A NEW METHOD FOR INDICATING IF A CLOSET OR ROOM BE ENGAGED OR DISENGAGED, AND APPLIANCES FOR SUCH PURPOSE
Year: 1876

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Frederick Warner Jones, of No. 10, Colleton Crescent,
Exeter, Devon, for the Invention of "A NEW METHOD FOR INDICATING IF A
CLOSET OR ROOM BE ENGAGED OR DISENGAGED, AND APPLIANCES FOR SUCH
PURPOSE."
Sealed the 26th January 1877, and dated the 2nd August 1876.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said 'Frederick Warner Jones at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 2nd August 1876.
FREDERICK WARNER JONES, of No. 10, Colleton Crescent, Exeter, Devon. "A.
NEW METHOD FOR INDICATING IF A CLOSET OR ROOM BE ENGAGED OR DISENGAGED,
AND APPLIANCES FOR SUCH PURPOSE."
I indicate by means of a self-acting bolt and slide if a room or closet be
occupied or unoccupied in the following manner:-In carrying out my Invention
I use in conjunction with the ordinary sliding bolt now ordinarily used (for bolting
a door on the inside) an outside plate with a sliding face, on which is engraved the
word "disengaged" or a word equally applicable. This sliding plate is actuated by
the movement of the inside bolt in the following manner:-That is to say, the
plate on which the word-disengaged, or a similar word, is engraved is hereby caused
to slide equally with the bolt, and in such a manner that on the door being bolted
the letters dis slide underneath the frame of the plate, thus showing when closed
the word "engaged" only.
I form the bolt with a projecting finger which may or may not be a continuation
of the knob or handle of the bolt, which said finger is so joined to the outside
sliding plate that when the inside bolt is thrown in either direction the sliding plate
moves with it.

page_text: SPECIFICATION filed in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
and of an Order of the Lord Chancellor, by the said Frederick Warner Jones
in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 10th February 1877.
"A
FREDERICK WARNER JONES, 10, Colleton Crescent, Exeter, Gentleman.
NEW METHOD FOR INDICATING IF A CLOSET OR ROOM BE ENGAGED OR DISENGAGED,
AND APPLIANCES FOR SUCH PURPOSE."
My Invention shows if a room be engaged or disengaged in the following manner,
viz., by means of a bolt and plate constructed as follows: An ordinary sliding bolt
is fixed on the door inside; on the outside a plate is fixed opposite the bolt inside
and a hole is cut through the door, whereby the pin of the knob of the bolt is
continued through the door and fixed into the plate outside. The centre portion
of the plate is made so as to slide on the frame of the plate and into this sliding
portion the kuob pin is fastened, thus on the bolt being moved forward or backward
the outside moveable part of the plate slides with it. On the moveable part of the
plate the word "disengaged" is engraved, or a similar convenient and applicable
word, on the bolt being moved forward it carries this moveable part of the front
plate with it and the three letters "dis," of the word disengaged are hidden from
view, having passed (by being moved by the bolt) under a portion of the framework
of the outside plate, and the door being now bolted the word "engaged" only is
seen.
For doors requiring to be bolted from right to left, the pin of the knob of the
bolt does not pass directly into the sliding plate. An arm from the frame of the
outside plate holds a small arm or lever in the centre, in one end of this lever there
is a hole and into this hole the knob pin enters, the other end fits into or over a
knob on the outside plate, so that on the bolt being thrown one way it causes the
slide plate to move in an opposite direction, thus hiding the letters "dis" as
before.
In witness whereof, I, the said Frederick Warner Jones, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty-ninth day of January One thousand eight
hundred and seventy-seven.