IMPROVE- MENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF SCREW NUTS AND BOLTS." MENTS IN THE MANACTURE OF SCREWTS AND
Year: 1866

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Felix Benjamin Lucas, of 18, Rue de l'Echiquier,
Paris, in the Empire of France, Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF SCREW NUTS AND BOLTS."
MENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF SCREW NUTS AND BOLTS."
Sealed the 11th December 1866, and dated the 19th June 1866.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said. Felix Benjamin Lucas
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
19th June 1866.
I, FELIX BENJAMIN LUCAS, of No. 18, Rue de l'Echiquier, Paris, in the
Empire of France, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Inven-
tion for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF SCREW NUTS. AND BOLTS," to
be as follows:-
The screw nuts and bolts as at present employed in connecting various parts
of machinery are apt to unscrew from any tremulous motion or pressure to
which they may be subjected; the object of this Invention is to remedy this.
defect, and which I can accomplish in several ways, either by making a
groove the lengthway of the bolt and having a corresponding space made-in
the nut, and passing a metal key piece down the same, so as to lock the-two
together, and thus effectually prevent the nut from turning. One or more
grooves may be made on the bolt and a corresponding number on the nut,

page_text: the latter may also be furnished with an ear, and pierced, and the same with
the key piece, and through both holes a ring or pin may be passed for
additional security, or they may be united with a wire ligature. Or in place
of the key piece above mentioned springs of various forms may be employed.
Or, the screw for a certain length parallel with its axis may be mortised and
the nut pierced in one or more places and pins passed through the holes into
the mortise. Or a key piece furnished with a tooth may be employed in lieu of
the springs or first-mentioned key piece, so that in the event of an accidental
unscrewing the tooth of the piece would lock with the thread of the nut by
the rotation of the latter.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Felix Benjamin Lucas in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 14th December 1866,
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, FELIX
BENJAMIN LUCAS, of No. 18, Rue de l'Echiquier, Paris, in the Empire of
France, Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Nineteenth day of June, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-six, in the twenty-ninth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Felix Benjamin Lucas, Her special licence that I, the said Felix Benjamin
Lucas, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Felix Benjamin Lucas, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at
any time agree with, and no others, from time to time, and at all times
thereafter during the term therein expressed, should and lawfully might make,
use, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ire-
land, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN THE MANUFACTURE OF SCREW NUTS AND BOLTS," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Felix Benjamin Lucas, my executors or administrators,
by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and
seals, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Inven-
tion, and in what manner the same was to be performed, and cause the same
to be filed in the Great Seal Patent Office within six calendar months next
and immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Felix Benjamin Lucas, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is.to be per-

page_text: formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement and accompanying Drawings, that is to say :-
In connecting parts of machinery by means of bolts it frequently occurs
that the nuts become unscrewed under the influence of tremulous motion or
from pressure. This great drawback is remedied by keying the nut to the
bolt in the same manner that a wheel is fixed to its shaft; for this purpose it
is necessary to introduce a longitudinal bar or key piece in a cavity or space
formed by two grooves (corresponding one with the other), one made in the
bolt the length of the screw or thread, and the other in the nut parallel with
the common axis of the two pieces, the grooves on which are arranged so
that two spaces (one on the bolt and the other on the nut) shall on turning
the nut coincide or come one opposite the other to admit of locking or fixing
the nut by the insertion of the key piece without increasing the number of
the grooves, to the detriment or weakening the bolt or nut; this is effected
by making the bolt with one groove, more or less, than the nut. With two
or three grooves the locking can be effected at a sixth turn of the nut, and
with three and four grooves at a twelfth turn. The number of the grooves on
the bolt and nut being two entire consecutives the precision obtained in the
Jocking is proportionate to the product of these two numbers; with one single
groove only on one of the pieces and several on the other the locking cannot
be effected with such a nicety, I therefore prefer, as already described, to
have three grooves on the bolt and two on the nut, or three on the nut and
two on the bolt; the locking in this case can be effected in six turns to the
nut; or in furnishing the bolt with three grooves and the nut with four, or
four on the bolt and three on the nut, it may be effected in twelve turns
thereof; by this arrangement the two pieces are not weakened. The grooves
may be cylindrical or any other suitable form, their sections being rectangular,
triangular, or trapezoidal.
The accompanying Drawings, Figs. 1 to 16, show the adaptation of my
system in several phases, the principle of all of which is the same.
Fig. 1 is an elevation of an ordinary bolt a, furnished with its nut 6 and
key piece c; Fig. 2 is a section of this bolt a, taken at the line 1-2, and
showing the two grooves C³, C"; Fig. 3 is a plan of the nut b, showing the
three grooves b', arranged so as to correspond with one or the other of the
grooves of the bolt C', C"; Fig. 4 is an end view of the bolt showing the
position occupied by the key piece in relation to the bolt; Fig. 5 is an
elevation of a bolt d, having three grooves e; fis the nut, and 9 the key piece,
a front view of which is seen at Fig. 41; Fig 6 is a plan of the nut f having
four grooves e¹, e¹, e, e¹; Fig. 7 is an end view of the bolt with nut thereon,

