AN IMPROVED CONSTRUCTION OF LOCK
Year: 1860

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alfred Vincent Newton, of the Office for Patents,.
66, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex,. Mechanical Draughts-
man, for the Invention, of "AN IMPROVED CONSTRUCTION OF LOCK."—A
communication from abroad by John P: Lord and Richard. N. Batchelder,.
both of Manchester, in the State of. New. Hampshire and. United States.
of America.
Sealed the 8th June 1860, and dated the 11th January 1860.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alfred Vincent Newton.
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 11th January 1860.
I, ALFRED VINCENT NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane,
in the County of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsman, dó hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED CONSTRUCTION OF LOCK," to
be as follows:-
This Invention relates to a mode of obtaining security in locks by the use of
rotating wards. The wards consist of concentric rings, which work in guides,
and are fitted with adjustable studs, through which the inner rings receive
motion in either direction from the outer ring. This outer ring is fitted with
spur teeth, into which gears a pinion formed with a hollow boss to receive the
key: Mounted on this pinion is a second pinion, into which the key enters to

page_text: effect its rotation. This second pinion is furnished with teeth on a part only
of its periphery, and it is intended to gear into rack teeth on the bolt, and
operate the bolt. The rings or wards are slotted on one face to form a way
for guard pins or studs, which project from a slide attached to the bolt to pass
the wards when the bolt is desired to be thrown. A stud affixed to the outer
ring lifts as the ring is rotated a hammer carried by a fixed spring, and allows
it to fall on a bell set within the box of the lock, for the purpose of indicating
the position of the outer ring and the number of rotations it has made when
setting the wards for unlocking. The key is also provided with an adjustable
collar, which has a scale of divisions to shew the movements of the key, and
it is by noting the movements of these two instruments, which impart motion
to the inner rings, that the amount of motion requisite for adjusting the wards
for the locking or unlocking of the bolt is arrived at as a preliminary to the
use of the lock. In order to change the permutation it is only necessary to
take out and shift the outer ring, or to readjust the studs or any portion of
them which communicate motion from one ring to the other.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Alfred Vincent Newton in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 11th July 1860.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALFRED
VINCENT NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in the County
of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eleventh day of January, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty, in the twenty-third year
of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, Her special license that I, the said
Alfred Vincent Newton, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, 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 King-
dom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man,
an Invention for "AN IMPROVED CONSTRUCTION OF LOCK," being a communi-
cation from abroad, upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
Alfred Vincent Newton, by an instrument in writing under my hand and

page_text: seal, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Inven-
tion, 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.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, 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, reference being had to the Drawing hereunto annexed, and to the
letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say) :-
This Invention, as communicated to me by my foreign correspondent, relates
to a mode of obtaining security in locks by the use of rotating wards."
.
In the accompanying Drawing Fig. 1 is a perspective view representing the
improved lock externally; Fig. 2 is an elevation, in which one of the external
plates is removed, so as to expose the interior arrangement and construction to
view; Fig. 3 is a central longitudinal section; Fig. 4 is a sectional view, the
plane of which passes centrally through the key, the bolt, driving and ward
gears; Fig. 5 is a perspective view of the gear wheel for driving the bolt; and
Fig. 6 a like view of the ward driving gear. A is the box or case of the lock;
B is the bolt arranged to slide in proper guides in the case. Upon one of the
side plates are arranged guides C, to which are fitted so as to rotate freely the
concentric annular wards D; the outer one of the wards is furnished with
gear teeth upon its periphery, into which work those of the wheel E, by which
it is made to rotate in either direction. The wards D are furnished with pins F
and G, by which they are made to rotate respectively each by the next larger
one encircling it. The wards D are each also furnished with a notch or slot
in its under side of suitable size to admit the passage through it of a suitable
guard H. The guards H are fixed upon a slide or tongue I, which is fast to
the bolt B, and must slide with it whenever it is locked or unlocked. The
tongue I is connected to the bolt by a screw or other means which will allow
of its being detached (see J, Fig. 3.) The guards H are arranged at equal
distances apart upon the tongue I, corresponding to the distance at which the
wards are arranged from each other, and they occupy a space each not
exceeding the space between the wards D: K is a bell and L a spring
furnished with a hammer, N; O is an indicator fixed to the periphery of the
outer ward D, which, whenever it passes the spring L, causes the bell to
strike. Whenever the bolt is thrown forward, and either of the wards D are
rotated in the slightest degree, so that the notches or slots in their under
surface next to the tongue I do not coincide exactly with the line of motion of
the guards H, it is fast, and cannot be thrown back until every one is properly.
•

