Improvements in Bolts or Fastenings Applicable for use with Double-door Cabinets, and in other Cases where Two Doors or the like Meet when Closed.
Year: 1889

page_text: Date of Application, 14th June, 1889
Complete Specification Left, 12th Apr., 1890-Accepted, 31st May, 1890
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Bolts or Fastenings Applicable for use with
Double-door Cabinets, and in other Cases where Two Doors or
the like Meet when Closed.
I, JOHN UPTON of 3 York Street, in the City of Liverpool, Cabinet Maker, do
hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
This invention has for its object a fastening that will hold the door in which the
mortice is placed, hereafter called the mortice door, rigidly in a closed position
whenever the other door hereafter called the lock door is closed and will automatically
free said mortice door the moment the lock or catch is loosed and the lock door
opened.
Hitherto hooks and eyes, bolts, and the like none of them automatic have been used
to hold the mortice door in position. These are liable to catch and also to scratch
the top and bottom or shelf or other part in which they are fixed, and are always
difficult to close or find especially in the dark.
In place of using a bolt or a hook and eye I use a spring catch or other catch
arranged to automatically be free of the mortice door except when pressed by the
lock door, but so arranged that when the lock door comes into the position where it
can be locked it presses a catch or catches attached to the framework or shelf into
the other door and holds that rigidly fast. There are numerous ways in which this
can be done, the simplest being all based on the bell crank or lever principle. A
bell crank with one arm hooked at the end is fixed in, on, or under the shelf or top
or bottom of the cupboard or in one or more of these positions. A plate is placed
on the lock door which in closing presses against one arm of the lever. A plate or
eye is also placed on the mortice door forming a recess into which the hook of the
other arm of the lever enters whenever the first arm is pressed back. A spring or
counter weight preferably keeps the hook end clear of the door except when the
other arm
forcibly pressed in. It will be obvious, however, that there are various
other arrangements mechanical equivalents of the bell crank that could be used to
effect the same purpose, the main principle of the invention being that the locked
door when pressed into place actuates a lock or catch which locks or fastens the
other door.
Dated this 19th dex of June 1880
WM. P. THOMPSON & Co.,
Of 6, Lord Street, Liverpool, Patent Agents for the Applicant.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Bolts or Fastenings Applicable for use with
Double-door Cabinets, and in other Cases where Two Doors or
the like Meet when Ólosed.
I, JOHN UPTON of 3 York Street, in the City of Liverpool, Cabinet Maker, 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:
This invention relates to fastening devices for double doors, such as are hinged
at their remote edges and meet or nearly meet, when closed, at their adjacent
edges. These two doors may be distinguished hereinafter as the "mortice door,"
that is the one which is provided with the mortice for the lock-bolt, or other
equivalent device into which the lock-bolt or equivalent fastening takes, and the
"lock door," that is the one carrying the lock or other fastening device.

page_text: The object of the invention is to provide a fastening device which, when the lock
door is closed to, will automatically fasten the mortice door-the latter being in its
closed position and will, when the lock door is opened, automatically release the
mortice door.
Hitherto hooks and eyes, turn buttons, bolts and the like, none of them automatic
in their action, have generally been employed to hold the mortice door in position.
These devices are more or less objectionable, as some are liable, when the door is being
closed, to catch against or scratch the adjacent shelf or door frame, or one part of
the fastening device is liable to catch against the other. Moreover, many of them
are difficult to fasten or find, especially in the dark.
The invention may be described with reference to the accompanying drawings
which show it as applied to a small cabinet. In these :-
Figure 1 is a front view of a portion of a cabinet with my improvements attached,
the doors being shown open at right angles to the face of the cabinet as shown in
dotted lines in Figure 2, and parts being broken away.
Figure 2 is a plan of the same, parts being in section, the mortice door being
shown shut and the lock door nearly closed.
A is the body of the cabinet, B is the mortice door and C the lock door.
In place of using a bolt, turn button or hook and eye, I employ a spring or
counterbalanced catch device, which is mounted within or upon the cabinet body
or other fixed part, in proximity to the meeting edges of the doors, and is so
constructed and arranged that one part of it, being pressed back or to one side
by the lock door in the act of closing the latter, causes another part thereof to
move sideways, or forward and sideways, in such a manner that the said latter
part engages a suitable hasp or other retaining device on the mortice door and
holds the same securely closed. On opening the lock door, the spring or counter-
balance automatically releases the catch device and the mortice door is free to be
opened also.
There are numerous ways of carrying the above idea into practical effect, the
simplest being all based on the bell crank or lever principle, one example of which
is shown in the drawings.
D is a bell crank lever which is pivoted at d upon a plate E secured within or upon
the body A or shelf of the cabinet. One arm d' of the lever projects preferably
beyond the face of the cabinet and is adapted to be pressed back by a plate F (or a
projection) on the lock door C, the extremity of the arm being, by preference,
rounded as shown. The other arm of the lever is hooked at its extremity, and
such hooked end projects beyond the face of the cabinet into a recess G in the mortice
door. Or it may simply lie within the body of the cabinet in proximity to said recess.
The recess G is partly covered by a plate g behind which the hooked end catches
when it is moved sideways (or forward and sideways) by the pressure of the door C
on the arm d¹. Or the hooked arm may be made to engage an eye or staple on the
door B. A spring H or its equivalent withdraws the hooked arm & from engage-
ment with its plate g as soon as the pressure on the arm d¹ is released by the opening
of the door C.
A fastening device such as above described could be placed at both the top and
bottom of the cabinet and also, if desirable, on intermediate shelves.
Any ordinary lock or fastening may be employed for securing the lock door. In
the drawings, I have merely shown a pivoted spring catch J such as was used on
my model apparatus. The catch takes into a pinj projecting from the edges of the
mortice door.
It will be obvious that there are various other arrangements, mechanical equi-
valents of the bell crank, that could be used to effect the same purpose as the bell
crank fastening above described, the main principle of the invention being that the
lock door, when pressed into place, actuates a lock or catch which locks or fastens
the other door, and releases it again on the lock door being opened. It will.
however, be obvious that the fastening could be reversed so as to be actuated by
the mortice door and fasten the lock door. In this case, however, the lock door

page_text: would have to be closed first and the mortice door afterwards, this being the reverse
of the usual practice.
It will also be obvious that it is not even necessary for there to be two doors,
as any other object than a door, as, for instance, a drawer closing or a simple
button or ornament being pressed back, can press back the one end of the bell
crank or catch and so lock the door, drawer or the like until the pressure be
removed.
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 :-
1. A bolt or fastening applicable for use with double doors of the kind described,
consisting of a spring or counterweighted catch device mounted upon or within
the door frame or other stationary part in proximity to the meeting edges of the
doors, and so constructed and arranged with respect to said doors that, on the
closing of one door, a part of said device is pressed back or to one side in such
a manner that another part thereof is caused to engage a hasp or equivalent retain-
device on the other door, whereby the latter is hold securely closed, but is released
simultaneously with the opening of the first named door, substantially as described.
2. The fastening for a door and the like formed of a bell-cranked or equivalent
catch such as described, acted upon by a spring so as to hold the door fast except
when pressure is taken away from the other end or arm of the fastening but releasing
it the moment such pressure is removed.
Dated this 11th day of April 1890.
WM. P. THOMPSON & Co.,
Of Liverpool, Manchester, and London, Patent Agents.