CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN SPINDLES FOR LOCKS, LATCHES, AND OTHER DOOR FASTENINGS
Year: 1859

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Peter Currie, General Brassfounder, of Birmingham,
in the County of Warwick, for the Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS
IN SPINDLES FOR LOCKS, LATCHES, AND OTHER DOOR FASTENINGS."
Sealed the 12th August 1859, and dated the 2nd March 1859.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Peter Currie at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
2nd March 1859.
I, PETER CURRIE, General Brassfounder, of Birmingham, in the County
of Warwick, do hereby declare the nature of my said Invention for "CERTAIN
IMPROVEMENTS IN SPINDLES FOR LOCKS, LATCHES, AND OTHER DOOR FASTENINGS,"
to be as follows (that is to say):-
My Invention has for its object the spindling knobs in such a way that they
may be as it were held firmly to the lock or catch to which they may be
attached, rather than depending on the plates or roses through or against
which they work, or on the spindle by its passing through the wood of the
door to the lock.
And I effect this by fixing a small pin, washer, or other projection at one
end of the spindle, so that an helical spring, or its equivalent, placed on the
spindle, may, bear against it and the internal neck of the knob fixed to that
end, and by forming the neck of the knob with a collar, or by applying a
loose collar varying in length according to the thickness of the door, the force
of the spring (before described) will always be exerted in keeping the collar

page_text: in contact with the follower of the lock or catch to which they may be
attached, either by securing the other end of the spindle to the follower of the
lock or catch, or by securing an inner knob at that end of the spindle, the
neck of which may be made in the ordinary way. But in case of such spindles
being applied to mortise furniture, it may be desirable that the neck should
be formed with a collar, or have a collar applied, such collars being lengthened
or shortened, either by making them for prescribed thicknesses of doors or by
adjusting them with additional washers, so that the inner end of the two
collars shall be in positive contact with the follower of the lock or catch, and
be held firmly in that position by the expanding force of the spring (before
described), thus I not only effect the desired object of constructing spindles to
suit every variation in the thickness of the doors to which they may be applied,
but also in their attachment they are secured to that portion of the lock on
which the spindle is required to act, and, consequently, work entirely free
and unsupported by the woodwork of the door through which the spindle
passes.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Peter Currie in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 2nd
September 1859.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, PETER
CURRIE, General Brassfounder, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Second day of March, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine, in the twenty-second year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Peter Currie, Her special license that I, the said Peter Currie,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Peter Currie, my executors, administrators, or 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 "CERTAIN
IMPROVEMENTS IN SPINDLES FOR LOCKS, LATCHES, AND OTHER DOOR FASTENINGS,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Peter Currie, by an
instrument in writing under my hand and seal, should particularly describe

page_text: 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 said Peter Currie, do hereby declare the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement (that is to say):
=
The parts of locks and latches immediately in connection with the spindle
or axis of the handle or handles is the part technically known and termed the
follow, which is a circular boss of metal having a projecting ear on one or
both sides. Around the outside of the boss of the follow is a sunken groove,
in order to allow the face sides of the follow to work through the plates
composing the sides or case of the lock or latch, by which means the follow is
held secure in its position. Through the boss of the follow a square hole
is formed for receiving the corresponding square spindle, to which the knobs
are applied. I have thus described the lock follow, because it is the form,
construction, and position of this part that enables me to give effect to my
Invention, which consists in so connecting the handles and spindles to locks
or latches that little or no additional friction shall be generated, which is the
great defect with the general mode of connecting knobs to doors now in use.
This 1 effect by shaping the neck of the knob or knobs in such a way that
they may freely pass through round holes made in the stile of the door for
their reception, until the neck or necks of the knobs are in complete and
absolute contact with the follow before described, supposing such follow to form
the central action on the catch of a mortise or other lock, latch, or catch, and
as the follow is nicely turned and fitted to the lock plates, it is evident that
from the necks of the knobs abutting on or being held firmly against the
outer face of the follow, as well as slightly extending over on the lock plates,
a steady, agreeable, and enduring action is produced, preventing all shaking or
looseness and consequent wearing away, not only of the wood of the door
through which the spindle passes, but of the keen angular form of that part of
the spindle that passes through the follow as well as the follow itself, a
result which is so common and objectionable with the spindles and knobs
commonly in use, after very little wear, which renders their action loose and
uncertain. And from the knob being secured, or held in contact with the
follow, the usual spring applied to lock catches having but the amount of
friction to overcome, consequent on the follow working between the lock
plates, the action on the handle or handles will be positive, lively, enduring,

