History Of Locks 49
< Arnheim’s
Lammellenschloss
with its giant
(110mm diameter)
circular disc like
levers, all entirely
springless.
> Arnheim’s
springless
‘Colosseum’
lock, the levers
first move
horizontally and
then vertically.
disc idea into locks for other
applications such as house
doors.
The idea must have been
commonly adopted in the
northern European countries
and western Russia as it
was taken to the new world
by immigrants. One of the
earliest was Conrad Liebric,
originally from Germany
who founded Star lock Works
in Philadelphia, America
in 1836. In the US, these
were often referred to as jail
padlocks which was a common
^ Early Abloy Padlock
application at the time, they
also found favour with the
emerging pioneering railroad
companies for use on switches
(points).
Patents started to
appear later in the 19th
century including one by J
McWilliams in 1871, where
the improvements was to do
with further refinements as to
the ingress of dirt and water
and making it more resistant
to forced entry. Another
patent quickly followed by
S Budd in 1872, here the
improvement deviated from
rotating discs, but also an early
attempt at a side bar whilst the
padlock externally remained
largely Scandinavian both in
appearance and in function
with the discs locking into slots
in the shackle.
However, the next big
step forward was some 200
years after Polhem had first
invented his lock. In 1907, Emil
Henriksson of Helsinki Finland
who added an efficient sidebar
to the common rotating disc
lock, and placing the discs in
a stack simply separates them
with fixed thrust washers to
prevent rotational carry-over.
The lock went into
production a couple of years
later, and the Abloy was formed
in 1918. The range of lock
types was greatly expanded
as well and included locks for
furniture, doors and safes.
Of course as patents come to
the end, other companies took
up the expired designs. Abloy
though continues to improve
with interactive imaginative
features and ideas.
In the same way the
manufactures saw potential in
Polhems lock, inventors such
as Henriksson, developed
and improved it. Others
were inspired to improve
^ Early Abloy Night
latch door lock
^ Early Abloy oem/
furniture lock
^ A sectional view of the Abloy lock, from their catalogue
showing the sidebar, also the fixed thrust washers
between the discs to prevent rotational carry-over.
LOCKSMITHJOURNAL.CO.UK | JAN/FEB 2016
Sponsored by Gretsch-Unitas
the ‘springless’ idea in other
ingenious ways.
The Ava mechanism,
invented by Mr Ansala of
Finland for instance, uses discs
that were sliding instead of
rotating discs. The double sided
nature of the key precisely
controlling the discs. The Ava
lock rights were sold to Chubb
in 1954; Bill Stanton of their
Research and Development
department further improving
the principle by adding false
notches and randomising
the fixed position on certain
discs, he also brought Chubb’s
sales manager at the time, Vic
Liardet’s idea of high security
‘Escort’ handcuffs to fruition.
Another company, inspired
by the springless idea was
taken to the extreme by safe
makers such as S.J. Arnheim
with their safe locks.
Therefore in conclusion
an idea that was conceived
to provide a solution to the
environmental conditions has
proved to be and continues to
inspire top security designs,
whilst still retaining the
challenging environmental
conditions to this day.
Brian Morland, curator of the
Heritage Collection of Locks
and Keys, welcomes comments
and corrections on historical
aspects of locks and keys. Brian
can be contacted by email:
[email protected]