fig. 51. Mr. Denison’s large lock.
fig. 51. Mr. Denison’s large lock.
The handleHshould be so made, that as soon as the fantailedpiecefhas sent the bolt just clear of the tumblers, the other arm to the right ofHmay begin to move the tumblers; but the fantail need not send the stump above one-sixteenth of an inch beyond the tumblers; and the curtain-plug and bolt must be so adjusted that the curtain cannot be pushed in until the bolt is so far out that the stump is this one-sixteenth of an inch beyond the tumblers. The curtainKneed only be a thin piece of steel, and the boltBmust be thick enough for the curtain to go down just to the level of the thin platePbetween the bolt and the first tumblerT. The curtain-plugpis made as long as the key-hole and rather broader, and of the shape represented, partly for the sake of steadiness in pushing in the curtain, and also for more completely protecting the key-hole; for if an attempt be made to pick the lock by drilling into the key-hole, the drill will pass into the inside of the door and not into the inside of the lock.[10]
[10]Mr. Denison informs us that there is a further contrivance, which he will explain privately to any persons who wish to manufacture these locks, of which the object is, not to add any thing to the security of the lock under ordinary circumstances, but to provide against the unusual case of a very dexterous thief having occasional access to the lock when open; in which case (but for some such further provision) he might manage to construct a false key capable of opening the lock at any other time, by a method which, for obvious reasons, it is not advisable to publish.
[10]Mr. Denison informs us that there is a further contrivance, which he will explain privately to any persons who wish to manufacture these locks, of which the object is, not to add any thing to the security of the lock under ordinary circumstances, but to provide against the unusual case of a very dexterous thief having occasional access to the lock when open; in which case (but for some such further provision) he might manage to construct a false key capable of opening the lock at any other time, by a method which, for obvious reasons, it is not advisable to publish.
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. Besides this, the real strength and security of such safes is only that due to the small lock which locks into the main bolt; whereas in Mr. Denison’s lock the security and strength are those due to the lock itself, with its large andstrong tumblers, and other provisions peculiar to its construction; and the key for a lock of the largest size, which was lately exhibited at the Society of Arts by Messrs. S. Mordan and Co., the makers, only weighs a little more than a quarter of an ounce. It may be mentioned that for large locks the key may be solid, although in the small ones it is more convenient to have a pipe-key, on account of the different construction of the curtain.
fig. 52. Mr. Denison’s small lock.
fig. 52. Mr. Denison’s small lock.
The arrangement of the small lock for drawers, &c. is somewhat different from that of the large ones, and will be understood by referring tofig. 52. The action of the handleHon the boltBand on the tumblersTis sufficiently clear from the figure. The curtain in this case has no plug, but is only a flat plate held up by a thin spring behind it, and moving up and down on the drill-pin of the key, and kept from turning by having one edge against the side of the lock. The bolt has a kind of second stump, only coming up so high as to be able just to pass under the corner of the curtain when it is up, but not able to pass when the curtain is at all pressed down by any thing inserted in the key-hole. In a drawer lock the key has only to be turned a quarter round in order to raise the tumblers. In small locks, the friction of the tumbler-plates isquite enough to keep them in any position, without putting the pin in the middle so as to balance them, as in large locks with heavy tumblers.
In the making of these locks the key must be made first, with proper provisions to prevent the repetition of the same pattern; a kind of pattern or model for locks of each size should be made; the tumblers put on the pin with plates of the intended thickness between, and when raised by the key to the proper height they should be clamped down; and the jaws for the stump of the bolt may then be cut by a circular saw moving in a slit in the model corresponding to the place of the stump. The tumblers for large locks may be cut off from a strip of hoop-iron to the proper lengths by a stamping cutter, giving them the proper circular end, and a punch might at the same time make the pin-hole in the middle. The tumblers for small locks should be stamped out of sheet brass or iron.
It will thus be evident that from the general simplicity of construction, and the small amount of finish required in the working parts, this lock can be made at small cost. We may also add that this lock is as creditable to the public spirit as to the mechanical skill of the inventor; for the lock is not patented, patents being, in Mr. Denison’s estimation, obstructions to the progress of science.
The next result of the “lock controversy” which we have to notice is the production of not less than three improved locks by Messrs. Chubb. We thought it our duty to invite the attention of this celebrated firm to the preparation of thisRudimentary Treatise, and in answer to the application of our publisher we received the following communication from Messrs. Chubb, which we insert verbatim:—
“It will not be necessary to describe the lock as originally made, as a description of it will be found in Mr. Chubb’s paper read before the Institution of Civil Engineers.
“Lock No. 1.—The first of the improvements introduced consists of a barrel, to which a circular curtain is attached, revolving round the drill-pin in the lock; so that if any instrumentis introduced to attempt to pick it, the curtain immediately closes up the key-hole, and prevents the introduction of any auxiliary instruments, there being several required in action at once to produce any effect.
