A NEW OR IMPROVED LOCK
Year: 1854

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Edwin Wolverson, of the Parish of Aston-juxta-
Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Machinist, for the Invention of
"A NEW OR IMPROVED LOCK."
Scaled the 26th September 1854, and dated the 11th July 1854.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Edwin Wolverson at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 11th.
July 1854.
I, EDWIN WOLVERSON, of the Parish of Aston-juxta-Birmingham, in the
County of Warwick, Machinist, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "A NEW OR IMPROVED LOCK" to be as follows:-.
On the end of the bolt of the lock I place a series of plates capable of
sliding vertically; these plates are pressed downwards by springs. There is a
slot made in a horizontal direction in each of the said plates, and after the bolt
of the lock has been shot, it can only be withdrawn by the said plates being
made to slide vertically to the several heights required to bring their respec-
tive slots opposite cach; for a plate situated at the back of the lock prevents
the bolt being withdrawn, unless the said plate can enter the said slots. The
several plates on the bolt are raised to the necessary heights in the following
manner-Immediately over the keyhole in the interior of the lock are a
series of slides, which by the motion of the key are raised to different heights;

page_text: these slides have projections on their sides, which, when the bolt is shot,
engage under projections on the sides of the first mentioned sliding plates.
The first action of the key is to raise the slides, these raise the plates on the
bolt to the necessary height, to permit of the bolt being withdrawn; the plates
ou the bolt are held in their position during the motion of the bolt by clicks
engaging in teeth on their edges. When the bolt is shot, the said clicks
coming against a fixed obstacle, are disengaged from the plates, which are
pressed down by their springs.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Edwin Wolverson in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
10th January 1855.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME,..I, EDWIN
WOLVERSON, of the Parish of Ashton-juxta-Birmingham, in the County of
Warwick, Machinist, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eleventh day of July, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-four, in the eighteenth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Edwin Wolverson, Her special licence that I, the said Edwin Wolverson, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Edwin
Wolverson, 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 "A NEW OR IMPROVED
LOCK," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Edwin Wolverson,
by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, 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.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Edwin Wolverson, 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 state-
ment thereof (that is to say):-

page_text: My said Invention consists of a lock constructed in the manner herein-after
particularly described, and illustrated in the accompanying Drawing.
b
Figures 1 and 2 represent in elevation a lock, constructed according to my
Invention; the several parts in Figure, 2 being in the positions which they
occupy when the bolt of the said lock is shot, and the several parts in Figure 1
being in the positions which they occupy when the said bolt is withdrawn.
On the end of the bolt a, a series of plates 6 are situated, which said plates
are shown separately in Figure 3, and of which plates any number may be
employed. The said plates are connected with the bolt a by the rib c on the
said bolt a passing through the vertical slots d in the said plates b. A pin or
cotter e retains the said plates on the rib c. A horizontal slotf is made in each
of the plates, the said slot being higher or lower in the different plates, as
will be understood by reference to Figure 3. g is a rib or plate fixed horizon-
tally on the lock case, which said rib or plate prevents the bolt a when it has
been shot, as represented in Figure 2, from being withdrawn until each of the
plates 6 has been raised to such a height that its horizontal slot fis situated in
the same plane as the rib or plate g, when the bolt a may be withdrawn, as
represented in Figure 1; the rib or plate 9 entering the slots f in the plates 6
during the withdrawing of the bolt. The said plates 6 on the bolt are raised
to the respective heights necessary to the withdrawal of the bolt a, in the
following manner:-Over the axis h on which the key works, a series of
slides are situated, one of which is shown separately in Figure 4. By the
action of the key the said slides i are raised to different heights; the said
slides have projections k, which said projections, when the bolt is shot,
engage under shoulders on the plates b. When the bolt is shot, as repre-
sented in Figure 2, the first action of the key in unlocking the lock or with-
drawing the.bolt a is to raise the slides i; the said slides raise the plates b on
the bolt to the necessary heights respectively, to bring the slots f opposite to
the rib or plate g, when the bolt a may be withdrawn. The key, in withdraw-
ing the bolt a, disengages the plates b from the slides i, and the said plates
would be displaced by the springs m from the positions given to them by the
slides i, but for the click n, which engages in the serrated edges of the plates b,
and prevents their descent; when the bolt a is shot to its fullest extent, the
tail n' of the click n coming against the frame o, in which the slides i work,
the said click is disengaged from the plates b, and the said plates 6 are forced
down by their springs m, until the shoulders of the said plates bear against
the projections of the slides i. I sometimes modify my Invention in the
manner illustrated in Figure 5, that is to say, I give to the slides p such a
form, that the said slides engage with the plates 9 both at top and bottom;

page_text: the said slidės p are forced down by springs, and instead of the plates 1
being retained in their places by a click, the said plates are held in their
places by being pressed together by a spring s. The parts in Figure 5 are
represented in the positions which they occupy when the bolt is withdrawn.
The first action of the key is to raise the slides p to the proper heights respec-
tively, to enable the plates q to engage therein. The key next shoots the bolt
t, whereby the plates 9 are brought into the position indicated by dotted
lines and made to engage in the slides p; the slides p next descend vertically,
carrying the plates 9 with them, and the bolt t cannot be withdrawn until the
slides P have been raised to such a height that the slots in the plates 9 are in
the same plane as the rib or plate u. The bottoms of the plates p have all the
same form, so that no information can be gained respecting them by inspecting
or feeling them at the keyhole.
Having now described the nature of my said Invention, and the manner of
carrying the same into effect, I wish it to be understood that I do not limit
myself to the precise methods described, as the same may be varied without
departing from the nature of my said Invention; but I claim as iny Invention
the method or methods herein described and illustrated in the accompanying
Drawing, of constructing a new or improved lock, that is to say, attaching to
the bolts of locks plates having a sliding motion, transverse to the motion of
the said bolts, which said plates require to be raised to particular heights
respectively before the bolt can be withdrawn, and raising the said plates to
the proper heights by means of slides on which the key first acts. The said
plates, on which the security of the lock depends, being isolated from the said
slides, excepting during the motion of the key prior to the withdrawal of the
bolt.
In witness whereof, I, the said Edwin Wolverson, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Eighth day of January, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five.
Witness,
THOMAS WHITEHEAD.
EDWIN WOLVERSON. (L.S.)