IMPROVE- MENTS IN LOCKS
Year: 1875

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Walton, of Birmingham, in the County
of Warwick, Lock Manufacturer, for the Invention of " IMPROVE-
MENTS IN LOCKS."
Sealed the 23rd July 1875, and dated the 26th January 1875.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Walton at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
.26th January 1875.
I, THOMAS WALTON, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Lock
Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
-"IMPROVEMENTS IN LOCKS," to be as follows:-
My Invention consists, first, of the construction and combination of
parts herein-after described of double handed lever locks, that is, locks
suitable for use on doors or other articles opening cither to the right
hand or left hand; but the mechanism constituting this part of my In-
vention may be applied to other lever locks:

page_text: Instead of making the stump which works in the gatings of the levers
of the lock on the lock bolt and operating the said bolt by the direct
action of the key as usual, I place the stump on an oscillating plate and
work the bolt through the motion of the said oscillating plate. The inner
end of the lock bolt is furnished with a forked strap within which the
oscillating plate is situated, the said plate turning on a pin or centre on
the lock case fixed between the branches of the fork. The inner end of
the oscillating plate carrying the stump is recessed or shaped near the
joint pin on which it oscillates for the key to act upon it. On the said
oscillating plate is a short arm having a stud on its under side. This
stud engages with a slot in the forked strap of the bolt. The oscillating
plate is thereby connected to the bolt. When the key is turned to the
right or left it first lifts the levers to the required heights respectively to
permit the stump on the oscillating plate to pass from one set of gatings
in the levers to the other set. The further movement of the key gives
motion to the oscillating plate through a portion of a circle, and the said
oscillating plate by its motion shoots or withdraws the bolt and carries
the stump on it from one set of gatings in the levers to the other set.
The lock plate is provided with a double keyhole in the same line, into
one or other of which keyholes the key is introduced, according as the
lock is used with a right or with a left-handed door or article. Onc
keyhole only is used when the mechanism is applied to ordinary lever

page_text: +
inserted in the strap, and shut down, the bolt passes under the heel of the
said tongue and prevents the raising of the said tongue and the
unfastening of the strap. By withdrawing the bolt from under the heel
of the tongue by the action of the key the tongue is released and may
be turned on its joint for unfastening the strap. The advance of the
bolt of the lock to engage it under the heel of the tongue may be effected
by a spring, and its withdrawal by the key.
Instead of fastening the heel of the tongue of the buckle lock by the
lock bolt the point of the tongue may be fastened by the lock bolt. In
this arrangement the tongue is jointed to the end bar of the buckle
frame, and when the tongue is turned down its point end takes into a
slot in the lock case, the lock bolt being shot over the said point end of
the tongue to fasten tho said tongue.
The mechanism of the double handed lever lock herein-before
described may be applied to the buckle locks, but I do not limit myself
to any particular arrangenient for working the bolts of the said buckle
locks.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Thomas Walton in the Great Scal Patent Office
on the 23rd July 1875.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
WALTON, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Lock Manu-
facturer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-sixth day of January, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five, in the
thirty-eighth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Thomas Walton, Her special license
that I, the said Thomas Walton, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said Thomas Walton, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, 'should at any time agree with, and no
others, from time to time and at all times thereafter during the term
therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and

page_text: vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, tho
Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
Locks," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Thomas
Walton, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing
under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should particularly
describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same was to be performed, and cause the same to be filed
in the Great Seal Patent Office within six calendar months next and
_ immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Thomas Walton, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement thereof, that is to say :-
:
My Invention consists, first, of the construction and combination of
parts herein-after described of double handed lever locks, that is, locks
suitable for use on doors or other articles opening to the right hand or
left hand; but the mechanism constituting this part of my Invention
may be applied to other lever locks.
Instead of making the stump which works in the gatings of the levers
of the lock on the lock bolt and operating the bolt by the direct action 2
of the key as usual, I place the stump on an oscillating plate and work
the bolt through the motion of the said oscillating plate. The inner end
of the lock bolt is furnished with a forked strap within which the
oscillating plate is situated, the said plate turning on a pin or centre on
the lock case. The inner end of the oscillating plate carrying the stump 2
is recessed or shaped near the joint pin on which it oscillates for the key
to act upon it. On the said oscillating plate is a short arm. having a
stud on its under side. This stud engages with a slot in the forked
strap of the bolt. The oscillating plate is thereby connected to the bolt.
When the key is turned to the right or left it first lifts the levers to the 3
required heights respectively to permit the stump on the oscillating
plate to pass from one set of gatings in the levers to the other set. The
further movement of the key gives motion to the oscillating plate
through a portion of a circle, and the said oscillating plate by its motion
shoots or withdraws the bolt and carries the stump on it from one set of 3
gatings in the levers to the other set. The lock plate is provided with a
.