“If by any means these several instruments can be introduced simultaneously, the barrel keeps them all confined in a very small space, preventing their expansion, and renders it impossible to work them independently of each other; therefore they are of no avail, being incapable of acting as more than a single pick, which is perfectly useless. The barrel and curtain have each been previously usedseparatelyin locks, but until patented by Mr. De la Fons in 1846 they had not been usedin combination. Neither of them, used separately, is of much use, but when combined they afford a very great security. Locks have been, and still are shewn, containing either the barrel or curtainsingly, and as these have been picked, it has been asserted that the improvement now introduced in Chubb’s lock is equally insecure; but a slight examination of the difference in their construction will prove the contrary. Mr. Chubb has purchased the patent-right of this part of Mr. De la Fons’ invention, and applies it to all his locks.
“Lock No. 2.—The next improvement, recently patented by Mr. Chubb, is based upon the assumption that there may be a possibility of overcoming the security of the barrel and curtain as already described (although this assumption is not in the slightest degree admitted), and consists in applying what is called a ‘tumbler-bolt,’ working on a hinge connected with the main bolt. The web of the key does not in any case touch the main bolt in unlocking, but acts only on the tumbler-bolt. All the tumblers must first be lifted, each to its proper position, before the tumbler-bolt will act. Should any pressure be applied to either bolt before the tumblers are all at their exact position, the effect would be to throw the bolts out of gear, and thus effectually to stop the stump of the main bolt from passing through the racks of the tumblers. None of the many plans of picking which have been suggested, such as smoked key-blanks,thin key-bits, &c., would be of the least avail against a lock made on this principle. Different kinds of detectors may be applied to these locks. It is submitted that this lock, retaining all the simplicity and durability which have distinguished Chubb’s lock for so many years, and combining with them these important improvements, affords a complete security against all surreptitious attempts of any nature. Locks on the same principle are being made on the permutation plan, with any number of tumblers, and any number of changes in combination that may be desired.
“It has been suggested that the ‘detector,’ instead of giving additional security to Chubb’s lock, affords a partial guidance to a person attempting to pick it. This objection holds good to a certain extent in these locks as originally made, in which all the tumblers had anequalbearing against the detector-stump; but in the locks as now constructed this objection is entirely obviated, by giving the tumblers anunequalbearing, whereby, if an operator feels the obstruction of the detector-stump, he cannot tell whether the tumbler which he is lifting is raised too high, or not high enough.
“Lock No. 3.—For banks, Mr. Chubb has introduced what he particularly calls his ‘bank lock.’ It contains a barrel with a series of curtains. While the key-hole is open, all access to the tumblers from the key-hole is completely cut off by two sliding pieces of solid metal, which fit closely on either side of the barrel. These pieces are acted upon by an eccentric motion, so that when the key is applied to the lock, and turned in it, the key-hole is shut up by the revolution of the curtains, and then only do the sliding pieces of metal move aside to allow the key to act upon the tumblers. These pieces return to their position when the key has passed; therefore, while the key is lifting the tumblers, all communication is cut off from the exterior of the lock by these sliding pieces and the series of curtains. The bolt is made in two pieces, the main bolt never being in contact with the key, which acts only on the talon-bolt, and by it transmits the motion to the main bolt. Afterthe action of locking, the talon-bolt is partly repelled, and a lever or ‘dog’ connected with it locks into a series of combinations arranged upon the front parts of the tumblers, and holds them securely down, so that none of them can be lifted in the least degree until the talon-bolt is thrown forward to release them, If, therefore, any pressure be applied to this talon-bolt, to endeavour by its help to ascertain the combinations of the tumblers, it will only the more tightly lock them down, and render the attempt ineffectual. By another contrivance it is rendered impracticable to move a pick or picks round in the lock more than a small distance, unless the tumblers could previously be all lifted to their right positions, which can only be done by the right key. Should one or more of the tumblers be surreptitiously raised by any possible means, they cannot be detained in this uplifted position, for the action of turning back the pick to try to raise another tumbler sets in motion a lever which allows the tumblers already raised to drop to their former position, leaving the operator just as far from the attainment of his object as at the outset.”
Such is the statement with which Messrs. Chubb have favoured us respecting their three new locks. We are willing to admit the enterprising spirit which has led to their production, and the ingenuity which has been bestowed on their construction; but whether they mark a step in advance in the art of lock-making may perhaps admit of doubt. With respect to the lock No. 1, we would remark, that locks with the barrel and curtain combined were made by Mr. Aubin of Wolverhampton in 1833, and that a specimen of such a lock was exhibited on his stand of locks in the Great Exhibition. Locks with the combined barrel and curtain were also made and sold by Mr. Jones of Newark, N.J., as stated atp. 104.
With respect to the lock No. 2, the object of thetumbler-boltis evidently intended to produce the same effect as themovable stumpin Mr. Hobbs’s protector-lock,fig. 47, page 100; but with greater complexity in the construction, there is less efficiency in the action of this part of Mr. Chubb’s lock ascompared with that of Mr. Hobbs, inasmuch as a pressure of the stump against the tumblers, corresponding with the strength of the spring which holds the bolt in its place, can always be produced, thereby giving friction, and affording indication as to which tumbler it is that is in tight contact with the stump.
