William Henry button lock

DavidZ

DavidZ

Gold Member
Joined
Oct 30, 2004
Messages
4,224
I have never handled one of the WH button locks, and was wondering how the mechanism works. Is it the same as the CRKT Lake's P.A.L. ? Can someone who has one describe it? Is there a place on the net with a drawing? I almost bought one just to check it out, but the $$ stopped me . At least temporarily.
Thanks,
Dave.
 
I don't have one personally, but most button locks work like this: the "button" is actually the top of a hardened pin that runs through the thickness of the knife and is kept under constant spring pressure. That pin is machined to do two things - to allow the blade to rotate freely when the button is depressed, and to lock the blade in place when the button is released (the blade being in the fully extended position). The locking section of the pin engages a ramped cutout in the tang. Thus, when open, the blade is wedged between the stop pin and the locking pin. Lake's innovation was to have the locking pin serve as the stop pin as well.
 
If you are interested in just how the mechanism works you could search for pictures of most any button lock auto. The mechanism works pretty much exactly the same, except that in an auto it also keeps the blade locked closed. I am almost positive that there were posts in the auto forum showing the inside of a button lock knife.

Think of the button as kind of looking like a bolt with a nut on it. The two ends are greater in diameter than the center. Thus when it is depressed the middle of the button is aligned with the blade tang, allowing it to rotate. When it is extended by the small spring under it the larger end knocks into the blade tang prevnting it from moving. There is a special cutout that matches the radious of the button in the tang of the knife. This way when the knife is open, the spring tension on the button keeps the larger part of it wedged in the matching cutout in the blade.
 
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