History of Locks
> Spring bolt change key hotel lock , with night bolt , operated by keys outside of guest , manager and chambermaid . Inside by handle , and knob for night bolt . Guest keys open own lock only . Managers opens all lock , can also withdraw night bolt with key , and further lock up for deadlocking . Chambermaid ’ s key opens all locks on one floor as required . Dated : 1940 .
In addition to the above , the Taylors designed / built several bandit resistant display cases including one that was installed in St . Mary ’ s Church , Burghfield near Reading and housing a wooden effigy of Sir Roger de Burghfield . The effigy was stolen in 1978 and eventually found in Ghent in Belgium . The parish raised £ 10,000 to recover the effigy .
Whilst looking around the archive and considering the next document to show you , I spotted a locked deed box . I had always meant to pick it but with the passage of time forgotten about it , and not remembering what was inside .
So I settled down and set to work on it ; well one hour and 40 minutes later and quietly congratulating myself that I could still do it the job had been done ! Opening the lid the first thing I found was half a dozen postcards from the Bank of England and decided to show you these . Once I have finished writing this I shall look at the rest of the documents in this deed box and finally add them to the catalogue .
These satirical postcards from the Bank of England Museum remind me that very often customers might have a very different view of lock protocol requirement . Many of the special Victorian locks made for the BoE have been
^ The captions read ( left to right : ‘ The Hand- Writing upon The Wall ’ ‘ Midas , Transmuting all into GOLD Paper ’ ‘ Political Ravishment , or The Old Lady of Threadneadle Street in danger !’ ‘ Opening of the Budget , or John Bull giving his Breeches to save his Bacon .’ ‘ A March to the Bank ’ ‘ Bank Notes-Paper Money-French Alarmists- O , the Devil , the Devil-ah poor John Bull !!!’
previously shown in these pages these but these postcards bring into context the prevailing social and political environment of what was being protected and , and more generally perhaps , the client motivation for locksmithing services .
The next gems are from the ‘ Stanton ’ collection and very kindly donated from his family . These three hand coloured Chubb drawings are ‘ ideas ’ sketches ; certainly there are no examples of these locks or principles in the collections . Should you have come across examples of the principles in these prototype sketches do contact me . The drawings are from the Stanton collection but date to well before his time at Chubb ’ s Research and Development department .
The new archive index , once compiled , is the first place to look for whatever you are researching ; locks and locksmithing , family genealogy history , social and political intrigue , the list is endless , but one thing is certain : locks are at the core of all endeavours . There are two indexes
< The drawing describes : For dual control with full security on both keys . For safe deposit with guardians admin . Prevention against picking – ( bolt stump cannot be forced against levers . Bolt strongly secured by cam – not dependant on bolt stump . The equivalent of a lock being detected at every closing . Dated : May 1935 .
^ Change key action with two piece lever . When set to any key works like an ordinary dead lock with a single bolt stump . Dated November 1940 .
planned ; one listing all the artefacts and archive contents of the Heritage Rooms the other listing the entire collections . The Heritage Rooms version will also be downloadable .
Brian Morland , curator of the History of Locks Museum , welcomes comments on historical aspects of locks and keys and can be contacted at : curator @ emorlands . com or visit www . historyoflocks . com
JULY 2023
49
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