IMPROVEMENTS IN FASTENINGS FOR SAFE DOORS AND OTHER DOORS AND LIDS, AND FOR OTHER LIKE PURPOSES
Year: 1865

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Joseph Beverley Fenby at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
20th November 1865.
I, JOSEPH BEVERLEY FENBY, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick,
Mechanical Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN FASTENINGS FOR SAFE DOORS AND OTHER DOORS AND LIDS,
AND FOR OTHER LIKE PURPOSES," to be as follows:-
My Invention consists of the improvements herein-after described in con-
structing fastenings for safe doors and other doors and lids, and for other
like purposes, by which said improvements the withdrawal of the bolts of
the said fastenings from their staples by pressure on their ends is prevented,
and great security in the fastening of the safe and other doors and other
articles is thereby obtained.
In constructing fastenings according to my Invention I make the stems
of the bolts of the said fastenings by preference of a cylindrical figure, but
they may be made square, or of other figure in cross section. That end of
the bolt which enters the staple or recess in the safe or other door frame is
expanded, and has a conical figure, the smaller end of the cone being at the
junction of the said expanded part with the stem of the bolt. Two
opposite sides of the expanded end of the bolt are cut away so as to give
the said expanded end at the said cut away part the breadth or diameter of
the stem of the bolt. The expanded end of the bolt has thus in cross
section a nearly rectangular figure, the longer sides of which are flat and

page_text: the short sides or ends curved. The staple or recess into which the
expanded end of the bolt enters to fasten the safe door or other door is
made of different figures at different parts. The front of the opening in
the staple into which the expanded end of the bolt first enters is of a nearly
rectangular figure, corresponding to that of the expanded end of the bolt,
and is of a length equal to the length of the said expanded end. The
said rectangular opening in the staple opens into a circular or nearly
circular opening of a diameter equal to that of the larger end of the partly
cut away cone of the end of the bolt. In engaging a bolt in its staple,
constructed in the manner described it is necessary that the said bolt shall
have first a sliding motion, and afterwards a motion of partial rotation.
When the expanded end of the bolt has been shot forward and advanced
through the nearly rectangular opening in the staple into the circular
opening therein, a quarter rotation is given to the said bolt. By this partial
rotation of the bolt its expanded end is placed at right angles to the
opening in the staple through which it was first passed, and the said
expanded end consequently cannot be withdrawn from the staple through
the said opening. The end of the bolt is thus firmly secured in its staple,
and no amount of pressure on the end of the said bolt can disengage it from
the said staple. In order to disengage the bolt from the staple a quarter
rotation is given to it so as to make its expanded end coincide with the
nearly rectangular opening in the front of the staple, when the said end can
be withdrawn through the said opening and the safe door or other door
unfastened:
The sliding and partly rotatory motions of the bolts may be effected in
a variety of ways, and the said bolts may either be connected with a lock
or be independent of a lock. Instead of making the expanded end of the
bolt engage with a staple of the construction described, it may be made
to engage with a staple of the following construction:-I make the staples
with openings having different widths, that is, I make one portion of the
opening of a size proper to receive the expanded end of the bolt, and the
other part of a size proper to receive the stem only of the bolt. In engaging
the bolt in the staple its expanded end is first advanced into the larger part
of the opening in the staple. The stem of the said bolt is then by a
lateral motion, either horizontal or vertical, made to enter the narrow part
of the opening in the staple, the expanded end of the bolt engaging behind
shoulders on either side the said narrow opening in the staple; the bolt
is thereby securely fastened in the staple. In order to disengage the bolt
from the staple it is first moved so as to bring its expanded end from

page_text: behind the shoulders at the narrow part of the opening into the wider
part of the said opening, when the said expanded end can be withdrawn
from the staple. The inner as well as the outer ends of the bolts may
be expanded in the manner herein-before described with reference to the
outer ends. In this case the said inner ends of the bolts engage in
staples at the middle of the door in a manner essentially the same as that
described with reference to the outer ends of the bolts; or expanded parts
of the kind described with reference to the ends of the bolts may be made
on any part of the bolt between its ends, and be made to engage in
suitably formed staples fixed on the door.
My Invention is especially applicable to bolts for fastening safe doors,
for which purpose I prefer to use two or more of the bolts described, which
may be actuated simultaneously by the same mechanism.