History of Locks
Wartime Locksmiths
By Brian Morland
» IN SOME RESPECTS WE can draw parallels between what ’ s going on now and what was going on in the first half of the 20th century , 75 and more years ago . We are all fighting a common issue that has severely affected the way we live our lives . Both then and now Ministers of Government and Ministers of Faith are all very vocal in how to best counter the threat ; today ’ s fight very often likened to war and wartime reminded me of some lock companies and their contribution to the war time effort back then .
We had , during the present lockdown and social distancing been cataloguing some hitherto unrecorded documents and bromides , all very interesting as well as enlightening . Two companies in particular have inspired us . The first is John Tann ; the oldest iron safe maker in the world . The other is Ingersoll whose wartime innovations made a real difference and although the original company has been absorbed into the ASSA ABLOY group the Ingersoll logic continues today with a lock-case that is configured around 21st century high security requirements .
First though John Tann . Tann was established in the middle of the 18th century making iron boxes and around 1795 relaunched after extensive fire proofing tests . Edward Tann experimented with various mixtures of minerals , alum and the like , to find the most efficient substances for filling his double skinned safes . Safes with a lighter inner skin forming a chamber was filled with his combination of mineral and organic compounds that actually had a cooling effect the hotter the safe became .
So far no records have been found relating to the non-safe / lock items produced by Tann during WWI but there is quite a bit on their WWII activities such as armoured vehicle hatches and tracked bogies . Interestingly these items also had a Tann serial number as well . There was also activity in producing light steel doors that had waterproof seals and handles on both sides of the door .
An early Ingersoll flyer ; including the interesting coment : “ Locks made by Ingersoll were used throughout the war on our aircraft and they are now fitted to the leading British types , including the new jet planes ”.
Interestingly Tann , during the post WWII years , were also developing an electronic cypher style combination lock / switch / encoder similar to but far more sophisticated to the Enigma system of a few years earlier – but that ’ s another story for the future if readers are interested .
The second company that features in the archive documents is Ingersoll . The Ingersoll story starts with the manufacturing of watches which in itself is interesting and full of unexpected twists and turns and how the famous American company ’ s UK operation became totally independent . We though pick up the story during WWII when a young and talented designer / draftsman , Jack
Taylor was ordered to Ingersoll to design a reliable bomb release mechanism . Taylor had first joined H & TV in the years prior to WWII and when Yale wanted to enter the UK market they bought out an existing well established company , a method used in other countries such as the purchase of BKS in Germany . Jack Taylor found himself promoted to Head Draftsman responsible for the design and layout of the Yale catalogue in the UK and soon to have a string of designs , patents and improvements to his name . It is in this environment and his inventive capabilities that MAP ( Ministry for Aircraft Production ) seconded him to Ingersoll to design reliable latches and locks in relation
Armoured vehicle hatches , with small vision panels .
Tracked laying assemblies for the wartime effort .
Some so far unidentified Tann war time fabrications .
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SEP / OCT 2020
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