US868925A - Lock for door-knobs. - Google Patents

Description

No. 868,925. PATENTED 001-22. 1907.

E. A-. HINE.

LOGK FOR DOOR KNOBS. APPLIOATION nun IA! 2. 1901.

PATENT OFFICE.

EDWARD A. I-IINE, OF NEWARK, NEW JERSEY.

LOCK FOR DOOR-KNOBS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Oct. 22, 1907.

Application filed May 3, 1907. $eria1No. 371,730.

To all whom it only concern:

Be it known that I, EDWARD A. I'IINE, a citizen of the United States, residing at 209 Washington avenue, 1

Newark, county of Essex, and State of New Jersey, have invented c rtain new and useful Improvements in Locks for Dooelinobs, lully described and represented in the following specification and the accompanying drawing-i, forming a part of the same.

The object of this invention is to prevent the theft of metallic doorknobs, which have often been stolen to be sold as junk metal, because they can be detached by merely removing the knol.)-scrcw which holds the knob on the spindle.

The improvem nt consists of a latch or pawl jointed upon the spindle in a suitable position to engage a shoulder within the knobshank or knob, in addition to the ordinary or usual fastening for the knob.

Where only one side of the door is exposed, as in locked vestibule doors, the inner end of the spindle may have the knob secured by a knob-screw, and the outer knob secured by the pawl, so that from the outer end oi the spindle the knob cannot be removed.

Where both sides of the door are exposed, the two knobs can be protected from theft by forming the rosc" upon one side of the door deep enough to cover the knob-screw and securing one knob by such screw, the other knob being secured by the pawl, as already described.

By pivoting the pawl in a slot in the knob-spindle, the pawl is adapted to slide through the hole in the lock and in the knob-shank, but is then moved by gravity out of the slot to engage the shoulder in the knob; and where the knob-screw for the opposite knob is incloscd in the rose, neither knob can be removed without taking the door from its hinges and laying it horizontally, so that the vertical position then assumed by the spindle may permit the pawl to fall into line with the spindle, which enables the knob to be with d rawn.

The invention will be understood by reference to the ann cxed drawing, in which Figure 1 is an edge view of a door with the spindle and two knobs, one of such knobs and rose being shown in section. Fig. 2 is a plan of a spindle with one end cxpansible and the opposite end provided with a gravity pawl, and Fig. 3 is a cross section of the knob-shank and spindle at the expansible end of the spindle. Fig. l is a section of the doorknob with the end of the spindle therein showing an alternative construction.

a designates the door, b the face-plate of the doorlock, and c the spindle extending through the same.

(Z is a "rose upon one side of the door with the shank c of the knob A secured upon the end of the spindlebya lillOlrSClQWf', and the socket in the rose f of sufficient depth to cover such knob-screw, and thus prevent the releasing of the knob from the spindle.

The head of the screw f is represented by dotted lines in Fig. 1 to illustrate its concealment by the socket of the rose, and the screw may be threaded into a hole in the spindle, as represented for the knobscrew is at the opposite end of the spindle. At the opposite end within the knob B the spindle is provided with a pawl g pivoted by a pin h in a slot 15 extended into the end of the spindle, in addition to a knob-screw It.

The end of the pawl is shown projected toward the opposite end of thespindle, and is so Weighted or proportioned that when the spindle is placed with the slot 1' in a vertical or approximately vertical position, the weight of the pawl will carry its point downward and out of the slot.

The knobs are thus secured to the spindle by the concealed knobscrew f at one end and the exposed knob-screw 7: at the other end; while the pawl furnishes an additional means for positively preventing the removal oi the knob B from the spindle.

By suitably proportioning the length of the spindle to the thickness of the door and the length of the knobshank, such dropping of the pawl may be adapted to engage its inner end with a shoulder j upon the inner end of the shank to permanently hold the knob from removal, as the knob-spindle does not in practice rotate far enough to turn the pawl up-side-down and thus release it from the shoulder j In practice, knobs do not turn more than 90 degrees, and are commonly made to turn each way from their normal position so as to retract the latch whether turned to the right or left. The ordinary movement each side of the normal position is commonly less than 45 degrees so that the pawl when applied to ordinary knobs permanently locks the knob to the spindle so long as the spindle remained in its operative position, which is horizontal.

