AN IMPROVED SAFETY Lock
Year: 1861

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Auguste Victor Morel at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 10th
April 1861.
I, AUGUSTE VICTOR MOREL, of Paris, in the French Empire, Engineer, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED SAFETY
Lock," to be as follows:-
This Invention consists in arranging or disposing in the interior of a lock
four or more bolts in addition to one principal bolt, all of which are of
novel construction, and when combined form one bolt. The aforesaid addi-
tional bolts it is proposed to actuate by moveable claws or bits, which are
adjusted on the key as herein-after described. The combination is made
according to the requirements of the aforesaid claws or bits, and in such
manner as that one or other of the principal bolts or tumblers are acted
upon, and allow the closing of the lock. Any person furnished with a similar
key, but who does not understand the arrangement or disposition of the said
claws or bits, could not open the lock.
The following is the order of arrangement of the several parts of this
improved lock. The principal bolt, and four additional bolts or tumblers,
are all formed with projecting studs which operate upon a toothed rack in
gear with a revolving toothed pinion. The teeth are preceded by a notch,
which allows the pinion the facility of turning free of the rack when the bolt is
back or entirely within the lock. The bolts slide, and are guided by means
of a groove formed in the bolts, and iron pins fixed to the case of the lock;

page_text: the said bolts are placed at a distance from each other. The extremity of
the pawls or catches (one to each separate bolt) take into notches formed in
the top edge of each bolt; the lower edge of each pawl is formed of a portion
of a circle, and such part enters between each bolt. The pawls are mounted
on a pivot, and each pawl is pressed down by a spring. The action of
the key effects the disengaging of the bolts from the pawls, the claws or
bits of the key acting on the curved part of the pawls. The key carries
at its extremity a square stem on which is fixed by a screw nut the aforesaid
claws or bits when it is only required to act on some of the additional bolts.
The following is the action of the lock:-Supposing it is required to act by
means of the four claws or bits of the key on the four additional bolts the
claws or bits are then arranged accordingly. The aforesaid claws are each
made with a shoulder, which part acts against the projecting studs of the
principal and additional bolts, whilst the extremities of the claws or bits
passing between each bolt lift the curved part of the pawls and thereby
disengage the ends of said pawls from the notches of the bolts. To open
the lock all the pawls must be simultaneously pushed back by the claws,
for if one of the bolts remains fixed it would prevent the rotation of the
toothed pinion which gears with all the bolts.
When it is required to make any other combination of the claws or bits
of the key this may be effected by removing one or other of the claws or
bits and substituting in place thereof a square washer of the same thickness.
By this Invention it is necessary to know the particular combination chosen
in order to be able to open the lock; I can add to this lock a latch such as
is now used in ordinary locks. I am aware of multiple or combination locks
having heretofore been formed by combining together several distinct and
separate tumblers with the bolt of the lock; I do not therefore claim to
have invented such combination, but I declare this Invention to consist
in the manner in which I construct and operate upon the several parts as
above stated, or any variation or modification thereof.