IMPROVEMENTS IN IRON SAFES AND STRONG-ROOMS.
Year: 1865

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Chubb, of St. Paul's Churchyard, in the City
of London, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN IRON SAFES AND
STRONG-ROOMS.'
Sealed the 13th April 1865, and dated the 9th February 1865.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Chubb at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 9th February
1865.
I, JOHN. CHUBB, of St. Paul's Churchyard, in the City of London, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN IRON SAFES AND
STRONG-ROOMS," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in iron safes and strong-
rooms. For these purposes, in order to render the door of an iron safe less
liable to be forced open by the introduction of thin hard steel wedges between
the frame of the door and the bevelled edge of the door, so as to take advan-
tage of the incline on the interior edge of the door, the frame, in place of being
made flush, as heretofore, is made to project beyond the door, so that the door
will be recessed; and further, to protect the door and the keyhole or holes
through the door of a strong room or iron safe, a hardened steel bar is applied
external of the door and from side to side thereof, and such bar is fitted within
a groove across the door; it is preferred that this bar should be of a curved
convex form externally, and flat on the side where it comes next the door. At
each side of the framing of the door is fixed or formed a projecting socket,

page_text: into which the bar is slid after the door has been shut and fastened or locked.
It is preferred that the sides of the groove across the door in which the bar is
fitted should be undercut in order better to insure that no thin steel wedges
shall be introduced between the door and the bar. The bar is fixed in position
by the bolt or catch of a lock..
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Chubb in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 7th
August 1865.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
CHUBB, of St. Paul's Churchyard, in the City of London, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Ninth day of February, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, in the twenty-eighth
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and
grant unto me, the said John Chubb, Her special licence that I, the said
John Chubb, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as
I, the said John Chubb, 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 Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "In-
PROVEMENTS IN IRON SAFES AND STRONG-ROOMS," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said John Chubb, my exccutors 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 Invention,
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 John Chubb, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof :-
rooms.
This Invention has for its object improvements in iron safes and strong-
For these purposes, in order to render the door of an iron safe less
liable to be forced open by the introduction of thin hard steel wedges between
the frame of the door and the bevelled edge of the door, so as to take advan-

page_text: tage of the incline on the interior edge of the door, the frame, in place of being
made flush, as heretofore, is made to project beyond the door, so that the door
will be recessed; and further, to protect the door and the keyhole or hole
through the door of a strong-room or iron safe, a hardened steel bar is applied
external of the door and from side to side thereof, and such bar is fitted within
a groove across the door. It is preferred that this bar should be of a curved
convex form externally and flat on the side where it comes next the door. At.
each side of the framing of the door is fixed or formed a projecting socket,
into which the bar is slid after the door has been shut and fastened or locked.
It is preferred that the sides of the groove across the door in which the bar is
fitted should be undercut in order better to insure that no thin steel wedges
shall be introduced between the door and the bar. The bar is fixed in position
by the bolt or catch of a lock.
Having thus stated the nature of my said Invention, I will proceed more
fully to describe the manner of performing the same.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figure 1 shows a plan in section of parts of a door and side framing of a
strong-room, and Figure 2 shows a transverse section of parts of the door and of
the bar used to give additional security. The iron frame around the door is
formed of a strong transverse section of the form shown, or other section, so as
to resist being bent outwards by driving thin wedges of steel between the edge
of the door and the side frame into which it shuts. This side frame a extends
beyond the door, so that the door is recessed back in place of coming flush
with the front edges of the door frame or sides of the safe. By thus causing
the door to shut into a recess, and the front of the door frame to be forward of
the part of the door, not only will the effect of steel wedges, when driven in
between the edge of the door and its frame, be rendered of little consequence,
but such projection of the door frame will admit a hollow passage or socket
being formed in the projecting parts of the frame to receive a steel bar b into
or through it. This bar is arranged to pass across the door in a recess or
groove so as to cover the keyhole of the lock of the chest or strong-room.
This bar, when passed or slided from side to side may be retained from being
moved back by the bolt of a small lock contained in the door or in the door
frame. In Figure 1 the steel bar b is plain on one side and convex outwards,
and it slides in a dovetail or undercut groove in the door; but the section of
the hard steel bar b may be varied, and the groove in the door may be made of
a form to allow the outer surface of the bar to be flush with the outer surface
of the door; or the steel bars may be arranged to pass through the door, so

page_text: that its surface is not seen where it passes across the door. If desired, more
than one such bar 6 may be applied.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the manner of
performing the same, I would have it understood that what I claim is the
forming of the door frame of a safe or strong-room forward of the door, and
so that the door is recessed back, as herein described, in combination with the
application of a bar or bars across the door, as above described.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Chubb, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Fourth day of August, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five.
JOHN CHUBB.
(L.S.)