Joseph Bramah

“ At the same Time such Competition will necessarily leave in a great Measure unemployed those expensive Implements above-mentioned, which have been made principally with a view to perfect the Invention, and which are the sole Product of the Business, and as those Tools are not adapted to any other Purpose, they will in such Case be comparatively of no Value, wherefore it will be vain for the Patentee to expect even common Interest for the Capital vested in the Concern, much less that Reward which, it must be allowed, is due to active Ingenuity. ”

“ From a clear and settled Conviction that the Instrument I discovered possessed these estimable Properties, which had been so anxiously sought by the ingenious of many Ages, I endeavoured to add to the Invention of the Machine itself such Rules and Methods of manufacturing, and so to œconomize the whole Concern, as to give the Invention its full and true Effect, and to perpetuate the same as far as possible to future Generations. By this System, which I have matured at great Pains and Expence, the Business is conducted with the utmost Regularity and Exactitude ”

“ In the early Stage of Vice, before the Mind is hardened by evil Councils and the frequent Repetition of trivial Offences, to remove the Temptation would ultimately extinguish the Desire; and indeed it is the Duty of those who possess Property to preclude all Possibility of Dishonesty; for the Servant who would never have meditated an Attempt on his Master’s Chest may be tempted to purloin his Purse if carelessly thrown in his Way. ”

“ When no Barrier has been opposed to the early Indulgence of evil Desires, and Man, led by the frequent Gratification of them, commences open Depredations on the Public, there also the Security both of Life and Property are in no small Degree dependant on the Capacity of this Instrument; for 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 picking or opening Locks, and the Instances in which they effect their Purposes without these are comparatively very few. ”

“ But the Man who gains his Subsistence by making these Locks has seldom either Talents or Will to perplex himself with studying to make each succeeding differ from all former made by himself, or any Brother of the Trade. ”

“ Though the Disposition of the Wards be ever so artful, novel, and judicious, a skilful Workman, having Access to the Entrance, will be at no Loss to fabricate a Key, which shall tally as perfectly with them as if the Lock had been open to his Inspection ”

“ The Number and Disposition of the Wards, fixed in the Passage by which the Lever or Key is conveyed to the Bolt, determines their Security, on the Bit or Web of which Key those Wards are necessarily expressed. There are few Locks in general Use, which the common Pick-lock is not perfectly competent to open; but it rarely happens that there is a Necessity even for this; for the trifling Latitude of Variation, which the Size of the Web will permit, being soon exhausted, every succeeding Lock is then the Counterpart of some former one ”

“ This is an unavoidable Consequence, resulting from the Defects of the Principle, and the Methods made use of in manufacturing them; for it is obvious, that to obtain perfect Security on this Plan, no Two Locks, the Property of separate Individuals, should ever be the same; and from whence it appears, that were there no Variations but in Principle (viz. not in Magnitude of Parts) every succeeding Lock, from the first made, must be a new Invention; and that it would be necessary to preserve a Duplicate of each, however great the Number, for the Purpose of effecting a varied Succession. ”

“ So far then as it is an Object of National Importance to improve the Morals of Mankind; so far as it is of Consequence to Individuals to guard their Lives and Effects; so far it is necessary that a Lock should be infallibly and inviolably secure. ”

“ But however competent have been the inventions of many Mechanics, the Progress of the Mischief is little abated; and it is evident to those who will attentively consider the Subject, that this Object, so very important in all civilized Countries, is beyond the Reach of human Power acting in an individual Capacity. National Evils call for national Interference; Misfortunes that fall heavy on all, demand in some way or other the Exertions of all to eradicate; wherefore the Efforts of Individuals must be seconded by the Arm of Government ”

“ For though the Invention clearly comprehends the excellent Properties above ascribed to it; yet the greatest Evil which attends common Locks, viz. an Accumulation of Duplicates, they will still be exposed to whenever they are liable to a random Fabrication, and cease to be manufactured under the Controul of a scientific and well digested System. ”

“ Sheweth, That your Petitioner, who has been the Author of many useful Inventions, obtained His Majesty’s Letters Patent, bearing Date the 23d Day of April 1784, for that Part of Great Britain called England, and the Town of Berwick upon Tweed, for the Term of Fourteen Years from the Date thereof, for the sole Use, Exercise, Benefit, and Advantage of his Invention of a new Sort of Lock for Doors, Drawers, Cabinets, and every other Purpose for which secure Fastenings are required. ”

“ Now imagine a Lock to consist of 25 Guards, and that as many Keys were prepared as would be necessary to open it under all its Variations, then the Chance of an Adventurer’s putting his Hand on the only one that would tally with the Lock under its first Arrangement will be as Unity to the Number opposite 25 ”

“ And being severally liable to an Excess of Motion as well as a Deficiency, and there being no Possibility of ascertaining the least Trace from without of the Shape of the Key necessary to give them this Motion, the Probability of Success in an Attempt to open them is wholly dependent on Chance, which Chance is as the Sum in the Table opposite the Number of Guards which the Lock contains compared with Unity. ”

“ To prevent, therefore, being involved in this Labyrinth, and to avoid the constant Accumulation of Tools, which would be inevitable, and perhaps ruinous, he adopts the settled Practice of all common Locksmiths; he procures a Set of what they call Pitching Keys, consisting of Two, Three, or Four different kinds of Wards, by which Keys are made all the Locks his Sale requires, be they ever so numerous, during the whole Course of his Life ”