AN IMPROVED APPA- BATUS OR DETECTOR FOR RENDERING SAPPS SECHEF PROM RODAD
Year: 1866

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Albert Whitford Hosking, of the City of Manchester,
in the County of Lancaster, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED APPA-
BATUS OR DETECTOR FOR RENDERING SAPPS SECHEF PROM RODAD"
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Albert Whitford Hosking
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
3rd September 1866.
I, ALBERT WHITFORD HOSKING, of the City of Manchester, in the County
of Lancaster, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN
IMPROVED APPARATUS OR DETECTOR FOR RENDERING SAPES SECURE PROM BURGLARY,"
to be as follows:-
My Invention consists in establishing a communication between the safe
and an instrument attached to the window or other part of the front of the
shop, warehouse, office, or other premises where a safe is used.
The main feature of this Invention is the employment of lights so arranged
as to be strikingly visible from the exterior of the building, certain con·litions
of which lights represent at all hours the state of the safe. This is effected
by means of a lamp having two bull's-eyes; behind each bull's-eye an ordinary
gas burner is placed. The existence of these lights indicates the security of
the safe, and, contrarily, the extinction of these lights will constitute a signal of
danger. That portion of the apparatus placed within the safe is of the
simplest character, and occupies so little space that the ordinary arrangements
of a safe are not interfered with; it consists of a spring placed within a tube
passing through the bottom of the safe, and having direct communication with

page_text: the lamps by a band or chain, which passing around a gas tap within the lamp
causes on the release of the spring in the safe the instant extinction of the two
lights, followed immediately by a prolonged glare of magnesium light obtained
by the use of Larkin's magnesium powder, which is ignited by a third and
independent jet of gas. The band or chain communicator is conveyed
through a glass tube which is itself enclosed within the iron gas tube sup-
plying the burners within the lamp, so that any attempt to disarrange the
apparatus would but precipitate discovery by the breaking of the glass tube,
and the consequent escape of the gas through it.
'SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Albert Whitford Hosking in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 2nd March 1867.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALBERT
WHITFORD HOSKING, of the City of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Third day of September, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six, in the thirtieth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Albert Whitford Hosking, Her special license that I, the said Albert Whitford
Hosking, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said Albert Whitford Hosking, 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 "AN
IMPROVED APPARATUS OR DETECTOR FOR RENDERING SAFES SECURE FROM BURGLARY,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Albert Whitford Hosking,
my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or
their, or one of their bands and seals, should particularly describe and
ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the saine
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 Albert Whitford Hosking, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is

page_text: to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement and accompanying Drawings (that is to say) :-
My Invention consists in establishing a communication between the safe
and a signal light or lamp, which may be applied outside the building or
attached to the window or other part of the front of the shop, warehouse,
office, or other premises where a safe is used.
The main feature of this Invention, being the employment of lights so
arranged as to be strikingly visible from the exterior of the building, certain
conditions of which lights represent at all hours the state of the safe. This is
effected by means of a lamp having two bull's-eyes; behind such bull's-eye an
ordinary gas burner is placed. The existence of these lights indicates the
security of the safe, and, contrarily, the extinction of these lights will constitute
a signal of danger. That portion of the apparatus which is to extinguish the
light or allow it to burn is placed within the safe and is of the simplest
character, occupies so little space that the ordinary arrangements of a safe are
not interfered with; it consists of a spring placed within a tube passing
through the bottom of the safe, and baving direct communication with the
lamp by a band or chain, which passing around a gas tap within the lamp
causes on the release of the spring in the safe the instant extinction of the
two lights, followed immediately by a prolonged glare of magnesium light
obtained by use of Larkin's magnesium powder, which is ignited by a third
and independent jet of gas. The band or chain communicator is conveyed
through a glass tube which is itself enclosed within the iron gas tube supplying
the burners within the lamp, so that any attempt to disarrange the apparatus
would but precipitate discovery by the breaking of the glass tube and the
consequent escape of the gas through it.
'
In order that the Invention may be better understood and explained in
detail, I have hereunto attached a Sheet of Drawings made upon a scale of
about three inches to the foot; similar letters of reference being marked'
upon corresponding parts of the apparatus.
Fig. 1 represents the relative position of the safe inside the building, and the
lamp with with which it is connected outside the building; and Figs. 2 and 3
are respectively longitudinal and transverse sections of the tube connecting
the safe with the lamp.
In Fig. 1, a is the safe, the door of which is open in order to shew the
position of the apparatus inside; b is the outside wall of the building; c is
the lamp; and d, the tube connecting the safe with the lamp. The apparatus
in the safe consists of a small case or box e containing a spring catch, which
when raised rests upon a finger connected with the rod or barf; the raising

page_text: of this catch draws the connecting cord g, which lifts the piston h of th
cylinder i contained within the lamp c; the lifting of this piston compresse
the spring and exposes the gas inlet pipe t, allowing the gas a free passag
to the burner m, which is situated between the reflector n and bull's-eye o
The gas from the meter has a free passage into the annular space p of the
connecting tube or pipe d, from whence it passes to the cylinder i, and by the
position of the piston h, when raised, a free passage is open to the burner m
the inner glass tube q has a clear opening for the passage of the connecting
cord g from one end to the other, the ends of the outer tube d being closed
tbus when the spring catch in the safe is raised so as to rest upon the rod
the safe can be closed, which will bring the latch r into contact with the
rod f; the piston h at this time being raised the gas in the lamp may be
ignited. If the safe (during the time the lamp is burning) should be tam-
pered with, the least disturbance of the door releases the spring catch, which
immediately extinguishes the light in the lamp by the piston h, when released,
being forced down by the spring k below the inlet passage 1, thereby indicating
to those outside the building. to which such lamps are attached that an
attempt is being made to open the safe. The connecting cord g, if desired, may
be attached to an ordinary gas tap so as to turn off the light; or should the
glass tube through which the connecting cord passes be broken by an attempt
being made to disarrange the apparatus, the gases will escape through such
tube into the outer atmosphere.
Having now described the nature of the said Invention, together with the
method of carrying the same into practical effect, I wish it to be distinctly
understood that I claim, the novel arrangement, adaptation, and combination
of a lamp employed in connection with safes and other depositories to indicate
any surreptitious attempt to open such safe to which the lamp is connected,
as herein-before described, set forth, and fully illustrated in the Drawings
attached.
In witness whereof, I, the said Albert Whitford Hosking, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-eight day of February, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven.
ALBERT WHITFORD HOSKING. (L.S.)