History Of Locks 45
< Chubbs’ Wolverhampton factory established
in the heart of the Black Country
industry and was part of the
top secret WWII team that
provided a link between
London and the south
coast command centre in
preparation for ‘D’ Day.
However, from a very early
age he had a great interest
in locks and did many part
time jobs for locksmiths.
After the war he successfully
applied for work with Chubb’s
Wolverhampton based
R&D department. Stanton
was responsible for many
improvements to both locks and
safes for his firm. For instance he
was responsible for the Chubb
Security range locks, developing
the Ava lock into a much more
secure product when the
company had acquired it, and
significant improvements to
the Manifoil lock of the day
improving it to something quite
formidable. In fact, he had a
very intimate knowledge of the
workings of this lock; he could
very often diagnose and solve
problems without resorting to a
forced entry.
Another Black Country man
Jack Taylor, born in Tettenhall,
studied in the local college of
that name. His exercise books
survived and are witness to his
foundation in the mechanical
principles. He later went on to
become chief draftsman with
H&TV who were taken over
when Yale chose Willenhall
to bring its operation to this
country.
It was here that Taylor was
tasked with designing locks for
the air raid shelters at Downing
Street and Buckingham Palace.
The drawings survived and
show the locks (and doors) had
also to be gas proof.
During WWII he was ordered
by MAP (Ministry of Aircraft
Production) to Ingersoll to
assist in designing payload
release mechanisms and
other locking devices such as
a cannon locking device for
spitfires, and also a torpedo
release mechanism for the
swordfish aircraft. It was whilst
at Ingersoll, during an air raid,
he came up with the design for
the Ingersoll 10 lever lock which
was subsequently patented and
heralded Ingersoll’s direction in
a post WWII Britain.
Finally and whilst refreshing
my mind on some of the facts
for this piece I found in ‘The
Willenhall Red Book’ for 1935
this unattributed snippet
entitled:“Lore of the Door Key
When we use a latchkey
in entering a house, most of
us have no thought of the
historical significance of the
Yale’s newly completed Willenhal factory as depicted in their 1934
catalogue No. 4E which was prepared and laid out by Taylor.
^ An illustration of Chubb’s detecting mechanism lock from
the Mechanics Magazine of 1823. Note the end gating
pockets and separate bolt stump used to reset the detector.
Tettenhall village, in the heart of the
Black Country, Jack Taylor’s birthplace.
action. Yet the latchkey has a
symbolism entirely of its own.
Examine the images of the
Egyptian deities in the British
Museum, and you will notice
in the hands of some of them
a cross with a circular handle.
It represents the Ankh, or key
of life, one of the oldest of all
religious symbols, denoting the
power to open and close the
doors to heaven.
The key had a magical
meaning for the Greeks and
Romans. Their gods were often
given the title of key-bearer,
as for example, Janus, the god
of gates, who was supposed to
unlock the doors of war and
peace.”
Jack Taylor, pictured
here in 1942, inventor
of the Ingersoll lock.
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: brian@emorlands.
com
locksmithjournal.co.uk | NOV/DEC 2015
Sponsored by ABUS