page_text: and agreeable, and the circular form of the neck will not tend to wear away
the wood of the door through which it passes. The usual roses are so
constructed that the hole in their centre shall be of the same size as the neck
of the knob, and being screwed to the door the variation in the thickness of
which will merely be exhibited by the knob projecting a little more or less
from the surface of the door stile. In some instances, when china or wood
knobs are used, I prefer bushing the roses, and instead of securing the roses
to the doors, as with mortise locks, by screwing them with small wood screws,
I allow the bush to extend inward from the inner face of the rose, and the
outside of the bush being tapped, it allows of the bush being screwed into
the hole for receiving the handle, thereby requiring no other means for
securing it.
And the manner in which I carry out my Invention for connecting the
handle or handles with lock follows will be understood from the following
description: In the case of my using metal knobs, the neck is cast of
sufficient length and with a square hole for receiving the spindle, and on the
inside of the neck of one of the knobs, towards the hollow of the knob, a
shoulder is formed, the knob part being raised, or formed in the usual way
from sheet metal, is to be gathered in around the neck, also in the common
way of uniting the parts of knobs; but before the neck and knob are secured
together the spindle is passed through a short spiral spring, or tubes, or rings
of india rubber, or other suitable material, capable of expansion and com-
pression, and through the neck of the knob; the end of the spindle being
enlarged by the application of a washer, or a cross pin, or other means, for
preventing the spring or other elastic appliances from coming off. The other
end of the spindle that passes through the lock and door may be tapped, and
a square may be formed on that part of the opposite knob neck that comes in-
contact with the follow, that when the knob is screwed on, by pulling on the
knob so as to compress the spring or other elastic material, until such an
amount of tension is generated as to pull the square on the neck of the knob
into the follow of the lock, when the attachment will be found complete. In
some instances I merely tap a portion of the spindle on its angles, and after
passing the spindle with its knob attached through the door and follow I use
a screw or nut, which may be of the same circumference as the neck of the
knob I intend to apply, and by screwing up this nut sufficiently tight it pulls
the neck of the knob on the other side against the opposite side of the follow,
thus effecting a perfect, secure, and rigid connection, admitting of the other
knob being supplied and held by a screw through the neck in the ordinary
way. But in cases where one handle only may be required I allow the spindle.

page_text: Fig. 1 represents a pair of knobs and roses as made of brass, attached to a
common catch, by the necks A and B pressing on the follow (not seen in this
view). The thickness of the door being represented in dotted lines, marked
C, C, and D, D. The roses being intended to be secured to the door by
small wood screws suitably placed, and as the necks of the knobs are perfectly
parallel, it will be easily seen that the mere fact of the door being a little
thicker or thinner than here represented would merely have the effect of
increasing the spaces of the necks adjoining the handles, marked A' and B'.
Fig. 2 is a section of Figure 1, with the exception that instead of
showing the catch, the follow is exhibited, and that too in section, (taken
through its longest way), marked E, the plates through which the follow
works being exhibited in dotted lines, marked G, G, and H, H, as also the
thickness of the door, marked C, C, and D, D, as in the last Figure. At the
end of the spindle F a head marked I is exhibited, which may be secured by:
tapping or rivetting; this head retains the spring J in the position here
shown, abutting against an internal shoulder in the neck A. This spindle
must be applied to the neck before the knob and neck are united, unless a
sufficient opening is allowed or formed in the face or front of the knob for
receiving it, which hole may be subsequently covered over by a metal, wood,'
pearl, or other disc, as may be desired. The other end of the spindle, it will
be observed, is tapped, as also the neck of the knob B, that screws over it;
the inner part of this neck is made of a corresponding square to the other
part of the spindle, as also to the follow through which it passes. With this