page_text: double keyhole in the same line, into one or other of which keyholes the
key is introduced according as the lock is used with a right or with
a left-handed door or article. One keyhole only is used when the
mechanism is applied to ordinary lever locks.
Figure 1 of the accompanying Drawings represents in elevation with
the front plate removed a double handed lever lock provided with
mechanism constructed according to my Invention, the lock bolt being
represented in its withdrawn position.
Figure 2 represents the said lock, Figure 1, with the lock bolt in its
shot position, the levers being removed for the purpose of exhibiting the
construction of the oscillating plate.
Figure 3 represents in side elevation, partly in section, the oscillating
plate and lock bolt detached, and exhibits the manner in which the
oscillating plate is connected with the lock bolt.
The same letters indicate the same parts in Figures 1, 2, and 3.
a, a, are the levers of the lock, pressed into their normal positions by
springs as usual. The said levers turn on the pin or centre 6, upon
which pin or centre the forked strap c² of the lock bolt c works, the said
pin guiding the said bolt in its motion. d is the oscillating plate,
turning on the centre d³, and having a short arm d, on the under side
of which arm is a stud d', which stud d' engages with a slot c³ in the
forked strap c² of the bolt c. By means of the stud and arm d³, d', and
slot es the oscillating plate d is connected to the bolt, as best scen in
Figure 3. On the said oscillating plate d is a stump e which works in
the gatings f-g, of the levers a. The said oscillating plate d is recessed
at d, near the joint pin d², on which it turns for the key to act upon it.
h, i, is the double keyhole in, the lock plate, the said double keyhole
being situated in the same line, the hole in the middle of the parts h, i,
in which the stem of the key works, being common to both the said
parts h, i, as represented. Into one or other of these keyholes h, i, the
key is introduced, according as the lock is used with a right or with a
left-handed door. When the key is introduced into the part i of the
double keyhole, and turned for shooting the bolt, the said key first lifts
the levers a, a, the required heights respectively to bring the cross
gating of the two sets of gatings f, g, opposite the stump e on the

page_text: g
oscillating plate d. The further motion of the key causes its bit to act
upon the cut away part d³ of the oscillating plate d, and give motion to
the said plate through a portion of a circle. By this motion of the said
plate it acts through the arm d³ and stud d' upon the slot c³ of the
bolt c and shoots the said bolt, as represented in Figure 2, the stump e
as the oscillating plate makes its movement being carried from the set
of gatings to the set of gatings 9 in the levers. By reversing the
motion of the key the levers à are first raised, and the oscillating plate d
afterwards moved upon its centre, so as to bring it from the position
Figure 2 to the position Figure 1, and in taking this last position it
withdraws the lock bolt. When the lock is used in an inverted position
on a door, for reversing the direction of the bevil of the latch the part h
of the double keyhole is situated lowest, and the key is introduced into
the said part and turned, so as to act upon the levers and subsequently
upon the oscillating plate, as before described.
Figures 4 and 5 represent a modification of the lock last described,
Figure 4 representing the bolt withdrawn, and Figure 5 the bolt shot.
In this modification the positions of the levers and oscillating plate and
the gatings and stump are reversed, that is, the upper lever a, when two
or more levers are used, carries the stump e, and the oscillating plate d
is furnished with the gatings f, g. The oscillating plate d is above the
lever or levers. The centre of the lever (or levers) is marked b, and the
arm and stud which connect the oscillating plate d with the forked or
strap part c² of the lock bolt c are marked d³, d.. The slot in the forked
part of the lock bolt in which the stud d' works is marked c³. When
the key is introduced into the lock and turned it first lifts the lever (or
levers) so as to bring the stump e opposite the cross gating between the
two sets of gatings f, g, of the oscillating plate d. The further move-
ment of the key gives motion through part of a circle to the oscillating
plate d and thereby changes the positions of the gatings f, g, with
respect to the stump e, as represented, and at the same time shoots or
withdraws the lock bolt.
By an examination of Figures 4 and 5 the relative positions of the
several parts when the bolt is withdrawn and shot will be readily

