Locksmith

“ Professor Cowper expressed his strong conviction that by exposing the defects of our locks, the cause of mechanical science, as well as the public in general, would be benefited; that if our locks were defective, inventors would be stimulated to supply the defects, and the art of the locksmith would be raised accordingly. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ This key was furnished with a small iron point,—a negligence on the part of the locksmith. When this was pressed to effect the opening of the cupboard, of which the lock was difficult, the person was pricked by this small point, and died next day. ”

“ In chapter four we have a notice of such kinds of [5] smith’s work as relate to the fastenings for doors, windows, closets, chests, &c.; such as hinges, hasps, latches, bolts, and other contrivances less complex than an actual lock. This brings us, by a natural transition, to locks in general, which form the subject of chapter five, to which is attached the illustrious name of M. de Réaumur as the author. Here are given a hundred folio pages of description, illustrated by twenty folio plates relating to locks, lock-making, and locksmiths. ”

“ In January 1695, we find him again coming before the Privy Council, but this time in company with Patrick Sibbald, locksmith, the one as inventor, the other as maker, of a new lock of surprising accomplishments. It ‘gives ane account of how oft it is opened, and consequently may be very useful in many cases’—for example, ‘though the key were lost, and found by another person, it discovers if that person has opened the lock; if your servant should steal the key, and take things out of the room or cabinet, it discovers how oft they have done it ”

“ Horne wrote, in 1841, there were among the master manufacturers 268 locksmiths, 76 key-makers, 14 bolt-makers, and 13 latch-makers; besides many small masters living in such out-of-the-way corners that they escaped enumeration. In the Post-Office Directory of that district, of later date, there are entries of rather a curious character. In the first place it is observable that different kinds of locks are made by different persons, each manufacturer confining his operations apparently to one kind of lock ”

“ I think I have made out a case against the English hardware manufacturer, but when I have pointed these matters out to merchants and ironmongers, I have been met with various reasons for this manifest inferiority. I do not know how far these excuses may be valid, but one man says that the reason, as regards locks, is somewhat as follows: The locksmiths of the district wherein they are made in many cases work at their own homes; one man making one part of a lock, while other men make other parts. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Now we wish to get into the house, but we have no key; is it not so?” I nodded.
“Now suppose that you were, in truth, the owner of that house, and could not still get it; and think there was to you no conscience of the housebreaker, what would you do?”
“I should get a respectable locksmith, and set him to work to pick the lock for me.”
“And your police, they would interfere, would they not?”
“Oh, no! not if they knew the man was properly employed.”
“Then,” he looked at me as keenly as he spoke, ”

“ The walls of steel or iron which separate the security parts from the tumblers, and the cylinder which revolves with the key, present formidable barriers to all descriptions of pick-locks, and render the lock a most positive and reliable security. The tumblers consist of rolled very smooth steel plates, in which the fire-crust has not been filed away, partly in order that the lock might not need oiling, as all these parts are very smooth, and partly that the [96] combination pieces might not easily rust, a thing to which the adhering fire-crust is not favourable. ”

“ Of those practically defunct (and they are many) , my opinion of them is that the ingenuity of the inventors has generally been allowed to over- [5] run their perception of the before-mentioned fact, viz., that a lock is a very hardworked machine, and that in its construction simplicity is as necessary an element as security.
A good lock cannot have a key made to it unless another key is available to copy from or the lock itself can be broken open. Of this latter fact London burglars have not been slow to avail themselves, and they have tried it in the following manner. ”

“ The escutcheon has been a favourite resource with lock-makers. Mr. Mordan’s escutcheon, for instance, introduced before the Society of Arts in 1830, is a contrivance to be placed temporarily over the keyhole of a door, to prevent the picking of the lock during the owner’s absence. The escutcheon, or “protector,” has a short pipe which, after the door has been locked, is thrust into the keyhole; attached to the pipe is a small lock, on Bramah’s or any other convenient principle, so contrived that, on turning its key, two lancet-shaped pieces fly out laterally and bury themselves in the wood. ”

“ 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. ”

“ But the cold fact is that there is scarcely any locking device which affords less protection than the ordinary spring lock. It is the simplest thing in the world for a sneak thief to slip a thin knife between the door-casing and the strip, push back the bolt, and walk in.
Fortunately, it is equally easy to block that trick. Take a narrow piece of tin 3 or 4 in. long, bend it at right angles throughout its length, and tack it firmly in the angle between the casing and strip, so as to make it impossible to reach the bolt without tearing off the strip. ”

