Slaight's Improved Door Latch

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The principal object of the invention here illustrated is to obviate the necessity of slamming doors in shutting thema practice of no small annoyance in most households. As the necessity of slamming a door in shutting it arises from the bluntness of the bevel on the end of the latch, the obvious mode of remedying the evil was to give a more easy angle to this bevel. This is accomplished in tllis invention by hanging a plate or hood in front of the end of the latch, as represented in the cuts, of which Fig. 1 is a vertical section and Fig. 2 a horizontal section through the latch. The hood, F, is suspended to the case of the lock by the pivot, c, and has its sides bent round on each bide of the latch, D. By the considerable length cf the hood a small angle with the plane of the door is obtained , and the hatch is pressed very gently back into the case of the lock. The latch is connected with the hood, F, by a pivot, e, and is carried out in the usual manner. This is to prevent any mttling or play between the door and the jamb on the shrinking of the wood in either, which m ight result from the circular movement of the end of the hood, F, if this arrangement were not ad opted. This simple little device seems admirably calculated to accomplish the important object for which it was designed. The patent for this invention was procured, through the Scienti fic American Patent Agency, on Nov. 6, 1860, and funher information in relation to it may be obtained by addressing the patentee, Thomas Slaight, at Newark, N. J.

Scientific American Magazine Vol 3 Issue 24newThis article was published with the title “Slaight's Improved Door Latch” in Scientific American Magazine Vol. 3 No. 24new (), p. 376
doi:10.1038/scientificamerican12081860-376a

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