Improvements in Locking Devices for Safes.
Year: 1892

page_text: Date of Application, 8th June, 1892
Complete Specification Left, 10th Feb., 1893-Accepted, 29th Apr., 1893
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Locking Devices for Safes.
I ALOYS REVILLIOD DE MURALT of 2 Rue des Granges Geneva in the
Republic of Switzerland, Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of this invention
to be as follows:-
The invention consists of an improved construction of the locking device for
safes the object of the said invention being to lock the said safe without the aid
of a key by a mechanical combination acted upon by merely rotating suitable
buttons and which may be changed with the utmost facility.
The said combination being essentially formed of a variable number of simi-
larly shaped pieces, which may be easily and cheaply manufactured, the whole safe
may therefore be manufactured very cheaply in any suitable size and when once
locked cannot be picked.
In the accompanying drawings:
:-
Figure 1 is an inside elevation of the safe door after withdrawing the cover plate
the bolt being shown thrown outward as they appear when the safe is shut.
Figure 2 is a horizontal section of Figure 1.
Figure 3 is a similar view to Figure 1 but in which the whole combination-
device is turned through an angle of 90° on its hinge so that it is seen in side
elevation.
Figure 4 is a vertical section of the bolts.
Figure 5 is a separate perspective view of the main bolt.
Figure 6 is a separate perspective view of the spring bolt.
Figure 7 is a separate perspective view of the spring acting upon the springbolt
and of its bearing.
Figure 8 is a horizontal section of the main bolt showing its combination with
the spring bolt and with the rocking lever.
Figure 9 shows separately to a larger scale a plan view of one of the elements
of the safe combination.
Figure 10 show to the same scale and in cross section four such elements of the
safe combination.
Figure 11 is a plan view of one of the wheels.
Figure 12 is a cross section of the same showing its combination with the slider
or bolt and spring.
Figure 13 is a side elevation of the same.
Figure 14 is a plan view of the spring.
Figure 15 is a separate perspective view of the slider or bolt.
Figure 16 is a plan view of one of the discs.
Figure 17 is a cross section of the same.
Figure 18 shows separately one of the axes.
In all the figures the same letters refer to the same parts.
A is the door or cover of a safe of whatever form or dimension. B is a spring-
bolt having two or more locking projections b¹ and intended to hold the safe shut
without fastening the same, for instance whilst the owner of the same is at his
office and wants to frequently open the safe. C is a fastening bolt the retracting
of which may be prevented by means of the safe combination hereinafter
described.
Both the spring bolt B and the fastening bolt C are acted upon by means of an
external button or handle D (Figure 2) the square axis of which bears a piece D'
working like a key bit up on both bolts B and C and which will therefore be called
the hit" in the following Specification.

page_text: The springbolt B is formed substantially as shown in Figure 6 having a slot 2
in which plays the axis of the button or handle D, a projection 63 intended to be
acted upon by the bit D' to retract the spring bolt and projections intended to
be acted upon by the ends of the spring blade E (Figure 7) the middle part of
which is affixed to a bearing el firmly fixed to the door or cover A. The spring E
tends to force the projections of the spring bolt B out of the door or cover A
placing thereby the projection 63 as shown in Figure 3.
If the bit Di acts upon said projection in the direction of the arrow shown in
Figure 3 the springbolt B will be retracted so as to allow the door or cover to
be opened by merely rotating the button or handle D and when the latter is
released the springbolt B will again be forced forward by the spring E.
The fastening bolt C is formed substantially as shown in Figure 5.. Its two or
more projections are intended to lock the door or cover A and its box like
projection is intended on the one hand to surround the bit D' of the handle D
which acts alternately upon its inner faces c³ and its outer edges and guiding
the to-and-fro motion of the bolt C by means of rollers a³ and a provided for that
purpose and pivoted to suitable pivots a' and a fixed to the cover or door A. The
said bolt C is further provided with another box like projection c embracing a
fixed projection a fixed to the cover or door A. The box like projection e' is
adapted to slide on the said projection a³ and its face is intended to act upon the
pins or sliders of the hereinafter described safe combination so that the bolt C is.
only adapted to be returned into the position shown in Figure 3 when all those
pins or sliders
gare allowed. to enter their respective discs H, that is to say when
all those discs H have been set to a predeterminated position.
