George Dodd

“ There can be no doubt upon the mind of any mechanic or engineer, thoroughly acquainted with practical working in metals, that a good deal of what has been brought forward and affirmed, both by safe-makers and by burglars themselves (turned approvers) , as to the wonderfully-ingenious devices resorted to by the latter, by which, if we were to believe it all, nothing in the shape of steel or iron can possibly withstand ultimately the redoubtable powers of these people, is simply fiction—imaginary ingenuity utterly impracticable if tried. ”

“ PREVIOUS TO THE DATE OF THE GREAT EXHIBITION. It must be evident, even on a cursory glance at the past history of the lock-manufacture, that the prime motive for the introduction of novelties and improvements in construction is the desirability of producing a lock which no one can open without the proper key. From the earliest and simplest lock, down to the latest and most complex, this object has been constantly held in view; and every clear proof or evidence that this object has not been attained has led to the invention of some new contrivance. ”

“ In respect to lock-making, there can scarcely be such a thing as dishonesty of intention: the inventor produces a lock which he honestly thinks will possess such and such qualities; and he declares his belief to the world. If others differ from him in opinion concerning those qualities, it is open to them to say so; and the discussion, truthfully conducted, must lead to public advantage: the discussion stimulates curiosity, and the [4] curiosity stimulates invention. ”

“ Rogues knew a good deal about lock-picking long before locksmiths discussed [3] it among themselves, as they have lately done. If a lock—let it have been made in whatever country, or by whatever maker—is not so inviolable as it has hitherto been deemed to be, surely it is to the interest of honest persons to know this fact, because the dishonest are tolerably certain to be the first to apply the knowledge practically; and the spread of the knowledge is necessary to give fair play to those who might suffer by ignorance. ”

“ The key therefore may be formed and perfectly fitted to the lock without any extraordinary degree of genius or mechanical skill. It is from hence evident that endless variations in the disposition of fixed wards are not alone sufficient to the purpose of perfect security. I do not mean to subtract from the merit of such inventions, nor to dispute their utility or importance. Every approach towards perfection in the art of lock-making may be productive of much good, and is at least deserving of commendation ”

“ The puzzle-lock is generally in the form of a padlock, which is opened and closed without the use of a key, and which has certain difficulties thrown in the way of its being opened by any one who is not in the secret of the person who closed it. It is, in fact, one of the locks in which the doctrine of permutation is made to contribute to the means of security. The key to open it is a mnemonic or mental one, instead of one of steel or iron. Two centuries ago, the puzzle-lock attracted far more attention than any other. ”

“ Hence a person putting a false bit into one of these locks will not only infallibly lose it at the very first trial, but will do so without gaining any information as to the nature of its inaccuracy; for as the gatings of the levers cannot be seen or felt, all that can be told about the action of a false bit is, that it has failed to open the lock. In fact, a counterfeit bit passes under the levers, and through the lock, just like the true bit; and it is only the stoppage afterwards met with of the bolt that indicates the failure of the false bit, which is by that time gone beyond recovery. ”

“ The next is that the workmanship of every part of the safe be first-class: not that there be merely a moulded door with a showy lock and a trumpery brass-plate upon it, but that every corner and joint of plate with plate in sides and back be effectually united and jointed in the best manner, and that the fitting of the hardened edges of the door shall be like those of a valve, and not even let a watch-spring be got in between. ”

“ Safes, like razors, are made to sell, and if the public demand is for cheap safes, such as we see every day advertised in the newspapers, it was sure to have been, and is, met by a supply of things called safes which are utterly unsafe. The great mass of the showy green and gold gewgaws that one sees in the safe-shop windows, with flaming testimonials as to their fire and burglar-proof powers, are simple shams: a genuine safe could not be made at their prices. ”

“ They show conclusively that an effectively constructed door and jambs is really the one thing needful to absolute security, provided the safe itself be built up, as we have urged, into masonry.
They also show that there are good grounds for doubting that the American (Herring’s) “safe within safe” construction, with a thick mass of so-called fire-proofing powdery composition between them, is at all as protective against mere violence and the persevering use of wedges, as Chatwood’s simpler but far more effective construction, especially of his door and jambs. ”

“ Every improvement in the manufacture of iron, steel, and brass—that is, in the tool-making and machine-making processes—may be made to reflect its light on the lock-manufacture; the stamping, the casting, the planing, the slotting, the screw-cutting, the polishing of metals,—all, in proportion as they are improved, impart some of their aid to the lock-maker. ”

“ And without dwelling on such an auriferous picture as a room fall of gold, we shall find ample proof of the commercial importance of lock-making in the ordinary circumstances by which we are every day surrounded. Until the world becomes an honest world, or until the honest people bear a larger ratio than at present to the dishonest, the whole of our movables are, more or less, at the mercy of our neighbours. ”