With respect to the barrel and curtains of lock No. 3, and all similar contrivances, the object of which is said to be to prevent the entrance into the key-hole of all instruments except the proper key, we would offer the self-evident remark, that the same aperture which admits the key will also admit some other instrument. In the case of Mr. Chubb’s “bank-lock,” it may be questioned whether the revolving curtain, &c. give it any advantage over the other locks already referred to which are furnished with similar contrivances. The effect of thetalon-boltin this lock appears to be the same as that of the false notches, namely, to hold the tumblers in the position in which they were placed when the pressure was applied. Hence, a pressure applied to the talon-bolt affects the parts which come in contact with the key in the act of locking and unlocking; and this circumstance brings the lock under the application of the principle stated at page 99, and thus, if this principle be admitted, may render the security of the lock somewhat questionable.
Various other locks have been brought out since the date of the “lock controversy” in the year 1851. We would gladly notice them all, did they shew novelty of design and mark an advance in the art of the locksmith. We must, however, admire the ingenuity with which Mr. Hobbs’s movable stump has been more or less adopted; but in the attempts to imitate it the objection has not been removed, that it is possible to produce on the tumblers a pressure or friction equal to the strength of the spring which holds the tumblers down.
There is, however, a lock which has lately been introduced to the public, which calls for special notice, on account of the high honours which have been bestowed upon it. We refer tothe prize lock of the Society of Arts, London, the invention of Mr. H. J. Saxby of Sheerness, who has received the Society’s medal and the sum of ten guineas as the reward of his ingenuity. The interior of this lock consists of a cylinder with four pins or slides radiating from the centre, and pressed into the key-hole by means of spiral springs. The pins project beyond the periphery of the wheel or cylinder, and into slots in a ring which is affixed to the case of the lock, thereby preventing the cylinder from being turned. On each pin is a notch, so placed that when the proper key is inserted into the key-hole, the notches on the several pins will be brought into a position such as will allow the cylinder to turn. The turning of the cylinder in this, as in the Bramah lock, shoots the bolt.
A lock on precisely the same principle, but more secure in its construction, was described by Mr. Hobbs in a paper read by him before the Society of Arts in January 1852, when diagrams illustrative of the same were exhibited. This paper was not reported at any length in the journal of the Society’s proceedings; but the same paper was read by Mr. Hobbs, March 1, 1852, before the Liverpool Polytechnic Society, and a full report thereof, and a description of the lock in question, is given in the “Transactions” of that Society, from September 1849 to December 1852 (8vo, Liverpool, 1853). This lock is no other than the Yale lock already noticed at page 83, and is thus described at page 196 of the “Transactions:”
“Another description of cylinder-lock was invented, a few years since, by a Mr. Yale of the State of New York, U.S.A.
“The Yale lock has two cylinders, one working within the other; and they are held together by a series of pins reaching through the cylinders into the key-hole, which is in the centre. On the back of the inner cylinder is a pin that fits into a slot in the bolt, and moves it as the cylinder is turned. The pins that hold the cylinders together and prevent the inner one from turning, are cut in two at different lengths. The key is so made, that by inserting it into the key-hole the pins are moved, so that the joint in the pins meets the joint betweenthe cylinders, and allows the inner one to be turned. But, as with the slides of the Bramah lock, should any one of the pins be pushed too far, the cylinder is held quite as firmly as though it had not been touched. Some of these locks have been made with as many as forty pins; and to a person unacquainted with the principles on which locks are picked, they would seem to present an insurmountable barrier.
“Figure 1[11]represents the case of the lock containing the boltA, having a grooveB, to receive the pinCon the cylinder. Figure 2 shews the cap or top-plate of the lock, and the cylinders;D Dis the outer cylinder, that is stationary, being fastened to the plate;E Ethe inner or moving cylinder;F Fthe four rows of pins, being cut in two at different lengths, and reaching through the cylinders into the key-hole;G Gare the springs that press the pins to their places;Cthe pin that fits into the groove and moves the bolt. Figure 3 is an end view of the key, shewing four grooves. Figure 4 is a side view, shewing the irregular surface of the grooves by which the pins are adjusted.
[11]This and the following figures refer to the diagrams exhibited by Mr. Hobbs.
[11]This and the following figures refer to the diagrams exhibited by Mr. Hobbs.
“For the purpose of picking the lock, an instrument is made that will fit between two of the pins; to that is attached a lever and weight, thereby getting a pressure on the cylinder and causing the pins to bind; then with another instrument the pins are felt, and as they are found to bind, they are pressed in until they are relieved (as they will be when the joint comes to the right place), thereby easily opening the lock. There is a great similarity in the operation and security of this and the lock manufactured by Mr. Cotterill of Birmingham.”
In theSociety of Arts Journalfor the 24th June, 1853, is a letter from Mr. Hobbs on the subject of the prize lock, which, it appears, he picked, “in the presence of parties connected with the Society, in the short space of three minutes.”
