Improvements in Devices for Locking Nuts on Bolts.
Year: 1890

page_text: Date of Application. 25th Nov., 1890-Accepted, 27th Dec., 1890
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
[Communicated from abroad by WALTER MORTON WOTTON, of Dover, in the County
of Norfolk, and State of Massachusetts, United States of America, Shoe Packer.]
Improvements in Devices for Locking Nuts on Bolts.
I, HENRY HARRIS LAKE, of the firm of Haseltine, Lake & Co., Patent Agents,
45 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 the locking of nuts on bolts and comprises a device for
locking a nut which has been screwed into position, and is especially, though not
exclusively adapted for use in connection with nuts applied to bolts which pass through
a railway rail and fish-plates.
In the accompanying drawings, in which similar letters of reference indicate corre-
sponding parts,
Figure 1 is a cross section of a railway rail and fish plates with my device applied
the section being taken on line a, a of Figure 2.
Figure 2 is a horizontal section on line y, y of Figure 1, in which two nuts are
shown, one about to be tightened and locked, and the other already screwed up into
position and locked by my device.
A represents a common railway rail, and B, B the fish-plates. C is an ordinary
bolt and D a nut made in the usual manner.
My improved device consists of a spiral spring made of wire, preferably square in
cross-section, and consisting essentially of a little more than three coils, the central
coil E being smaller in diameter than the outer coils E' E" so that the spring is
practically a double helical spring. The end of the lower coil E' is bent down slightly
at e', say at an angle of forty-five degrees or thereabouts, and is left square or with
sharp edges, being unfinished and not rounded off in any manner, and the end of the
upper coil E is provided with a convolution or inverted V or wave el extending
upward as shown, such wave or inverted V being complete and finished before the
actual end of the wire is reached.
This spring is placed on the bolt C before the nut is applied. When the nut is
screwed onto the end of the bolt the under side of the nut presses against the upper
coil E" and the surface of the fish-plate B is in contact with the under coil E', see
Figure 2. As the nut is screwed up, the bend or convolution e" slips under it at
the corners and over the surface at the facets. As the nut continues to be screwed
on, the central coil disappears within the outer coils, until, when the nut is screwed
fully up, the central coil E is entirely out of sight, the outer coils E¹ E" only
showing and being pressed together; the bend or convolution ell is projecting up
over and next one of the facets of the nut, and the bent end e' is digging into the
surface of the fish-plate, see Figures 2 and 3.
By reason of the shape of the spring, the smaller diameter of the central coil, and
the natural spring in the length of wire comprising the convolution e", this convolution
will continue to dip under the corners of the nut until the upper and lower coils are
jammed tightly against each other at every point, and then its side or flank will hug
one of the facets, as mentioned.
It will readily be seen that in order that the nut may become loosened, the bend ell
must be pushed down under a corner of the nut, or the end e' must be pushed along
the surface of the fish-plate, neither of which is likely to occur, as considerable force
would be required to jam the bend ell under a corner of the nut, and the end e¹ from
the shape of its angle is digging into the very substance of the fish-plate.
I am, of course, aware that a helical spring is not new, the same having been used
in many connections. I am aware also that a spiral spring washer or nut-lock has

page_text: been constructed having bulbous projections at its ends adapted to fit and drop into
correspondingly shaped concave depressions in the nut and lock bar. But it is the
intention in my invention to make no alterations in the nut, rail, bolt, or fish-plate.
Hence, the inner end of my spring is bent slightly and left sharp for the purpose
above named, and the outer end is bent into convolution described.
I am aware, also, that a leaf spring has been interposed between a nut and fish-plate,
said spring consisting of a plate bent into the folds which are perforated to receive
the bolt, and the upper fold being provided with a turned up edge to prevent the nut
from turning.
I do not claim any of the constructions above referred to.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, as communicated to me by
my foreign correspondent I declare that what I claim is
First. The herein described improved nut-lock, comprising a double helical spring
coiled from spring wire and having a lower and upper coil of approximately corre-
sponding diameters and a middle or central connecting coil of less diameter than the
outer coils these coils being formed by continuous convolutions of the wire diminishing
in diameter from each end towards the centre of the spring, whereby when the spring
is set the central connecting coil is closed by the outer operating coils and the two
latter bear closely together, the lower coil having its end turned downwardly and
forming a sharp point which engages and enters the adjoining surface, and the upper
coil having a broad bend or wave, el, at its end portion forming an approximately flat
bearing face which projects over and rests across one of the facets of the nut; substan-
tially as set forth.
Second. As an improvement in nut-locks, the combination, with the bolt and with
the bearing surface B, of the double helical spring coiled from spring wire and having
a lower and upper coil of approximately corresponding diameters and a middle or
central connecting coil of less diameter than the outer coils these coils being formed
by continuous convolutions of the wire diminishing in diameter from each end towards
the centre of the spring, whereby when the spring is set the central connecting coil is
closed by the outer operating coils and the two latter bear closely together, and an
ordinary nut D, the lower coil E¹ of the spring having its end turned downwardly and
forming a sharp point el, engaging the substance of the bearing surface B, and the
upper coil having a broad bend or wave e¹¹, forming a bearing face projecting over
and resting across one of the facets of the nut; substantially as set forth.
Dated this 25th day of November 1890.
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
45, Southampton Buildings, London, Agents for the Applicant.