Improvements in Locks.
Year: 1890

page_text: Date of Application, 6th Feb., 1890-Accepted, 22nd Mar., 1850
Improvements in Locks.
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I, JOSEPH LEGGE, of the firm of J. Legge & Co., Stafford Street, Willenhall in the
County of Stafford, lock manufacturers, 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 :-
I will describe my invention as applied to a common "Scarboro'" lock, when.
its application to locks generally will be obvious.
The object of my invention is to reduce the working parts of a lock to a minimum
and make them so simple that only the commonest class of labour need be employed.
upon them, both in respect of the production of the parts themselves, and in respect
of fitting them together.
"
According to my invention the "tumbler от "lever" usually employed is entirely
dispensed with. I use instead a spring'so shaped as to be at once the spring of the
lock and its "tumbler " or "lever." I call this part of the mechanism a combined
spring and lever. The only other movable part in a lock constructed, according to
my invention is the bolt plate.
9
For the clearer explanation. of my invention I will describe it in reference to the
accompanying 'drawings, in which the same letters are used in the various figures
where it is intended. to indicate the same parts. Figures 1, 2 and 4 illustrate the
back plate of an ordinary." Scarboro'" lock, bearing the mechanism of the lock.
Figure 3 shews the bolt plate separately. Figure 5 shews the lock body, which.
covers the back plate a when the lock is put together, the back plate being soldered
or otherwise fixed 'to'the lock body in such a way that the keyhole d, for the pin of a
pin key, (figures 1, 2 and 4) comes directly behind the round part of the keyhole
shown in figure 5. To the back plate a, in the relative positions shewn in figures 1, 2
and 4, I rivet suitable pins 9 and h. The pin h serves as 'fixing point for the loop of
the combined spring and lever b, and the pin g forms a stop for the combined spring
and lever b, so that the latter may act with the required rigidity. The pin g'also
serves as one of the guiding pins that control the motion of the bolt plate, but to this*
I will call more particular attention further on.. b is the combined spring and lever
attached by means of its looped end to the pin h. Towards its other end the
combined spring and lever bis bent into the shape indicated at e. A shoulder or
projection is thus formed on the underside of the combined spring and lever, and this
shoulder or projection fulfils the funtions of the "cheek" on ordinary "tumblers";
that is to say, it engages, with a suitable projection on the bolt plate, and thus
prevents the latter from being moved either backwards (when the bolt plate is.
forward) or forwards (when the bolt plate is back) unless the key is first inserted and
by a half turn,has lifted the "cheek clear of the projection on the bolt plate... It
will be observed that the combined spring and lever is not fixed rigidly to the
pin h but is simply slipped on to it and rests only against the pin g. It follows that
the fitting of the combined spring and lever on the back plate is the simplest process
conceivable. In figures 2 and 4 the working of the bolt plate c and the combined
spring and lever b is clearly shewn, but I may point out that while in figure 2 the
bolt plate is shewn in its backward or unlocked position, in figure 4 it is shewn in
its forward or locked position. It will be seen on reference to these two figures that
the bolt plate c is made to slide horizontally by means of two slots (k and m figure 3)
one of which works on the pin g already mentioned, while the other works on the
pin (figures 1, 2 and 4). The bolt plate c is provided on its underside with a
pin (figures 2, 3 and 4) which pin engages the shoulder or projection e on the
combined spring and lever 6 (figures 1, 2 and 4). The action of the lock will now be
obvious. When the bolt plate c is in the position shewn by figure 2 it is in its

page_text: backward or unlocked condition. If the key is now inserted into the hole d and
half turned, from right to left, it lifts the combined spring and lever b sufficiently to
raise the shoulder or projection e thereon clear of the pin i. At the same time the
key begins to engage the knotch in the bolt plate c. In completing its turn the key
moves the bolt plate c into the forward or locked position shewn by figure 4, and at
the same time lowers the combined spring and lever so that the shoulder or
projection e thereon falls behind the pin i. The bolt plate cannot now be pushed back.
again into the position shewn in figure 2 excepting by the use of the key, as the
shoulder or projection e on the combined spring and lever beffectually intercepts the
pin i.
If it is now desired to move the bolt plate e back into the position shewn in
figure 2 exactly the reverse of the motion above described takes place. When the
key is inserted and half turned from left to right it lifts the combined spring and
lever b, as before, sufficiently to raise the shoulder or projection e thereon clear of the
pin i. At the same time the key begins to engage the knotch in the bolt plate c.
In completing its turn the key moves the bolt plate c into the backward or unlocked
position shewn by figure 2, and at the same time lowers the combined spring and
lever b so that the shoulder or projection e thereon falls in front of the pin i. The
bolt plate cannot now be pushed forward again into the position shewn in figure 4,
excepting by the use of the key, as the shoulder or projection e on the combined
spring and lever 6 effectually intercepts the pin i.
It is one of the great disadvantages attaching to the commoner class of "tumbler"
and "one lever" locks and particularly of "tumbler" and "
one lever ""Scarboro"".
locks that the same key will often open a great number of different locks. In
carrying out my invention I find it preferable to use keys of an irregular shape such
as is indicated by the keyhole, figure 5. I thus secure the incidental advantage
that no lock constructed according to my invention will admit a key of the
ordinary shape.
Although for the sake of simplicity I have described my invention as applied to a
lock in which only one combined spring and lever is used it will be obvious to any
practical lock maker that I can employ two or more such combined springs and levers
by merely varying the depth of the shoulders or projections thereon and using a key
with correspondingly varied". steps."
. Having thus stated the nature of my said invention and in what manner the same
is to be performed I declare that what 1 claim is :—
I. The combined movable spring and lever b, substantially as and for the purpose
herein described and illustrated by the accompanying drawings.
II. The use on the combined spring and lever 6 of a shoulder or projection e,
substantially as and for the purpose herein described and illustrated by the accom-
panying drawings.
III. The use on the bolt plate c of a pin i, substantially as and for the purpose
herein described and illustrated by the accompanying drawings.
. IV. The general arrangement of combined spring and lever b, and bolt plate c,
substantially as and for the purpose herein described and illustrated by the accom-
panying drawings.
Dated this Fifth day of Fahru 1890