CERTAIN IMPROVE- MENTS IN LOCKS, LATCHES, AND OTHER FASTENINGS FOR DOORS
Year: 1840

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, JOSEPH
WOLVERSON, of Willenhall, in the County of Stafford, Locksmith, and WILLIAM
RAWLETT, of the same place, Latch Maker, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, béaring date at Westminster,
the Thirteenth day of June, in the third year of Her reign, did, for Herself,
Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the said Joseph Wolverson
and William Rawlett, our exors, admors, and assigns, Her especial licence,
full power, sole privilege and authority, that we, the said Joseph Wolverson
and William Rawlett, our exors, adñors, and assigns, and such others as we,
the said Joseph Wolverson and William Rawlett, our exors, admors, and
assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and
at all times hereafter, during the term of years therein expressed, should
and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales,
and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, our Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVE-
MENTS IN LOCKS, LATCHES, AND OTHER FASTENINGS FOR DOORS;" in which said
Letters Patent there is contained. a proviso that we, the said Joseph
Wolverson and William Rawlett, shall cause a particular description of the
nature of our said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, by an instrument in writing under our hands and seals, or the hand.
and seal of one of us, to be inrolled in Her Majesty's High Court of Chancery,
within six calendar months immediately after the date of the said in part
recited Letters Patent, as, upon reference thereto, will fully appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, we, the said
Joseph Wolverson and William Rawlett, do hereby declare that the nature of
our Invention, and the manner in which the same is to be performed, are
particularly described and ascertained in and by the following description
thereof, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the
letters and figures marked thereon, in which said letters of reference it may
be remarked that wherever the same letters occur in the different Figures,
they denote the same parts.
As a more ready comprehension of our Invention will be obtained by com-
mencing our description with the second article mentioned in the title, we
shall first refer the reader to our improved latch represented in plan (or it may
be regarded as an elevation) by Figure 1, the component parts of which are
illustrated in detail by Figures 2 to 12.
At a, a, a, is the outside plate of the latch, end b, b, b, its rims, which are
fixed in contact with the door; c is a private bolt of the ordinary kind; at
d, d, is the improved spring bolt, the form of which will be clearly made out
by reference to the separate Figures, 2 being a plan, 3 a side view, 4 an end
view; at the tail of the bolt is a projection e, against which a spring facts, to.
throw out the bevil end g. In ordinary locks-and-latches-the-method.here-
tofore adopted for holding down the latch or spring bolt is by a transverse
square staple, between the under side of which and the upper side of the bolt.
an unequal but considerable friction takes place; but in our improved locks
or latches the bolt is connected by a hinge-joint. h, which vibrates to and fro
with the reciprocating action of the spring bolt d, and confers great uniformity
and smoothness to its motions. The details of the construction of this part are
so clearly shown in Figures 5 and 6 as to need no further explanation of it;
we will, therefore, proceed to describe the next feature in our improvements,
which relates to the follower.
In ordinary locks and latches the follower (shown in Figure 7) consists of
a double lever, the two arms of which are employed to act upon the tail of the
spring bolt to give it motion, and one of these arms acts with so unfavorable a
leverage as to cause a considerably greater friction than in the other; but in
our improved follower shown at i, i, and separately in Figures 8 and 9 (the
first of which latter is a plan and the second a side view), the friction is much"
reduced, and the leverage is uniform in both arms. At i, i, are the two arms,
on the extremities of which are mounted at right angles to the same two
"drivers "j,j, denominated by us "upright drivers," in contradistinction from
those of the ordinary kind), which drivers drive back the spring bolt whenever