The manufacture of locks and keys, considered as a department of working in iron, is one that requires, and indeed admits of, very little description. The hammer, the file, the drill, the fly-press, are the chief instruments employed; the iron itself being brought to something like the desired state and form by rolling or casting, or both. But the manufacture is interesting in its social features—in its relation to the persons employed and the buildings occupied. One by one, several departments of industry have progressed from thehandicraftto thefactorysystem—from that system in which a man and a few apprentices work in a small shop in the lockmaker’s garret or kitchen, to that in which organisation is maintained among twenty or fifty or a hundred men. Locks have scarcely yet passed out of the first stage, but there is no good reason whatever why they should so remain; there are as many reasons for progress in this as in other arts, and indications are not wanting that some such progress will be made.
So far as England is concerned, the neighbourhood of Wolverhampton is the great storehouse whence locks are obtained. Eminent lock-makers reside in London and in other principal towns; but Wolverhampton is regarded by all as the centre of the trade. This is not a modern localisation, for we have information respecting the locks of Wolverhampton a century and a quarter ago. Among the Harleian Manuscripts is an account of “The Voyage of Don Manuel Gonzales (late merchant), of the City of Lisbon in Portugal, to Great Britain: containing an Historical, Geographical, Topographical, Political, and Ecclesiastical Account of England and Scotland; with a Curious Collection of things particularly rare, both in Nature and Antiquity.” This Ms. appears to have been writtenabout 1732; it was translated from the Portuguese, and printed in Pinkerton’s Collection of Voyages and Travels. With reference to Wolverhampton, Gonzales says: “The chief manufacturers of this town are locksmiths, who are reckoned the most expert of that trade in England. They are so curious in this art, that they can contrive a lock so that if a servant be sent into the closet with the master-key, or their own, it will shew how many times that servant hath gone in at any distance of time, and how many times the lock has been shot for a whole year; some of them being made to discover five hundred or a thousand times. We are informed also that a very fine lock was made in this town, sold for 20l., which had a set of chimes in it that would go at any hour the owner should think fit.” If Gonzales were correct in these descriptions, they indicate an exercise of considerable ingenuity in lock-construction, especially in reference to the lock which keeps a registry of the number of times it has been opened. There is abundant evidence that the old lock-makers were very fond of these knick-knack locks, which would do all sorts of strange and unexpected things; and this may in part account for the great favour in which locks have been held by amateur machinists.
The lock-manufacture in South Staffordshire is of a remarkable character, comprised as it is within so small an area. Although Wolverhampton is known commercially as the chief depôt of the English lock trade, yet it is at Willenhall, three or four miles eastward of that town, that the actual manufacture is chiefly carried on. When the Commission was appointed a few years ago to inquire into the condition of children employed in trades and manufactures, Mr. R. H. Horne was deputed to examine the Wolverhampton district; and his report is too curious, and too closely connected with our present subject, to be passed unnoticed. We here give an abstract of such parts of his report as bear reference to the lock-makers of Willenhall.
Almost the entire industry of Willenhall is in the threearticles of currycombs, locks and keys, and articles connected incidentally with locks, such as bolts and latches. At the time Mr. 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 thePost-Office Directoryof 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; one is arim-lockmaker, another atrunk-lockmaker, a third acabinet-lockmaker, a fourth apadlockmaker, a fifth amortice-lockmaker, and so on. But a much more singular feature is, that lock-making is combined with retail dealing of a totally different kind; thus among the occupations put down opposite the names of individuals are, “key-stamper and beer-retailer,” “door-lock maker and beer-retailer,” “grocer and trunk-lock maker,” “Malt-Shovel tavern-keeper and rim-lock maker,” “lock-maker and provision-dealer,” “grocer and key-maker,” “cabinet-lock maker and Woolpack tavern,” “key-stamper and registrar of births, &c.,” “Hope and Anchor and cabinet-lock maker,” “auctioneer and locksmith,” “rim-lock and varnish maker,” and so forth. It is probable that in some of these cases the wife attends to the retail shop, while the husband attends to the workshop.
Among all the lock-manufacturers of the town there are scarcely half a dozen in what may be termed a large way of business; there are many who employ from five to fifteen pairs of hands, but the great majority are small masters who are themselves working mechanics, and are aided by apprentices from one to four in number, perhaps two on an average. Mr. Horne thinks that there were not fewer than a thousand boys at work in the town, chiefly upon locks and keys. The children and young persons are employed at all ages, from seven up to manhood; from the earliest age, indeed, in which they are able to hold a file. It is a characteristic fact, where somany of the male inhabitants are employed at the bench from such early years, that a certain distortion of figure is observable; the right shoulder-blade becomes displaced and projects, and the right leg crooks and bends inwards at the knee, like the letter K,—it is the leg which is hindermost in standing at the vice. The right hand also has frequently a marked distortion. “Almost every thing it holds takes the position of the file. If the poor man carries a limp lettuce or a limper mackarel from Wolverhampton market, they are never dangled, but always held like the file. If he carry nothing, his right hand is in just the same position.”
