Year: 1888

page_text: Date of Application, 23rd Jan., 1888
Complete Specification Left, 23rd Oct., 1888
Complete Specification Accepted, 23rd Jan., 1889
I, HENRY HARRIS LAKE, of the firm of Haseltine, Lake & Co., Patent Agents,
Southampton Buildings, in the County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of
this invention to be as follows:-
In combination locks as heretofore constructed, the displacing of one or more turning
discs onto definite figures, opens the said locks and, by turning the said discs the said
locks are again closed.
These locks however have this disadvantage that the position of the figures may be
easily observed by a third person. The object of this invention is to provide a
lock in which the respective safety parts are not arranged outside and will not
therefore admit of being displaced by hand. The said parts are located in the interior
of the lock and are put in the desired position by several systematic to-and-fro motions
of the key or turning handle.
In carrying the said invention into practice the safety slides have notches of different
depths for a bar, which turns with the turning hand or key.
By turning this handle to-and-fro, the slides are seized in succession and
brought to such a position that the bar can enter the slits, in which case the
lock opens.
In the locking, all the parts drop again to the original position.
Instead of the slides moving rectilinearly, they can also be arranged to move in a
rotary direction.
1 1
1000
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
45, Southampton Buildings, London, W.C.,
Agents for the Applicant.

page_text: Improvements relating to Permutation Locks.
I, HENRY HARRIS LAKE, of the firm of Haseltine, Lake & Co., Patent Agents,
Southampton Buildings, in the County of Middlesex, 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 :-
This invention relates to so-called permutation-locks, that is to say, locks in which,
by the setting or adjustment of one or more parts or pieces to definite positions, the
operation of the lock can be permitted or prevented.
These locks have generally been used as an addition to ordinary locks or bolts or to
the key-holes of such locks for further safety, but have also been employed separately.
In the former case the bolts, after the permutation-lock has first been properly set to
produce a definite arrangement of letters or figures are pushed back or withdrawn by
means of a key or a knob or handle.
The idea of using locks which must be opened by the setting of definite figures or
letters instead of using a key is excellent; but the usefulness or the general employ-
ment of such locks has heretofore been precluded by the fact that the owners of these
locks generally forget, after opening the door, to at once turn the safety parts
again. These parts will therefore remain open and can be seen by servants or others.
In consequence of this forgetfulness, the owner for example of a safe in an office,
who cannot always be thinking of his lock, feels obliged to change the required
arrangement of the letters or figures in his permutation-lock so often that he finally
prefers to leave it unused and merely secures the door of his safe through the medium
of the ordinary key-lock.
To obviate this defect, the Americans have constructed permutation-locks in which
all the safety parts are set by means of only one turning disc which has to be placed
in various positions to adjust the different parts, and, when this is forgotten, only one,
namely the figure last set, can be seen. But the lock thus constructed is very
complicated and costly and its manipulation difficult.
By the construction hereinafter described, I have succeeded in producing an improved
permutation-lock which, besides being extremely simple in its parts, is free from the
above mentioned defects.
In the accompanying drawing
Figure 1 is a side elevation of my improved apparatus, the parts being shewn in the
locked position.
Figure 2 is a similar view, the parts being shewn in the unlocked position.
Figure 3 is a similar view to Figure 1, some of the parts being removed.
Figure 4 shows a side elevation and an edge view of one of the slides hereinafter
described.
Figure 5 is a transverse section on the line a, a, Figure 1.
a,
b are two guide-pins or studs on which are loosely fitted one or more notched
slides or safety pieces c formed with elongated slots c¹ and so arranged that they can