“ If we suppose that a lock of particular construction comprises twenty screws and small pieces of metal, and that there are required, for general disposal in the market, five sizes of such a lock; there would thus be a hundred pieces of metal required for the series, each one differing, either in shape or size, from every one of the others. Now, on the factory or manufacturing system, as compared with the handicraft system, forging, drawing, casting, stamping, and punching, would supersede much of the filing ”

“ Bramah had his thoughts directed to that mode of picking locks which depends on taking impressions of the moving parts, rather than to the mechanical or pressure method which has been developed in later times. There can be little doubt that a lock was, to his mind, a beautiful and admirable machine, far elevated above the level of mere blacksmith’s work ”

“ For if a lock of any given size be furnished with wards in as curious and complete a manner as it can be, those wards being necessarily expressed on what is termed by locksmiths the bit or web of the key, do not admit of a greater number of variations than can be expressed on that bit or web; when, therefore, as many locks have been completed of the given size as will include all the variations which the surface of the bit will contain, every future lock must be the counterpart of some former one, and the same key which opens the one will of course unlock the other. ”

“ And if it were possible to [26] collect all the by-gone specimens of lock-oddities, we should probably find among them many highly-ingenious letter-locks; for supposing a man to have a mechanical turn of mind, a lock is by no means an unworthy medium for displaying it; the pieces of metal are so small as to be easily manageable at a small work-bench in a small room. ”

“ It is true that iron safes have been made for some years in which any number of large bolts are shot by a handle and then locked by a very small key. But in such locks the key must be used in locking, and this leads to certain objections, viz. the key must occasionally at least be confided to some person whose duty it is to lock up the safe after the owner has left the place; there is also the temptation to leave the key in the lock, since it will be wanted in locking up; and thus there is the danger of some dishonest person taking an impression of the key. ”

“ In a complex Bramah lock, and in locks on the combination principle, the difficulty of picking is almost insuperable, so long as what may be termed the arithmetical method is adopted. It is perfectly true, as has been so often stated, that the varied combinations in the arrangement of the slides amount to millions and even billions, when the slides are in any degree numerous; and if a person attempt to pick the lock by ringing the changes on all these combinations, it would very likely require the lives of a dozen Methuselahs to bring the enterprise to an end. ”

“ The filing of a key is important; for not only is the whole key made bright, but the wards are cut by the file and chisel. Boys and youths are employed in filing the common keys; but those of better quality are entrusted to men.
The apprenticeship system is carried on to a remarkable extent among the lock and key makers of Willenhall. The small masters take apprentices at any age at which they can work. Some of them employ only apprentices, never paying wages for journeymen, but always taking on a new apprentice as soon as a former one is out of his time. ”

“ Being comparatively a new community, and being at liberty to select for imitation or for improvement whichever of the usages or systems in the old country they may prefer, the Americans have preferred to adopt the factory system rather than the workshop system, and to carry out the former to an extent not yet equalled in England—not yet equalled, we mean, in the number of trades to which it is applied. ”

“ In banks there is no better plan than has been ere now adopted of making the iron safe a great cube, with the door at one side, placing the whole safe with its bottom resting upon the stem or plunger of an hydraulic press, the cylinder of which is fixed in the bottom of the pit in the solid earth, of a size capable of enabling the whole safe to be bodily lowered down into the cavity at the end of the day’s work, and pumped up again out of its hiding-place the next morning. ”

“ The key-hole is of such a size as to admit the key only when the web is pressed close up to the barrel. When the key in this state is introduced, and is begun to be turned round, one of the notches in the web works into a raised circular edge of steel, placed eccentrically with regard to the lock-pin; so that as the key is turned, the web becomes drawn out, and is at its greatest elongation when it arrives at the tumblers: in the second half of its circular movement, the key becomes contracted to its original dimensions, and can then be removed from the lock. ”

“ PREFACE. The reader is entitled to know the origin of the small work which he holds in his hands.
In August 1852, being about to write a short article on Locks for a Cyclopædia of Useful Arts, of which I am the editor, I consulted my esteemed and lamented friend, the late Professor Cowper, of King’s College, as to the desirability of explaining to the general reader the defects of some of our English locks, which, previous to the celebrated “lock controversy” of 1851, had borne a high character for skilful construction, beauty of workmanship, and undoubted security. ”

“ Of the numerous but smaller varieties known by the collective name of cabinet locks, there are the cupboard, the bookcase, the desk, the portable desk, the table, the drawer, the box, the caddy, the chest, the carpet-bag, and many other locks. All these locks are further called straight, when the plate is to be screwed flat against the wood-work; cut, when the wood is to be so cut away as to let in the lock flush with the surface; and mortise, when a cavity is excavated in the edge of the door for the reception of the lock. ”