US719643A - Snap-seal. - Google Patents

Description

No. 719,643.' PATBNTED FEB. 3, 1903.. E. J. -BROOKSl SNAP SEAL. APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 29, 1902.

-HO IODEL.

UNITED STATES PATENT OEEICE.

EDW'ARD J. BROOKS, OF EAST ORANGE, NEW JERSEY.

SNAP-SEAL.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 719,643, dated February 3, 1903.

Application filed September 29, 1902. Serial No. 125,234. (No model.)

T0 cir/ZZ whom/ t may concern:

Be it known that I, EDWARD J. BROOKS, a citizen of the United States of America, and a resident of East Orange, in the State of New Jersey, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Snap-Seals, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to self fastening seals or snap-seals, as they are commonly termed,for use as substitutes for lead and wire seals and other self-fastening sealing devices to secure the doors of railway freight-cars and for other sealing purposes. Previous forms of such snap-seals are set forth in my specifications forming part of United States Letters Patent No. 679,104, dated July 23, 1901; Nos. 696,002 and 696,003, dated March 25, 1902, and No. 697,375, dated April 8, 1902, and in my previous specifications therein referred to.

The present invention consists in a snapseal adapted to be made Vwholly of sheet metal, in which one end of the shackle is made to guard the snap-fastening of the other end against being tampered with, and thus to render highly secure a relatively inexpensive seal.

The invention further consists in certain novel combinations of parts in the improved seal, as hereinafter set forth and claimed.

Asheet of drawings accompanies this specification as part thereof.

Figures 1 and 2 are respectively face and edge views of the shackle of the improved seal fiat. Figs. 3 and 4 represent magnified longitudinal sections of the respective shackle ends. Figs. 5 and 6 are small-scale elevations of the improved seal, showing it, respectively, before and after the fastening operation. Fig. 7 represents a magnified section through the seal part and shackle ends of the fastened seal, and Fig. 8 represents a like section through the seal part alone in a plane at right angles to that of Fig. 7.

Like reference letters and numbers refer to like parts in all the figures.

The improved seal is composed of a flexible shackleA and a permanently-hollow seal part B, both of tin-plate or'like sheet metal, and is designed to fasten together a pair of cardoor staples C or the like, as in Figs. 5 and 6.

The shackle A is preferably and conveniently of the custom ary shape and proportions,

as represented in Figs. l and 2, and is thus adapted to be embossed and provided with any desired distinguishing-marks in the sheet to be severed therefrom by a shearing operation and to be threaded through a pair of cardoor staples or the like in the same manner as the shackles of lead and wire seals. Its respective ends 1 and 2 are of the peculiar construction represented by Figs. 3 and 4, respectively, said shackle end 1 being pro vided with a member or members of a snapcatch combination--for example, a hole a t0 interlock with a catch or catches b within the seal part B and a supplemental catch or catches c to interlock with one or each of a pair of lips d at the sides of the inlet D of said seal part. Said endl is further provided with a stop or stops e, opposed to said catch or catches c, or, in other Words, located close thereto and between the same and mid-length of the shackle. (See Fig. 1.) Said stop or stops are consequently above said catch or catches in the fastened seal. (Compare Figs. 5, 6, and 7.) The other shackle end, 2, Fig. 4, has a longitudinal slot f, adapted to receive the snap end l, as in Figs. 5, 6, and 7, and to be temporarily fastened thereon against the stop or stops e by the catch or catches c, as in Fig. 5, and permanently held against the'top 3 of the seal part B by said stop or stops e when the seal is fastened, as in Figs. 6 and 7, said slot being preferably and conveniently formed in a dome g, raised on the shackle, as in Fig. 4, and said top 3 having a matching dome h, within which the inlet Dis formed. The inlet D is thus located within the dome g of the catch-guarding shackle end 2 when the seal is fastened, as in Fig. 7, and any tampering with the catches b and c Within the seal part by the insertion of tools or implements into the inlet D is thus eectively prevented.

For the purposes of the leading feature of the present invention the seal part B may be of any known orimproved construction suited to the novel construction ofthe shackle A. As shown in Figs. 6v to 8, inclusive, its shell is completed by a body-piece 4, united with said top 3 by a circumferential seam 5, and said catches b are carried by a U -shaped middle piece 6, the ends of which are rigidly held in and by said seam 5, as set forth and claimed f or the like until the shackle is cut or the seal part destroyed.

