Improvements in Fastenings for Mail Bags and other Packages or Articles.
Year: 1898

page_text: Date of Application, 27th June, 1898-Accepted, 9th July, 1898
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Fastenings for Mail Bags and other Packages or
Articles.
I, FORBES DE LANCEY HUDSON, of Thursday Island, in the Colony of Queensland,
and at present of 69, Tierney Road, Streatham Hill, London, S.W., Gentleman, do
hereby declare the nature of this invention (a communication to me by Rowland
Henry Easdown, of Mount McDonald, in the Colony of New South Wales, Post-
master), 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 fasteners for securing mail bags and other packages or
articles and consists essentially in means whereby a paper label or seal bearing the
imprint of the official stamp denoting the dispatching office (or any other indication)
may be so applied that it must of necessity be mutilated in order to unlock the
fastener, the label being exposed to view so that its integrity may be readily
ascertained before the fastener is unlocked in the ordinary course.
The invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings
wherein
Figure 1 is a plan view of the lock and
Figure 2 is a longitudinal section the cover plate being thrown open.
Figure 3 is a perspective view, shewing the device sealed up as when in use.
The fastener comprises a strap A designed to be bound around the mouth of the
bag and to be secured by a buckle formed of a metal frame d rivetted by its base or
middle portion to one end of the strap and having side cheeks d' between which a
plate bis pivoted at one end of the said frame at 62, the plate having a rigid tongue
a projecting from its underside and adapted to be passed through one of a series of
holes in the loose end A¹ of the strap. The plate b and tongue a may be thrown
back, as shewn in dotted lines, to admit of the strap end A¹ being drawn through the
frame d as shewn, the point of the tongue when closed down entering a corresponding
hole in the base plate of the frame. Upon the plate bis pivoted at e¹ a locking
disc e having a notch e³ in its edge and two holes e in its face for engagement by a
suitable key. At the end of the frame d opposite to that at which the plate b is
pivoted, a second plate g is pivoted at f between the side cheeks of the frame, this
plate having a circular opening g² slightly less in diameter than the disc e, the plate g
being adapted when closed down over the disc e and plate b to press tightly by the
margin of its opening upon the disc e near its circumference. The plate g is provided
with a spring catch gl adapted when the plate b is closed down to snap
into engage-
ment with the edge of the disc e, the catch g entering a hole b¹ in the plate b. The
plate 9 when closed and locked secures in turn the plate b and so prevents the dis-
engagement of the tongue a from the strap end. The unlocking can only be effected
by turning the disc so as to bring the notch e³ to coincide in position with, and give
passage to, the catch g. A paper label h bearing the imprint of a stamp or seal
being placed over the disc, as shewn in Figure 1, and the plate g closed down the
abel will be tightly clamped between the plate g and the disc e. The disc e being
ntirely covered by the label the holes e² are only accessible by the key and the disc
an only be turned by perforating the label which being tightly clamped between the
ኪ.

page_text: cover 9 and disc e is by the rotation of the latter necessarily torn to such an extent
as to clearly reveal the fact of the lock having been opened.
The invention is not limited to a strap adapted to encircle the mouth of a mail bag
but may be employed to secure a strap end or tab applied in other ways either to
mail bags or to other packages in transit or on deposit for safe custody.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what
I claim is :-
In a fastener for mail bags and other packages or articles the combination with a
buckle formed of a hinged plate carrying a tongue adapted to engage with the end of
the strap to be secured, of a label-holding locking device therefor consisting of a
locking disc pivoted on said plate and of a hinged cover plate provided with a spring
catch adapted to snap into engagement with the disc so as to thereby secure the
tongue plate, the cover plate being apertured and adapted to clamp a paper label
upon the locking disc in such manner as to necessarily be destroyed in the operation
of turning the disc as described.
2. In a fastener for mailbags and other packages or articles the combination of a
locking disc rotatable by means of a key, a hinged apertured plate adapted to be
locked by the disc and to be released therefrom by turning the disc as described, and
of a paper label clamped between the locking disc and the apertured plate so as to
entirely cover the disc, to be visible through the aperture, and to be necessarily
mutilated in the operation of turning the disc as described.
Dated this 97th day of June 1808
A. M. & WM. CLARK,
Chartered Patent Agents, 53, Chancery Lane, London.
A. M. & WM. CLARK,
Chartered Patent Agents, 53, Chancery Lane, London.