The Rape of the Lock

“ Nothing but a partial and limited view of the question could lead to the opinion that harm can result: if there be harm, it will be much more than counterbalanced by good.
The literature of lock-making is, as we have implied, very scanty, both in England and America. The French and Germans, though far below our level as lock-makers, are very superior to us in their descriptions of the construction and manufacture of locks. ”

“ To find out, and to disclose irremediable errors, in any system of art or science, which engages the confidence, and is necessary to the security, or satisfaction of mankind, is the office of an invidious and unbenevolent mind. If, therefore, the defects and imperfections, which I have imputed to, and pointed out in the principle, or the construction of all other Locks, are not effectually remedied in that which I presume to offer to the public, as a complete, and, as far as the Lock is concerned, an inviolable security ”

“ Some people expect perfect impossibilities, and imagine that, having obtained a secure lock, they have done all that is necessary. No lock whatever will guard against culpable negligence with regard to its key; or, as in the famous South-Eastern Railway bullion robbery, the treachery of supposed trustworthy servants. It will be remembered that the notorious lock-picker Agar said the robbery on this railway would be impossible unless copies of the keys could be taken. ”

“ A curious superstition about iron locks prevails in Styria and Tyrol. If you procure from a locksmith a brand-new lock and carry it to church at the time of a wedding ceremony, and if, while the benediction is being said, you fasten the lock by a turn of the key, then the young couple’s love and happiness is destroyed. Mutual aversion will supplant affection until you open the lock again. ”

“ So died a man who had accomplished the death of many another, and through his humble accomplice (who now breaks stones at Portland) , and the wretched wife found prisoned in a room upstairs, the secrets of his numerous crimes and the dark House by the Lock were revealed. ”

“ That which offered most resistance was gradually depressed till its notch was felt to hang itself upon the locking-plate; and so on till the whole were depressed in succession, exactly as they would [111] have been depressed simultaneously by the key.” Mr. Ainger then describes the contrivance which, in his judgment, seemed to render any further attempts to pick the Bramah lock hopeless. This consisted in cutting false notches in the sliders ”

“ Flint locks, whether as applied to the fowling-piece or the musket, will soon be forgotten, or remembered only to give a romantic interest to some tale of other times, as the arbalast and long-bow serve only to remind us of our Norman and Saxon ancestors! It requires some mechanical knowledge and some experience, to decide on the merit of a 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. ”

“ Both in England and in America, men are more disposed to do the work than to describe it when done. In the Encyclopædia Britannica, in Rees’ Cyclopædia, in Hebert’s Engineers’ and Mechanics’ Cyclopædia, in the Encyclopædia Metropolitana, in the Penny Cyclopædia, and in other similar works, locks are described as well as can be expected within the limits assigned to the articles. Mr. Bramah’s essay on locks, and on his own lock in particular, is one of the few English pamphlets devoted expressly to this subject. ”

“ 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. ”

“ The commercial importance of locks—though of course never seriously questioned when once fairly brought before one's attention—has been recently rendered so apparent as to have risen to the position of a public topic. If a strong room, containing gold and silver, notes and bills, books and papers—if such a room be necessarily shielded from intrusion, it becomes no less necessary that the shield should be really worthy of its name, trusty and reliable: a good lock is here nearly as indispensable as a faithful cashier. ”

“ The gate is strong and high, and the lock is sufficiently powerful to defy the assaults of anybody who has not been educated either as a locksmith or burglar. We passed under the eye of a custodian as we entered, and he followed us at a respectful distance to see that we did no damage. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Occasionally they stop to light the stranger's steps on reaching a particularly bad place, and when he has passed it they go on again; up hill and down, toward the river, and when they stop at last, it is so dark that the stranger does not know that they have reached a stone wall with an iron gate opening into an enclosure, until he comes entirely up to them.
The lock turns heavily, and Tug condescends to hold the lantern while Silas applies both hands to the key. ”

