IMPROVEMENTS IN LOCKS OR FASTENINGS FOR RAILWAY Carriage DOORS, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES
Year: 1878

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Nathan Thompson, of the City of Brooklyn, in the County
of Kings and State of New York, in the United States of America, but at
present of 23, Southampton Buildings, in the County of Middlesex, for the
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN LOCKS OR FASTENINGS FOR RAILWAY
Carriage DOORS, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES.”
Sealed the 24th December 1878, and dated the 27th August 1878.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Nathan Thompson at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 27th August 1878.
NATHAN THOMPSON, of the City of Brooklyn, in the County of Kings and State
of New York, in the United States of America, but at present of 23, Southampton
Buildings, in the County of Middlesex. "IMPROVEMENTS IN LOCKS OR FASTENINGS
FOR RAILWAY CARRIAGE DOORS, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES."
The Invention has for its object improvements in locks or fastenings for railway
carriage doors, and for other purposes.
In applying my Invention to railway carriago and other similar doors, I fix on
the door jamb, flush with the edge thereof, a plate formed with a suitable fixed catch,
and on the door I fix a plate, provided with suitable guides, in or on which a
vertically sliding piece is mounted. This sliding piece carries a handle and an
inclined faced catch to act in combination with the catch on the door jamb. The
sliding piece may be provided with rollers to facilitate its free motion, and, if desired,
a spring inay be employed to assist its downward motion.
The catch on the sliding piece projects a little beyond the edge of the door, and
has a covering plate over the end thereof, or the handle may be made flush with the
outer edge thereof.

page_text: In applying my Invention to sliding doors or gates, the fixed catch is fixed to the
edge of one door or gate, or to the door jamb or gate post, and projects forward
therefrom, and the sliding catch works in a suitable box, frame, or guide fixed to the
other door or gate, or to the door jamb or gate post, and is provided with a handle
on either or both sides thereof, and may, as before described, be provided with rollers
and a spring to assist the action thereof.
In these arrangements of locks or fastenings the handle is lifted in a vertical
direction, and a simple and convenient lock or fastening is obtained.
If desired a spring or other stud or projection may be employed to retain the
sliding catch in its raised or unlocked position when it is desired to prevent the
action of the lock or fastening for a given time.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said Nathan Thompson in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 26th February
1879.
NATHAN THOMPSON, of the City of Brooklyn, in the County of Kings and State
of New York, in the United States of America, but at present of 23, Southampton
Buildings, in the County of Middlesex. "IMPROVEMENTS IN LOCKS OR FASTENINGS
POR RAILWAY CARRIAGE DOORS, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES."
The Invention has for its object improvements in locks or fastenings for railway'
carriage doors, and for other purposes.
In applying my Invention to railway carriage and other similar doors, I fix on
the door jamb, flush with the edge thereof, a plate formed with a suitable fixed catch,
and on the door I fix a plate, provided with suitable guides, in or on which a
vertically sliding piece is mounted. This sliding piece carries a handle and an
inclined faced catch, to act in combination with the catch on the door jamb. The
sliding piece may be provided with rollers to facilitate its free motion, and, if desired,
a spring may be employed to assist its downward motion.
T'ho catch on the sliding pièce projects a little beyond the edge of the door, and
has a covering plate over the end thereof, or the handle may be made flush with the
outer edge thereof.
In applying my Invention to sliding doors or gates, the fixed catch is fixed to the
edge of one door or gate, or to the door jamb or gate post, and projects forward
therefrom, and the sliding catch works in a suitable box, frame, or guide fixed to
the other door or gate, or to the door jamb or gate post, and is provided with a
handle on either or both sides thereof, and may, as before described, be provided
with rollers and a spring to assist the action thereof.
If desired a spring or other stud or projection may be employed to retain the
sliding catch in its raised or unlocked position when it is desired to prevent the
action of the lock or fastening for a given time.
And in order that my said Invention may be more clearly understoood and readily
carried into effect, I will proceed, aided by the accompanying Drawings, more fully,
to describe the same

page_text: a is a plate, which is screwed to the door post, and a¹ is a fixed catch formed
thereon; b is a plate or frame, which is screwed to the door, and which is provided
with suitable guides, as shown, in which a vertically sliding piece c is mounted, which
is held in position by a back plate b¹.
This sliding piece c is provided with an inclined faced catch c¹ and a handle c³, by
which it can be raised from the outside, and in the arrangement represented at
Figures 8 and 9, a second handle is fixed thereto, to enable the fastening to be
operated from the inside of the door, as well as from the outside, and in this latter
arrangement a small bolt is fitted to the sliding picce c, which bolt, by being
slidden into a hole formed in the plate or frame b will, when desired, prevent the
possibility of operating the fastening from the outside.
The sliding piece may be provided with rollers c³, as represented in Figures 6, 7,
12, and 13, to facilitate its free motion, and in some cases, as represented at Figure 10,
a spiral or other spring & may be employed to assist its downward motion.
d
As represented at Figures 3 to 11, the catch c¹ on the sliding piece c projects a
little beyond the edge of the door, and may, as shown at Figures 8, 9, and 11, have
a covering plate cover the end thereof, or as represented at Figures 3 to 7, the
handle may be made flush with the outer edge thereof.
At Figures 10 and 11 I have represented the handle c³ attached to a cross sliding
piece e, which has formed thereon an incline e' to act in connection with an incline c³,
formed on the sliding piece c, a slot e³ is formed in the sliding pieco e to work on a
stud f, to limit the motion of such slide e. Thus, on pulling the handle, the slide e
is caused to act by its incline e¹ on the incline c' of the sliding piece c, and thereby
to raise the catch c; and when the handle c is released, the spring d acts upon the
slide C to press it down, and in doing so forces the slide e back into the position
shown in the Drawings.
In applying my Invention to sliding doors or gates, the fixed catch a¹ is by its
plate a fixed to the edge of one door or gate, or to the door jamb or gate post, and
projects forward therefrom, as represented at Figures 12 and 13, and the sliding
catch c and its plate c work in a suitable box, frame, or guide b fixed to the other
door or gate, or to the door jamb or gate post, and is provided with a handle con
one or both sides thereof, and may be provided with rollers co to ease the motion
thereof, as shown, and a spring d (not shown) may, if desired, bo employed to assist
the action thereof.
If desired, a spring or other stud or projection, similar to the bolt c, may be
employed to retain the sliding catch c' in its raised or unlocked position when it is
desired to prevent the action of the lock or fastening for a given time.
In these arrangements of locks or fastenings, the sliding catch c' is lifted in a
vertical direction, and a simple and convenient lock or fastening is obtained.
Having thus described the nature of my said Invention, and the mode in which
I carry the same into effect, I would have it understood that what I claim is, the
peculiar construction and arrangement of the parts of locks or fastenings in which
the sliding catch moves in a vertical direction, in manner substantially as herein
shown and described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Nathan Thompson, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Twenty-second day of February, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and seventy-nine.
NATHAN THOMPSON. (LS)