The pawl is adapted to be used independently of the ordinary iastenings for the knobs, to merely prevent the removal of the knob from the spindle, as the ordinary knob-screws and other attachments maybe used to secure the knobs upon a spindle in their operative relation to the door, and the pawl may be used ass. reserve or additional attachment to absolutely prevent the re moval of the knob if such ordinary fastenings are loosened.

The knob-screw It upon the shank of the knob B, is adapted to secure the knob in its working position, so that the pawl is not required to hold the knob in its operative relation to the spindle or the door. It is, therefore, immaterial whether the end of the pawl is in contact with the shoulder during the normal operaother fastening is loosened to contact with the shoulder and prevent the removal of the knob. This is illustrated in Fig. 4, where a pawl g is shown with arms arranged to project at both sides of the spindle but weighted at one end so that it normally-falls across the spindle when pushed into the recess of the knob. With such construction, the spindle must be forced into the knob about oneeighth of an inch farther than is necessary to make the pawl contact with the shoulder to enable the pawl to turn transversely to the spindle; but the knob-screw 7c serves to hold the knob in its working position, leaving the pawl at a distance from the shoulder as shown in Fig. 4, to operate merely as a lock if the knob-screw be loosened and an attempt be made to remove the knob. The pawl does not, therefore, need to form any working part of the device when the knob is in operation, as the ordinary iastenings for the knob serve such purpose, but comes into play when an attempt is made to remove the knob, when it contacts with the shoulder and prevents such removal. This is further illustrated in Figs. 2 and 3, Where one end of the spindle is shown with a beveled slot Z in its end anda wedge m fitted therein to be pressed by the knob-screw n, for the purpose of expanding the spindle to clamp it at any point within the shank e of the knob. This is the ordinary form of expansible spindle for adjusting the knobs accurately into their working position upon opposite sides of the door, and affords a means of adjusting the knob upon one end when the knob at the other end is provided with the pawl g, which is not constructed or intended in my invention to furnish a means oi securing the knob in different positions upon the spindle, but to positively prevent its abstraction. The screw n for operating with such a spindle can be concealed in a deep rose f and the knob thus be protected from theit the same as the screw f shown in Fig. 1.

A hollow metallic knob is shown in the drawing; but it is obvious that the invention is applicable to any knob, as of wood or other material, if a recess of sutlicient depth be made within the same to receive the iiiner end of the spindle and the pawl.

Having thus set forth the nature of the invention what is claimed herein is:

l. A knob spindle having a knob fitted reniovably thereon, means to hold the knob in an adjusted position on the spindle, and a pawl upon the spindle constru cted and arranged to fit within the knob and permanently lock the same to the spindle while in its operative horizontal position.

2. A knob spindle having a knob fitted removably thereon means to hold the knob in an adjusted position on the spindle, and a pawl pivoted upon the spindle and movable by gravity and constructed and arranged to engage and retain engagement with the knob to prevent the removal of the knob while the spindle is in its operative horizontal position, and arranged and operated to release the knob by the gravity movement of the pawl when the spindle is turned to a vertical position 3. The combination, with a knob spindle having upon one end a knob with a shank and a knob-screw adapted to secure the knob at any point upon the spindle to adjust it to the door, of a rose adapted to cover said knob-screw to prevent the abstraction of the knob, the opposite end of the spindle having a knob with an internal shoulder, and such opposite end of the spindle having a pawl constructed and arranged to fall by gravity into engagement with the shoulder in the knob to positively prevent the removal of such knob while the spindle is in its operative horizontal position. 1 I

4 -l. A door provided with a lock having a knob-spindle, a recessed knob having a shank fitted upon the spindle and provided with a shoulder at the inner end of the shank, said spindle having a pawl adapted to pass through the hole in the knob-shank and movable by gravity into contact with the shoulder upon the shank to prevent the removal of the knob while the door is in an operative position, the construction permitting the pawl to fall into line with the spindle to withdraw the knob when the door is uuhinged and turned into a different position and means to hold the knob in an adjusted position on the spindle.

5. The combination, with a knobspindle having doorknobs upon opposite ends and means for separately securing them in their working relation to the door. of an additional means applied to the spindle within at -least one of the knobs for positively preventing its removal from the spindle.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

EDWARD A IIINE,

Witnesses L. LEE, 'lnonas S. CRANE.

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