“ There is a mechanism of springs and levers to shoot the bolt when the pins in the plate are rightly adjusted. The arrangements in respect to the key are singular and somewhat awkward. The teeth which lock the bolt are not the same as those [63] which unlock it, the user having to change ends and adjust the bit to a socket-handle. This is one among many examples in which a lock embodies several principles, the inventor having set himself the task of combining the excellences of many diverse locks. ”

“ These are very good little padlocks, with an excellent lever action, 'dogged against detent,' as the technical phrase goes; so that only the key properly made for each lock will open it. They are so good, indeed, as locks, that it would be a waste of time to try picking them, when, because of their small size, it is so very easy to break them apart, just as you have done yourself, and just as I could probably have done in half the time, having had rather more experience. Now that is what has been done with your lock by the person who has your bonds. ”

“ When a person who was outside wished to enter, it was necessary for him to insert the key in a little hole and to raise the bolt; and in time this species of fastening was improved by the insertion of the bolt in an iron frame or rim permanently attached to the door by a chain, and fastening the door by the insertion of the hasp, through the eye of which was forced the bolt inside the lock by applying the key. ”

“ His next remark on the subject is a sensible one: “Notwithstanding the large size of these locks, and all the apparatus with which they are provided, they correspond but ill with the solidity of the rest of the coffer. If we have given a representation of one, it is chiefly to shew how little confidence one could have in such a lock, and what are its defects, in order that we may avoid them.” It is not difficult, by tracing the action of the several levers, to see how one movement of the key, in the centre of the lid, would act upon all the bolts. ”

“ That a man cannot open his own lock with his own proper key, until the lock gives permission by assuming a particular state or condition, certainly strikes one as being susceptible of many useful applications, where time is an element taken into the account.
A curious alarum-lock was invented by Mr. Meighan, in 1836, in which the bell or alarum is not placed behind a door, as in many alarum contrivances, but within the lock itself. Two or more studs are placed on the bolt, which press against the lower end of a small tumbler; the movement of the tumbler elevates a hammer ”

“ They have been too simple to require it, and too little varied to permit it. That some such fastenings must be employed wherever doors of any kind are used is sufficiently apparent; and there is a little (though only a little) information obtainable, which shews the nature of the fastenings adopted in early times. The bolt, the hasp, the chain, the bar, the latch, the lock, all were known, in one or other of their various forms, in those ages which we are accustomed to consider classical. Travellers, generally speaking, do not descend to locks, or rather they do not think about them ”

“ Where these locks are exposed to moisture or to the weather, they should be of bronze or of brass, with all of the interior construction of the same material. If required for great security, that is, for places where they are likely to be subjected to violence, they should be very heavy, and preferably provided with steel shackles. Padlocks constructed on the cylinder-lock principle may be obtained, and should always be used where a series of locks that are operated by separate keys and controlled by a master key is employed. ”

“ In a lock invented and patented by Mr. Parsons, the tumblers are of a particular form, being hinged on a pivot at their centres, and working into and out of two notches cut in the under side of the bolt. It must be obvious that many variations in the adjustment of the tumblers of locks might be made, without vitiating the principle on which the action depends.
Many inventors have tried the use of an expanding web to the key, so planned that if the step of the web be long enough to reach the tumbler, it would be too long to pass through the key-hole ”

“ In taking down a lock the beginner should work slowly and cautiously, thinking in every case before acting. His screwdriver should be pressed well-down in the notch of every screw to prevent damage to the head, and if he apprehends the slightest danger of getting “things mixed,” he should lay each screw and its piece in different places upon his bench. Of course, there will be no such necessity after a few locks have been taken down, but such a necessity might exist at the very beginning; at least there is no harm to grow out of taking what is known to be the safe side in every case. ”

“ In the processes as carried on at Willenhall, they are applied chiefly to the manufacture of mortice, box, trunk, rim, cabinet, case, bright, dead, closet, and padlocks. Except some of the parts of the brass-work, which are cast, these locks are made by forging, pressing, and filing. The forging is a light kind of smith’s work, aided by a light hammer and a small pair of bellows; children and young persons are largely employed in this process. Pressing is a kind of work by which certain parts of the lock are pressed or stamped out. ”

“ 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. Then, in the finer kinds of locks, the works are so delicate as to approach to the nicety of clockwork ”

“ The lock-bolt or bearing of the combination-lock may be of a circular, segmental, or other desired form, provided said lock-bolt is arranged and adjusted so as to turn upon a suitable axis or bearing, and is so constructed that, in one position, it will prevent the retraction of the bolt-work, so as to retain the safe or vault door locked, while, in another position, it will admit of the bolt-work being retracted for the purpose of allowing the safe or vault door to be opened. ”