page_text: may be applied to lever locks having a single key-hole, as in ordinary
lever locks.
My Invention consists further of the following improvements in
buckle locks, that is, locks which are combined with buckles for the
purpose of locking the tongue of the buckle after it has been passed into
a hole in the strap. The said buckle locks are fitted for fastening the
straps of portmanteaus, bags, and straps generally.
In constructing buckle locks according to my Invention I arrange the
lock mechanism in the middle of the frame of the buckle, and on one
side of the case of the lock snugs or eyes are made to which the tongue
of the buckle is jointed by a pin passed through the eye of the tongue
and the said snugs or eyes. The heel of the tongue projects through a
slot in the lock case, and when the said tongue is raised its heel passes
into the lock case through the said slot. When the bolt of the lock is
shot by the key after the tongue of the buckle has been inserted in the
strap and shut down, the bolt passes under the heel of the said tongue
and prevents the raising of the said tongue and the unfastening of the
strap. By withdrawing the bolt from under the heel of the tongue
by the action of the key the tongue is released and may be turned on its
joint for unfastening the strap. The advance of the bolt of the lock to
engage it under the heel of the tongue may be effected by a spring and
its withdrawal by the key.
Instead of fastening the heel of the tongue of the buckle lock by the
lock bolt, the point of the tongue may be fastened by the lock bolt. In
this arrangement the tongue is jointed to the end bar of the buckle
frame, and when the tongue is turned down its point takes into a slot in
the lock case, the lock bolt being shot over the said point end to fasten
the said tongue.
Figures 6 and 7 represent elevations (the lock plate being removed)
of a buckle lock constructed according to my Invention, Figure 6
representing the. bolt withdrawn, and Figure 7 the bolt shot; Figure 8
is a longitudinal section of Figure 7; Figure 9 is a modification of the
same. i is the bolt of the lock, and k. are the levers, the lock case n
being arranged in the middle of the frame of the buckle; \ is the
tongue of the buckle jointed by a pin passed through the eye of the said
tongue, and through the snugs or eyes m on the lock case n. The

page_text: heel of the buckle tongue passes through a slot in the lock case, and
when the tongue is raised as represented in Figure 6 and indicated in
dotted lines in Figure 8 the heel bears against the bottom of the lock
case. After the tongue of the buckle has been inserted in the strap.
and shut down, as represented in Figure 7, the bolt i is shot by the key
in the ordinary way. On the said bolt i is a projection ², which when
the said bolt is shot passes under the heel and prevents the raising of
the tongue and the unfastening of the strap. On withdrawing the
bolt the heel 2 is released and may be raised on its joint for unfastening
the strap:
Figure 9 represents the arrangement in which the point end of the
tongue of the buckle is fastened down instead of the heel end. In this
arrangement the bolt i is cranked at ³, and when the bolt is shot the
cranked part slides over the point end of the tongue and holds the said
tongue down. The tongue in this case is jointed to the end bar p of the
buckle frame instead of to the lock case n.
The mechanism of the lever locks represented in Figures 1, 2, 3, 4,
and 5 may be applied to the buckle locks, but I do not limit myself to
any particular arrangement for working the bolts of the said buckle
locks.
Having now described the nature of my Invention and the manner in
which the same is to be performed, I wish it to be understood that I do
not limit myself to the precise details herein described and illustrated
as the same may be varied without departing from the nature of my
Invention, but I claim as my Invention,―
First. The improvements in lever locks herein-before described and
illustrated in Figures 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 of the accompanying Drawings,
that is to say, working the lock bolt of the said lever locks by means of
an oscillating plate connected with the said bolt and acted upon by the
key, the said oscillating plate being constructed and combined with the
levers and other parts of the lock, and acting substantially as described
and illustrated; also the combination with the said lock mechanism of a
double keyhole so as to convert the lever lock into a double-handed lever
lock, substantially as described and illustrated.
Secondly. The improvements in buckle locks herein-before described
and illustrated in Figures 6, 7, 8, and 9 of the accompanying Drawings,

page_text: that is to say, the construction and arrangements of the tongues of the
buckle frames of the said locks and the combinations of parts for
fastening down the said tongues, substantially as described and
illustrated.
In witness whercof, I, the said Thomas Walton, have hereunto set
my hand and scal, this Seventeenth day of July, in the of
year
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five.
'
.
Witness,
RICHARD SKERRETT,
Clerk to George Shaw,
Birmingham.
THOMAS WALTON. (L.S.)