Improvements in or relating to Street Boxes of Electricity Mains, Tramway Cables, or Analogous Road Receptacles.
Year: 1897

page_text: Date of Application, 18th Sept., 1897-Accepted, 4th Dec., 1887
Improvements in or relating to Street Boxes of Electricity Mains,
Tramway Cables, or Analogous Road Receptacles.
I, HENRY WALL WILKINSON, of 19, Hartfield Road, Eastbourne, in the County
of Sussex, Associate Member of the Institution of Civil Engineers, 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 :-
My invention relates to the junction or street boxes of electricity mains, or of
similar road boxes or receptacles used in connection with tramway cables, pipe
conduits, or analogous receptacles; the objects in view being to provide a simple,
efficient, and cheap form of fastening, not liable to get out of order; and to prevent
as far as may be water getting within the box from the outside.
In the ordinary form of fastenings of covers for the above named purposes springs
are generally employed, and these being exposed to climatic influences, as well as to
the shocks of street traffic, are very liable to get out of order, and therefore fail to
accomplish their desired purpose. In addition to this, and even if springs are not
used, the locking device is liable to fail owing to stones or dirt getting between the
working parts thereof, or to the orifice or orifices in the cover becoming choked with
mud and so render it difficult to open it, or else water finds its way through the
orifices or joints into the box. My invention is designed to avoid these drawbacks.
In the further description of the invention, reference is made to the accompanying
drawings in which Fig. 1 is a partial vertical section through the frame and cover of a
junction or street box, such as is used for electricity mains, shewing an interior view
of the locking device within a projecting recess of the frame on the left hand
side of the figure, and an exterior view of the said projecting recess on the right
hand side of the figure; Fig. 2 is a partial plan of the same, part of the cover being
removed; Fig. 3 is an end elevation of the aforesaid projecting recess, showing by
dotted lines the arrangement of the locking device; Fig. 4 is an elevation of the
opening and lifting key of the cover. Fig. 5 is a partial vertical section of an
alternative arrangement of the locking device in which the fastening is attached to
the cover instead of to the frame, as in the other example; Fig. 6 is an end elevation
of Fig. 5, and Fig. 7 is a plan thereof.
In the drawings, a is the cover of the street box or analogous road receptacle,
usually formed with a recessed top for asphalte or other suitable paving material,
indicated by b. A vertical rib a¹, rounded on its bottom edge, extends downward
around the edges of the cover to a lower level than the remainder of the cover, and
The said seating consists of an
serves to support it on a seating of the frame c.
inwardly projecting horizontal flange with a raised rib c¹ extending around the interior
of the frame, so as to form a trough like seating for the cover, and at a suitable point
or points c², orifices are made in the vertical rib of the frame c so arranged as to drain
to the outward part of the frame any water which may find its way to the seating.
Consequently the inside of the box is protected from exterior drainage.
A cranked and weighted detent d is loosely pivoted on a pin or rivet secured to
two lugs or supports d¹ forming a part of the frame c, as in Figs. 1, 2 or 3, or of the
cover a, as in Figs. 5, 6 and 7. In Figs. 1, 2 and 3 the detent d is so formed as to

page_text: engage with a projection a cast or formed on the bottom of the vertical rib a¹, which
would therefore prevent the raising of the cover so long as the detent d remained in
the position shown in Fig. 1. But in Figs. 5, 6 and 7 the weighted portion of the
detent is formed with a notch or projection arranged to engage with the under side
of the frame c, thus also locking the cover in position, and preventing the same from
being raised while in the position indicated by Fig. 5.
Both forms of locking devices, however, are unlocked by the key shown in Fig. 4,
the spindle e of which is pushed down through the small orifice e¹ (formed between
the cover a and the frame c) until it reaches the projection a, in the arrangement
shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 3, and then by a quarter turn of the handle a projection e³
on the key spindle engages in the recess at of the cover, and the key then is in
position for lifting. It will be seen on referring to Figs. 4, 1 and 5, that the insertion
of the key spindle e depresses the detent d, so as to clear it away from the upward
path of the cover a, thus unlocking the cover and keeping it unlocked so long as the
key is in the orifice e¹. The key, therefore, serves both as an unlocking and lifting
key, and by means of a similar locking device and key on the opposite side of the
box, the cover a is readily lifted off or replaced. I prefer to make the orifice e¹ as
small as possible so that but little dirt or water can enter, and I sometimes make an
enclosed hole of an oval or other convenient shape for the purposes of the orifice e¹,
instead of the oblong slot shown in Figs. 2 and 7.
In Fig. 5 a projection d is formed on or combined with the detent d, and this is
pushed downward by the insertion of the key spindle e, to unlock the detent d, in the
same manner as that described for the locking device of Figs. 1, 2 and 3. Although
the locking devices are shown in both arrangements as located on opposite sides of the
box, I sometimes place them at the angles instead of the sides. The removal of the key
from the orifice causes the detent to fall into its locking place by gravity.
A small cover is placed over tne recess in the frame containing the locking locking
device as shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 3, secured in position by screws. By removing
these the locking device may be inspected from time to time, and the ordinary
paving is brought up to the edge of the frame in the usual manner.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is:
1. The herein before described improvements in street boxes, consisting of a weighted
locking detent arranged to secure the cover of a box in position and operated by the
insertion of an unlocking and lifting key, combined with a drainage channel beneath
the cover, as and for the purpose specified and shown in the drawings.
2. The hereinbefore described improvements in street boxes, as specified and shown
in the drawings Figs. 1, 2, 3 and 4.
3. The herein before described improvements in street boxes, as specified and
shown in the drawings Figs. 4, 5, 6 and 7.
Dated this 18th day of September 1897.
FAIRFAX & WETTER,
37 & 39 Essex Street, Strand, London, Agents for the Applicant.