There is further provided on the fastening bolt C a suitable rocking lever J the
purpose of which is to prevent the said fastening-bolt. C being thrown forward by
the forward motion of the spring bolt B as might occur by the friction of the
latter against its neighbour. The said rocking lever J is pivoted at c to the
bolt C and has three arms and . When the bit D' is turned in the direction
of the arrow in Figure 3 that is to say when it retracts the two bolts B and C it
meets at the end of its stroke the arm of said lever .J and in depressing the
same it places the arm of the same lever in front of the full part e² of the
bearing as shown in Figure 3 thus preventing any forward motion of
the fastening bolt C until the rocking lever J is rocked. The latter occurs when
the bit D is turned from the position shown in Figure 3 into that shown in
Figure 1 that is to say in the opposite direction to that indicated by the arrow in
Figure 3. It then meets the arm of the rocking lever J and the arm of the
latter is thrown into the position shown in Figure 1 in which it is in front of the
outcut of the fix parte leaving again the bolt C free to be slid forward for
locking the door or cover A.
The main bolt C may or may not be connected with supplementary bolts. K
and L by means of any suitable connecting rods and levers for instance as 'K' K²
and L' L'.
=
The above mentioned pins or sliders g of the safe combination are lodged in a
suitable casing G fixed to the plates M and N between which are disposed the
wheels and discs H pivoted to a central axis P which connects the plates M
and N with one another. Each of the pins g is provided with a spiral spring gl
which tends to press the pin into the position in which its inner end (of smaller
diameter) is retracted in the casing G (as for instance in Figure 2). In front of
each ping there is provided a disc H (Figures 16 and 17) having a suitable
number of outcuts but only one hole h large enough to allow the ping to enter
the same.
Thus it appears that it is necessary to have all the discs H placed in
the position in which they present in front of the pins g their holes if those pins are
to be pressed into their box G in projecting their inner ends of smaller diameter
into the discs H that is to say if the bolt C is to be left free to be retracted
without having the face c8 of the projection clocked by one or more of the
pins g.

page_text: Each of the discs H are provided with a gear wheel O (Figures 11 and 12) which
recovers said disc H as shown in (Figures 9 and 10) and which is provided with a
bolt (Figure 15) adapted to slide in a radial slot of said wheel O and pressed
from the centre to the pheriphery of said wheel by means of a suitable spring h².
The said bolt h² engages any of the outcuts of the corresponding disc H so as to
have each disc H locked in a predeterminated position with regard to the corre-
sponding wheel O. The outcuts ¹ are provided with suitable figures and more
outcuts provided for each disc H the more different safe combination it is possible.
to make.
The bolts connect the corresponding disc H and wheel O, with one another so
that in rotating one of the wheels O one rotates at a time the corresponding disc H.
Now there are provided as many axes Q having each a button q' and a pinion 22 as
there are wheels O in the combination and each pinion q engages one of the
wheels O. The buttons q¹ project through suitable holes a out of the door or
cover A (Figures 2 and 3) so that they may easily be rotated by hand.
cases there may be provided an external box A' with cover A by which the said
buttons are covered, but this is not a feature of the present invention.
In some
The whole described combination of box G with pins g the springs g plates M
and N wheels O and discs H are suitably hinged at a to the cover or door A so as
to be adapted to be turned through an angle of 90° to the said cover as shown in
Figure 3 with the object of altering the combination. This takes place by changing
the outcut h¹ of one or more of the bolts or sliders h² of the corresponding wheel O;
and this operation is very easily performed by means of any suitable tool R
engaged with that outcut ¹ in which the said bolt or slider 2 is engaged, pressing
the same into the disc H and at same time rotating the latter by means of said
tool. The bolt or slider 2 will then project into the next outcut this operation
may be repeated until said bolt or slider is engaged in the desired outcut ' the
figure of which must be noted as being necessary to be known for the opening of
the safe. This being done the whole combination is thrown from the position
shown in Figure 3 into that shown in Figures 1 and 2 and locks the same into this
latter position by means of the bolts S and T.
