History of Locks
The Trusty safe
symbol included
two fireman’s
ladders
indicating that
even in a fire
the safe could
be relied upon.
A Milner
escutcheon
depicting a
safe unaffected
by the flames
which are
engulfing
it. The flap
extoling the
qualities of the
lock within.
A Chubb
escutcheon
depicting a fish,
thereby instantly
connecting to the
maker and also
tapping into the
ancient Chinese
symbol that a
fish sleeps with
its eyes open
and therefore is
always on guard.
question varying. So far something in
excess of twenty variants for Milner
badges have been identified.
Central to the design is a safe engulfed
in flames, and the plate also contains
the numerals ‘212’ in an oval shaped
cartouche. This refers to the temperature,
in degrees Fahrenheit, that water turns
to steam. Thomas Milner carried out
extensive trials of fire proofing for safes
and came up with the idea of creating a
chamber forming a cavity between the
outer and inner skins of the safe and
filling it with a mixture of sawdust from
a particular wood and alum. The result
being that as the temperature of the
safe rises to 212 degrees the moisture
Midland Safe Company’s symbol
of an elephant and castle visually
indicating strength and security.
The Trusty safe symbol included two
fireman’s ladders indicating that even
in a fire the safe could be relied upon.
trapped in the cavity turns to steam,
forming a barrier cooling the inside of the
safe as the outside temperature rises.
There was an instance where two
competing safe makers publically tested
each other’s safes by fire. The story
goes that two large bonfires were lit and
each safe had paper, jewellery and a live
chicken placed inside. After the allotted
time the safes were opened one at a
time. The contents of the first safe were
examined, documents and jewellery was
fine and the chicken none-the-worse for
the experience. And so the tension in
the air was palpable as the second safe
was opened, you can imagine the dismay
when the second safe was opened,
the chicken lying motionless. Sure the
documents and jewellery were fine but
the first safe seemed more efficient.
Then to everybody’s surprise the chicken
sprung to life and hopped out – it had
been severely chilled in the experiment.
Tann used the anchor symbol in his
logo with the word ‘Reliance’, tapping into
the nautical nature of an island nation.
A later Hobbs badge in bronze,
elegant in its simplicity, very often
ritually polished by proud owners.
An unusual
‘cast brass’
Tann Reliance
badge
featuring an
anchor. This
was used
on the very
highest quality
strong-room
doors.
The symbolic
shield shaped
badge was
adopted by many
manufacturers.
Those makers
that didn’t have
a Royal warrant
would sometimes
include the coat of
arms of their city.
Not all the lock or safe makers had
royal warrants, and so a lot of thought
was sometimes put into these visual
symbols. Cotterill’s badge for instance, a
circular cartouche with geometrical drops
at the quarters presented an aesthetical
pleasing design to the Victorian, mind
the wording, as one would expect
identified the maker but by naming his
manufactory ‘Climax Works’ Cotterill
gave the subliminal message indicating
the pinnacle of the art. The centre of the
badge has a shield shaped keyhole flap,
a symbol in itself, but also indicating the
lock was highly developed, it was the
pinnacle of lock design.
In conclusion, it can be seen that
the information contained in badges,
escutcheons, and logos can be used not
only to better understand those early
lock and safe makers in a very visual
and pleasing way but also they are
understandable to the wider audience.
Brian Morland, curator of the MLA
Heritage Room, HoL Archive and the
HoL 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]
MAR/APR 2020
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