An Improved Appliance for Temporarily Stopping Up the Key-holes of Doors.
Year: 1896

page_text: An Improved Appliance for Temporarily Stopping Up the Key-holes
of Doors.
I JULES CHOMÉ of 14 Rue Stevin, Brussels, in the Kingdom of Belgium,
Military Auditor, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as
follows:-
The object of this invention is to prevent the opening of doors by means of false
keys and similar appliances, and the invention consists in completely stopping up,
from the interior, the key-hole by means of an appliance which is fixed in position
in any convenient manner.
This appliance has a portion of a form to fit the key-hole. The barrel or stem
is threaded to receive a sleeve, which is also threaded externally.
When the appliance is inserted. in the lock, the sleeve is screwed up, and takes
into a socket on the lock, and is screwed up tightly. Or, the sleeve may be
secured by a bayonet joint; or any other means may be employed to secure the
appliance in the keyhole, so that it will stop up the key-hole.
Dated this 10th day of April 1896.
NEWTON & SON,
Agents for the Applicant.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
An Improved Appliance for Temporarily Stopping Up the Key-holes
of Doors.
I, JULES CHOMÉ of 14 Rue Stevin, Brussels in the Kingdom of Belgium,
Military Auditor, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what
mauner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement :-
It is a matter of almost daily occurrence, that thieves enter houses by means of
false keys, to rob them, even when the occupants are in the house, and, for
instance, are asleep on the upper floors, and do not hear them, or, perhaps, would
rather allow themselves to be robbed than run the risk of bodily injury.
Now the object of this invention is to prevent, for any desired period, the

page_text: introduction of a false key, picklock, or any other appliance in a lock, for the
purpose of opening the door to which it is applied.
I have found that the most simple means of arriving at this result, is to
completely stop up the key-hole by means of a plug having the shape of a key-
blank, which cannot turn in the lock, & which can be fixed on the inside of the
-door by some suitable means.
In the accompanying drawing, I have represented an appliance of this kind,
which I might perhaps call a stopper, because it will not serve the purpose of an
-ordinary key.
The portion A should be shaped as nearly as possible to the form of the keyhole,
and may be of a length equal to the whole, or only a part, of the thickness of the
-door.
The stem B is threaded to correspond with that of the internal thread of a
sleeve C, which is also threaded externally, so as to screw into some portion of the
lock.
After having introduced into the keyhole, the portion A of the stopper, as far
as desired, the sleeve C is turned, so as to screw it into the lock, or into a
strengthening plate adapted thereto. The combination of the two screw threads
(the sleeve being fixed in the lock), will keep the key or stopper in place, and
prevent its being dislodged by any pressure from outside.
The key or stopper may be held in place by other means; for example, the
sleeve, instead of being screwed into the lock, may carry a finger or hook, which
will take into the lock, and be held there by a quarter turn, after the manner of a
bayonet catch.
Eyelets may also be fixed to the door, and a hole or slot cut in the stem of
the key or stopper, for the passage through it of a pin, when the key is in
place.
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 1
-claim is:
A stopper or appliance serving to close the keyhole of a lock and prevent the
insertion of a false key, picklock, or other device, which is held in place by any
suitable means, such as a threaded sleeve, a hook, or a pin with eyelets, as above
described, and represented in the accompanying drawing.
Dated this 11th day of January 1897.
NEWTON & SON,
Agents for the Applicant.