US38476A - Improvement in locks and keys - Google Patents

Description

To all whom it may concern UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

E. A. H. GAEBEL, or NE'vvYoEKfrtY.

IMPROVEMENT |N` LOCKS AND KEYS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 38,4176, dated Ma-y 12, 1F63.

Be it known that I, FR. A. H. GABEL, of the city, county, and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Locks and their Keys; and I do hereby declare that the following is afull, clear, and exact description ot the construction and operation of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, in Which.-

Figure l represents a perspective view of said lock, when the key'hole plate is detached therefrom, showing the interior arrangement ot' the lock. Fig. 2 represents the inner side of' the key-hole plate ina perspective View. Fig. 3 represents a perspective View of the outside of the key-hole plate. Fig. 4 represents a cross-section through the lock. Fig. 5 represents a side viewof the key. Figs. 6, 7 8, 9, 10, 11, and l2 represent detached views, hareinafter to be referred to.

The common locks used on doors, drawers, closets, &c., owing to the proportionate low price at which they are required by the public, are generally made 'of cast-iron 01 metal, and their parts iitted together without employing great artistical skill or a high finish ot' workmanship. These locks, although they generally work well, have the great disadvantage that they may be opened with almost any skeleton key, and in many cases with common lock-keys.

My invention relates to this class of locks and it consists in such improvements on the common lock and key, by which the general construction, workmanship, and price of the lock is not aifected, but whereby 1 am enabled to use a key of a peculiar construction which aifords ample protection against opening the lock by common or even skeleton keys, thus furnishing a cheap and perfectly secure lock for allordinary purposes.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use my invention, I will proceed to de scribe its construction and operation.

A represents the lock-case. B represents the sliding bolt, which is guided by the boltpin C. D represents the spring-lever for locking the bolt, and E the spring of the springlever, these parts constituting the principal features of any of the common locks in use. The key of this lock (represented in Fig. 5) has a hollow shank, F, which is slipped over thekey-pin G. Ithas adouble bit, (represented at a and b,) and the shape of these bits may be made as represented in Fig. 5, where they are set at an angle, and, when turned on the axis of the key, describe the circumference of a cone. The base of the key-pin G constitutes a cone, d, which corresponds to the inner shape of said key-bits, a b, and an inverted cone, g, is formed on the inner side of the keyhole plate, which corresponds to the outer shape of said key-bits, and the bits a and b therefore turn in a hollow conical space between the cone d and inverted cone g, into which, consequently, no key can be entered unless its bits have the exact conical shape of said space. The outer ends, 1 and 2, ot the respective bits a and b perform two distinct operations. rlhe end 2 acts on the spring-lever D, to release the bolt prior to operating the same, and the end l enters the notch m of the bolt to lock or unlock the same, as shown by red lines in Fig. l. The configuration representing an end View of said bit, or the shape ot' the key-hole M, may be changed iu unlimited variation without much complicating the same, and such configurations as represented in Figs. 8, 9, 10, 1l, and 12 may be used, which admits of an endless variety of simple keys, and which do not require high mechanical skill to be made but the conical shape of the bits a b (represented in the drawings) may also be modified ad infinitum, not only in alterin g the shape of the cone by making it longer or broader, but also by using rounded or curved figures, as represented in Fig. 6, or zigzig shapes, as represented in Fig. 7, or cylindrical forms, or any desired form by which an annular passage of various inclinations or curvatures is formed in the lock, and in which the key can freely turn. The cone d and inverted cone g, being formed on the respectivelock-plates, may be turned on any common lathe, and therefore require very little labor to be reduced to their proper shapes, and the shape of the key-bit, varied as they may be, does not represent intricate forms and'hardly requires more labor in the manufacture than the common keys used heretofore. No key can be inserted in this lock which has not the peculiar shape corresponding with the annular passage described herein, besides the lock is so constructed that it can be operated with a double key-bit only, and as the key-pin G, vin the center of the keyhole, takes up considerable of said space, it is a very difficult matter to enter said lool; even with a skeleton key. y Having thus fully described the nature of my invention, what I claim therein as new, and desire to secure by Letters Paten1;,is-

1. A key having two bits, When-said bits are curved or stand under an oblique angle with the geometrical axis of the key, substantiall y in the manner and for the purposes herein described.

2. In combination with a double key-bit, substantially as herein described, the annular concave g and convex d Within Jshe lock and in the line of the key-hole, substantial] y in the manner herein described.

FR. A. H. GABEL. Witnesses:

E. COHEN, J ULIUs HrRseH.

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