“ After he went to the iron Gate, for that must be opened too, but that Lock went damnable hard, yet the Key did open it. Then they thrust open the Gate to make their escape with speed; but that Gate as it opened made such a creaking, that it waked Giant Despair, who hastily rising to pursue his Prisoners, felt his limbs to fail, for his Fits took him again, so that he could by no means go after them. Then they went on, and came to the King's High-way again, and so were safe, because they were out of his jurisdiction. ”

“ I do not state this circumstance as a point essential or of any importance to the purpose of the lock, but to prove more clearly what I have before observed upon its principle and properties; for if such difficulties occur to a skilled workman, as to render it almost, if not altogether impracticable to form a key when the lock is open to his inspection and its parts accessible to his hand, it pretty clearly demonstrates the impossibility of accomplishing it when no part of the movement can be touched or seen. ”

“ JUGGLING WITH DEATH
“Curses on it, George; my key won’t lock it!” groaned Mark Shinburn, as he turned, twisted, and in every way tried to move the bolt of the key lock in the door of the big steel vault. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ If these outworks do not secure the bolt from the intrusion, and application of every instrument but its proper key, the Lock is inadequate to its intended purpose; and however intricate or difficult, the passage to the bolt may be rendered by a skilful and judicious disposition of the wards; yet, if any access to the bolt is practicable by a workman of equal skill with its maker, the Lock is defective in the main point of excellence, which is effectual security; and is entitled to no higher claim than comparative merit. ”

“ In connexion with the fanciful eighteenth-century locks, lately adverted to, we may remark, that no less a man than Louis XVI. was an amateur workman in this department of mechanical art—or at least in smith’s work, which in France is generally considered to include lock-making. ”

“ All the sons of your house from first to last, whether they be dark or fair, or brown, shall bear the grey lock. It will be a sign unto your posterity that much good fortune awaits them. My authority, however, is limited, and if at any time a higher power should hinder me from exerting my influence in behalf of one of your grandsons, then will the grey lock be missing from his head, and it will depend altogether on himself how his life unfolds itself. ”

“ An ordinary burglar, disguised as——”
“No, by no means an ordinary burglar! Rather a most extraordinary one! One who was so bent on getting in here that he made up to look like a man for whom a reward is offered! That’s going some!”
“But it must have been Locke—for he came in with his own night key—that is, he must have done so, or how did he get in?”
“Well, a chap smart enough to make up like Locke is smart enough to get a key somewhere or somehow. But, why? why?—that’s what I can’t understand. It can only be that there is some incriminating evidence still here regarding that murder. ”

“ It is scarcely worth while to descant upon the “middle age” of lock-making—to impart to the subject so much of dignity as to be susceptible of regular historical treatment. True, we know that wards were employed before tumblers (unless, indeed, the pins of the Egyptian lock be considered as tumblers—a character to which they present considerable claim) , and that wards may be taken as the representative of the medieval period of lock-making ”

“ 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 numerous cases that have occurred of attempts to open locks by counterfeit keys, such as the remarkable instance previously referred to, show that even with the most practised hands it is next to impossible to make from a wax impression a key that will serve for opening a good lock the very first time it is tried ”

“ 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. ”

“ All this leads necessarily to acts of rebellion among the prisoners, which in their turn lead to repression in the most abominable form, and to wholesale shootings. Brutality of the worst kind has become quite habitual in all the great lock-ups, and appalling facts will be found in the documents which I produce further on. ”

“ The simple fixed-guard or warded lock is so utterly worthless for security, no matter what amount of good workmanship be bestowed upon it, that it demands but short notice. It was contrived with the intention of making the passage to the bolt intricate; but it will be seen at once that this intricacy does not really offer any security. The wards of a lock are circular arcs of thin metal, so arranged as to require a key of peculiar pattern to pass amongst them, the shape of the cuts in the key being a section of the wards. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”