History Of Locks 61
< Medieval style comb key where the
spring barb is protected by a series of
fixed plates or wards. Size: 115mm. Iron
^ A Craftsman lock utilising
a complicated box of wards
^ 18th century
Box of wards
and key.
The Age of the Ward had
arrived. This period is also
sometimes referred to as the
Age of the Locksmith, the
craftsmanship in working metals
both in the complexity of the
wards and mechanism and also
in the aesthetics has never been
surpassed. Many locksmiths
guilds were established around
Europe, closely guarding their
skills and practices. The fixed
ward though had a fundamental
weakness in that a stout wire
^ A vintage Abloy padlock.
The Abloy mechanism was
first patented in the early
years of the 20th century.
Today the Abloy mechanism
continues to evolve with
embedded technologies.
^ An early Victorian
improvement patented
by Gibbons, but later
taken up by Chubb.
could be bent to a shape to reach
the tumbler thereby bypassing
the wards. This period gave rise
to the term ‘skeleton key’; it’s
worth noting that although the
term is sometimes used by the
uninitiated referring to locks
generally, the concept only
applies to fixed wards. Many
additional features were added
to improve the security such
as bells, double chambers and
double throw and sometimes
even deadly features such as
poisoned darts. Eventually
during the mid 18th century
in England, the double acting
principle was rediscovered and
applied in a way that would
inspire a new trend in lock
making.
AGE OF PATENT AND
PROPRIETY LOCKS
The 17th and 18th
centuries saw great strides in
industrialisation. The Dutch,
for instance, were not only
using windmills for pumping
water, they created all sorts of
machinery powered by them.
The Swedish born Christopher
Polheim brought many labour
saving inventions particularly to
mining in his own country and
he was in much demand around
Europe. Everyone has heard
of the English Yorkshire man
Joseph Bramah and his lock, but
he also invented the hydraulic
press and other machine tools.
All this meant that machine tools
were becoming established and
metals becoming cheaper. And
with this, as far as the locksmith
trade is concerned, there was
a great flourish in developing
^ Typical screw/push key
padlock of European origin,
new locking principles based
around security but also ease of
production, and so the Age of
Patent and Propriety Locks was
born.
The patent system also
offered protection to inventors
which encouraged cross
fertilisation of ideas. In some
cases