Each axis Q also carries a cam q³ provided with suitable notches into which
engages the hooked end of a corresponding spring yª fixed to the axis P.
Each wheel O is further provided with a full tooth o' and the teeth of said
wheel O and of the pinions are so calculated as to rotate each disc H through a
suitable angle so as to displace the same exactly through one of its divisions in
front of the corresponding pin each time the spring jumps from one of the
notches of the cam into the next one. This jumping being easily perceptible to
the person who rotates by hand the knobs q'.
The figures of the outcuts h' are calculated so as to have the hole of each disc H
placed in front of the pins when the corresponding pinion 92 is rotated to the left
until it meets the full tooth o' of the wheel O the slider or holt h² being engaged
into that one of the outcuts which is marked zero.
If therefore the bolt 2 of the first wheel o is engaged into the outcut marked 8
of the corresponding disc H the latter may be easily placed into that position in
which its hole is in front of the corresponding piu y that is to say into that
position in which it allows the bolt C to be retracted by merely rotating the knob
or button which corresponds to the said first wheel in the left hand direction until
it is stopped by the meeting of the pinion 2 with the full tooth and then rotating
the sane knob or button in the right hand direction and counting eight jumps of
the corresponding spring and stopping. The corresponding disc will then of
course be placed with its hole h, in front of the corresponding pin g; and so on
for each of the wheels O and discs H.
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
45, Southampton Buildings, London, Agents for the Applicant.

page_text: Improvements in Locking Devices for Safes.
I, ALOYS REVILLIOD DE MURALT, of 2 Rue des Granges Geneva, in the
Republic of Switzerland, Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of this inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described
and ascertained, in and by the following statement :-
The invention consists of an improved construction of locking-device for safes,
the object of the said invention being to lock the said safe without the aid of a key
by a mechanical combination acted upon by merely rotating suitable buttons and
which may be changed with the utmost facility.
The said combination being essentially formed of a variable number of similarly
shaped pieces, which may be easily and cheaply manufactured, the whole safe may
therefore be manufactured very cheaply in any suitable size and when once locked
cannot be picked.
In the drawings left with my Provisional Specification I have shown how my
said invention may be conveniently and advantageously carried into practice.
Figure 1 is an inside elevation of the safe-door after the cover-plate has been
withdrawn, the bolts being shown thrown outward as they appear when the safe
is shut.
Figure 2 is a horizontal section of Figure 1.
Figure 3 is a similar view to Figure 1 but in which the whole combination-
device is turned through an angle of 90° on its hinge so that it is seen in side-
elevation.
Figure 4 is a vertical section of the bolts.
Figure 5 is a separate perspective view of the main bolt.
Figure 6 is a separate perspective view of the spring bolt.
Figure 7 is a separate perspective view of the spring acting upon the spring-bolt
and of its bearing.
Figure 8 is a horizontal section of the main bolt showing its combination with
the spring-bolt and with the rocking lever.
Figure 9 shows separately to a larger scale, a plan-view of one of the elements
of the safe-combination.
Figure 10 shows to the same scale and in cross-section four such clements of the
safe-combination.
Figure 11 is a plan-view of one of the wheels.
Figure 12 is a cross-section of the same showing its combination with the slider
or bolt, and spring.
Figure 13 is a side-elevation of the same.
Figure 14 is a plan-view of the spring.
Figure 15 is a separate perspective view of the slider or bolt.
Figure 16 is a plan-view of one of the discs.
Figure 17 is a cross-section of the same.
Figure 18 shows separately one of the axes.
Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the figures of the
drawings.
A is the door or cover of a safe of whatever form or dimension. B is a spring-
bolt having two or more locking projections band intended to hold the safe shut
without fastening the same, for instance whilst the owner of the same is at
his office and wants to frequently open the safe. C is a fastening bolt the
retracting of which may be prevented by means of the safe-combination hereinafter
described.
Both, the spring-bolt B and the fastening bolt C are acted upon by means of

page_text: an external button or handle D (Figure 2) the square axis of which carries a
piece D' working like a key-bit upon both bolts B and C and which will therefore
be called the "bit" in the following Specification.
