A Magnetic Lock for Miner's Safety Lamps.
Year: 1898

page_text: Date of Application, 4th Aug., 1898-Accepted, 29th July, 1899
A Magnetic Lock for Miner's Safety Lamps.
F. WILHELM REINHARD, Royal Mines Surveyor, of Herrensohr-Dudweiler, in the
Province of Rhineland and Kingdom of Prussia, 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 statement:―
The magnetic lock represented in the annexed drawings is characterized by the
arrangement of a closing and an attachment anchor, thus affording the greatest
possible safety as compared with all previous methods.
Its arrangement does not require more time and skill in opening and closing than
other magnetic fastenings. Moreover the mechanism in the interior of the lamp
can be controlled by the eye the ends of both anchors when they catch rightly being
visible in the interior of the lamp.
Fig. 1 of the drawing shows the closing ring A of the lamp in horizontal section,
Fig. 2 the bottom ring B of the lamp seen from outside, Fig. a horizontal section
through the bottom-ring with the fastening ring screwed up, and this with the lamp
closed when the anchors are in their closed position, while Figs. 4 and 5 represent
two other successive positions of the anchors at the closing and the opening of the
lanp, namely at first the arresting anchor a alone attracted from the magnet applied
at the outside of the lamp, and therefore not catching into the lamp, while the closing
anchor catches into the lamp; and afterwards both anchors after being attracted
from the magnet disconnected with the lamp.
Both anchors a and b being made of magnetic material and lying in a hollow of
the closing ring A, forming a casing closed at the outside, have their turning
points P and P 1 close to each other and extend their catching ends from the turning
points in opposite directions, these ends always being moved towards the inner
circumference of the closing ring A or pressed against the outer circumference of the
bottom-ring B by means of springs arranged near the turning points P and P 1.
The end a of the anchor a forms a sort of hammerhead, and the end 61 of the
anchor is curved like a hook in the direction of a, both ends corresponding in size
with the spring openings I II III and so on, placed at equal distances on the
circumference of the bottom-ring B.
The anchor is shorter than the anchor a by the width of one opening in the
bottom-ring, or the width of the hammerhead.
The result of this is that it is only possible to open the lamp, first after the
hammer a 1 has been raised by magnetism out of its respective opening in the side
of the bottom ring B and then when after the turning of the closing ring A round B
in the direction of a towards b that is to say in the direction of the arrow in Fig. 3
the other anchor b has been raised also by the magnetism out of it respective opening
in the side of B.
These movements take place in the reversed order at the closing of the lamp. If
both anchors are attracted by the magnet outside (as in Fig. 5) then the screwing
together of the parts of the lamp can be effected by the turning round, in the
direction of the arrow round B, of the fastening ring A.
At this movement of A as soon as the anchors have been released from the

page_text: magnetic poles, the hook like point b 1 of the anchor b drops into the nearest
opening, while the end a1 of the anchor a under the action of its spring still
remains resting upon the outer circumference or upon its respective pièce s of the
side of B. This position is shown in Fig. 4.
If now A is turned further round in the direction of the arrow shown in Fig. 4
the hook 61 lays hold of the end of the next division of the sides which is directed
towards its opening, pushing itself quite on it.
At the moment when the side edge of 8 is seized by the lower part of the hook,
rendering further turning impossible, the hammerhead a 1 drops into the nearest
opening. Thus the closed position is now obtained (Fig. 3.) when the fastening
anchor cannot be released by any manipulation, as that would necessitate the
releasing of the anchor a, which offers no point of attack.
An opening of the closed lamp is thus possible solely by the application of a magnet,
thus affording complete security against any unauthorized opening of the lamp, a
fact which has been practically demonstrated by experiments.
The ends of the wall-divisions 8 which are directed towards the hook b 1 can as
designed be coned so as to form a wedge for facilitating its catching with the
hook 6 1.
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 that what I
claim is :-
Magnetic lock for miner's safety lamps thereby characterized that the fastening is
effected by the successively catching of the hook shaped point 61 of the closing
anchor bin one of the openings of the side wall of the bottom-ring B, and of the
head a 1 of the arresting anchor a in another of the said openings, after the
hook 61 having closely clasped to the end of that division 8 of the wall, which lies
next to b 1.