Improvements in the Attachment of Door Knobs to their Spindles.
Year: 1898

page_text: Date of Application, 7th Apr., 1898-Accepted, 10th Sept., 1898
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in the Attachment of Door Knobs to their Spindles.
We, HENRY JAMES PARKER WHIPPLE, Inventor and Salesman, and LEVI TRACY
SNOW, Manufacturer, both residing at New Haven, in the County of New Haven,
United States of America, 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:-
Our invention relates to an improvement in knob attachments, and has for its
object to provide simple but effective means for securing an accurate adjustment
of the parts to prevent end thrust of the knob spindle regardless of the thickness
of the door to which it is applied, which means can be operated quickly and con-
veniently to secure the desired adjustment, and can be manufactured at a con-
siderably less cost than the various forms of means heretofore employed for this
purpose
To this end our invention consists in the knob attaching and adjusting means
hereinafter fully described and particularly pointed out in the claims.
Referring to the drawings, in which like numerals designate like parts in the
several figures,—
Figure 1 is a side view, partly in longitudinal section, of a pair of knobs applied
to a door in accordance with our invention;
Figure 2 is a longitudinal section, showing the adjusting means devised by us,
at one end of the knob spindle ;
Figure 3 is a side view of the adjusting sleeve forming part of such adjusting
means;
Figure 4 is an end view of said sleeve;
Figure 5 is a plan view of a slightly modified form of the locking detent;
Figure 6 is a side view of the detent shown in Fig. 5; and
Figure 7 is a side view of the form of adjusting sleeve used with the detent shown
in Figs. 5 and 6.
Fig. 8 is a section taken through Fig. 1 and
Fig. 9 is a detail view.
The numeral 1 designates a portion of a door, which is bored as usual to permit
the knob spindle 2 to be passed through it. Said spindle 2 is, or may be of the
usual rectangular form in cross section, containing a series of notches near one
end to receive the latch 3 on the neck of the knob 4, to enable said knob to be
adjustably secured upon the spindle, in the usual manner. It is to compensate for
the inaccuracy of the approximate adjustment secured by such notches and latch,
or by the various other forms of adjustable connection at that end of the knob
spindle, that the supplementary adjusting means of the class to which our inven-
tion appertains is applied to the knob connection at the opposite end of the

page_text: In the practice of our invention, we locate upon the neck 5 of the knob 6 an
adjusting sleeve 7, which bears at its inner end against the bottom of the socket 8
in the rose 9, as shown in Fig. 2, and is engaged at its outer end by the depressible
detent on said neck, and provides means, located either upon said outer end of
said sleeve or upon said detent,, for securing longitudinal adjustment of the sleeve
upon the neck.
As shown in Figs. 1 to 4 inclusive, the sleeve 7 is provided at its outer end with
a series of depressions or notches 10 of a progressively increasing depth, and the
detent 12 is located within a recess 13 in the outer surface of the neck, it having
a stem or shank 14 which enters a socket 15 extending transversely into the neck
and spindle, a spring 16, between said shank and the bottom of said
socket, serving to exert outward pressure against the detent. Said
detent is provided with a rounded shoulder 17 at its inner end, which is
adapted to fill either of the notches 10 in the sleeve when caused to register there
with by turning the sleeve while at its extreme end it projects within the sleeve, as
shown in Fig. 2, whereby the sleeve is caused to limit its outward or radial move-
ment and prevent its accidental disengagement from the neck. We also prefer
to provide against accidental displacement of the sleeve from the neck, by forming
the neck with a circumferential groove or depression 18 of sufficient width to
permit of the required longitudinal movement of the sleeve thereon, and by pro-
viding the sleeve with an internal projection 19 to enter such groove or depression,
it being led into the latter through a guiding notch 20 leading from the groove 18
to the inner end of the neck, as shown in Fig. 2. The usual rivet 21 secures the
.neck 5 of knob 6 to the spindle 2.
In assembling the parts just described, the end of the spindle 2 is inserted
within the neck 5 and riveted, the stem 14 of detent 12 is inserted within the
socket 15 (spring 16 having first been dropped into said socket), the detent is
depressed within recess 13 of the neck until its outer face is flush with the circum-
ferential surface of the latter and is held in such position by the finger or thumb
of one hand, and, with the other hand, the operator applies the sleeve 7 to the
spindle, passes its projection 19 through the notch 20 into the groove or depres-
sion 18, thereby causing its outer end to overlap the inner end of the depressed
detent, and imparts to it a slight turning movement to move the projection 19 out
of alignment with the said notch 20. When thus assembled the parts are retained
in their operative positions without danger of being displaced or lost, either in
packing and shipment, or handling the same previous to their being applied to
a door.
In applying the knobs to a door, the spindle 2 having the knob 6 secured thereto
as just described, is thrust through the hole in the door and into the neck of
knob 4, and latch 3 is lowered into one of the notches in the spindle. The spindle
is then moved longitudinally, by grasping knob 6, to cause the latch 3 of knob 4 to
enter within the flange 22 of rose 23, as shown in Fig. 1, and sleeve 7 is thrust
against the bottom of the socket 8 in rose 9 and is revolved to move into register
with detent 12 with one of its end depressions or notches 10 which, by engaging
the shoulder 17 on the detent, will lock it in such position. The progressively
increasing depth of said notches or depressions 10 enables a very accurate adjust-
ment to be secured by said detent and sleeve to prevent any end thrust of the
spindle in the beginning and to compensate for any which may be developed by
wear of the parts.
To remove the knobs from the door it is necessary simply to depress the detent,
slide the adjusting sleeve outwardly upon the neck 5, thrust the spindle in the
opposite direction to uncover the latch 3, raise said latch, and withdraw the
knob 4.
It will be observed that both operations of applying the knobs to and removing
them from a door can be performed very quickly and conveniently, and without
the use of tools of any sort.
In Figs. 5, 6 and 7 we have shown a slightly modified form of the invention,

