ENGLISH PATENTS FOR LOCKS--AUBIN’S LOCK TROPHY.
We propose to conclude this small work with a few details respecting the
various patented inventions in locks, and concerning Mr. Aubin’s
remarkable lock trophy. These two subjects relate to locks in general,
rather than to any specified constructions in particular, and can on
that account more conveniently be given here than in connexion with any
of the foregoing chapters.
Mr. Chubb, in the appendix to his paper on locks and keys read before
the Institution of Civil Engineers, gave a useful list of all the
patents taken out in England in relation to this subject, down to the
year 1849. We here transcribe this list:
_List of Patents for Locks and Latches granted since the Establishment
of the Patent Laws._
“As no complete list of the patents granted for locks from the time of
James I. has hitherto been published, it is believed that the following
list, which has been very carefully drawn up, and which comprises all
patents from the year 1774, when the first patent for a lock was
granted, to the present time, will be found useful as a reference for
all who are interested in the subject.
1774|May 27|Black, George, Berwick-on-Tweed.
„ |„ „|Barron, Robert, London.
1778|May 29|Martin, Joshua Lover, Fleet-street, London.
1779|May 28|Henry, Solomon, Swithin’s-lane, London.
1780|March 4|Campion, J. Newcastle-court, Strand, London.
1782|January 18|Hutchinson, Samuel, Marylebone, London.
1784|„ |Bramah, Joseph, Piccadilly, London.
1789|July 7|Cornthwaite, Thomas, Kendal, Westmoreland.
1790|February 23|Rowntree, Thomas, Surrey-street, Blackfriars,
| |London.
„ |October 29|Bird, Moses, Wardour-street, London.
1791|July 19|Ferryman, Rev. Robert, Gloucester.
„ |November 3|Antis, John, Fulneck, near Leeds.
1797|November 18|Langton, Daniel.
1798|May 3|Bramah, Joseph.
„ |December 8|Turner, Thomas.
1799|April 11|Davis, George.
1801|February 10|Scott, Richard, Lieut.-Colonel.
„ |June 24|Holemberg, Samuel, London.
„ |... |Roux, Albert, Switzerland.
1805|May 18|Stansbury, Abraham Ogier, New York.
„ |December 29|Thompson, William, Birmingham.
1815|March 7|Mitchell, William, Glasgow; and Lawton, John,
| |London.
1816|May 14|Ruxton, Thomas, Esq., Dublin.
1817|February 8|Clark, William, Esq., Bath.
1818|February 3|Chubb, Jeremiah, Portsea.
1819|October 18|Strutt, Anthony Radford, Mackeney.
1820|April 11|Jennings, Henry Constantine, Esq., Middlesex.
„ |December 14|Mallett, William, Dublin.
1823|July 10|Fairbanks, Stephen, Middlesex.
„ |November 13|Ward, John, Middlesex.
1824|June 15|Chubb, Charles, Portsea.
1825|May 14|Young, John, Wolverhampton.
1828|May 17|Chubb, Charles, London.
1829|June 1|Gottlieb, Andrew, Middlesex.
1830|January 18|Carpenter, James, and Young, John, Wolverhampton.
„ |January 26|Arnold, John, Sheffield.
1831|April 14|Rutherford, William, Jedburgh, N.B.
„ |May 23|Barnard, George, Bristol.
„ |July 27|Young, John, Wolverhampton.
1832|December 20|Parsons, Thomas, London.
1833|December 3|Parsons, T., Newport, Salop.
„ |December 20|Chubb, Charles, London; and Hunter, E.,
| |Wolverhampton.
1834|September 6|Longfield, William, Otley.
„ |October 11|Audley, Lord Baron Stafford.
1835|March 18|Hill, R., Birmingham.
„ |December 16|Warwick, J., London.
1836|February 10|Fenton, Rev. S., Pembroke.
1838|June 30|Uzielli, M., London.
„ |November 13|Thompson, S., London.
1839|February 21|Uzielli, M., London.
„ |June 12|Sanders, J. Stafford.
„ |July 3|Cochrane, A., Strand, London.
„ |July 20|Schwieso, J. C., London.
„ |August 1|Williams, W. M., London.
„ |December 2|Guest, J., jun., Birmingham.
1840|February 27|Williams, W. M., London.
„ |March 20|Gerish, F. W.
„ |May 2|Pearse, W., Hoxton, Middlesex.
„ |June 13|Wolverson, J., and Rawlett, W., Stafford.