page_text: showing also the position of the key piece, it will be seen how perfectly and
with what nicety the. locking is produced, and which is effected in this case
by twelve turns of the nut, whilst in Fig. 1 it is produced by six turns;
Fig. 8 is an elevation of a bolt h, on which the nut i is fixed by the key pięcej,
the particular form of which is shown in detail, Fig. 9, it passes at the same!
time through the neck piece of the nut and one of the grooves 1 of the bolt,
and thus secures the nut in a fixed position. The key piece bears a ring m
passing also through the ear piece n in wrought or cast iron on the nut (See
Fig. 10), which represents a side view and elevation of the said nut. Fig. 11
is an end view showing the position of the pieces of the Fig. 8; Fig. 12 is
an elevation of a middle sized bolt; in this smaller species of bolt I substitute
for the longitudinal key piece before mentioned, a spring piece x, as being
more suitable on account of the frequency of their being unscrewed. The
piece is a metal spring represented in three views, Fig. 13 being a side,
back, and end view thereof, and may be made any other convenient form;
the part s, o, is the length of the groove, and is double branched, the other
part p, which is larger, serves as a handle to place the spring into the grooves.
The rims or edges r, r, of this piece fix themselves (after the introduction of
the spring) in the grooves of the nut and bolt into the thread of the latter, as
shown, Fig. 12. This locking is produced by the bent branch o, s, (the same:
Figure) and secures both the key pieco and the nut, which can only be
removed by drawing towards you the part p of the spring, by which motion it
is compressed and releases the parts r, r, from the thread of the bolt. This
system of key piece is entirely new and although appearing at first sight very
feeble it is of a more than sufficient strength for the purpose.
Fig. 14 represents another spring key piece of somewhat similar form and
having the same advantages as the former, but having one branch only,
it is applied in the same manner and is intended for bolts of still smaller
dimensions.
Fig. 15 is a bolt and nut fixed by a stop piece or pin V, passing through
one or other of the sides of the nut and fixing in the groove of the bolt;
Fig. 16 is a vertical elevation of Fig. 12, showing a view of the groove of the
bolt.
The same principle of grooving the nut and bolt is applicable to all my
systems of key pieces, whether springs or otherwise, in the latter case they
may be either forced into position or allowed to become fixed of their own
accord, or by gently striking the nut upwards will suffice to lock all the
pieces together, and in removing the key piece all that is necessary is to
strike the nut downwards.

page_text: Having thus described my Invention, what I claim and desire to secure
by Letters Patent is, the peculiar mode of fixing the nut on the bolt by the
several means herein described and illustrated by the accompanying Drawings,
reserving to myself the right of varying or modifying the forms of the spring,
catches, and grooves, which can readily be done without departing from my
principle and with an equally good result.
In witness whereof, I, the said Felix Benjamin Lucas, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Eleventh day of December, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six.
Witness,
FÉLIX BENJAMIN LUCAS. (L.S.)
J. CLAES,
Civil Engineer,
31, Rue d'Enghien, Paris.