CHUBB’S LOCKS BEATEN.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 18, 27 May 1871, Page 7

CHUBB’S LOCKS BEATEN.

Our attention having been drawn to a description of an ingenious lock, invented by our old townsman, Mr James Osgood, and which appeared in the Melbourne “ Argus” of the 15th February, we were anxious to examine a piece of mechanism so highly spoken of. Mr Osgood, who we believe has applied for letters patent in the other colonies, having several of the locks and drawers with him, took a good deal of pains to explain its mechanism and working, and the manifold advantages. At the first glance, and on seeing the lock “ put through its facingsas it were, it suggests an idea that however plain the drawer looks on the outside (for there is no outward sign of fastening to be seen), the inside must conceal some very complicated machinery, but the principle can be grasped in a moment, and the great advantage such a lock and drawer offered to all kinds of dealers, who take money over the counter, is at once suggested. To the publican, to every description of shopkeeper, to railway, telegraph, and post office clerks, who as a matter of business, would wish to exercise a control over their till to the exclusion of everyone else, this lock is the very desideratum. It is a complete protection against all ingenuity of the picklock. After having examined it for a considerable time, we can endorse the following description of the patent from the “ Argus” as being very correct and full, at least as far as the inventor cared to make it at the time :

A new and highly ingenious method of securing drawers or tills against robbery was brought under our notice yesterday by Mr James Osgood, of 28 Collins street west, the patentee of a keyless alarm lock. Shopkeepers are so liable to have their counter drawers emptied of the ready cash contained in them, that no doubt they will be rejoiced to hear of a plan by which their money can bo rendered safe from the attacks of petty thieves. Ordi- , nary locks are of no service to persons who re-1 quire to be constantly opening and shutting their drawers. The new lock has no key, and can be opened and closed as readily as aspring lock, with this important additional advantage, that only the owner of the drawer, or those whom he may let into the secret, can undo the fastenings. The security of the lock arises from the fact that it admits of being fastened according to any one of thirty-one different methods, so that a person who knew the prin-f ciple by which the drawer was secured, but 1 was unacquainted with the particular method which the owner had adopted, would be certain to fail in his first attempt to undo it ; and (such is the mechanism of the lock) his failure would not only sound an alarm, but double lock the drawer, and completely bafile all further efforts on his part to open it. No difficulty, however, would be experienced by the owner of the drawer in unlocking it; he would see at once, even if he should not have heard the alarm, that some one had been trying to meddle with bis lock. The extra fastenings would yield immediately to the properly-ap-plied touch of his fingers; and then the drawer would open as if it had not been tampered with. No trouble seems to be necessary for the ordinary opening or closing of the lock. The drawer has merely to be pushed back into its place to cause the lock to close of itself, and the fingers which pull the drawer out at the same time serve to undo thefastenings. Aslight pressure from the fingers, on the right spots, does all that is requisite. The knobs or points to be touched by the fingers are placed on the under part of the drawer, and would not be seen from the front of a counter j nor even if they were visible would they give any clue to the mode of fastening adopted. There would be nothing on the face of the drawer to show that it was fastened at all. The lock itself is placed at the inner end of the drawer, quite out of reach, and no amount of damage which might be done to the knobs on the front would help to undo it. There are some details to be completed in connection with the patenting of the invention, which renders it undesirable in tbe interests of the inventor that the mechanism of his lock should not be more fnlly described ; but in a fortnight or so the working of the lock is to be exhibited publicly. After an hour’s use of a drawer secured by Mr Osgood’s lock, one would be able to close and open it as readily almost as if it were without fastenings.