US 185628

Patent Overview — US 185,628

Title: Improvement in Combined Handle-Plate and Escutcheon for Doors

Patentee: John Collins, of Darlington, township of Hohokus, county of Bergen, New Jersey.

Assignee: Hopkins & Dickinson Manufacturing Company.

Dates: Application filed October 18, 1876; Letters Patent dated December 26, 1876. Google Patents lists the prior-art date and publication date as 1876-12-26, status "Expired – Lifetime," with anticipated expiration 1893-12-26.

Purpose: The invention addresses door hardware in which the handle-plate (A) and the keyhole escutcheon-plate (B) are made as separate pieces rather than as one integral plate or as wholly independent plates. The two plates are formed so they can be attached to a door in a way that unites them and largely conceals the line of union between them. The stated background notes that handle-plates had been used with separate keyhole plates, and that handle-plates in one piece with an escutcheon-plate had also been used.

Plain-language scope: The handle-plate has a projection (c) in the plane of the plate with a hole (d) through it; the escutcheon-plate has a cavity (6) on its back containing a circular elevation (f) sized to enter hole (d), with a screw hole through f. When assembled, projection c fits into cavity 6 and encircles f, and a screw through both plates secures them at that part of the door. Raised ornamentation on each plate (a, b) appears nearly continuous. The interlocking fit fixes the plates relative to one another—preventing independent up, down, or sidewise movement—and adds strength and stiffness. The patent also describes a method of installation: screw the handle-plate to the door, place the escutcheon-plate, mark the keyhole, remove the escutcheon-plate to cut the keyhole, then replace it in the same position.

Claim: "The combination of a handle-plate and escutcheon-plate constructed with interlocking elevations and depressions formed in the plates, substantially as and for the purposes herein described."

Source: https://patents.google.com/patent/[US185628](/patent/US185628)/en

What the excerpt does not establish: It does not provide the full drawings (Figs. 1–4 are referenced but not reproduced in the text), a complete claims set beyond the single quoted claim, prosecution history, or the separate design application mentioned ("The design shown is the subject of a separate application for design patent"). It also does not establish litigation, ownership transfers, validity, or prior-art details, and the text contains apparent OCR garbling (e.g., "cavity 0," "concealingof") that cannot be reliably corrected from the excerpt alone.