History of Locks |
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Typical early turning key padlock from Europe , Size : 81 x 150 x 45mm .
Typical screw / push key padlock of European origin .
Medieval style comb key where the spring barb is protected by a series of fixed plates or wards . Size : 115mm . Iron
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Age of the Ward
Fixed wards became ever more complex whilst at the same time a simple spring catch , called a tumbler , held the bolt in either the locked or unlocked position whilst at the same time the key could make a full revolution and could also be removed in either the locked or unlocked position .
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
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A Craftsman lock utilising a complicated box of wards .
An early Victorian improvement patented by Gibbons , but later taken up by Chubb .
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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 .
though had a fundamental weakness in that a stout wire 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 .
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18th century Box of wards and key .
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 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 the machine tools had to be invented to produce economically some of the inspired ideas , the Bramah being an early example . For the first time the principles of locking was being perused and the decoration or art of the metalwork became less
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important or at least was in keeping with a rapidly changing sense of style . Many of the great lock collections were put together during the 19th and early 20th centuries by inventor locksmiths , like Bill Stanton or Jack Taylor in the UK and Vincent Eras and Peter Frima of Holland working together testing and identifying weaknesses and seeing if old principles could be improved with new technologies or machining techniques .
The Future
The future might be electronics , certainly mechanical locks are enhanced with access control functionally in conjunction with essentially double acting patents , but I think we are a long way off abandoning mechanical backup .
What is interesting though is that those locks of previous ages are still produced today . Those wooden locks in the shape of animals , birds and insects from Mali , or the affirmation style locks from the Middle East , India and China . And those locks of the warded age still very much in production for those that wish to furnish in a particular style . A word of caution though , especially if you are building a collection , ‘ Buyer Beware ’ since some are found on line without solid provenance and may not be as old as indicated . It takes an expert to determine the true age of these items .
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
www . historyoflocks . com
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