CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE FASTENINGS TO BE EMPLOYED IN METALLIC SAFES OR OTHER SIMILAR DEPOSITORIES
Year: 1865

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Milner, of the Phoenix Safe Works, in
Liverpool, in the County of Lancaster, and Daniel Rowlinson Ratcliff,
of the same Place, for the Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN
THE FASTENINGS TO BE EMPLOYED IN METALLIC SAFES OR OTHER SIMILAR
DEPOSITORIES."
Sealed the 30th May 1865, and dated the 31st March 1865.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Milner and
Daniel Rowlinson Ratcliff at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,
with their Petition, on the 31st March 1865.
We, WILLIAM MILNER, of the Phoenix Safe Works, in Liverpool, in the
County of Lancaster, and DANIEL ROWLINSON RATCLIFF, of the same Place,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS
IN THE FASTENINGS TO BE EMPLOYED IN METALLIC SAFES OR OTHER SIMILAR DEPO-
SITORIES," to be as follows:-
Our Invention is designed to effect a strong and secure fastening between
the door of the safe and the sides, top, and,bottom thereof, into which the
door closes, and so to bind them together as to prevent the sides, being forced

page_text: .
.
outwards from the door by wedges or other means, and also to render certain
fastenings already applied to safes more efficient and better calculated to
resist violence. The improvements consist, first, in the application and use of
angled bars or pieces which may be made of iron or other strong metal, and
either separate and in the form of angled or hooked bars, or in a continuous
length encompassing the interior of the safe, and if the former they may
either be secured on to the inside of the door, and project between the lock
bolts and fit into apertures in the side of the safe, or vice versâ, or if used in
continuous lengths, and formed of "angle iron" it may be secured to the door
so that the projecting rib or edge of the angle iron may enter a groove or
channel in the side of the safe, or lap over another angle iron secured to the
inside of the sides of the safe. Also for the same purpose rods or bars having
dovetail or T-heads may be secured to the door to enter openings of corre-
sponding shape in the sides of the safe, and the "dogs" now used near the
hinges may be made curved to enter curved apertures as additional prevention,
and the door itself may be made slightly taper, that is, narrower at the
hinge side than at the opening side, and the inside surfaces of the top and
bottom made parallel with such taper form, so that in endeavouring to force
the side opposite the hinges laterally from the door, the sides and door them-
selves form a resistance by their wedge-like form; the feature of this first
part of the Invention being the application of ribs, bars, hooks, or similar
bracketing or holding instruments to bind the sides and the door (when
closed) together, so as to prevent the sides being parted from the door by lateral
pressure.
The second part of the Invention relates to safes having "double doors," in
which the vertical bolts of one door enter and lock into the top and bottom
of the safe, and the locking bolts of the other door enter apertures in the
aforesaid or opposite door, and this part of the Invention consists in locking
such horizontal bolts in the apertures to prevent them being withdrawn by
leverage or violence; this may be effected by attaching to the vertical bolts
angled projections which enter slots formed in the horizontal bolts at the same
time that the vertical bolts enter the top and bottom of the safe (which is
effected by the door handle) the whole may be secured in such position by
turning the key of the small lock which interposes its bolt between the two
vertical bolts, and prevents the opening of the door until it is removed, or the
same object may be effected by means of a sliding bar actuated by the door
handle, and having projections which would enter the aforesaid aperture in
the horizontal bolts, the key locking the small lock bolt into such bar to prevent
its withdrawal.

page_text: Thirdly, our Invention consists in the application and use of an additional
length of angle iron secured to the inside of the door plate, and bolted to the
sides or edges of the lock plate, which forms an additional fastening and
assistant to the single rib or length of angle iron now used to encompass and
secure the lock plate, the said additional portion being placed in reverse
positions to that now used.