Joseph Bramah

“ The dread and anxiety, which every inhabitant of the metropolis and its environs, must feel in the reflection that he sleeps with no other assurance of safety, but the hope that chance, among the multitude of objects may direct the invaders of the night to some other victim, is an evil which cannot be contemplated without horror. ”

“ It is certain, however, that no invention for the security of property has yet been offered to the world, which the ingenuity of wickedness did not find means to defeat; nor is it probable that the genius of any one man will ever strike out a method, by which all the arts and manœuvres, practised in the science of robbing, may be effectually counteracted. Modern depredation is reduced to a system, in which art and force are exerted with such skill and power, as to elude precaution, and to defy resistance. ”

“ But if the variations of Locks in which the bolt is guarded only by fixed wards could be multiplied to infinity, they would afford no security against the efforts of an ingenious locksmith. For though an artful and judicious arrangement of the wards, or other impediments, may render the passage to the bolt so intricate and perplexed, as to exclude every instrument but its proper key; a skilful workman having access to the entrance, will be at no loss to fabricate a key which shall tally as perfectly with the wards, as if the Lock had been open to his inspection. ”

“ To demonstrate this bold and alarming proposition, I shall first state the common principles which are applied in the art of Lock-making; and, by describing their operation in instruments differently constructed, and possessing different degrees of excellence, prove that the best constructed Locks, with fixed wards, are liable to be secretly opened with great facility; and are calculated only to induce a false confidence in their effect, and to throw temptation to dishonesty in the way of those who are acquainted with their imperfections. ”

“ 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 detract from the merit of such inventions, nor to dispute their utility and importance. Every approach towards perfection in the art of Lock-making may be productive of much good, and is at least deserving of commendation and encouragement ”

“ Baron’s Lock, as far as I am capable of judging, from every imputation of error, or imperfection; and, as long as it could be kept unimpaired, would be a perfect security.—But the tumblers on which its security depends, being of a slight substance, exposed to perpetual friction, as well from the application of the key, as from their own proper motion; and their office being such, as to render the most trifling lofs of metal fatal to their operation, they would need a further exertion of Mr. Baron’s ingenuity to make them durable. ”

“ To remove all temptation to dishonesty, and to give as few opportunities as possible to the indulgence of evil propensities, is as much the duty of those who possess, and wish to preserve their property, as obedience to the law, which forbids to steal, is the duty of those who may be tempted to deprive them of it. ”

“ Admitting however to the full extent, what long and uniform experience most decidedly contradicts, that the key is easily copied, it cannot fairly be urged as defeating the merit of the Invention. All keys may be copied, alike in wood, or any other material, which has hardness enough to overcome the friction of the Locks; the one in question will clearly appear to an unprejudiced observer, to require that mathematical similitude which the greatest care alone can produce. ”

“ Baron’s Lock the case is otherwise. He hath not only improved upon the practised method of applying the tumbler, but hath given it an office which is perfectly new, and of more importance to its security, than any impediment which art can oppose to the introduction of a false key. Instead of leaving his tumblers liable to be forced to an indefinite distance from the point at which they cease to controul the bolt; he hath confined their action within a circumscribed space, cut in the center of the bolt, of a dimension barely sufficient to the purpose they are intended to answer. ”

“ Yet it is not in humanity to behold the numberless sacrifices which are made to justice, without lamenting the ineffectual severity of the law; and earnestly withing to reduce the number of executions, by opposing methods of prevention, to the enormities which lead to such a dreadful end. ”

“ It is a maxim in morals, that no man becomes at once completely wicked. The timidity which attends the first act of dishonesty, and the remorse which it excites in the unpracticed offender, are a natural, and in general a sufficient check to the commission of very enormous crimes, till the mind is tainted by evil councils, or becomes hardened by the frequent repetition of petit offences. ”

“ The art and invention of ingenious men have in all times been applied to contrive means of security adapted to the particular dangers to which either life or property were exposed, from the nefarious practices of the day. ”

“ But if this ideal excellence was attainable, if the key could receive a form to which neither the vicious nor the ingenious could supply a counterpart, its use must be very limited; for the purchaser of a Lock, placing property under its protection, most undoubtedly guards the key with the same solicitude that he would the property which it secures. ”

“ The key having thus lost as much, as the Lock is said to have gained in point of duration, the degree of frailty is upon the whole, undiminished;—and, being less equally distributed, will of course be more inconvenient. The introduction of solid wards may therefore be more properly termed an alteration, than an improvement in the art of Lock-making. ”

