
door frame (a) for unlatching the mechanism actuated from the outside of the vehicle
substantially as herein before described and illustrated by the drawings.
3. The combination with the inside unlatching mechanism of a screw bolt or its
equivalent or a pin by which the inside unlatching mechanism is or may be put out
of action either on the inside or outside of the vehicle, leaving the ordinary outside
latching mechanism free to be used in the ordinary manner substantially as heroin-
before described and illustrated by the drawings.
4. The combinations of mechanism for unlatching the doors of vehicles, arranged
and acting in the manner substantially as hereinbefore described and illustrated by
figs. 1 to 10, inclusive, and figs. 11 and 12 of the drawings.
54
T "
1000