The hours of labour among the small masters are scarcely brought within any system at all; for all the work is piecework, not paid for by the day or hour; and each man works as long as he likes, or as long as his business impels him. Some will file away from four or five in the morning till eleven or twelve at night. In the larger shops, where there are many hands employed, they come to work when they like, leave when they like, and do as much work as they like when there; this freedom of action being spread over a working-day of perhaps sixteen hours. The masters say that the men prefer this system, or want of system, to any thing more precise and regular. In the beginning of the week there is often much idleness and holiday-keeping; and the Willenhall men make up for this by a day of sixteen, eighteen, or even twenty hours’ work towards the end of the week. In the beginning of the week, men and boys have defined hours and definite periods for meals; but towards the end of the week, when hurry and drive are the order of the day, they eat their meals while at work, and bolt their victuals standing. “You see a locksmith and his two apprentices, with a plate before each of them, heaped up (at the best of times, when they can get such things) with potatoes and lumps of something or other, but seldom meat, and a large slice of bread in one hand; your attention is called off for two minutes, and on turning round again, you see the man and boys filing at the vice.”
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 arecast, these locks are made byforging,pressing, andfiling. 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. The presses are of various sizes, but all require much strength to work them; the press has a horizontal lever, crossing the top of a vertical screw, and there is generally an iron weight at the end of each arm or half of the lever to increase the power; one of the lever arms is grasped in the right hand of the presser, and whirled round with a jerk; while the fingers of the left hand place the metal in its proper position, and remove it when it has been stamped or pressed. There is, of course, a die or cutter attached to the press, to cut the metal in the proper form. Sometimes the press has only one arm to the lever, and no weight at the end of this, so that the labour of working is much increased. Children and youths are employed at this process, so far as their strength will admit. The last process,filing, is that by which the separate pieces are shaped and smoothed for adjustment in their proper places; here children and youths are almost exclusively employed; they stand upon blocks so as to be able to reach the vice, and then work away with the file, unrelieved by any change in the nature of the process.
In key-making the processes may be said to compriseforging,stamping,piercing, andfiling. The forging differs very little from that required in making the pieces for a lock. The stamping is effected by placing the end of an iron wire, taken red-hot from the forge, into one half of a key-mould made in a block or kind of anvil; a heavy weight is then raised between an upright framework, in the grooves of which it runs by means of a cord; the cord is drawn by both hands, withthe assistance of one foot in a stirrup attached to the end of the cord; at the bottom of the weight thus raised is the other half of the key-mould. Such being the nature of the stamping apparatus, the process is thus conducted: the foot in the stirrup being suddenly raised, and the cord loosed, the weight falls upon the red-hot wire, and the blow stamps it into the two moulds or half-moulds, which are brought accurately together by means of the slides or side-grooves in the framework. The rough key is also trimmed and cleared by the pressing apparatus; that is, the surplus metal all round is cut off by a single blow; and the metal which fills up the ring or handle of the key is cut or pressed out in the same way. This is a heavy part of the key-work, for which the labour of men rather than that of boys is required. The process ofpiercingthe key consists in making the pipe or barrel, required for most keys, except those which are intended to open a lock for both sides; the pipe is drilled by a small machine worked with the foot like a lathe; it is a process requiring more skill than strength, relatively to other parts of the manufacture. Thefilingof 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. The boys are mostly procured from other towns, and they bring with them a small apprenticeship-fee and a suit or two of clothes. They are bound to the masters by legal indenture or contract; and the masters board and lodge and clothe them during their apprenticeship. One consequence of this system is, that when the apprentice has served his time, he is almost driven to become a small master himself from want of employment as a journeyman;and he then takes apprentices as his master did before him. This accounts for the fact that in Willenhall there are few large manufacturers and few journeymen; while there is a constantly-increasing number of small masters and of apprentices.
The Willenhall makers nearly all look to the Wolverhampton factors or dealers for a market for their wares—so far at least as concerns locks and keys; there are some other articles which they sell more frequently to Birmingham houses. The master and an apprentice, or perhaps two, generally trudge off to Wolverhampton on a Saturday, bearing the stock of locks which he may have to sell; and the money receipts for the locks or keys sold are usually in part spent at the large market of Wolverhampton previous to the homeward journey. The Willenhall men take contracts at so low a price as to prevent the competition of other places; it is stated, that whatever be prices elsewhere, nothing can come below the Willenhall prices for cheap locks. The men work hard for small returns, and yet they have a strong yearning for their own town. A Willenhall girl will seldom marry except to a townsman; and thus they intermarry to an extent which maintains their characteristics as a peculiar community. As an example of their disinclination to leave their own town, Mr. Horne states the following circumstance: “Some years ago a factor, who had projected a manufactory in Brussels, engaged some five-and-twenty Willenhall men, whom he was at the expense of taking over. He gave them all work, and from hard-earned wages of from 9s.to 15s.a-week, these ‘practised hands’ found themselves able to earn 3l.a-week and upwards. But they were not satisfied, and began to feel uncomfortable; first one left, and returned home; then another; then one or two; till, in the course of a few weeks, every man had returned to Willenhall”—there to work harder and earn less.
