IMPROVEMENTS IN IRON SAPES AND STRONG ROOMS
Year: 1865

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Nathaniel Shore, of Lyme Regis, in the
County of Dorset, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN IRON SAPES
AND STRONG ROOMS."
Sealed the 18th August 1865, and dated the 22nd February 1865.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Nathaniel Shore
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 22nd February 1865.
*I, GEORGE NATHANIEL SHORE, of Lyme Regis, in the County of Dorset, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN IRON
SAFES AND STRONG ROOMS," to be as follows:-
rooms.
This Invention has for its object improvements in iron safes and strong
For these purposes, in constructing the framing and door of an iron
safe or strong room, according to this Invention, the angle around the door
frame against which the door usually shuts is filled with hardened bars, by
preference, of tempered steel, and the surfaces of such bars against which the
door shuts are made of a hollow curved form, whilst the edges of the door are
made of a like convex transverse section, so that the edges of the door may
fit correctly to the hardened surfaces against which they come. In order

page_text: that the bolts of the lock of the door of an iron safe or strong room may be
fixed more securely, they are formed with holes through them, and steel rods
or bars are passed from the outside through such holes and in such manner
that each succeeding rod locks or fastens the preceding one by there being
recesses in each bar or rod into which the sides of the next rod or bar passes.
Each rod or bar is formed with a conical end or enlargement which is
hardened, and such enlargement is recessed flush in a hole in the door frame.
When the last of the set of bars or rods has been inserted it is locked by a
small lock provided for the purpose. In order that the lock on the inside of
the door of an iron safe or strong room may be fixed more securely, and that
the screws by which the lock is fixed to the door may not be turned back by
drilling through the door where the ends of the screws come, the ends of the
screws are hardened, and when they have been driven in they are secured
from being turned back by screws passed through the head of the screw in
vertical or inclined directions. In place of hanging the doors of iron safes. and
strong rooms on axes or hinges as heretofore, a sphere of hardened steel, by
preference, is used at the top and bottom of a door, and they enter a semi-
spherical recess formed at the top and bottom of such door. And at the top
and bottom framing of the door a grooved recess is formed of a transverse
section corresponding with the half sphere, which enters such grooves by which
the spherical axes of a door will not only be at liberty to turn in the grooves,
but also to move along them and thus allow the door to turn further back.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said George Nathaniel Shore in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 22nd August 1865.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
NATHANIEL SHORE, of Lyme Regis, in the County of Dorset, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-second day of February, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, in the twenty-eighth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said George Nathaniel Shore, Her special licence that I, the said George
Nathaniel Shore, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as
I, the said George Nathaniel Shore, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all

page_text: 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 "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN IRON SAFES AND STRONG ROомs," upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said George Nathaniel Shore, 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 imme-
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said George Nathaniel Shore, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement thereof, that is to say :-
rooms.
This Invention has for its object improvements in iron safes and strong
For these purposes in constructing the framing and door of an iron
safe or strong room, according to this Invention the angle around the door
frame against which the door usually shuts is filled with hardened bars, by
preference of tempered steel, and the surfaces of such bars against which the
door shuts are made of a hollow curved form, whilst the edges of the door are
made of a like convex transverse section so that the edges of the door may fit
correctly to the hardened surfaces against which they come.
Figure 1 shews a section of part of the side and door of an iron safe
constructed as above described. A is the door, and B a side of the frame of
the safe, against which the door shuts; C is a bar of hardened steel fitted into
the side frame, the surface of this bar against which the door shuts is formed
of a hollow curve and the edge of the door is made of a corresponding curve
as shewn. (The form of curve shewn in the Drawing is such as I prefer, but
this may be greatly varied.) I prefer to employ a hardened bar C passing
around the door frame as above stated, but if desired this bar may be omitted,
the shutting edges of the door being still, however, made of a curved form as
described. In order that the bolts of the lock of the door of an iron safe or
strong room may be fixed more securely, they are formed with holes through
them, and steel rods or bars are passed from the outside through such holes
and in such manner that each succeeding rod locks or fastens the preceding
one by there being recesses in each bar or rod into which the sides of the next
rod or bar passes. Each rod or bar is formed with a conical end or enlarge
ment which is hardened, and such enlargement is recessed flush in a hole in

page_text: the door frame.
When the last of the set of bars or rods has been inserted it
is locked by a small lock provided for the purpose. Figure 2 shews a
perspective view of a safe provided with a series of steel rods to fasten the
main bolts of the door and to fasten each other as above described. The
rods have a portion of their thickness cut away where one interlocks another,
as shewn at Figure 3, in which Figure is shewn at E an elevation of one of
the rods and at F a section of another rod. The rods pass through sockets
or tubes provided in the thickness of the body of the safe and through holes
in the heads of the main bolts in addition to interlocking one another as
described. Their external ends are countersunk into the body of the safe so
as to present a flush surface. The last rod inserted, which may be either one
of the four rods employed has a recess formed in it into which the bolt of a
lock is shot so as to lock this rod. In order that the lock on the inside of the
door of an iron safe or strong room may be fixed more securely, and that the
screws by which the lock is fixed to the door may not be turned back by
drilling through the door where the ends of the screws come, the ends of the
screws are hardened, and when they have been driven in they are secured from
being turned back by screws passed through the head of the screw in vertical
or inclined directions.
At Figure 1 two of the bolts for fixing the lock to the door of a safe are
shewn; the bolt C* is fastened by a small screw or pin passing at right angles
through its head, and the bolt D* by a screw or pin passing through its head
in an inclined direction as shewn, this is to prevent the screw bolts from being
turned round and unscrewed, supposing it to be possible to drill down upon
their points through the face of the door. The points of the screw bolts may
be casehardened to any extent desired. In place of hanging the doors of iron
safes and strong rooms on axes or hinges as heretofore, a sphere of hardened
steel (by preference) is used at the top and bottom of a door, and they enter a
semi-spherical recess formed at the top and bottom of such door, and at the
top and bottom framing of the door a grooved recess is formed of a transverse
section corresponding with the half sphere which enters such grooves, by which
the spherical axes of a door will not only be at liberty to turn in the grooves,
but also to move along them, and thus allow the door to turn further back.
Figure 4 shews the door of a safe mounted in the manner above described;
G, G, are slots semicircular in section made in the top and bottom frame,
H, H, are metal spheres fitted into hemispherical cavities in the top and
bottom edges of the door, the projecting portions of these spheres fit into the
slots made in the frame at top and bottom respectively.

page_text: Figures 5 and 6 indicate the position assumed by the sphere H according
as the door is less or more widely opened, the sphere H being free to traverse
the slots G, G, as required by the action of opening or closing the door.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Nathaniel Shore, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Eighteenth day of August, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five.
GEORGE NATHANIEL SHORE. (L.S.)