IMPROVEMENTS IN IRON SAFES AND STRONG ROOMS
Year: 1866

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Chubb, of St. Paul's Churchyard, in the
City of London, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN IRON SAFES
AND STRONG ROOMS."
Sealed the 28th August 1866, and dated the 6th March 1866.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Chubb at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
6th March 1866.
I, JOHN CHUBB, of St. Paul's Churchyard, in the City of London, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
IRON SAFES AND STRONG ROOMS," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in iron safes and strong
For these purposes in order to give greater strength to the
framing which surrounds the door of an iron safe or strong room, and also
for preventing the sides of an iron frame giving way if wedges or other
instruments are forced in between the door and the frame, a tie bar or
bars is or are used across the doorway internal of the safe or strong room,
by which the sides are tied to each other. These tie bars may in some
cases be fixed to the two sides of the safe or frame of the door, but
generally they will be moveable, in which cases the ends of the tie bars
are formed with dovetails or enlargements which fit into corresponding
recesses at the sides of the frame of the door, and are retained in position

page_text: at the back of the door when it is closed.
When the doors and sides, the
tops and bottoms and backs of iron safes are each made of two or more
plates, one being of hard steel; these plates are fixed together by screws,
the heads of which are on the inner surfaces, and the screws only enter
into but do not come through to the outer surfaces. In fixing the backs
of iron safes rivets of a peculiar form are used, each consisting of a stem
with two heads or enlarged ends, one of these heads or enlarged ends of
each rivet is rivetted or upset into the back of the safe in a countersunk
recess formed to the outer end of each hole through the back of the safe,
and the stems of these rivets are received into slits in angle iron fixed on
the interior of the safe, and the other heads of these stems come beyond
the angle iron, by these means the back of an iron safe will be more
securely fixed and held than heretofore. In order to obtain greater
security to that edge of the door of an iron safe where the hinges or axes
are situated, the axes on which the door opens and the carriages for the
same are constructed so as to afford no points of resistance or leverage by
being curved and extended into comparatively slight inclines.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Chubb in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
6th September 1866,
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
CHUBB, of St. Paul's Churchyard, in the City of London, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most. Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Sixth day of March, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six, in the twenty-ninth
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and
grant unto me, the said John Chubb, Her special licence that I, the
said John Chubb, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said John Chubb, 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 vend, within the
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands,
and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN IRON SAFES AND STRONG
Rooms," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said John
Chubb, my executors or administrators, by an instrument. in writing

page_text: under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should particu-
larly 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 John Chubb, 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.
This Invention has for its object improvements in iron safes and strong
rooms. For these purposes in order to give greater strength to the
framing which surrounds the door of an iron safe or strong room, and also
for preventing the sides of an iron frame giving way if wedges or other
instruments are forced in between the door and the frame, 'a tie bar or
bars. is or are used across the doorway internal of the safe or strong room,
by which the sides are tied to each other. These tie bars may in some
cases be fixed to the two sides of the safe or frame of the door, but
generally they will be moveable, in which cases the ends of the tie bars
are formed with dovetails or enlargements which fit into corresponding
recesses at the sides of the frame of the door, and are retained in position
at the back of the door when it is closed.
Another part of my Invention relates to the plating of safes and strong
rooms. When the doors and sides, the tops and bottoms, and backs of
iron safes are each made of two or more plates, one being of hard steel;
these plates are fixed together by screws, the heads of which are on the
inner surfaces, and the screws only enter into but do not come through to
the outer surfaces, Rivets also may be employed in conjunction with
screws or otherwise for fixing the plates together. These parts of my
Invention are illustrated by the Drawings, Figures 1, 2, and 3.
:
Figure 1 is a perspective view of a safe or strong room; Figure 2 is a
horizontal section, and Figure 3 a vertical section of a part of the same.
a, a, is a frame, by preference of wrought iron, to which the side and top
and bottom plates are secured by rivets and screws; it is preferred to
employ rivets and screws alternately or at irregular intervals. In the
frame a dovetail recesses are formed to receive the ends of the bars b, 61, 62,
which are made to a corresponding form. The top and bottom bars b and
b² are fixed in their recesses by screws or otherwise, and the bolts of the
locks are arranged to shoot behind them, but the bar b₁ is moveable and
can be taken down to give freer access to the interior of the safe. In

page_text: the arrangement shown the bars b,-b¹, and b²; are arranged in the spaces
above, below, and between the lock; this however is not essential, in some
cases I place the bars at the back of the locks. The bars may if desired be
placed vertically in place of horizontally, or both vertically and horizon-
tally. The skin or plating of the safe is made of a plate of hardened
steel C, secured between plates of wrought iron d and e, the three thick-
nesses being connected by screws f,f, entering holes tapped into but not
penetrating through the outer plate, or rivets may be used in conjunction
with the screws or otherwise. The plate c, in place of being entirely of
steel, may be steeled on the surface only. The inner wrought-iron plate e
may be dispensed with, but additional security is obtained by its use.
Another part of my Invention relates to the pivots or axes of the door
of a safe or strong room and the carriages or sockets in which the same
are supported. In order that it may not be possible to wrench off the
carriages or sockets from the door frame, of which they form part, by
forcing the upper and lower carriages apart by wedges, levers, or other-
wise, I make the surfaces of the carriages inclined, so that any lever or
instrument thus applied may slip off and not obtain any effective bearing
and purchase; a further security is obtained by enlarging the axes so as to
cover the faces of the carriages. Figure 4 is a front elevation of one of
the pivots or axes with its carriage; Figure 5 is a side elevation partly in
section, and Figure 6 is a plan in section of the same. a is the pivot or
axis secured to the door by screws b, b; c is the carriage, it is inclined on
its face c', c¹, in such manner that an instrument driven between it and
the pivot or axis would afford no effective support to a tool applied to
force the upper and lower carriages apart. As will be seen the face of
the carriage is entirely covered by the pivot or axis. The carriage c is
forged in one piece with the frame d, and both the carriages and pivots
should be of casehardened iron or of hardened steel..
In witness whereof, I, the said John Chubb, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Thirty-first day of August, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six.
JOHN CHUBB. (L.S.)