The patentee, Edward Loysel, was apparently rather well known at the time for inventing the coffee percolator, and reportedly patented the lock on behalf of a Frenchman, 'Viscount de Kersolon' -- which appears to have been a pseudonym of Paul Alexandre de Geslin, a Catholic priest described as having worked on the invention for 20 years and was probably related to Loysel (the linked French article mentions that his mother's maiden name was Loysel).
The illustrations in the full patent writeup, printed on a foldout, are rather faint and difficult to interpret, but the diagrams accompanying the description for the same patent in the 1855-1866 "Abridgements of Specifications" are much clearer and conveniently labeled in a way that makes it a bit easier to envision how the lock actually functioned, especially paired with the engravings of the demonstration models printed in the 1862 International Exhibition catalog (reproduced at bottom).
From the International Exhibition catalog: "Properly speaking, the 'keyless lock' may be said to be composed of two parts, the hinder part, which is the lock and contains the bolt, and the fore part, which is, if it may be so termed, a scientific fixed key, which is formed of concentric cylinders, each of which is divided at the middle into two parts, and traversed by a spindle, which is to act on the bolt for shutting and opening the lock. The outer edges or faces of the concentric cylinders are impressed with alphabets of 24 or less letters, and it is only when a pre-determined combination is brought into coincidence, that the spindle can be brought in a position to work the bolt. It should be observed that, owing to the division of the cylinders into two parts, the owner of a lock can instantly change the combination on which it opens, without pulling the lock to pieces. These changes in the combination may be made from the outside. There being no key-hole, no instrument whatever can be introduced to try to pick the lock or injure it, and as to introducing gunpowder, it is an utter impossibility...All the parts of the lock being hardened, it is drill proof. In short, the lock defies violence as well as skill, as there is no possibility whatever of opening it by hearing or feeling, or by any pressure either gentle or rough, as besides the impossibility of bringing the pins opposite the holes, a screening plate has been introduced between the holes and the pins, which renders even trying an utter impossibility. Therefore, the only means of opening this lock is by finding out the combination on which it opens...The keyless lock is made so as to be adapted to travelling bags and cash boxes, and will prove of great convenience, as keys are a great and acknowledged nuissance. Padlocks are also constructed on this principle, which cannot be forced open by pressure, and in which the combination is altered at pleasure without pulling the padlock to pieces, as in the ordinary letter padlocks."
