A NEW OR IMPROVED DOOR LOCK AND LATCH
Year: 1856

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Rock Day, of Birmingham, in the County of
Warwick, Machinist, for the Invention of "A NEW OR IMPROVED DOOR
LOCK AND LATCH."
Sealed the 25th July 1856, and dated the 2nd February 1856.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Rock Day at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 2nd
February 1856.
I, JOHN ROCK DAY, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Machinist,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "A NEW OR IMPROVED
DOOR LOCK AND LATCH," to be as follows:-
My Invention consists of a door lock and latch which may be placed on the
door without cutting away and weakening the door to the extent which is
necessary with the ordinary lock and latch. The case consists of two plates of
metal fitting on opposite sides of the door and joined together by a plate lying
on the edge of the door. The two parallel plates lying on the opposite faces of
the door are hollow, and contain the mechanism of the lock and latch. The
bolt and works of the lock are contained in the lower part of one of the hollow
sidés of the case; that part of the bolt, however, which is shot from the lock
case and engages in the door frame is situated midway or nearly so between

page_text: the two sides of the case.
The latch is constructed as follows:-I attach a
handle to the case, similar to that used with the ordinary lift latch, that is to
say, a handle consisting of a vertical shaft, connected with the door by a
horizontal piece at top and bottom. In grasping the handle in the hand the
thumb is pressed upon a thumb plate on the top of the handle; this depresses
a rod which passes through the handle, and acts upon a lever which withdraws
the latch; the door may then be opened. On removing the thumb from the
thumb plate, the said thumb plate is raised, and the latch projected by means of
a spring. Instead of the handle described, an ordinary door nob may be used;
the said door nob has no rotatory motion, but has a thumb plate on its top,
which acts in the manner herein-before described.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Rock Day in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
29th July 1856.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
ROCK DAY, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Machinist, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Second day of February, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six, in the nineteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself,. Her heirs and successors,. give and grant unto me, the
said John Rock Day, Her special licence that I, the said Jolin Rock Day,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
John Rock Day, my. executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any
time agree with, and no .others, from time to time and at all times there-
after 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 DOOR LOCK AND LATCH," upon the condition (amongst others) that I,
the said John Rock Day, 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...

page_text: NOW KNOW I, that 1, the said John Rock Day, do hereby declare
the nature of the 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 thereof, that is to say :-
My Invention consists of a door lock and latch, which may be fixed on a door
without cutting away and weakening the door to the extent which is necessary
with the ordinary lock and latch. Figure 1 represents in front elevation, and
Figure 2 in side view, a lock and latch constructed according to my Invention;
Figure 3 represents the interior of the said lock and latch; Figure 4 represents
a section of the same taken through the line a; Figure 2 and Figure 5 repre-
sents a section of the same taken through the line b, Figure 4. The lock case
consists of two parallel plates c and d, which are situated on opposite sides of
the door, and are joined together by a plate e lying on the edge of the door.
The plates c, d, may be joined by a block of wood instead of the plate e. The
plates c, d, and e are hollow, and the hollow plates c, d, contain the mechanism
of the lock and latch. The bolt and the works of the lock are contained in one
of the hollow sides of the case. That part of the bolt, however, both of the
lock bolt and latch bolt which is shot from the lock case and which engages
in the door frame is situated midway or nearly so between the two sides of the
case, the end of the bolt being bent, as represented at f in Figure 4.
:
The construction and mode of working the latch is as follows:-g is a
handle, consisting of a vertical shaft, connected with the door by the hori-
zontal pieces h, i; k is a thumb plate, situated on the top of the rod 1, which
said rod passes down the axis of the handle g. The said rod 7 rests upon the
arm m, and by. grasping the handle g in the hand and pressing upon the knob k
with the thumb, the arm m is depressed and the latch f withdrawn, in the
manner which will be understood by reference to Figure 3. The rod m is
fixed to the slide n, which has a vertical sliding motion. The horizontal part
of the slide-n is jointed at o to the end of the bell crank lever p, or the
horizontal end of the slide n may merely rest upon the end of the horizontal
arm of the bell crank lever p instead of being jointed thereto. The vertical
end of the bell crank lever p engages with the bolt f, as represented at g.
When the knob k, Figures 1 and 2, is pressed downwards, the arm m carries
the slide n downwards, as indicated by the arrow in Figure 3, and the action
of the said slide n upon the .bell crank lever p causes the withdrawal of the
bolt f. When the pressure is removed from the knob k, the several parts are
brought into their original position by the spring r in the cases of the bolt.
Figure 6 represents a front elevation, Figure 7 a side elevation, of the interior

page_text: of a modification of my Invention; and Figure 8 represents a section of the
same taken through the line t, Figure 6. An elevation of the works in the
interior is represented in Figure 9. This modification is applicable to doors
which it is only required to open from one side, such as the doors of railway
carriages. The latch case is on one side of the door only, and the works of
the latch are contained in the said case. The mechanism by which the latch
is withdrawn resembles, in all essential respects, that represented in Figure 3.
The return motion, however, of the bolt u is effected by the spring v, instead
of by the coiled spring 1, Figure 4. The staple in which the bolt u engages is
constructed as represented in Figure 10. The said staple consists of two
sliding pieces w, w, which have motion in a vertical plane. When the door is
closed the narrow face of the bolt u enters the opening a and separates the
slides w, w. When the bolt u has passed the said slides w, w, the said slides
are brought into the position represented by means of springs, one of which is
shown at y. The bolt u is thus engaged behind the slides w, w, and the door
cannot be opened until, by pressing on the knob z, Figures 6 and 7, the bolt u
is withdrawn. Instead of having the bandle of the latch of a cylindrical or
nearly cylindrical figure, the ordinary door knob may be employed, as represented
in Figure 11. By grasping the knob 1, which is incapable of rotatory motion;
and pressing with the thumb on the top of the rod 2, Figure 11, the latch 3
may be withdrawn; the mechanism for effecting the same exactly resembling
that herein-before described with reference to Figures 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8;
and 9. I sometimes modify the action of the latch, Figures 1, 2, and 3, so far
as the arm m is concerned, in the manner illustrated in Figure 12. Instead
of making the arm m and slide n of one piece, I make the arm turn upon a
joint, as represented in the said Figure 12, where the arm 4 is jointed to the
lock case at 5; and the slide piece 6, which acts upon the bell crank lever, is
connected to the arm by a joint at 7. The action of the mechanism repre-
sented in Figure 12 is smoother than that represented by m, n, in Figure 3. .
The lock bolt represented at 8, in Figures 2 and 3, differs only from the
ordinary lock bolt in being contained in the hollow lock case and having the
form represented atf, Figure 6. The latch bolt f, Figures 1, 2, 3 and 4, may be
also be withdrawn by the use of a key, as in latches of the ordinary construc-
tion.
Although I have only represented mechanism for withdrawing the
latch from one side of the door, yet the said latch ƒ may be withdrawn from
either side by enclosing the mechanism represented in Figure 3 in both sides of
the lock case, and connecting it in the manner described, with handles on each
:side of the door.

page_text: 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 details herein described and represented, as the same may
be varied without departing from the nature of my said Invention; but I claim
as my Invention the new or improved lock and latch herein described, and
represented in the accompanying Drawing, that is to say, a door lock and latch,
the mechanism of which is principally contained in the hollow sides of a case
which
passes round the door and requires but a small portion of the said door
to be cut away for its reception.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Rock Day, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-third day of July, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six.
Witness,
GEORGE SHAW.
JOHN ROCK DAY. (L.S.)