Improvements in and relating to Locks.
Year: 1890

page_text: Date of Application, 4th Nov., 1890-Accepted, 20th Dec., 1890
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in and relating to Locks.
I, SAMUEL PHILIP STEIN, of the Town of Milton, in the County of Northumberland,
in the State of Pennsylvania, and United States of America, Inventor and Machinist,
do hereby declare the nature of my invention for IMPROVEMENTS IN LOCKS, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in
and by the following statement :-
My invention has relation to improvements in locks for doors and similar things
where it is required to secure them from the intrusion of unauthorised parties, and
the object is to provide a lock for all the purposes to which such a lock may be
required, which is simple in construction, reliable for security, and strong and
durable.
My invention consists in the novel construction and arrangement of parts as will be
hereinafter described and particularly pointed out in the claims.
I have fully and clearly illustrated my invention in the accompanying drawings
wherein―
Figure 1 is a central vertical section taken lengthwise through the casing and
cylinder.
Figure 2 is a central transverse section taken horizontally through the casing, and
cylinder, showing the pin-holes in the cylinder and the tumblers arranged in position.
Figure 3 is a front or face view of the casing.
Figure 4 is a side view of the casing showing one of the keeper-slides and the
slotted bearing of the tumbler-cylinder to take and hold the connecting-bar between
the cylinder and the lock.
Figure 5 is a side view of the tumbler-cylinder showing the key-slot and the
tumbler-slots.
Figure 6 is a side view taken from the reverse side of that shown in Figure 5.
Figure 7 is a bottom view of the tumbler-cylinder showing an arrangement of the
pin-holes therein.
Figure 8 is a central vertical section lengthwise of the tumbler-cylinder.
Figure 9 is a transverse central section of the same.
Figure 10 is a vertical section of the tumbler-cylinder taken on the line x-x of
Figure 5.
Figure 11 is a view of one of the pins.
Figure 12 is a detail of a series of the sliding-tumblers.
Figure 13 is a view of the key.
Figure 14 is a perspective of the casing, the connecting-bar being shown as
inserted.
Figure 15 is a perspective in central section of the casing, showing the grooves for
lifting the pins.
A designates the casing, consisting of a hollow cylindrical shell formed with a rim-
flange 1, to set in or against the face of the door or other object to which the device is
applied. On the casing are lugs 2, having threaded holes to receive fastening-screws,
not shown, projected through the lock to draw and hold the casing in its mortise in
the door or other object. In the casing at the front is an aperture 3, in which the
projecting key-end of the tumbler-cylinder is seated and revolves; and on the rear-
face of the casing is a plate 2*, secured by any proper means, and having an aperture
in which the rear projecting end of the tumbler-cylinder is held and turns. Centrally
located and transversely arranged in the casing is a determined number of slots 4, the
ends of which are closed by slides 5, let in ways in the face of the casing; those.
slides serve as keepers to prevent the tumblers from falling from the slots and also
serve as abutments for the ends of the tumblers to lodge against. In the lower part

