Henry Ritchie – 1849

November 15, 2019November 15, 2019 Safe Lock Collector

Patented by Henry Ritchie, assignor to Henry Jones, on April 3, 1849. This lock represents the fourth and final iteration of William Hall’s 1843 patent. It also includes the improvements patented by William Hall on October 16, 1845 (Patent 4236); these improvements being the third iteration of this lock, of which improvements will be discussed below.

The third patent (Patent 4236) did away with the swing levers in favor of the style of levers seen in the internals images above and below. In lieu of the swing levers, this patent features 2 sets of vertical tumblers (plates), each set having the same number of tumblers as the other. The left (front) set has cutout on left side to pass a solid stud bar that is attached to the bolt. The right (rear) set of levers has springs on top to depress the tumblers when not impacted by the key. The right (rear) set of plates has a small tooth on the upper left (front) side while the left (front) set of plates has a set of notches on the upper right (rear) side. A horizontal “vibrating” plate sits behind the bolt and right (rear) tumblers. The plate “vibrates” the right (rear) tumblers forward when the key is turned to lock the lock, pivoting at the upper stud seen in the internals photo with a threaded brass cap to hold the levers down. The height of the levers corresponds to the bitting of the key, with each bit set to a proper height to lock the teeth into the notches. The bolt is now thrown through the cutout in the left (front) set of plates. Once the bolt is fully thrown, the springs drop the now conjoined levers blocking the cutout so the bolt cannot be freely withdrawn. Only by unlocking with the same key configuration as was used to lock the lock will the conjoined tumblers raise to the proper height to align the cutout and allow for the lock to be unlocked. This feature allows for the bits to be re-arranged and the lock to automatically adapt to the new bit configuration without re-arranging the tumblers. This moves this lock from the Solomon Andrews style re-keying to the style popularized by Robert Newell’s Parautoptic lock, but with a much simpler method of accomplishing the re-keying.

Ritchie Patent 6252 Lock with Bolt Partially Thrown

Moving to the discussion of the fourth patent, Ritchie’s patented lock does away with the second improvement described on patent 4011 here, and implements an improved version of this change. In this lock, an additional sliding vertical tumbler is added underneath the bolt. This tumbler only moves in the vertical direction and can be seen in the back of each of the internal photos above. It is connected to the brass semi-circle at the bottom and runs vertically to the top. Zooming in with the aid of the patent photo (Figure 4) will provide a good sketch of what this plate looks like.

Ritchie refers to this as a “pressure tumbler” in his patent. As is often the case, the production model lock does differ slightly from here from the patent (namely in the way this vertical tumbler is moved). The description that follows is of the production model seen above, in alignment with the patent where appropriate.

The “pressure tumbler” is raised vertically using a couple different methods. Each of the other vertical tumblers is connected via a spring to the rod seen at the top right of the internal photo. This rod projects up from the “pressure tumbler.” As the tumblers are lifted, so is the “pressure tumbler.” The “pressure tumbler” is also lifted by the pin of the key which impacts the “pressure tumbler” at spot b seen in Figure 4 from the patent drawing. This fully lifts the “pressure tumbler” up and out of the way. As a note, the piece missing from the patent version is a pair of cams which would assist in this lifting motion. The cams would also partially block the keyhole to make picking more difficult. It can be presumed that this method was determined inefficient (in function or cost) when compared to the final production model. If interested, click here for the patent which shows the cams and describes them in detail. With the “pressure tumbler” fully lifted, the horizontal lever can be lifted freely (seen hooked into a cut-out on the bolt in the internal photo above).

Another improvement in this patent is an additional horizontal tumbler. This tumbler is on top of the top brass plate as seen in the internal photo above. Occasionally locks such as this were used as “check locks,” as termed in the patent. A “check lock” is one used behind another lock on a vault/safe. If the lock in the forefront is picked open, this lock would be the next one to be picked. After picking the first one, a burglar could attempt to put pressure on the bolt of Ritchie’s patent lock to determine it’s impact on the standard vertical tumblers. In order to prevent the pressure on the bolt from providing the burglar with useful information, the horizontal tumbler in the photo above was added. A stud/pin (triangle shape in above photo) is attached to the bolt sticking up towards the upper side of the lock. A tiny cutout notch in the revolving escutcheon also holds the tumbler in place. This tumbler, in turn, holds the bolt in place, such that any pressure applied to the bolt has zero impact to the standard tumblers. As the revolving escutcheon turns when unlocking the lock, it contacts the lower right portion of this horizontal tumbler. With the proper key in place, the large opening in the revolving escutcheon allows the horizontal tumbler to fall and the triangular stud to enter the track (racking) of the tumbler cutout, thus allowing the bolt to be retracted. The final purpose of the horizontal tumbler is to prevent access to the lock internals when locking the lock. This is accomplished by the same small notch in the revolving escutcheon. A small cutout is present on the far right side of the track (racking) that holds the bolt in place except for when the revolving escutcheon is moved and thus the horizontal lever is released from the small notch in the escutcheon. Releasing the lever allows it to clear the right side of the track (racking) and enable the lock to be locked.

This lock is also gunpowder proof. Holes can be seen in the bottom of the lock casing and in the brass piece encircling the keyhole. These are here to make the lock gunpowder proof and prevent forced entry through the destruction of the lock.

The 8 lever changeable bit key for this lock is seen in the left photo above. The right photo highlights the markings on the bolt of this lock. It is labeled HC Jones Patent, Newark N.J. and dated 1850. The bolt also features the Masonic Square and Compasses symbol. Henry Jones was a Master Freemason of the Newark Lodge, No. 7 (meeting at the Mechanics Bank Building, No. 277 Broad St.).¹ It is possible the lock was utilized at a building run or owned by a Freemason, or that Mr. Jones used this symbol as a his own mark on this lock symbolizing his status as a Master Freemason.

¹Proceedings of the Eightieth Annual Communication of the M.W. Grand Lodge of Ancient Free and Accepted Masons of Freemasons New Jersey Grand Lodge. Hough & Gillespy, 1867. Google Books, https://play.google.com/books/reader?id=O08uAAAAYAAJ&hl=en.