US44008A - Improvement in safety-guards for locks - Google Patents

Description

UNITED STATES ATENT OFFICE.

ORLANDO LUND, OF NASHUA, NEW HAMPSHIRE.

IMPROVEMENT IN4 SAFETY-GUARDS FOB. LOCKS- .Spicication forming part ofLctters Patent No. 44,008, dated August 30, 1864.

To all whom t may concern Be it known that I, ORLANDO LUND, a resident of Nashua, in the county ot' Hillsborough and State of New Hampshire, have invented an Improved Door-Key Safety-Guard; and I do hereby declare the same to be fully described in the following speciiication, and represented in the accompanying drawings, of which- Figure l denotes a front elevation of the said safety-guard as applied to the escutcheon plate of a lock, and in position to not only cover the key-hole of such plate, but to lock the key, so as to prevent it from being turned either from the inside or outside of the door. Fig. 2 denotes a front elevation of the safetyguard as depressed, so as to uncover the keyhole. Fig. 3 is a vertical section of the escutcheon-plate and safety-guard.

My invention may be said to be an improvement on the safety-guard (or device for preventing a door-key from being turned) as represented in the patent numbered 37,665, granted to Anios Vestcott, on thc 10th day of February of the year A. D. 1863. The safety-guard of the said Westcott has a bolting recess auxiliary to the key-hole or passage made through such guard, and in order to lock the key or prevent it from being turned the guard has to be moved downward, so as to bring the said bolting-recess astraddle of the key. This construction and operation of the safety-guard leaves the key-hole open, so as to enable a person to introduce through it a hooked wire for the purpose of seizing on the knob of the guard and prying up the guard so as to unlock the key and enable the latter to be revolved by nippers. With my improvement the key-hole is entirely closed when the key is locked by the guard, and I have no locking-recess separate from the keyhole of the guard, as I so construct the guard and apply it to the escutcheon-plate or door as to lock the key by means ofthe bit-passa ge of the key-hole ofthe safety-guard.

In the drawings, A denotes the safetyguard, while B is the escutcheon-platc.

The escutcheon-plate is also exhibited in front view in Fig. 4,'while Fig. 5 is a front view of the safety-guard. Fig. 6 is a side view, and Fig. 7 an edge view, of the key,

these latter figures being made to represent the form of the part s of the key, which operates with the bit-recess ot' the safety-guard.

The key where it is to operate with the guard is notched on its opposite sides, and so that the bases of the two notches shall be straight and parallel and at a distance apart equal to the width of the bit recess or passage r of the key-hole ofthe guard.

My improved safety-guard is made with a key-hole, (l, exactly like the key-hole D of its escutcheon-plate, and without any such recess as is shown in Fig. S as leading upward and out of the key-hole C of the safety-guard of the said Westcott. Furthermore, my improved safety-guard A is constructed with two slots, b c, for receiving the screws d c, by which it is held to the escutcheon-plate, the said screws being screwed into the said plate. The lower one ofthe screws projects beyond the front face of the guard, andcarries between its head and the guard a helical spring, f, and a washer, g, the same being arranged on the screw as shown in the drawings. There is also to the guard A a knob, h, whose shank projects through the plate and beyond its rear surface, so as to form a stud, t, to catch into either of two holes7 t' lc, made in the escutch-v con-plate,l they being arranged so as to hold the guard in either of its extreme positions.

By taking hold of and pulling on the knob h, the guard may be moved so as to draw the stud tout of the hole i or k in which it may be, after which, and while the stud is so out of the hole, the guard may be slid longitudinally by pressure properly exerted on the knob.

The slots and conining-screws of the guard are so arranged with respect to its key-hole (in manner as shown in Figs. 1 and 2) that when the guard islelevated to its highest position-that is, as is shown in Fig. l--the bit passage or recess r ofthe key-hole will be astraddle of the part s of the key, and will so lock the key that it cannot be turned, it being understood that under such circumstances the bolt of the lock has previously been sent forward or locked by the key. The key-hole of the escutcheon-plate will then be covered or closed by the key and the safety-guard.

When the guard is down, er in the position shown in Fig. 2, not only will the key-hole of the escutcheon-plate be uncovered so as to enable the key to be withdrawn from the lock, but the key maybe freely revolved, so as to throw back the bolt of the lock. When the key-hole of the escutcheon plate is so covered by the. guard, no tool or wire for the purpose ot' depressing the guard can be introduced from the outside ofthe door through the keyhole of the eseuteheon-plate, and besides the said key-hole will be so closed as to prevent a person from peeping through it.

I do not claim constructing the safetyguard with a key-locking recess or notch separate from and leading out ofthe key-hole' of such guard, and forlockin g the key when the guard i is so depressed us to bring the key into such recess.

My improved construction and application of the sai'etyguard, whereby it by being raised upward is not only caused to lock the key by the action of the part s thereof, and the bitpassage ofthe key-hole of the said'gu'ard, but to close the key-hole of the lock or the escutcheon-plate thereof, all substantially as specified.

ORLANDO LUND. Witnesses:

R. H. EDDY, F. l). HALE, Jr.

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