IMPROVEMENTS IN LOCKS AND FASTENINGS
Year: 1856

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Player Miles, of the Patent Lock Factory,
near the Forest Hill Station, London and Brighton Railway, for the
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN LOCKS AND FASTENINGS."-A communi-
cation from Mons' Motheau, of Paris.
Sealed the 22nd May 1857, and dated the 11th December 1856.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Player Miles at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
11th December 1856.
I, WILLIAM PLAYER MILES, of the Patent Lock Factory, near the Forest
Hill Station, London and Brighton Railway, do hereby declare the nature.
of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN LOCKS AND FASTENINGS," to be as:
follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in locks and fastenings..
For which purpose, in order to insure greater security in respect to locks and
fastenings, the parts are so arranged that a piece of paper or of card or of
other material may be introduced over the keyhole, and under a cover or plate,
of one face or side of the lock or fastening. The piece of card or of paper or,
of other material so introduced has formed in it an opening or passage for a.
bolt or instrument to pass through it, and such bolt also passes through corre.,
sponding openings in the case of the lock or fastening, so that when the bolt

page_text: or instrument has been introduced, and is locked or fastened by a spring
catch or holding instrument, the keyhole cannot be got at without destroying
or defacing the piece of card or of other material covering the keyhole, as the
covering material cannot be removed without unlocking or unfastening the
bolt or instrument which is passed through the covering material, and such
bolt or holding instrument cannot be withdrawn without being unlocked or
released by the introduction of the key. The covering material may also be
rendered still more secure by having its under surface marked or written on,
and it may be further rendered secure by having a seal formed on its outer
surface. By these means a lock or fastening cannot be opened without detec-
tion, whether by the use of a false key or by the proper key.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Player Miles in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
11th June 1857.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
PLAYER MILES, of the Patent. Lock Factory, near the Forest Hill Station,
London and Brighton Railway, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eleventh day of December, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six, in the twentieth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
William Player Miles, Her special licence that I, the said William Player Miles,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said William
Player Miles, my executors, administrators, and 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN LOCKS AND
FASTENINGS," a communication from Mon Motheau, of Paris, upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said William Player Miles, my executors
or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of
their hands and seals, should particularly describe 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.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Player Miles, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, that is to say :-
This Invention has for its object improvements in locks and fastenings.
For which purpose, in order to insure greater security in respect to locks and
fastenings, the parts are so arranged that a piece of paper, or of card, or of
other material may be introduced over the keyhole, and under a cover or plate
of one face or side of the lock or fastening; the piece of card, or of paper, or of
other material, so introduced, has formed in it an opening or passage for a bolt
or instrument to pass through it, and such bolt also passes through correspond-
ing openings in the case of the lock or fastening, so that when the bolt or
instrument has been introduced, and is locked or fastened by a spring catch or
holding instrument, the keyhole cannot be got at without destroying or
defacing the piece of card or of other material covering tho keyhole, as the
covering material cannot be removed without unlocking or unfastening the
bolt or instrument which is passed through the covering material, and such
bolt or holding instrument cannot be withdrawn without being unlocked or
released by the introduction of the key. The covering material may also be
rendered still more secure by having its under surface marked or written on,
and it may be further rendered secure by having a seal formed on its outer
surface. By these means a lock or fastening cannot be opened without
detection, whether by the use of a falso key or by the proper key.
And in order that the said Invention may be most fully understood and
readily carried into effect, I will proceed to describe the Drawing hereunto
annexed.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING.
Figure 1 is a front view; Figure 2 is a longitudinal section; and Figure 3
is an end view of a lock constructed according to this Invention, but with the
interior parts removed, as these may be of any ordinary description. a is the
front plate, and 6 is the back plate of the lock in front of the plate a; a third
plate c is fixed, having through it two openings, one over the keyhole of the
lock, and the other over the hole through which the bolt passes. In between

page_text: instrument at the keyhole after destroying the piece of paper, card, or other
material.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Player Miles, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Third day of June, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven.
Witness,
W. TAYLOR,
Rushey Green, Lewisham.
W. P. MILES. (L.S.)