In addition to the combinations set forth and claimed in my specifications forming part of said Letters Patent the combination of a iiexible shackle of sheet metal constructed with a catch-hole near one extremity thereof and a supplemental snap-catch adjacent to said catch-hole adapted to resist the withdrawal of the shackle-end, the other` shackle end being secured by suitable means, and a seal part havinga top or cap piece constructed with an inlet-hole and a U-shaped middle piece, the latter` carrying` a snap-catch to interlock with said catch-hole within theseal part, said supplemental catch being arranged to simultaneously interlock with said cappiece, is claimed in my companion speciication forming part of an application for patent, filed August 1, 1902, Serial No. 117,977, and the combination, in a snap-seal, of a hollow seal part of sheet metal composed of two disk-shaped pieces havingits chamber formed by concavo-convex portions of both pieces of substantially equal depth and having one of its pieces provided with an inlet and inwardlyprojecting rigid lips or vestibule-Walls,a flexible shackle of sheet metal constructed with snap-catches to interlock with said vestibulewalls Within the seal part and provided with an external inlet-guard surrounding the shackle and having a roof-shaped body Within which the convex top of the seal part projects, and means for securing the other end of the shackle, is claimed in my companion specification forming part of an application for patent, filed September 6, 1902, Serial No. 122,425. All such combinations set forth in my previous specifications are hereby disclaimed in favor of such previous specications, respectively.

The term snap-catch in the appended claims is intended to mean one or more snapcatches and the term stop one or more stops, as hereinbefore described and indicated, and the term sheet material is intended to include equivalents of sheet metal, such as sheet-Celluloid.

Having thusdescribed said improvement, I claim as my invention and desire to patent under this specification- 1. A snap seal composed of a flexible shackle, of sheet material, having one end provided with one member of a snap-fastening and with a stop that is above the same in the fastened seal, and its other end provided with a slot through which protrudes that portion of the end first named below said stop, and a hollow seal part having an inlet and provided internally with the other member vof such snap-fastening, and adapted to interlock with the shackle end rst named and to have its inlet guarded by the other shackle end.

2. 'The combination, in a snap-seal, of 'a flexible shackle having one end provided with one member of a snap-fastening Vand with a stop that is above the same in the fastened seal, and an inlet-guarding end havi'nga dome raised thereon and slotted for the protrusion therethrough of that portion of the end first named below said stop, and a hollow seal part provided internally with the other member of such snap-fastening, and having a convex top provided with its inlet and adapted to project within the dome of said inlet-guarding shackle end.

3. The combination, in a snap-seal, of a flexible shackle having one end provided with a catch-hole and with a stop that is above the same in the fastened seal, and an inlet-guarding end having a slot for the protrusion therethrough of that portion of the end rst named below said stop, vand a hollow seal part provided internally With a snap-catch adapted to interlock with said catch-hole, and having an inlet that is covered and protected by said inlet-guardinggshackle end.

4:. The combination, in a snap-seal, of a flexible shackle having oneend provided with a snap-catch adapted to resist the withdrawal of such shackle end and with a stop that is above the same in the fastened seal, and an inlet-guarding end having a slot for the protrusion therethrough of that portion of the end first named below said stop, and a hollow seal part provided internally with lips arranged -to interlock with said snap-catch, and having an inlet that is covered and protected by said inlet-guarding shackle end.

5. The combination, in a snap-seal, of a exible shackle having one end provided with a catch-hole near its extremity and a snapcatch adapted to resist the withdrawal of such shackle end and with a stop that is above the same in the fastened seal, and an inlet-guarding end havingaslot for the protrusion therethrough of that portion of the end first named below said stop, and a hollow seal part provided internally with a snap-catch adapted to interlock with said catch-hole and lips arranged to interlock with the snap-catch first named, and having an inlet that is covered and protected by said inlet-guarding shackle end.

6. The combination, in a snap-seal, of a flexible shackle having one end provided with a catch-hole and with a stop that is above the same in the fastened seal, and an inlet-guarding end having a dome raised thereon and slotted for the protrusion therethrough of that portion of the end rst named below said stop, and a hollow seal part provided internally with a snap-catch adapted to interlock with said catch-hole, and having a convex IOO IIO

top provided with its inlet and adapted to project within the dome of said inlet-guarding shackle end. l

7. The combination, in a snap-seal, of a flexible shackle having one end provided with a snap-catch adapted to resist the withd rawal of such shackle end and with a stop that is above the same in the fastened seal, and an inlet-guarding end having a dome raised thereon and slotted for the protrusion therethrough of that portion of the end first named below said stop, and a hollow seal part provided internally with lips arranged to interlook with said snap-catch, and having a con- Vex top provided with its inlet and adapted to project Within the dome of said inlet-guarding shackle end.

S. The combination, in a snap-seal, of a flexible shackle having one end provided with a catch-hole near its extremity and a snapeatch adapted to resist the withdrawal of such shackle end and with a stop that is above the same in the fastened seal, and anin1etguard ing end having a dome raised thereon and slotted for the protrusion therethrough of that portion of the end first named below said stop, and a hollow seal part provided internally with a snap-catch adapted to interlock with said catch-hole and lips arranged tO interlock with the snap-catch first named, and having a convex top provided with its inlet and adapted to project within the dome of said inlet-guarding shackle end, substantially as hereinbefore specified.

EDWARD J. BROOKS. Witnesses:

ELLEN J. BROOKS, ELINOR BROOKS.

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