page_text: in which the detent 24 bears upon its outer face a series of shoulders 27, located
at progressively increasing distances from its inner end as shown, and the adjust-
ing sleeve 25 has a single notch or recess 26 in its outer edge, to receive the detent
and thereby prevent the sleeve from turning on the neck. The detent 24 is sup-
ported upon the neck 5 in the same manner as the detent 12, and the adjustment
of the position of the sleeve upon the neck is secured by varying the particular
shoulder upon said detent which engages the end of the sleeve.
As the first described form of the invention secures a wider range of adjust-
ment for the sleeve than is possible with the last described form, unless the size
of the detent be unduly increased, we prefer to utilize such form in most cases.
Attention is called to the fact that in both of the forms of the invention herein
shown, we entirely avoid the use of screw-threads upon either the knob neck or the
sleeve, and thereby effect a material saving in the cost of manufacture over previous
devices of this character, besides being enabled to use very thin sheet metal for
the adjusting sleeve, thus lessening the cost of material.
The adjusting means herein described present a pleasing and ornamental
appearance when applied to the door.
It is obvious that various other modifications in the details of construction herein
shown and described can be made within the spirit of the invention.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, we declare that what we
claim is:-
1. The combination with a door knob neck, of a sleeve mounted upon said neck
and adapted to have a free sliding movement longitudinally of the latter, and a
detent upon said neck adapted to make contact with said sleeve to limit its move-
ment, one of said two contacting parts being provided with a plurality of contact
surfaces located at varying distances from the inner end of the neck, to hold the
sleeve in different positions upon the latter, substantially as described.
2. The combination with a door knob neck, of a sleeve mounted upon said neck
and projecting at its inner end beyond the end of the latter, said sleeve being free
to move longitudinally upon the, neck and being provided with a plurality of
engaging surfaces located at varying distances from its inner end, and a detent upon
the neck adapted to engage said surfaces on the sleeve interchangeably, substan-
tially as and for the purpose described.
3. The combination with the neck of a door knob, of a sleeve loosely mounted upon
said neck and projecting at its inner end beyond the end of the latter, said sleeve
having in its outer end a series of notches or depressions of a progressively varying
depth, and a spring-actuated detent radially movable upon the neck and adapted,
in its outermost position, to engage the notches or depressions in said sleeve,
substantially as described.
4. The combination with the neck of a door knob having located thereon a
radially movable, spring-actuated detent, the outer face of which is shouldered
as described, of a sleeve loosely mounted upon said neck -and overlapping at its
outer end said detent, said sleeve having in its said outer end a series of notches
or depressions of varying depth to receive the shoulder on the detent, substantially
as set forth.
5. The combination with the door knob neck provided with a circumferential
groove or recess and with a longitudinal notch or recess leading therefrom to the
end of said neck, of a detent having a stem or shank which enters a transverse
socket in said neck and having its outer face provided with a shoulder as described,
a spring located in. said socket and exerting pressure against the stem of said
detent, and a sleeve loosely mounted upon said neck and overlapping said detent
at one end, said sleeve being provided with an internal projection to enter the
circumferential groove in the neck and having at the end thereof which overlaps
said detent a series of notches or depressions of varying depth to receive the
shoulder on the latter, substantially as described.

page_text: 6. The combination with the knob neck 5 having the recess 13 and socket 15 of
the detent 12 having the stem 14 which enters said socket, and the shoulder 17,
spring 16, and sleeve 7 projecting at its inner end beyond the end of said neck
and having in its outer end the series of notches 10 of varying depth, substantially
as described.
Dated this 7th day of Annil 1900