page_text: be moved upward on the said pins or studs!as hereinafter described, and, when
released, will fall or descend by their own weight. The guide-pin b is not placed
perpendicularly beneath the guide-pin a but on one side thereof, and the said guide-
pin is flattened or cut away on one side as shown; therefore the said slides,
unless restrained, will drop or turn upon or about the guide-pin a from the
position shown in Figure 1 until they rest against the flattened side of the
guide-pin b.
d is a setting and locking lever which is provided with a fulcrum-pin e whereby it
is pivoted to the main plate of the lock.
This lever is formed with a curved tooth or projection f which is concentric with
the fulcrum-pin e of the said lever, and which is adapted to enter correspondingly
shaped notches c² in the slides c when these slides are properly set or adjusted as
hereinafter specified. The said lever is, moreover, formed with an arm g arranged
to act upon shoulders or projections h on the slides c for the purpose of setting or
adjusting the said slides, and with an arm j for releasing the said slides as hereinafter
explained.
Levers are pivoted at k¹ and are acted upon by springs whereby their free ends
are pressed against the slides e so that the latter are held in the position shown
in Figure 1. The said levers are, moreover, adapted to engage with teeth con
the said slides c. There are as many of these levers as there are of the slides c.
Each of the said levers k is formed with an arm m for the purpose hereinafter
specified.
The lever d is, in some instances, firmly connected with bolt-mechanism attached
to a door and arranged to be operated by means of a knob or handle to
open and close the said door, the rod or stem n of the said knob or handle being fitted
into or through the hole e' in the fulcrum-pin e of the said lever. The movement of
the door-bolts by the knob will then be dependent upon that of the locking lever d.
In the attempt to turn the said knob to the right to withdraw the said bolts, the pro-
jection of the lever d will strike against the slides c, and the complete withdrawal
of the door-bolts will thus be prevented. To permit the opening of the door, the
slides c must be set or adjusted so that the projection ƒ can enter their notches c² and
the bolts be drawn back." When the sides are in the position represented in Figure 1
the shoulders are arranged one above the other as shown. Now to bring the
notches into the proper position, the said knob and the locking lever d must be
turned in the direction of the arrow until the arm g of the said locking lever dis
brought below that shoulder which is highest, when the said shoulder will, by
reason of the spring lever k pass over the end of the arm g as shown in Figure 1.
The locking lever is then turned in the opposite direction to raise the slide c sufficiently
to bring its slot c² opposite the projection f.
When the slide is raised and as soon as the shoulder of the slide c is released
by the receding motion of the arm g the said slide turns upon or about the-guide-*
pin a by its own weight so that it will not interfere with the raising of the other
slides.
The corresponding lever will then engage with one of the teeth of the said
slide and prevent the falling of the latter.
To bring the notch c² of another slide e, opposite the projection f and into
coincidence with the notch of the slide already set, the said knob and the locking-lever
are turned in the direction of the arrow in Fig. 1 until the arm g engages with the
shoulder of the second slide, which is raised by again turning the said knob and
lever in the opposite direction as above described. The remaining slides c are set or
adjusted in like manner.
It will be readily understood that each of the slides c must be raised to a greater
or less extent according to the position of the notch c² in the said slide, in order
to bring the said notch into the proper position for the projection f to enter the
The several slides are held in position by the engagement of the levers k with
their teeth.
Each slide has ten teeth with which the detent lever k can engage, and I provid
same.