It is just possible that the application of the factory system to lock-making may first become important by making thebestlocks cheaper than they can be made by the handicraft method;for there seems not much probability, at least for a great length of time to come, that any new system will be able to compete with Willenhall in the common locks—those of which more thousands are sold than there are tens of the better locks. In this, however, it would not do to predict rashly. Hand-loom weaving is cheap enough, unfortunately for those who practise it; but yet the factory system comes down as low as the lowest hand-loom weaving.
The editor of Hebert’sEncyclopædia, after noticing the facilities for opening most locks by copying the key, makes the following announcement: “It affords the editor of this work much satisfaction to state, that he has in his possession a lock, the key of whichcannot be copied, a locksmith possessing no tools by which an exactly similar one can be made; the machine by which the original one was made is so arranged as to be deprived of the power of producing another like it. The lock is very simple, very strong, and can be very cheaply made. The cost of a complete machine to make them would be about 100l.; with that they might be manufactured at one-half the expense of any patent lock. The inventor is desirous to have the subject brought before the public under a patent; but want of time to devote himself to such an object at present obliges him to lay it aside.” The invention not being patented, the editor of course gave no diagram or engraving of the lock or machine; nor does there appear to have been a patent obtained during the sixteen or eighteen years which have elapsed since the above notice was published. There are, however, mechanical principles sufficiently well known to lead to a belief that such a machine is practicable; a ticket-printing or numbering machine will, in printing 100,000 tickets, produce such variations that no two impressions shall be identical; and a key-making machine might, after fashioning a particular part of each key, modify the arrangement of certain wheels and pinions so far as to produce a slightly different result when the next key is to be operated on.
In the manufacture of locks and keys generally, there isno reason why the factory system should not, to a certain extent, be applicable. By this will be understood, the production of similar parts by tools or machines, graduated in respect to each other with more care than can be done by the hand method. 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; the drilling machine would supersede the drill-stock and bow, and other machines would supersede other hand-worked tools. This would be done—not merely because the work could be accomplished more quickly or more cheaply—but because an accuracy of adjustment would be attained, such as no hand-work could equal, unless it be such special work as would command a high rate of payment. For any one size in the series, and any one piece of metal in each size of lock, a standard would be obtained which could be copied to any extent, and all the copies would be like each other. To pursue our illustration, the manufacturer might have a hundred boxes or drawers, and might supply each with a hundred copies of the particular piece of metal to which it is appropriated, all so exactly alike that any one copy might be taken as well as any other. Ten pieces, one from each of ten of these boxes, would together form a lock; ten, one from each of another ten boxes, would form a second lock, and so on; and there would be, in the whole of the boxes, materials for a thousand locks of one construction, a hundred of each size.
Now the advantage of the machine or factory mode of producing such articles is this, that they can be made in large numbers at one time, whenever the steam-engine is at work; and that when so made, the pieces are shaped so exactlyalike, the screws have threads so identical, and the holes are bored so equal in diameter, that any one of a hundred copies would act precisely like all the others, thereby giving great advantages to the men employed in putting the lock together.
These principles are being applied by Messrs. Hobbs and Co. in their London establishment. A number of machines, worked by steam-power, are employed in shaping the several pieces of metal contained in a lock; and all the several pieces are deposited in labelled compartments, one to each kind of piece. The machines are employed—in some cases to do coarse work, which they can accomplish more quickly than it can be done by men; and in other cases to do delicate work, which they can accomplish more accurately than men; but so far is this from converting the men into lowly-paid automatons (as some might suppose), that the manufacturers are better able to pay good wages for the handicraft labour necessary in putting the locks together, than for forming the separate parts by hand; just as the “watchmaker,” as he is called, who puts the separate parts of the watch together, is a better-paid mechanic than the man who is engaged in fabricating any particular parts of the watch.
It may be observed that the system of manufacturing on a large scale, by many men engaged in one large building, is more nearly universal in the United States than in England. The workshop system, as pursued at Willenhall by the lock-makers, is very little practised in America. 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.
We propose to conclude this small work with a few details respecting the various patented inventions in locks, and concerning Mr. Aubin’s remarkable lock trophy. These two subjects relate to locks in general, rather than to any specified constructions in particular, and can on that account more conveniently be given here than in connexion with any of the foregoing chapters.
Mr. Chubb, in the appendix to his paper on locks and keys read before the Institution of Civil Engineers, gave a useful list of all the patents taken out in England in relation to this subject, down to the year 1849. We here transcribe this list:
List of Patents for Locks and Latches granted since the Establishment of the Patent Laws.
“As no complete list of the patents granted for locks from the time of James I. has hitherto been published, it is believed that the following list, which has been very carefully drawn up, and which comprises all patents from the year 1774, when the first patent for a lock was granted, to the present time, will be found useful as a reference for all who are interested in the subject.
