CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF LOCKS
Year: 1839

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
CHARLES SCHWIESO, of Albany Street, Regent's Park, in the County of
Middlesex, Harp Maker, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date
at Westminster, the Twentieth day of July, in the third year of Her reign,
did give and grant unto me, the said John Charles Schwieso, my exors;
admňors, and assigns, Her especial licence, full power, sole privilege and
authority, that I, the said John Charles Schwieso, my exors, admors,
and assigns, and such others as I, the said John Charles Schwieso, my exors,
admors, or assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time
to time and at all times thereafter during the term of years therein mentioned;
should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England,
Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon Tweed, my Invention of "CERTAIN
IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF LOCKS;" in which said Letters
Patent is contained a proviso that I, the said John Charles Schwieso,
shall cause a particular description of the nature of my said Invention, and.
in what manner the same is to be performed, by an instrument in writing.
under my hand and seal, to be inrolled in Her Majesty's High Court of.
Chancery within six calendar months next and immediately after the date
of the said in part recited Letters Patent, as upon reference thereto will
more fully appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
John Charles Schwieso, do hereby declare that the nature of my Invention,
consists in improvements in the construction and arrangement of certain parts
of locks; that these improvements are applicable to and claimed for door and
cabinet locks generally, but that my chief object in their design is to apply
them to pianofortes, organs, boxes, chests, desks, instrument cases, and all
similar locks that have heretofore been provided with projection links or
staples fixed to the lids or covers. In locks of the latter kind it will be
observed that when the lid or cover is shut down the bolt is shot by the
agency of the key through the link or staple in a horizontal direction; but in
my Invention there are these marked distinctions:-
:-My striking plate has no
projecting link or staple, but merely a rectangular aperture, through which the
bolt is shot in a vertical direction (the same as in a common drawer lock); and
to prevent the lid from being raised or opened, as soon as the bolt is shot there
is projected from one or both sides of the same, and beyond the striking plate,
a wing or catch which effectually holds it down, and which requires the instru-
mentality of the key to release. From this explanatory outline of the peculiar
characteristics of my Invention, it may be readily conceived that the details
of construction may be considerably modified without departing from the
principle of the same; all such modifications I consequently regard as apper-
taining to my Invention, and they are hereby claimed by me under my afore-
said Letters Patent. Without limiting myself, therefore, to any particular
modification of parts, I now proceed (in further "compliance with the aforesaid
proviso) to describe, with reference to the annexed Drawings, all the details
of one modification which I have found to be effectual in practice, and from
which example any competent mechanic will know how to modify the parts
according to varying circumstances, when such occur.
Figure 1 on the annexed Drawings represents a front view of one of my
improved locks in an unlocked state; Figure 2 is a plan of the top of the
same showing the bolt a; Figure 3 represents a brass striking plate, 6 being
the aperture into which the bolt a is shot; Figure 4 is a sectional edge view of
Figure 3; Figure 5 exhibits the lock (Figure 2) with the bolt a shot, from
which are thrown out the two wings c, c, after the same have proceeded
through the aperture 6 of the plate, Figure 3. This plate is also shewn in
Figure 6 shows a plan of
red lines in Figure 5 for more certain illustration.
the top side of Figure 5, as indicated by the letters of reference; Figure 7
represents the key, which is drawn as of a very common construction, but
in lieu of this and the corresponding mechanism of the lock it is intended to
introduce such superior systems of wards, tumblers, and other securities as

page_text: 5
may be required. Figures 8, 9, and 10 show the interior of the lock in the
several positions of unlocked, half shot, and locked; in these views the front
plates of the lock and of the bolt are supposed to be removed. Figure 11
shows the bolt a separately without the wings c, c. Figure 12 shows that the
bolt is hollow to contain the wings which turn upon axis at d, d. Figure 13
shews the two wings in their places when locked; and Figure 14, an edge view.
of the same. Figure 15 shows the form (in plan) of the spring tumbler;
and Figure 16 is the same in perspective to show its varied breadth, and the
manner of working out the stub e, which goes into the notches of the bolt.
Figure 17 is the back plate of the lock, and the stubs, &c., rivetted thereto; and
Figure 18 is the inside of the front plate. The action of the lock will now be
readily understood by reference to Figures 8, 9, 10. In Figure 8, the key 7
may be supposed to be ready to commence shooting the bolt; to effect this it
must first press back the spring tumbler 15, which taking the stud E out of the
upper notch f, allows the key to slide the bolt forward; by this action the tails
or levers g, g, of the wings c, c, come into contact with the under side of the
plate h, which turns them downward and causes the wings c, c, to be turned
out of their recesses as exhibited in Figure 9, where the bolt is shewn as
half shot, owing to the position of the key 7; and when the action is continued,
and the bolt fully shot out, as in Figure 10, the wings are fully extended, and
the stud e being then lodged in the notch i of the bolt keeps it fast in its
place. On reversing the action to unlock it, the underside edges of the
wings c, c, are pressed against the bevelled edges of the brass striking plate,
which causes the wings again to retire into the recesses of the bolt, and
enables it to pass through the rectangular aperture without obstruction.
In the arrangement of the parts of the lock drawn it will of course act both
as a chest and a drawer lock, and were the key-hole to he cut at right angles
to the present one, as expressed by red lines at k, Figure 1, it would serve as
a cupboard lock by turning the plate h into a vertical position. The Drawing
also shews the lock adapted to a mortise case, but this, it will be noticed, may
be readily substituted by a plate to fix the work against as in common chest or
drawer locks.
In witness that this is a true Specification of my aforesaid Invention, I
have hereunto set my hand and seal, this Fourteenth day of August, in
the vear One thousand eight hundred and thirty-nine.
JOHN CHARLES (L.s.) SCHWIESO.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Fourteenth day of August,
in the year of our Lord. 1839, the aforesaid John Charles Schwieso came
before our said Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the
Specification aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and specified,
in form above written. And also the. Specification aforesaid' was stamped
according to the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Inrolled the Sixteenth day of January, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and forty.