FOILING THIEVES

Evening Star, Issue 22449, 21 September 1936, Page 12

FOILING THIEVES

THE EARLIEST LOCH INVENTED 4.080 YEARS AGO For thousands of years men have fastened up their treasures ami their homes by means ot locks, to un'asten which special keys were needed, and in the design and making of these locks and keys much mechanical ingenuity has been exercised. The earliest locks were of wood, as in Egypt and Syria, and often the keys were of the same material, though sometimes these were made of bronze and iron and consisted of a ,ong straight shank about sin long, with three or four teeth projecting at right angles. Others bad a near resemblance to the wards of modern keys, with a short shank about an inch long. Similar locks have been found represented in sculpture in Egypt, and show them to have been used for at least 4,000 years. Wooden locks have been used in the Faroe Islands down to the present century, and for 4,000 years this type of lock does not seem to have undergone any material change in construction. PENELOPE’S LOCK. Another type of ancient lock had a curved key, something like a sickle, and this was the kind referred to by Homer in his Odyssey, where Penelope is described as waiting to open a wardrobe with a “ brass key, very crooked, hafted with ivory.” When we come to Roman times we find locks and keys much more closely resembling those of modem days and working on the principle of the ordinary tumbler lock. The keys, sometimes with a solid stem and sometimes tubular, had a bit, or projecting part, which entered the lock and acted on the bolt, rack-and-pinion fashion. Some of these Roman keys had not only slits, but a number of notches in the front of the bit, implying a toothed ward plate which would bar access to the bolt unless the notches corresponded with the teeth. Thege old locks were not very complicated, but as time went on much more elaborate locks were devised, like that which covers the whole lid of an iron chest and has bolts projecting on all sides Such locks are seen on the old Armada chests, which are really of German manufacture. These locks however, though very formidable in appearance and often having a very large and massive key, were not very resistant to a clever picklock, and in modem times it has come to be recognised that the strength of a lock is not dependent upon its size or the size of its key. Indeed, one of the greatest mechanical improvements in locks and keys in the past century has been the reduction in size with a corresponding increase in security. Many of the old locks could be easily picked or unfastened with a skeleton key, but with the modern lock this is by no means easy, especially in those forms where no two locks or keys are exactly ■ the same. Up to the early nineteenth century the common form of lock used for ordinary purposes, such as securing the doors of houses and cupboards, was the tumbler lock. In its earliest and simplest form this type of lock had no tumbler. The bolt passed through an opening on each side of the case and was held in position by notches, which were pressed against the bottom of the opening by a spring, as the bolt was locked or unlocked. The key acting in a semi-circular notch in the bolt, pushed it to one side or the other as required. Certain notches in the key fitting into corresponding wards fastened to the plate of the lock were supposed to prevent the lock being moved by any other key but its own. A great improvement on this early form of spring lock was effected, when the tumbler was introduced, a pivoted lever held down normally by a spring. The tumbler has on it a projection which is pressed by the spring into a notch or opening in .the bolt, and the key by one movement raises the tumbler and moves the bolt to or fro. Since the early nineteenth century vast improvements in locks have been made, and scores of ingenious devices have been designed, many of which it is claimed give immunity against the pick-lock. COMPLICATED KEYS. It used to be thought that the safety of a lock depended upon the number of its wards and the complexity of its key; but this was found to be quite wrong. Many examples might be given of a lock with a number ot wards and a complicated looking key. But it might bo a very simple lock to pick. A "blank would be made of mecal, and after the plain hit had been smeared o.er with a composition of beeswax, oi, a.id povclcrcd chare al, it would lie Inserted in the keyhole and pressed aa.list the wards. _ An impnsslon ol their shape and position would thereby bo taken and a skeleton key of the form indicated would then bo made and would unfasten the lock as easily as the proper key. Indeed, for most locks of this type a key more or less like a curved skewer would be sufficient. Most tumbler locks gave no security at all. , , In 1788 Joseph Bramah invented a lock of a different construction and very much safer. Indeed, such confidence had its inventor in it that during the Great Exhibition of 1851 in London, where he exhibited specimens of his work, Bramah offered a reward of two hundred guineas to anyone picking one of his locks. The prize was gained by Mr Hobbs, an American, who took a fortnight to make the necessary tools and 51 hours in the actual picking of the lock. Such a lock, however, needing so much work to pick it, was obviously safe against ordinary pick-locks. ' In 1832 Parsons invented and patented a balance lever lock in wen the levers wore detached from the bolt. In this type of lock the key lifts the levers as near the centre of motion as possible, and draws the front end of the hooks of the levers away from the bolt, till all the hooks aio brought in a true plane with the edge of the main bolt. The bolt cannot be moved till the levers are at rest, tor it either overlifted or underlifted the hooks at one or the other end. woum catch in the slots of the main bolt and thus prevent its moving. . This arrangement and the w™ ot the levers and springs allow ot the levers being made of very tluu meta . so that many of them may be put ' n one lock without increasing its size to an inconvenient thickness. W hat this means may be seen by the remarkable leap in the number of combinations as the number of levers in the, one J® 0 *..!. 8 increased. Four levers admit of “liferent combinations, five give 120, slx give 720. and seven give 5,040. But as the number of levers is extended the combinations increase almost fabmous y. Thus with 10 levers wo get 3,628.009 combinations; with 15 we have J,oU<.674,368,000. . , ... Some locks have been invented which contain a hell, anti at the least attempt to pr'k, or when they arc undone with

a key. they give an alarm, but such locks are rather curious than useful, and have never come much into use. It is difficult for us nowadays to understand the keen and bitter controversy that went on in the middle of the nineteenth century among locksmiths, all trying to produce locks that could not be picked, and at the same time announcing that they could pick the locks of other makers.' This occurred round about the time of the Great Exhibition of 1851, when many new and ingenious locks were exhibited and when expert locksmiths from America showed that they were able to pick the most ingenious locks that had hitherto been made in Great Britain. BATTLE OF THE LOCKS. Many of the British locksmiths offered large rewards to any who could pick their locks or undo them without the proper key, and these challenges were advertised in the newspapers and also announced _bv the town criers. They became quite a feature of the life of the day. and the quarrels tliat_ went on among the locksmiths on this account provided good copy for the newspapers. There were bitter disputes as to the conditions laid down, and when one noted firm offered a reward of 200 gs for the picking of a padlock which they exhibited in their window the challenge was accepted by an American locksmith, and some distinguished" men were appointed as referees, including Mr George Rennie, a fellow of the Royal Society, and Professor Cooper, of King’s College. London. Many previous attempts' had been made upon this lock without success, but the American managed to pick the lock after working upon it for 51 hours, spread over lb days. Then there was a dispute as to whether the conditions had been properly carried out, but finally the cheque for 200 gs was sent to the American locksmith.