IMPROVEMENTS IN SAFES AND STRONG ROOMS
Year: 1884

page_text: I HARRY RICHARD ANTCLIFF of N° 129 Alston Street Birmingham in the
County of Warwick Safe Maker do hereby declare the nature of the said
invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN SAFES AND STRONG ROOMS" to be as follows:-
My invention has reference to the locking mechanism of safes and strong rooms.
and consists of the improvements hereinafter described whereby greater security
against the attacks of burglars is obtained.
In safes and strong rooms as ordinarily constructed the locking mechanism is
attached to a metallic plate which plate is affixed to the inner side of the door by
screws or otherwise. Under circumstances which I do not consider it desirable to
explain an ingenious burglar might detach from the door the whole locking
mechanism and thereby permit the door to be opened without disturbing the
position of the said mechanism and under. the circumstances I have referred to he
might do this with much less trouble than would be required to pick the lock or to
render it inoperative.
According to my invention the plate carrying the locking mechanism is dispensed
with and the locking mechanism is affixed directly to the door so that it cannot be
detached from the door as a whole that. is it can only be removed or injured pieco
by piece and this can only be done by the expenditure of an amount of force and
violence which a burglar can rarely resort to.
In order to give stiil further security I modify the bolts in the following manner.
Instead of employing at the top bottom and sides of the door bolts each having
two or three branched or forked ends engaging in a like number of staples near the
edge of the safe or door frame of the strong room I employ. bolts each having but
one acting end the said acting ends having a breadth nearly equal to the lengths of
the sides in which they respectively engage. This great breadth of the acting ends
of the bolts gives great additional security and frustrates the attempt of the burglar
who can more readily attack and injure a series of bolts one after the other than
deal with a single bolt extending nearly the whole length of the side of the safe or
strong room in which it engages.
The improved bolt may be employed in different kinds of locking meclianism for
safes and strong rooms.
W..T. WHITEMAN,
Agent for the Applicant,

page_text: I HARRY RICHARD ANTCLIFF of No 129 Alston Street, Birmingham in the
County of Warwick, Safe Maker do hereby declare the nature of my invention for
IMPROVEMENTS IN SAFES AND STRONG ROOMS". and in what manner the same is
to be performed to particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
"
statement:―
My invention has reference to the locking mechanism of safes and strong rooms
and consists of the improvements hereinafter described, whereby greater security
against the attacks of burglars is obtained.
In safes and strong rooms as ordinarily constructed the locking mechanism is
attached to a metallic plate which plate is affixed to the inner side of the door by
screws or otherwise. Under circumstances which I do not think it desirable to
explain an ingenious burglar might detach from the door the whole locking
mechanism and thereby permit the door to be opened without disturbing the
position of the said mechanism and under the circumstances I have referred to he
might do this with much less trouble than would be required to pick the lock, or to
render it inoperative.
According to my invention the plate carrying the locking mechanism is dispensed
with and the locking mechanism is affixed directly to the door so that it cannot be
detached from the door as a whole, that is, it can only be removed or injured piece
by piece and this can only be done by the expenditure of an amount of force and
violence which a burglar can rarely resort to.
In order to give still further security I modify the bolts in the following manner.
Instead of employing at the top bottom and sides of the door, bolts each having
two or three branched or forked ends engaging in a like number of staples near the
edge of the safe or door frame of the strong room I employ bolts each having but
one acting end the said acting ends having a breadth nearly equal to the lengths of
the sides in which they respectively engage. This great breadth of the acting ends
of the bolts gives great additional security and frustrates the attempt of the burglar
who can more readily attack and injure a series of bolts one after the other than
deal with a single bolt extending nearly the whole length of the side of the safe or
strong room in which it engages.
The improved bolt may be employed in different kinds of locking mechanism for
safes and strong rooms.
Figures 1 and 2 of the accompanying Drawing represent in front elevation a
safe constructed according to my invention, the door being represented open or
thrown back but the locking bolts are represented in their withdrawn position in
Figure 1 and in their shot or advanced position in Figure 2; Figures 3 and 4
represent in section, portions of the door and body of the safe, the bolt being
represented in its withdrawn position in Figure 3 and in its shot position in
Figure 4; Figure 5 represents a section of a portion of the door and bolts taken on
the line a, a Figure 2.
The same letters of reference indicate the same parts in the several Figures of
the drawing.
b is the door of the safe to which the locking mechanism is directly attached
according to one part of my invention; d is the body of the safe; c, c²; c c ²; c c³ ; c c²,
are the four bolts connected to and sliding upon the door b. The said bolts are
connected together so that they can be shot or withdrawn simultaneously by means
of the studs and slots at e and the lever f, the axis of the said lever being operated
by an external handle in the ordinary way. The bearing g of the lever fis fixed

page_text: on the door b. The bolts are guided in their rectilinear motion by means of
knuckles h, h screwed on the door b working in slots i in the bolts, cross screw
pins k passed through the knuckles and having screw nuts fitted upon them
preventing the detachment of the bolts from the door. The construction of the
knuckles h and the way in which they are fixed to the door b is best seen in the
section Figure 5.
Each of the bolts c, c² has but one acting end the said acting end being marked c²
in the drawing. The said acting end c² has a breadth nearly equal to the length
of the side of the body d of the safe in which it engages. The shape of the acting
ends of the four bolts is best seen in Figure 2 where the said bolts are represented
in their shot position. The recesses in the body d of the safe into which the long
acting ends c² of the bolts engage are shown in the sections Figures 3 and 4 and
are marked one of the bolts being represented shot in Figure 4 and withdrawn
in Figure 3. The recesses in the sides of the body of the safe have a length
corresponding with the breadth of the ends c² of the bolts engaging with them.
The great breadth of the acting ends c²; c².of the bolts gives great additional
security to the locking mechanism as herein before described. The bolts c, c²; c c²
are locked in their shot position by small bolts m operated by the lock n in the
ordinary way taking into recesses in the principal bolts as represented in Figure 2.
The lock n is screwed to the door and a hole is made in the back of the said
lock n coincident with the key hole so that there is a complete passage through
the lock and the forcing away of the said lock by a wedge passed through the key
hole or by gunpowder is prevented.
The locking mechanisin applied directly to the door b is covered and concealed
by a case of the ordinary kind as represented in Figures 3 and 4 and marked 4.
My improvements may be applied to strong rooms as well as to safes and the
construction of bolts described and represented may be applied to locking
mechanism attached to a metallic plate which is affixed to the inner side of the
door and to various kinds of locking mechanism of safes and strong rooms.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of iny said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what
I claim is of "Improvements in safes and strong rooms" :-
First Affixing the locking mechanism directly to the door of the safe or strong
room for the purpose and substantially as herein before described and illustrated in
the accompanying Drawing,
Secondly Constructing each of the principal bolts of the locking mechanism of
safes and strong rooms with one broad acting end, the said broad ends of the bolts
taking into recesses of a corresponding length in the sides of the body of the safe
or strong room for the purpose and substantially as herein before described and
illustrated in the accompanying Drawing.
Dated this first day of November 1884.
HARRY RICHARD ANTCLIFF.