page_text: adjusted again. P is the key, which, passing through the lock is furnished.
with a nut upon the back side. This key is fitted to both gear wheels E
and Q. The gear wheel Qis furnished with teeth on a portion of its circum-
ference only, sufficient to take into the rack R'upon the bolt, for the purpose
of moving the same. The lower wheel E is furnished with an annular rebate
or chamber S (Fig. 4), in which the lug T, fast to the key P, may revolve.
freely when properly adjusted, and is also furnished with a groove U to receive.
the said lug, so as to be rotated by it. The gear Q is also furnished with a
slot V to receive the lug T, and be rotated by it when the key is turned. The
key P has an adjustable collar W (see Figs. 1 and 4), which is furnished with
a scale of divisions upon its upper surface, and suitable figures, by means of
which and a suitable point upon the surface of the hub X any number of
revolutions and parts of revolutions of the key may be noted. It is not neces-
sary that the bolt B should be made to enclose the other machinery of the
lock, as represented in the Drawing, though it is a very convenient plan for
large locks. The. several parts may be made of cast iron, and such other
suitable materials as are usually employed in the class of manufactures to
which they belong. The number of wards can of course be varied to suit
circumstances.
.
.
The operation of this improved construction of lock, which is supposed to
be applied to a door Y of a safe Z is as follows:-The first business of the
operator is to remove the plate a while the safe door is yet open, whereby he
gains access to the tongue I, which he detaches from the bolt, and so is
enabled to look in and observe the positions of the several wards D. . He then
adjusts the key P by turning and pressing it inwards, with its lug T'in the
slot U in gear with E. He then turns the key in either direction, say, for
instance, first to the left, giving rotary motion to the outer ward first, the
pin F of which comes in contact with the pin G of the next, and in turn its pin F
acts upon the pin G of the next ward, and so on, until all are in motion, which
will be the case immediately after the second striking of the bell. The operator
now makes a note of the coincidence of any one of the numbered division
points on the face of the collar w with the point on the face of the hub X, as,.
for instance, Figure 5; it should be one of those points which come into such
coincidence soon after the striking of the bell the second time or that other
number of times which he has ascertained by observation to be required to
make sure that all the wards are rotating by the turning of the key. The
operator continues to turn the key carefully, noting the number of turns and,
parts of turns, until the inner ward comes to the position where its slot
coincides with the line of motion of the guards H. After noting such

page_text: number of turns and parts of turns, the key is then rotated in the opposite
direction, until the next ward with its slot comes into a like position, when the
number of turns and parts of turns are in like manner noted, and then the key
reversed in the direction of. rotation, and so on until each of the wards D is in
like manner adjusted with reference to the line of motion of the tongue I and
its guards H, the innermost one first, then the next, and so on from the inner
to the outer wards, the direction of rotation of the key being reversed, and the
direction and number of turns and parts of turns for the adjustment of each
being noted immediately after the adjustment of each. The operator now
commits the notes thus taken to memory, and thereby furnished with an
index by which he can always unlock the safe; he then replaces the tongue I
and plate a, shuts the safe door, draws the key till the lug T comes into the
chamber S, turns it till it comes into the slot V in the wheel Q, and then by
turning it in the proper direction the bolt is driven and the door locked. He
now returns the key to act upon the wheel E, and turns it until the wards D,
one, two, or more of them are displaced, so that their slots do not coincide
with the line of motion of the tongue I and its guards H; after which no
person who has not become possessed of the notes taken as described by the
operator can by any possibility open or unlock the safe. This will be obvious
when it is considered that all these wards D have to to be accurately set as
described, and each by means of the adjacent one, commencing with a par-
ticular one, without any possible means of knowing at any time the position
of either. Whenever the operator wishes to change the combination so as to
render useless the notes he or any one else has taken as above described, he has
only to slip the wheel E out of connection with that upon the outer ward and in
again in a different position, or he can change the position of any one or more
of the pins F or G upon a ward C, or he can change the position of the collar
W upon the key P, and by any one of these means he may secure a great
variety of combinations, and by all an almost infinite number and variety.
After each change of the combination, however, he will have to go through
the described process to obtain the necessary notes by which to unlock the
safe or other article to which this lock is applied. When it is required to
unlock he has simply to go through the same operation or series of operations
from memory, or by means of his notes which he went through in obtaining
them with his eye on the wards.
Having now set forth the nature of the Invention of "An Improved Con-
struction of Lock," as communicated to me from abroad, and explained the
manner of carrying the same into effect, I wish it to be understood that under
the above in part recited Letters Patent I claim the application to locks of

page_text: rotating wards constructed and operating as above described, and also the
means described for indicating their axial movements.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Eleventh day of July, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty.
Witness,
J. W. MOFFATT,
66, Chancery Lane.
A. V. NEWTON. (L.s.),