Mr. Chubb also gave a list of such papers m the Transactions of the Society of Arts as refer to locks and keys.
List of References to the “Transactions of the Society of Arts,” on the subject of Locks.
Among the most curious mechanical productions in the Great Exhibition of 1851, was one which attracted very little notice, viz. that forwarded by Mr. C. Aubin of Wolverhampton. Whether it was that attention, so far as regards locks, was too much absorbed by the “lock controversy,” or whether there was a deficiency of descriptive cataloguing, no juror or newspaper critic, as far as we are aware, took notice of the production in question. In theOfficial Illustrated Catalogueit is entered simply as “Specimens to illustrate the rise and progressof the art of making locks, containing forty-four different movements by the most celebrated inventors in the lock trade.” This trophy of lock ingenuity (for such it may be justly considered to be) is now in the possession of Mr. Hobbs. Springing from a hexagonal base-piece is a central axis, about three feet in height, supporting four horizontal circular discs, placed at different parts of its height. Each of the vertical faces of the base-piece contains a lock, which is worked by its respective key. Each disc contains a number of locks: 16 on the lowest, 12 on the next above, 9 on the third in height, while a Bramah lock surmounts the whole. All the locks on the discs are so arranged that their bolts shoot outwards, or radially away from the axis of the machine. Every lock has its own proper key inserted in the key-hole; and as the locks lie down horizontally, the shaft of each key is of course vertical. There are delicate pieces of mechanism contained within the central axis and within the discs, consisting of levers, racks, and pinions; and the Bramah lock is contrived so ingeniously, that the Bramah key, by acting upon that lock, acts upon all this mechanism. The Bramah barrel, in rotating horizontally under the action of its key, gives a rotary movement to a rod passing vertically through the centre of the whole apparatus; this rod, at the levels of the several discs, acts upon racks and pinions, and these in turn act upon the key-pins of the several locks. When, therefore, the Bramah key is turned, the whole of these key-pins rotate, each exactly in the same way as if the lock were being closed or opened, and the bolts shoot in or out accordingly. The Bramah key, although it acts as a master-key, is not such as usually obtains that designation; it is simply a means of putting in action certain rack-and-pinion mechanism, which does not belong to lock-work consideredper se. All the locks are faithful representatives of the several patents or modes of construction to which they severally refer; and each exhibits the works sufficiently open to display the principle on which it is arranged. Each lock is numbered, and is referred to in an accompanying description. The works are finished withthe utmost care and polish; and the trophy being somewhat tastefully arranged, and kept under a glass shade, forms a really elegant specimen of mechanical skill.
For an account of the locks themselves which constitute this trophy, we cannot do better than avail ourselves of the description given in the article “Lock” in Tomlinson’sCyclopædia of Useful Arts, adding a few further details in respect to some of the locks of the series. The locks are arranged and numbered according to their similarity of construction; and it is instructive to remark the evidence here afforded, that many patentees would have saved much time and money if they had better known the productions of their predecessors. In describing these locks we shall do so briefly, sufficient to shew their relative principles of construction; many of them having been described more or less fully in former chapters.
No. 1 on the list is called aRoman lock; it consists of a single bolt, with a binder-spring for holding the bolt in any position in which it may be placed until a sufficient force is applied to overcome it: it embodies the simple principle on which thousands of common locks are annually made.
No. 2, called aFrench lock(all such designations are of rather doubtful correctness), resembling No. 1 in every thing except having the addition of a friction-roller. The bolt of either of these two locks can easily be forced back by pressing on the end.
No. 3 is markedAncient; it is a bolt-lock, and was found in an ancient building. It exhibits an improvement on both the former specimens, in so far as the bolt requires, before it can be shot, to be pressed down, in order to release it from a catch at the back end of the bolt; this release cannot be effected without the aid of a key or some other implement applied through the key-hole, and thus the bolt answers the purpose both of bolt and tumbler.
No. 4, also markedAncient, is in principle a single-acting tumbler-lock; that is, one in which the tumbler may fail to be lifted high enough, but cannot be raised too high, to release the bolt: whereas a double-acting tumbler, being susceptibleboth of too much and too little ascent, must be raised to one definite and precise height to attain the required object.
No. 5, anold English lock, exhibits a great advance in principle, being provided with the double action just described as being wanting in No. 4.
No. 6,modern English(no maker’s name), is a single-acting tumbler-lock.
No. 7, byMace, is a double-acting tumbler, but without exhibiting any peculiarities of construction.
No. 8 isSomerford’s first patent. It is a double-actingdrawtumbler-lock; that is, there is a tumbler which is drawn down instead of being lifted, as in most locks.
No. 9, designated, we know not on what grounds, anIndianlock, has a single-acting tumbler with a pin.
No. 10, patented by Thompson in 1805. In this lock there are two tumblers, one of which is single and the other double-acting.