The spring-bolt B is formed substantially as shown in Figure 6, having a slot b
in which plays the axis of the button or handle D, a projection 63 intended to be
acted upon by the bit D' to retract the spring-bolt and projections 6* intended to
be acted upon by the ends of the spring-blade E (Figure 7) the middle part of
which is affixed to a bearing e¹ firmly fixed to the door or cover A. The spring E
tends to force the projections b¹ of the spring-bolt B out of the door or cover A
placing thereby the projection 63 as shown in Figure 3.
If the bit D' acts upon said projection in the direction of the arrow shown
in Figure 3 the spring-bolt B will be retracted so as to allow the door or cover to
be opened by merely rotating the button or handle D and when the latter is released
the spring-bolt B will again be forced forward by the spring E.
The fastening bolt C is formed substantially as shown in Figure 5. Its two or
more projections c¹ are intended to lock the door or cover A and its box-like-
projection is intended, on the one hand, to surround the bit D' of the handle D
which acts alternately upon its inner faces ca and c its outer edges c and c guiding
the to-and-fro-motion of the bolt C by means of rollers a³ and a provided for that
purpose and pivoted to suitable pivots a¹ and a fixed to the cover or door A.
The said bolt C is further provided with another box-like projection c embracing
a fixed projection a fixed to the cover or door A. The box-like projection c² is
adapted to slide on the said projection a' and its face e is intended to act upon the
pins or sliders g of the hereinafter described safe-combination so that the bolt C is
only adapted to be returned into the position shown in Figure 3 when all the pins
or sliders g are allowed to enter their respective discs H, that is to say when all
those discs H have been set to a predetermined position.
There is further provided on the fastening-bolt C a suitable rocking lever J the
purpose of which is to prevent the said fastening bolt C being thrown forward by
the forward motion of the spring bolt B as might occur by the friction of the latter
against its neighbour. The said rocking-lever J is pivoted at co to the bolt C and
has three arms, and j³. When the bit D' is turned in the direction of the
arrow in Figure 3, that is to say, when it retracts the two bolts B and C it meets,
at the end of its stroke the arm of said lever J and in depressing the same it
places the arm of the same lever in front of the full part 2 of the bearing e as
shown in Figure 3, thus preventing any forward motion of the fastening-bolt C
until the rocking-lever J is rocked. The latter occurs when the bit D' is turned
from the position shown in Figure 3 into that shown in Figure 1 that is to say in
the opposite direction to that indicated by the arrow in Figure 3. It then meets
the arm of the rocking-lever J and the arm of the latter is thrown into the
position shown in Figure 1 in which it is in front of the outcut of the fix
part e leaving again the bolt C free to be slid forward for locking the door or
cover A.
The main bolt C may or may not be connected with supplementary bolts K
and L by means of any suitable connecting-rods and levers, for instance as K' K'
and L' L⁹.
.
The above mentioned pins or sliders g of the safe-combination are lodged in a
suitable casing G fixed to the plates M and N between which are disposed the
wheels and discs H pivoted to a central axis P which connects the plates M
and N with one another. Each of the pins 9 is provided with a spiral-spring g
which tends to press the pin into the position in which its inner end (of smaller
diameter) is retracted in the casing G (as for instance in Figure 2). In front
of each ping there is provided a disc H (Figures 16 & 17) having a suitable
number of outcuts h' but only one hole large enough to allow the piu g to
enter the same. Thus it appears that it is necessary to have all the discs H
placed in the position in which they present in front of the pins g their holes h,
if those pins are to be pressed into their box G in projecting their inner ends

page_text: of smaller diameter into the discs H, that is to say, if the bolt C is to be left
free to be retracted without having the face of the projection e' locked by
one or more of the pins g.
Each disc H is provided with a gearwheel O (Figures 11 and 12) which
recovers said disc H as shown in the Figures 9 and 10 and which is provided
with a bolt 2 (Figure 15) adapted to slide in a radial slot h of said wheel O
-and pressed from the center to the periphery of said wheel by means of a suit-
able spring h. The said bolt engages any of the outcuts ¹ of the corre-
sponding disk H so as to have each disc H locked in a predetermined position
with regard to the corresponding wheel O. The outcuts h¹ are provided with
suitable figures and more outcuts provided for each disc H the more different
safe-combination it is possible to make.