page_text: description it will be easily seen that by pulling the knob attached to the
neck B, the washer I at the extreme end of the spindle will be brought in
contact with the spring J, causing it to collapse, and when the neck B has
been sufficiently screwed on to the spindle, the knob may be freed, when the
square of the neck will enter the follow, and the shoulders of the necks,
knobs, and follow will be held together just in proportion to the amount of
force exerted by the compressed spring in the contrary direction. For the
purpose of avoiding confusion, and to exhibit the parallel form of the necks
A and B, the roses are not exhibited. Fig. 2A represents a detached view of
the follow, and Fig. 2B an end view of the neck and knob B, exhibiting the
square that enters the lock follow, which also defines the true shape of the
corresponding sectional form of the spindle.
Fig. 3 represents a modification of my improvements adapted for knobs,
made of wood, glass, china, or other suitable material, principally exhibited in
section, and for distinction we may suppose the knob K to be of wood, as also
its corresponding rose marked L, the neck of the knob marked M, I propose
to be of metal, with a square hole through it for receiving the spindle N. A
part of the neck is tapped on the outside, and a corresponding hole being
formed in the knob, it admits of the knob being screwed on, down to a
shoulder in the neck marked O, O, the extremity of which may be turned and
laid over on that part of the knob in contact with it by a common burnisher,
a process well understood. P, P, is a metal bush, of the same circumference
on its inside as the circumference of the necks of the knobs, so that the necks
of the knobs may freely turn in it; this bush I purpose tapping on the outside,
so that it may be screwed into the stile of the door, and thereby hold the rose
without the use of small wood screws, as commonly used to the disfigurement
of the rose through which they pass. The end of the spindle is fitted with a
washer and spring, as exhibited in Figure 2, but in this case, as it may
be necessary for the knob to abut on the rose, I adopt the mode of
making the neck of a certain length, and regulating for the variations in the
thickness of doors by the omission or use of washers, as here shown, marked
Q, Q, and in a separate flat view at Fig. 4. The knob R may for contrast be.
supposed to be made of china or glass, and united to the neck by plaster of
Paris, or other suitable cement, and the flange or shoulder of the neck turned
over and burnished, as before exhibited and referred to at O, O; but for the
sake of variation I have represented the bush through its circular opening to
be turned over on the back, so that, in this case, it will be necessary to secure
the rose to the stile of the door by screws or pins, or to form a projection on
the back of the rose, with a corresponding part of the wood cut away, to

page_text: prevent the rose turning around. The manner in which I proceed to fasten
the spindle to the follow, here shown in section marked S, as suitable for
mortise furniture, is by putting the spindle through the follow from left to
right, and the right-hand end of the spindle being tapped at its angles I screw
on the nut T, shown separate at Fig. 5, and by screwing up this nut, until the
spindle is sufficiently pulled through the follow, and the spring compressed, so
as to ensure a firm connection between the washers Q, Q, nut T, and follow S,
I apply the washers exhibited at U, U, as required, and next the knob by
screwing it on to the spindle, as here represented; and when the base of the
neck of the knob abuts on the washers, leaving sufficient play between
the shoulder of the knob and the flange of the rose at V, V, to prevent any
resistance by the parts being in too close contact, at this juncture I then
apply a screw through the neck of the knob, to bear against either of the
sides of the spindles, or into sunken conical cavities for receiving the point of
the screw, in the same way as is commonly practised. The dotted lines
parallel with the plane of the roses represent the wood of the door, and the
double dotted lines on each side of the follow represents the side plates of the
lock, as described and exhibited at Figure 2.
Fig. 6 represents the section of a metal knob, with a square spindle marked
W passed through its neck, and partly through a follow suitable for a simple
outside catch or lock, to be worked by one handle, which, follow is shown in
section marked X; instead of using an helical spring on the inner end of the
spindle, I use as an equivalent india-rubber rings marked Y, Y, &c., which
are held between the washer or projection at the end of the spindle and an
inner shoulder in the knob, as described in Figure 2, and the manner in which
I connect the follow to the neck of the knob is by tapping the end of the
spindle that passes into the follow, and applying a screw with a projecting
head as exhibited at Z, and by turning this screw in, its head bearing on the
face of the follow, will, from the resistance offered by the india-rubber rings
bring the base of the neck of the knob in tight contact with the opposite face
of the follow, thus effecting a secure connection. The vertical double dotted lines
in this Figure are simply intended to represent the outer and inner plates of
the luck or latch.
Fig. 7 represents a section of the spindle W and india-rubber ring Y; and
Fig. 8, a simple tube of india-rubber, which may be found to act quite as
efficient as either india-rubber rings or an helical wire spring.
Having thus described the nature and object of my Invention, and the
manner in which it may be carried into effect, I will observe that I do not
purposo confining myself to any of the exact details herein described and.

page_text: exhibited, or to the size or proportions. to which they are drawn, as the whole
may be varied without departing, from the character and object of my
Invention; nor do I wish to claim for any of the parts separately, as they are
well understood and commonly in use. But what I claim and wish to protect
by these my in part recited Letters Patent, are the principle or means herein-
before described and exhibited for combining or connecting knobs to locks and
latches in such a way that a perfect contact shall be made and maintained
between the base of the neck of the knob or knobs (as may be required) and
the follow of the lock or latch to which the knob or knobs are connected, by
which means a positive and agreeable action is imparted to the handle or
bandles when in use.
In witness whereof, I, the said Peter Currie, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this First day of September, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine.
Witness,
EDMUND HOTCHKISS,
Clerk to J. S. Cockings,
Patent Agent, Birmingham.
FEIER CURRIE.
(L.B.)