Next follow a considerable number of locks, which differ one from another too slightly to render any formal description necessary. No. 11, byDaniells, is a single-acting tumbler, differing only in form from those previously used. No. 12 is byWalton. No. 13 isBarron’sfirst patent, taken out in 1774. No. 14 is byBickerton. No. 15 is aDutchlock. No. 16 is byDuce, senior. No. 17, bySanders, is a lock with four double-acting tumblers. No. 18, patented byCornthwaitein 1789, is so nearly like Sanders’s, brought before public notice in 1839, as to corroborate what we have said concerning the identity, or at least close resemblance, of inventions widely asunder in point of time. No. 19 is byRichards and Peers.
No. 20 isSomerford’ssecond patent; a lock which seems to embody the principle of Mr. Tann’s “reliance-wards,” patented many years later. No. 21 isRowntree’slock, patented in 1790. No. 22 is the first patent lock ofDuce, junior, dated 1823. No. 23 isParsons’first patent, of 1832. No. 24 isBickerton’ssecond. No. 25, patented byPricein 1774; this, so far as at present appears, was the first lock ever constructedwith four double-acting tumblers, bearing a closer resemblance than would generally be supposed to those patented by other persons in more recent years. No. 26 exhibits a somewhat similar coincidence. It was introduced by Aubin in 1830, and is furnished with arevolving curtainfor the purpose of closing the key-hole during the revolution of the key. Other inventors have since then adopted the revolving curtain; and in a patent taken out so recently as 1852, this appendage is claimed as part of the patent.
No. 27 isBarron’ssecond patent, dated 1778; a lock which has perhaps been the model for a larger manufacture of plain simple tumbler-locks than any other. No. 28 is byBird, 1790. No. 29 is the second patent ofDuce, junior. No. 30 isRuxton’s, 1818. No. 31 isChubb’ssimplified lock, 1834. No. 32 is byMarr. No. 33, byTann, is the “reliance-ward” lock adverted to above as having been anticipated, in respect to its leading principle, bySomerford’ssecond patent. No. 34 is byHunter, 1833. No. 35 isParsons’second patent, of the same year. No. 36 is byLang, 1830. No. 37 isLawton’s, dated 1815. No. 38, patented byStruttin 1839, has an arrangement for holding the tumblers, in the event of a pressure being applied to the bolt; an arrangement bearing a considerable resemblance to one recently adopted in Chubb’s bankers’ lock. No. 39 is byScott, 1815. No. 40,Chubb’spatent of 1818, is the original detector-lock of this maker. Most of the detectors since patented by various persons are little other than variations of Chubb’s original.
No. 41,Parsons’third patent of 1833, is achangeablelock of peculiar construction. The elevation of the tumblers is regulated by an adjusting-screw passing through the lock to the inside of the door; this screw changes the positive but not the relative positions of the tumblers; so that the same difference in the steps of the key must be retained, the change being made only in the length of the bit: the number of changes for each lock is very limited.
No. 42, invented byPiercein 1840, seems to be a carryingout of the plan suggested by the Marquis of Worcester in hisCentury of Inventions, where he says that “a lock may be so constructed that if a stranger attempteth to open it, it catches his hand as a trap catcheth a fox; though far from maiming him for life, yet marketh him so, that if once suspected he might easily be detected.” In Pierce’s lock a steel barb or sharp arrow-head is concealed below the key-hole, in such a manner that if any person in attempting to open the lock should over-lift the tumbler, the barb would be thrust by a spring into his hand. It is said that the patentee himself experienced the efficacy of this invention, by receiving the barb into his own hand.
No. 43, byRuxton, patented in 1816, is furnished with a tell-tale, so arranged that if the tumbler be over-lifted in an attempt to pick the lock, a pin or catch is thrown out from the lock, which would be visible on opening the lock with the proper key. This invention preceded Chubb’s detector by two years, and would be entitled to some of the honours of originality were not Chubb’s arrangement much more simple and effective.
No. 44 isBramah’s, the patent of 1784, and the crowning lock of the trophy, by which all the others are opened. Similar locks byRussellandMordanare applications of the Bramah principle, with little or no variation.
No attempt has been made in these pages to describe every variety of lock that has been introduced. Several forms of puzzle locks, known asRussianandChinese locks, have the forms of various animals, and they are locked and unlocked by pressing upon or moving some portion of the body of the animal: the security of such locks depends in many cases upon keeping the part to be pressed or moved secret. There are also various forms of alarum locks; but these do not greatly differ from common locks, except in having certain appendages, such as a pistol, which if loaded and properly adjusted, will be fired on any attempt being made to openthe lock, either with its own key or some other instrument. Some locks are furnished with a bell or a rattle, which is rung or sprung on attempting to open the lock, and in this way the inmates of the house are informed of the attempt to effect an entrance. It will, however, be evident to any one who has read the preceding pages, that devices of this kind do not add to the security of the lock; they rather tend to degrade the art of the locksmith to that of the toyman. The locksmith, in common with every other artist, can only improve in his art by studying the principles upon which it rests, and illustrating them by the most approved examples which the constructive genius of his predecessors or contemporaries has furnished.