page_text: series of interchangeable slides having the notches c2 in ten different positions in
respect of their height or distance from the top of the slide. The slides of each
series are numbered from 1 to 10 in each case according to the higher or lower position
of their notches. To enable the lock to be opened from the outside, the owner either
sets a hand or pointer provided on the knob and arranged to indicate upon a dial
having figures corresponding with the teeth of the slides from 1 to 10, or he sets
each slide to the required position by turning the said knob and counting the number
of times the lever k falls between the teeth of the slide, which is audible outside, until
all the slides are placed in the open position, or the position in which the projection f
can enter their notches c².
In respect of preventing the opening of the lock by a person who has obtained a
knowledge of the secret, the simple construction and arrangement of the slides c
affords the advantage that the owner may receive with the permutation-lock a number
of reserve slides, one or more of which he can substitute for those in the lock to
change the relative position of the slides necessary to permit the entrance of the
projection into their notches, that is to say, he need only remove one or more of
the old slides from the lock and put in others in their stead, whereby the secret is
changed.
As shown in Figure 1, it is not possible, when the slides are closed, to move the
bolt o back to the perfectly unlocked position, because the locking-lever d does not
permit this movement. If, therefore, the latter is put in firm connection with the
source of, or motive power for, the movement of a lock of any kind, whether such
movement be effected by means of a key or a knob, the unlocking or turning of the
bolts or key-mechanism can only be effected, according to the number of the slides,
in several to-and-fro movements to definite numbers or figures on the dial.
After the setting of the slides to the proper position, a further turning motion to
the right must take place in order to completely unlock the door, every trace of the
previous setting of the slides, even of the last one adjusted, is thus without any
special manipulation by the owner, rendered invisible outside on the dial-plate. By
the simple locking of the door through the medium of the knob, or, when keys are
used, by the turning of the key and the withdrawal thereof from the lock, the locking-
lever d is placed in the position shown by dotted lines in Figure 2, the levers k are
thus moved by the arm j of the said lever d into the position indicated in this Figure,
thereby releasing all the slides c, so that they will drop back to their original or closed
position. In this perfectly locked position, the bolts remain until the opening play is
again set free by the use of the key proper given with it. The locking or closing of
the permutation device is, therefore, automatic as it were, and is effected without
other aid on the part of the owner than the turning of the knob or key to lock
the door.
As further advantages of these improved permutation-locks may be mentioned the
following, viz-Whether the locking is used for arresting the movement of the key,
ward, or knob a special opening in the door for the permutation lock-work is not
necessary. All the safety parts to be set are out of reach of injury or removal by
force, that is to say, they are on the inside behind the door. No dial-plate or hand
need be employed as only three or four of the figures 1 to 10 need be counted. The
dangerous practice which can be resorted to in other permutation-locks for effecting
the opening, viz:-by pressing with the key or knob the detent against the cor-
responding permutation-part, and simultaneously trying to feel the proper position by
turning these parts by hand, is rendered impossible because these permutation safety
parts can, in my arrangement, only be moved by the knob itself or by the key of a
lock, so that no other movement is possible and the pressing against safety parts and
the movement of the same necessitate two different conditions and are impossible
from the same point of movement.
When looking at the lock from the outside, nothing at all indicates that a
permutation exists, therefore nothing can be disarranged or destroyed. For disengaging
and setting the permutation parts, the key given with the lock is always necessary,
which obviates the danger of unauthorized persons availing themselves of the

page_text: opportunity to gradually find out the permutation of the lock by regularly running
through the same from time to time. The running through of the permutation is
very difficulty, inasmuch as, after every trial of a disarrangement or after committing
one mistake, all the parts will invariably fall down to the locked position, so that
single parts cannot be systematically tried and caused to remain in position by
themselves, and the permutation run through with others. All the advantages and
the peculiar novelty of this permutation-lock can be stated as one feature, viz :-
that, in this arrangement, there is no extra setting or turning by hand required as
heretofore to affect the adjustment of the permutation locking parts, which could thus
be effected independently of the other movements of the lock, but such adjustment is
effected in these movements with the ordinary key, knob or turning handle.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of this inven-
tion and in what manner the same, is to be performed as communicated to me
by my foreign correspondent I wish it understood that I claim :-
First A permutation-lock wherein notched slides are arranged to be adjusted by
the turning of a lever alternately in either direction to bring their notches into
coincidence with each other, for the purpose above specified.
Second-A permutation-lock for use with an ordinary lock or with bolts operated
by a key, knob or the like, and in which the parts are so constructed and arranged
that the adjustment thereof to permit the operation of the said lock or bolts must
be effected by means of the said key, knob or the like, as above specified..
Third-
-A lock wherein the lever for moving or releasing the locking bolt is
provided with a tooth or projection and with an arm and is combined with notched
slides arranged to be moved by the said arm to bring their notches into position to
admit the said tooth or projection, and with a detent adapted to engage with teeth on
the said slides, for the purposes above specified.
Fourth-A lock having a series or group of notched slides formed with straight or
curved slots and arranged on two pins or studs extending into or through the said
slots in such a manner that they are capable of turning upon or about one of the said
studs and will have their movement arrested by the other stud, and are capable of
longitudinal movement to bring their notches into position to admit a tooth or
projection on a locking lever, substantially as, and for the purposes, set forth.
Fifth The improved permutation-lock comprising the toothed notched slides
having the shoulders or projections, the locking lever formed with the arms g, i,
and the detent-lever provided with the arm m substantially as, and for the purposes,
set forth.
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
-45, Southampton Buildings, London,
Agents for the Applicant.