A Detective Fastening or Method of Fastening for Packing Cases and the like.
Year: 1892

page_text: Date of Application, 14th Jan., 1892-Accepted, 20th Feb., 1892
A Detective Fastening or Method of Fastening for Packing Cases
and the like.
I, THEODOR HOFHERR, of Rathhausmarkt Hamburg in the Empire of Germany
Merchant 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 :-
The purpose of this invention is to provide a convenient and inexpensive fastening
for boxes or cases containing goods for transport, whereby the opening of such
boxes or cases by unauthorized persons may be at once detected.
The improved fastening is intended therefore to prevent robbery from packing
cases etc. during transport or otherwise, by the facility with which the opening of
the case may be afterwards detected. As the case passes from hand to hand during
transport it is only necessary for the receiver to assure himself that the fastenings
hereinafter described are intact.
The fastening consists mainly of a sheet metal cramp the bent up ends of which
are introduced the one into the side of the case the other into the lid or part which
is to be secured to the case after the said lid or part is placed in its closed position.
The nail which secures the lid to the side or the one part to the other is then
driven so as to pass through the wood and also through the two bent ends or
tongues of the clamp lying in the slits in the wood.
It will thus be seen that the lid and side, or any two adjacent parts forming the
case, are secured together not only by the nails but by the metal cramps lying
across the junction lines of the parts, and that these cramps cannot be removed
without removal of the nail, nor can the lid and side or two parts be prized apart
without breaking the cramp. As the nail when well driven in cannot be drawn
out by the head without a disturbance of the wood near the nail head, it cannot be
drawn without subsequent detection.
It will be preferable to stamp the metal cramps with a suitable stamp seal or
device to prevent their replacement by other cramps.
The improved fastening or method of fastening is illustrated in the annexed
drawings in which
Fig. 1 is a side view and Fig. 2 a back view of an unstamped metal cramp.
Fig. 3 is a section and Fig. 4 a front elevation illustrating the fastening of a case
according to this method.
Fig. 5 is a perspective view of the said case with bottom and lid so fastened.
Fig. 6 is a side elevation.
Fig. 7 a broken plan view of a tool for making the slits in the wood to receive
the sheet metal cramp.
A is the cramp used in this invention with the two bent up ends a a¹. The
tool M consists of a suitably shaped handle or body on which the two parallel
blades are fastened, these blades being in size and shape approximately the
same as the ends a a' of the cramp A and placed at the same distance apart on the
handle as the ends a a¹ are on the cramp A. Slits are made by pressing or driving
this tool so that one of the blades enters the side of the case and the other the lid
or the bottom as the case may be. The tool is then removed and the cramp is
inserted with one end a in the one slit and the other end a' in the other slit, the
body of the cramp thus lies across the meeting line of the parts of the case.
nail is then driven as shown in Fig. 3 so as to pierce both the ends a a¹ of
the cramp as ati i Fig. 3. The jagged or roughed edges at ii are pressed down-
wards in the fibre of the wood making it additionally difficult to draw out the
clamp without disfigurement even if the nail n is drawu.
The

page_text: Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what I
claim is :
The fastening, or method of fastening packing cases and the like consisting in,
inserting the ends a a¹ of a sheet metal cramp A into slits in the case made in
position as described and driving the nail n in the manner set forth whereby also
the roughened edges ii at the passage of the nail through the cramp engage in the
wood substantially as specified.
Dated this 14th day of January 189
HERBERT & Co.,
18, Buckingham Street, Strand, London, W.C., Agents to Applicant.