AN IMPROVEMENT IN LOCKS AND LATCHES
Year: 1857

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alfred Charles Hobbs at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 15th January 1857.
I, ALFRED CHARLES HOBBS, of 97, Cheapside, London, do hereby declare
5 the nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVEMENT IN LOCKS AND LATCHES,"
to be as follows:-
It consists in constructing the crank or lever and the follower of the latch
of a peculiar form, so that when the latter is turned the surfaces in contact
shall roll instead of sliding or rubbing upon each other, thereby overcoming
the friction so destructive to that part of the lock.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Alfred Charles Hobbs in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 15th July 1857.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALFRED
CHARLES HOBBS, of 97, Cheapside, London, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fifteenth day of January, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven, in the twentieth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Alfred Charles Hobbs, Her special licence that I, the said Alfred Charles
Hobbs, or my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said Alfred Charles Hobbs, or 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
"AN IMPROVEMENT IN LOCKS AND LATCHES," upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said Alfred Charles, Hobbs, or 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.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Alfred Charles Hobbs, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
.statement:-
Figures 1 and 2 represent the form & construction of the lock or latch
in ordinary use.
Figure 3, the form and construction of the follower and crank in my Inven-
tion, and their position when in a state of rest.
Figure 4 represents one of the positions of the same when in action. The
same letters indicate the same parts.
My Invention consists in the peculiar form and arrangement of those parts
of the lock or latch termed the follower and crank or player, operated by the
spindle of the knob or handle to draw back the latch bolt.
In locks or latches hitherto constructed, the horns of the follower A', repre-
sented in Figures 1 & 2, when operated have a sliding or rubbing action upon

page_text: the crank B, by which great friction is occasioned, and consequently great
wear and deterioration in those parts is produced.
I construct, as represented in Figure 3, the horns a, a, of the follower A of
a curvilinear form fitting into that of the crank B, and arrange these parts so
that their points of contact when in a state of rest shall be in front of a line
drawn from the fulcrum C to the centre of the point of force A.
By the curvilinear form and said position, a rolling instead of the usual
rubbing action is given at the points of contact; this gives to the latch an easy
motion and avoids in a great degree the usual friction and consequent wear
and deterioration.
Having now described my Invention, what I claim under the above in part
recited Letters Patent is, constructing the horns of the follower and the crank
of a curvilinear form, as described, or any other substantially the same, and
arranging the same substantially as described, so that the rolling action is
produced at the points of contact.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alfred Charles Hobbs, have hereunto set
my hand and affixed my seal, on this Fourteenth day of July, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven.
ALFRED CHARLES HOBBS. (L.S.)