“ The least motion of the barrel while the sliders are in this position, will introduce the edge of the plate into the groove thus formed by the notches, and controling the power of the spring, permit the barrel to move round and protrude the bolt. The impossibility of thus bringing the notches on the sliders to fall into a direct line, and to form a groove which shall perfectly tally with the inner edge of the plate, n, n, by any other means than the application and impulse of the key, is the principle of security which constitutes the peculiar excellence of this Lock. ”

“ Baron’s mechanical skill and invention, being as useful and important in effect, as it is new and curious in principle, must be admitted by every competent and impartial judge, to be a very valuable acquisition to the art of Lock-making.—But greatly as the art is indebted to the ingenuity of Mr. Baron, he hath not yet attained that point of excellence in the construction of his Lock, which is essential to perfect security.—His improvement hath greatly increased the difficulty, but not precluded the possibility of opening his Lock, by a key made and obtained as above described ”

“ I had not the presumption to imagine, that I could give perfection to an instrument, which men of much greater knowledge and ability, had left defective. I was, therefore, as sollicitous to avoid their excellences, as to escape their imperfections, which, are so blended in the best Locks, as to make it impossible to adopt the one, without falling into the other. ”

“ The construction of Locks, is a subject on which many ingenious mechanics have employed their thoughts; and the art has received many and great improvements from their labours. Locks have been constructed, and are at present much used, and held in great esteem, from which the picklock is effectually excluded; but the admission of false keys is an imperfection for which no locksmith has ever found a corrective; nor can this imperfection be remedied whilst the protection of the bolt is wholly confided to fixed wards. ”

“ It will be evident, that in the absence of such a key or tally, no certain information can be gained by an inspection of the projected parts of the sliders; and, as they may be severally pressed farther than requisite, as well as not far enough, every attempt towards their due adjustment must entirely depend on chance, which by demonstration is found to offer such improbability of success as amounts to a most satisfactory security, and must deter any person, acquainted with the principle, from making a trial. ”

“ It is observable that those, who are taken in the desperate occupation of house-breaking, are always furnished with a number and variety of keys, or other instruments, adapted to the purpose of picking, or opening Locks; and it needs no argument to prove, that these implements must be essential to the execution of their intentions; for unless they can secure access to the portable and most valuable part of the effects, which in most families are deposited under the imaginary security of Locks, the plunder would seldom recompence the difficulty, and hazard of the enterprize ”

“ The hasty execution of a midnight robbery, in which the servants of the family do not act a part, will not allow sufficient time, if proper instruments were at hand, to overcome the difficulties, which ingenious locksmiths have opposed to foreign invaders: my chief attention, therefore, was applied to contrive a security against the advantage which a domestic enemy possesses, in the opportunity of executing his purposes at leisure. ”

“ But inviolable security is not the only excellence they possess; the simplicity of their principle gives them likewise a great advantage over Locks that are more complicated, in point of duration; for their essential parts being subject to no friction, nor exposed to any possible accident from without, they will be less affected by use, and less liable to stand in need of repair. ”

“ From the various methods, which have been successively used to secure property, or to insure personal safety, it may be collected that the arts of violation have improved in at least an equal degree, with the contrivances which mechanical ingenuity hath invented and applied for security. ”

“ These are a kind of grapple, by which the bolt is confined as well in its active as its passive station, and rendered immoveable, till set at liberty by the key. One of these instruments is commonly introduced into all Locks that are of any use or value; it is lodged behind the bolt, and is governed by a spring which acts upon the tumbler, as the tumbler acts upon the bolt. The application therefore of any force to the tumbler, which is superior to the force of the spring, will cause it to quit its hold, and set the bolt at liberty. ”

“ With respect to these Witnesses, whose principal aim was to establish a position that the key is more easily copied than any other, it is not questioned they gave, or thought they gave, an honest opinion; yet, when men are in determined hostility to a purpose which promises to affect their interest, their judgment may reasonably be suspected to want the freedom of perfect disinterestedness ”

“ Duration, and an exemption from many casual disorders, to which other Locks are liable, are qualities, which the projector of solid wards, appropriates in a peculiar degree to his invention.—That they are more durable, and less subject to disorder, than wards more delicately constructed, are claims which I believe no locksmith will dispute with him. ”