page_text: of the interior of the casing is a determined number of transversely arranged grooves 6,
the bottoms of which are eccentric to the circle of the interior or bore of the casing
and to the face of the tumbler-cylinder. In the deepest part of these grooves the
lower ends of the key-pins normally set when the tumbler-cylinder is locked in the
casing, as hereinafter more fully specified.
A casing having one of these grooves, a single tumbler in the cylinder and a
single pin-hole and pin in the cylinder, would form a tumbler-barrel of the cheapest
construction, and which could not well be opened except by the key adjusted to open
it; yet for absolute security two or more tumblers and grooves are requisite.
B designates the tumbler-cylinder, being a plain cylinder neatly fitted to the
interior of the casing and formed with spindles or journals 7, 8, at its respective ends
to fit in the bearings of the casing and the plate on the rear thereof. Lengthwise of
the tumbler-cylinder is the key-slot 9, let in from one side and reaching across to the
proper depth or width. In the rear spindle S, of the tumbler-cylinder is held the
connecting-bar 10, which has its outer end secured to the spindle of the lock, not
shown. This connection of the bar 10 is not shown because the latch part of the lock
forms no part of my invention and the connection may be made to any lock adapted
for such purpose. Across the tumbler-cylinder is the requisite number of tumbler-
slots 11, which register with the slots or seats 4 in the casing; and in these slots the
tumblers hereinafter described are arranged. In the lower half of the tumbler-
cylinder is a number of pin-holes 12, in each of which is a key-pin 13. These key-
pins set with their lower or outer ends in the grooves 6 of the casing and open into
the key-slot, and register with the holes in the key so that when the proper key is
inserted in the slot and the tumbler-cylinder is turned, the pins are lifted by their ends
moving in the eccentric bottoms of the groove into the holes of the key, and thus do
not prevent the tumbler cylinder from being turned; but should a key be inserted
without the holes, or having holes not registering with the pins, the movement of the
tumbler-cylinder will push the pins up with their upper or inner ends against the face
of the key and thus wedge the tumbler-cylinder from turning around.
C designates the tumblers. These consist of plates or hars having key-holes 14,
arranged at substantially their middle. The key-holes are made of different lengths,
so that they do not align, and the tumblers also, are of different lengths, in order that
when the key is inserted they will be moved to different distances into the casing and
if attempted unauthorised unlocking be made they will be moved, more or less into
locked engagement, the key being so supplied with notches or seats that when inserted,
it drives all the tumblers from engagement with the casing and releases the tumbler-
cylinder from its locked relation thereto. And when the key is withdrawn the
tumblers will be moved by the projection 17 on the end of the key into locked
position.
D designates the key, consisting of a flat plate having notches or seats '15, 116, in
its edges graduated to suit the respective key-holes of the tumblers and hold them
withdrawn from engagement with the casing, and having on its end a lateral
projection 17, which serves to throw the tumblers into locked position, that is, into the
slots 4, when the key is withdrawn. In the key is a number of pin-holes 18, placed
to register with the pins arranged in the pin-holes of the tumbler-cylinder. It will be
perceived that the tumblers Care free in the slots of the tumbler-cylinder, and are
moved to and from locked position by the action of the key; being moved in locked
position by the withdrawal of the key, the projection 17 extending laterally beyond
the line or depth of any one of the notches in which the tumblers engage; so that as
the key is withdrawn the projection 17 is the last to engage the tumblers and all of
them are moved into locked position by the projection.
It will be perceived that the tumbler-cylinder is locked in the casing by the action
of the key on the tumblers alone, and the locked connections are then so secure as to
afford, protection against unwarranted intrusion; but by the intervention of the pins
in the tumbler-cylinder and their necessary registration with the pin-holes in the key,
absolute security is provided.
An operative tumbler-attachment of this kind may be made with the 'tumblers

page_text: alone arranged in the cylinder and engaging the casing as described, but by the
addition of the key-pins I attain a device which it is very hard to unlock except by
the key made for it. Any number of tumblers may be used, and also any number of
key-pins, additional security being attained by increasing the number of one or both.
The parts are assembled as follows: The key-pins are placed in the tumbler-cylinder
and then the cylinder is placed in the bore of the casing and turned until the
tumbler-slots in the parts align, the tumblers are then inserted in the tumbler-slots
and the keeper-slides shoved in their ways, and the device, after the connecting-bar
or plate is attached, is ready for being arranged in its mortise.
The operation is as follows: The key is inserted, which action moves the tumblers
from their engagement with the casing, and in instances where the pins are not
used the tumbler-cylinder may be turned and with it the spindle of the connected
lock; but if the key-pins are used the key is turned until the pins slide or move
into the holes in the key, and as they in such case do not obstruct the movement
of the tumbler-cylinder, the revolution of the cylinder may be continued; but if a
key he used which could move the tumblers out of engagement with the casing
but not having pin-holes or having holes not registering with the pins the move-
ment of the tumbler-cylinder will be stopped by the inward movements of the
key-pins and their pressure against the key through the agency of the eccentric
grooves in the casing, whereby the pins are forced against the imperforate part of
the key and wedge the cylinder against being turned.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare what I claim is:
1. In a lock, the combination of a cylindrical hollow casing having aligned tumbler-
slots oppositely arranged in its interior and an eccentrically annular groove in the
inner face of the casing, a tumbler-cylinder within the casing having a transversely
arranged tumbler-slot registering with the tumbler-slot of the casing and having a
key-slot and a pin-hole extending from the surface and opening into the key-slot, a
sliding-tumbler having a key-hole disposed in the tumbler-slot a pin-hole with its end
in the groove of the casing and a key having a hole to receive the pin and shift the
tumbler substantially as described and for the purpose specified.
2. The key herein described having its edges formed to shift the tumblers of a lock,.
and having pin-holes through its blade, substantially as described.
3. In a lock the combination with the outer casing having seats to receive the ends
of tumblers, of a cylinder arranged in the casing formed with pin-holes opening into
the key-slot and arranged at substantially right angles thereto, and pins in the pin-holes
arranged to be moved towards the centre of the cylinder, substantially as described
and for the purpose specified.
4. The key herein described, consisting of a blade having its edges formed to shift
the tumblers of a lock-cylinder and provided with a lateral projection at its end and
having pin-holes through the blade, substantially as and for the purpose specified.
5. In a lock, the combination of the casing provided with an eccentrically arranged
groove 6, the cylinder within the casing formed with a pin-hole and with a key-slot,
and the pin arranged in the hole in the cylinder and having its end resting in the said
groove, substantially as described.
Dated this 4th day of November 1990
JENSEN & SON,
77, Chancery Lane, London, W.C., Patent Agents.