page_text: the handles are turned in either direction by coming into contact with two
studs k, k, which branch out from the sides of the said bolt, as sufficiently
illustrated in the Drawings.
Our third improvement consists in a new mode of securing the follower in
its place and permitting it to move with greater freedom from friction than
ordinary, by means of what we denominate a "martingale," delineated in con-
nection with other parts at 1, 1, in Figures 1, 2, 5, 6, and separately shewn in
Figures 10 and 11; by reference to Figures 5 and 6, it will, however, be noticed
that in the latch we are now describing the martingale is double; 1, 1, being the
upper piece, and m, m, the lower; through both of these screws are passed,
the extremities of the said screws uniting the whole, including the hinge h, to
the plate of the lock, a, a. It is proper to notice in this place that, by another
modification of our martingale, we are enabled to do with one piece, the
arrangement of which is sufficiently illustrated by Figures 12 and 13, so as to
render further explanation thereof superfluous.
.
Our claims to originality in the foregoing Invention consists in the con-
struction and application of the hinge joint h, the follower with upright double
drivers i, j, the martingale whether double or single, and the bolt d with its
two studs k, k, whether the said studs be used in combination with our
improved follower or with those of the ordinary kind.
At
Having now explained our improvements in latches, we need orily refer to
.Figure 13 in the Drawings to explain the nature of our improvements in locks,
which represents the application of the improvements already described to rim
locks, and to observe that our Invention as respects locks, consists simply in
the substitution of the said mechanism already described for that of the
ordinary spring bolt. At Figure 14 is exhibited a plan, and at Figure 15 a
longitudinal section, of an improved bolt, which we denominate the "magnet
bolt," in consequence of its resemblance in form to an ordinary magnet.
.0, o, is the flat bottom plate; at p.p, the upper plate, bent into an angular
form to inclose the bolt, and with lateral flanges for rivetting to the bottom
plate. The inclosed bolt is of the magnet formi, as shewn by the dotted lines
at Figure 14, and between the two limbs 7, 7, of the latter is a stop r con-
nected to the two limbs of the bolt by a pin s, on which it turns; t is a spring
rivetted at one end to the curved portion of the bolt, and tending always to
press outwards to the stop r; u is a knob working in a slot, for the purpose of
moving the bolt backwards and forwards; in the upper plate are two holes
into which the spring stop falls when the bolt is in the positions shewn in
Figures 15 and 16, and holds the bolt fast in its place; in all intermediate

page_text: positions the stop by merely pressing against the under surface of the upper
plate produces a gentle and agreeable resistance to the motion of the bolt.
The mode of action of this bolt is as follows:-Supposing the bolt to be in the
position represented in Figure 15, the stop being pressed by the spring into
one of the square holes, the bolt is immovable, until by pressing upon the stop
its edge descends below the upper plate; the bolt may then be moved forward
until it assumes the position, Figure 15; the stop now coming opposite the
hole, it is pressed therein by the spring and the bolt is again fixed.
Another modification of this bolt is shown at Figure 16, where it will be
observed that the knob v is attached to the stop r, and works in a slot between
the two holes into which the stop falls; in using this bolt it is only necessary
to press gently upon the knob, the stop will be thereby depressed from the
hole, and the bolt may be moved forward to the other position. Our claim to
Invention under this head is the bolt described and all modifications of the
same.
Another species of fastenings which we have invented is a lock bolt with a
swivel link so adapted as to render it applicable to a variety of doors. Figure 17
shews its application to a cupboard or other vertical door; Figure 18 shows
-the same fastening on its reverse side without its cover plate and in a hori-
zontal position to adapt it to horizontal doors, also to drawers, desks, boxes;
trunks, &c., in which cases, however, the key hole should be in the position
indicated by the dotted lines at v. Figure 19 is a separate view of the bolt,
shown in its place at v in the Figure underneath, from which it will be obvious
that the cylindrical portion of the bolt works in a cylindrical tube-formed by 'a
turn over of the external plate w, that the action of the key is either to project
the bolt in the manner indicated in Figure 18, or to draw it back to its pre-
vious or unlocked position. is an ordinary tumbler, the spring y connected
to which slides against the under side of the cylindrical part of the bolt; z is
the swivel link. Our claims to Invention in this contrivance are the bolt v,
the plate w with its cylindrical turn over, and the 'swivel link z, under what-
ever modification or combination they may be applied as a fastening.
In witness that this is a true Specification of our Invention, we have
hereunto set our hands and seals, this Third day of December, in the
year One thousand eight hundred and forty.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Third day of December, in the
year of our Lord 1840, the aforesaid Joseph Wolverson and William Rawlett
came before our said Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged
the Specification aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and
specified, in form above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was
stamped according to the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Inrolled the Eleventh day of December, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and forty.