The bolts connect the corresponding disc H and wheel O with one another
80 that in rotating one of the wheels O the corresponding disc H is rotated at
the same time. Now there are provided as many axes Q having each a button q¹
and a pinion gas there are wheels O in the combination and each pinion engages
one of the wheels 0. The buttons q' project through suitable holes a out of the
door or cover A (Figures 2 and 3) so that they may easily be rotated by hand.
In some cases there may be provided an external box A' with cover A2 by which
the said buttons q' are covered, but this is not a feature of the present invention.
The whole described combination of box G with pins g and springs g₁ plates M
and N, wheels O, and discs H are suitably hinged at a', to the cover or door A so
as to be adapted to be turned through an angle of. 90° to the said cover, as shown
in Figure 3 with the object of altering the combination. This, takes place by
-changing the outcut h¹ of one or more of the bolts or sliders of the corresponding
wheel O; and this operation is very easily performed by means of any suitable
tool R engaged with that outcut h' in which the said bolt or slider 2 is engaged,
pressing the same into the disc H and at the same time rotating the latter by means
of said tool. The bolt or slider 2 will then project into the next outcut h¹, this
operation may be repeated until said bolt or slider 2 is engaged in the desired
outcut h³, the figure of which must be noted as being necessary to be known for the
opening of the safe. This being done the whole combination is thrown from the
position shown in Figure 3 into that shown in Figures 1 and 2 and locks the same
into this latter position by means of the bolts S and T.
Each axis Q also carries a cam provided with suitable notches into which
engages the hooked end of a corresponding spring g' fixed to the axis P.
Each wheel O is further provided with a full tooth o' and the teeth of said
wheel O and of the pinions are so calculated as to rotate each disc H through a
suitable angle so as to displace the same exactly through one of its divisions in
front of the corresponding pin g each time the spring jumps from one of the
notches of the cam g³ into the next one.
This jumping being easily perceptible to the person who rotates by hand the
knobs g.
The figures of the outcuts are calculated so as to have the hole h of each
disc H placed in front of the pins when the corresponding pinion is rotated to
the left until it meets the full tooth o' of the wheel O the slider or bolt h² being
engaged in the outcut which is marked zero.
If therefore the bolt 2 of the first wheel O is engaged with the outcut marked 8
of the corresponding disc H, the latter may be easily placed into that position in
which its hole is in front of the corresponding pin 9, that is to say, into that
position in which it allows the bolt C to be withdrawn by merely rotating the knob
or button which corresponds to the said first wheel in the left hand direction, until
it is stopped by the meeting of the pinion with the full tooth, and then rotating.
the same knob or button in the right hand direction and counting eight jumps of
the corresponding spring g' and then stopping. The corresponding disc will then
of course be placed with its hole h, in front of the corresponding pin g; and so on
for each of the wheels O and discs H..

page_text: Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is :-
In a lock for safes the combination of a spring bolt B formed substantially as
shown in Figure 6 with a fastening bolt C formed substantially as shown in Figure 5.
a spring E with bearing e¹, a rocking lever J pivoted to said bolt C, a bit D' acted
upon by means of a knob or handle D and acting upon the aforesaid bolts B and C
and lever J, and with a series of pins or other sliding pieces g located in a box G
and pressed by the retracting motion of the bolt C against a corresponding series
of discs H, which are provided each with one hole for the passage of the corre-
sponding pin or other sliding piece 9 and with series of outcuts h, and said disc H
being each connected to a corresponding wheel O by means of a bolt or slider h²,
which may be locked into any one of the outcuts of the disc H, each wheel O
being acted upon by means of a pinion q² liable to be rotated from the outside of
the safe, and each wheel O being provided with a full tooth 2 or other suitable
stop, substantially as, and for the purpose specified.
Dated this 10th day of February 1893
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
45, Southampton Buildings, London, W.C., Agents for the Applicant.