„ |October 22|Clark, T.
„ |December 23|Baillie, B., London.
1841|March 29|Tildesley and Sanders, Willenhall and Wolverhampton.
1841|May 6|Hancock, James, Sidney-square, Mile End.
„ |July 14|Berry, Miles, Chancery-lane.
„ |September 28|Strong, Theodore Frederick, Goswell-road.
„ |November 9|Smith, Jesse, Wolverhampton.
1842|January 15|Poole, Moses, Lincoln’s-inn.
„ |May 24|Duce, Joseph, Wolverhampton.
„ |June 1|Williams, W. M., 163 Fenchurch-street.
„ |December 29|Rock, Joseph, jun., Birmingham.
1843|November 25|Tann, E. E. and J., Hackney-road.
„ |„ „|Rock, Joseph, jun., Birmingham.
1844|July 30|Fletcher, Rev. William, Moreton House, Buckingham.
1845|April 15|Carter, George, Willenhall.
„ |July 12|Ratcliff, Edmund, Birmingham.
„ |December 4|Poole, Moses, Lincoln’s-inn.
„ |December 22|Smith, Philip, High-street, Lambeth.
1846|July 6|De la Fons, John Palmer, Carleton-hill, St. John’s
| |Wood.
„ |July 15|Thomas, William, Cheapside.
„ |December 14|Chubb, John, St. Paul’s Churchyard.
1847|January 11|Chubb, John, and Hunter, Ebenezer, sen., St. Paul’s
| |Churchyard.
„ |April 15|Collett, Charles Minors, 62 Chancery-lane.
1848|September 28|Newall, Robert Stirling, Gateshead.
1849|May 8|Wilkes, Samuel, Wednesbury-heath, Wolverhampton.
Mr. Chubb also gave a list of such papers m the Transactions of the
Society of Arts as refer to locks and keys.
_List of References to the “Transactions of the Society of Arts,” on the
subject of Locks._
vol. page.
1. 317 Mr. Moore.
2. 187 „ Cornthwaite.
3. 160 Marquis of Worcester.
„ 165 Mr. Taylor.
„ 163 „ Marshall.
18. 239 „ T. Arkwright.
„ 243 „ Bullock.
19. 290 „ W. Bullock.
36. 111 „ M. Somerford.
38. 111 „ A. Ainger.
„ 205 „ Bramah.
42. 125 „ J. Duce.
43. 114 „ W. Friend.
45. 123 „ Machin.
48. 132 „ S. Mordan.
50. 86 „ A. Mackinnon.
51. 128 „ J. Meighan.
Among the most curious mechanical productions in the Great Exhibition of
1851, was one which attracted very little notice, viz. that forwarded by
Mr. C. Aubin of Wolverhampton. Whether it was that attention, so far as
regards locks, was too much absorbed by the “lock controversy,” or
whether there was a deficiency of descriptive cataloguing, no juror or
newspaper critic, as far as we are aware, took notice of the production
in question. In the _Official Illustrated Catalogue_ it is entered
simply as “Specimens to illustrate the rise and progress of the art of
making locks, containing forty-four different movements by the most
celebrated inventors in the lock trade.” This trophy of lock ingenuity
(for such it may be justly considered to be) is now in the possession of
Mr. Hobbs. Springing from a hexagonal base-piece is a central axis,
about three feet in height, supporting four horizontal circular discs,
placed at different parts of its height. Each of the vertical faces of
the base-piece contains a lock, which is worked by its respective key.
Each disc contains a number of locks: 16 on the lowest, 12 on the next
above, 9 on the third in height, while a Bramah lock surmounts the
whole. All the locks on the discs are so arranged that their bolts shoot
outwards, or radially away from the axis of the machine. Every lock has
its own proper key inserted in the key-hole; and as the locks lie down
horizontally, the shaft of each key is of course vertical. There are
delicate pieces of mechanism contained within the central axis and
within the discs, consisting of levers, racks, and pinions; and the
Bramah lock is contrived so ingeniously, that the Bramah key, by acting
upon that lock, acts upon all this mechanism. The Bramah barrel, in
rotating horizontally under the action of its key, gives a rotary
movement to a rod passing vertically through the centre of the whole
apparatus; this rod, at the levels of the several discs, acts upon racks
and pinions, and these in turn act upon the key-pins of the several
locks. When, therefore, the Bramah key is turned, the whole of these
key-pins rotate, each exactly in the same way as if the lock were being
closed or opened, and the bolts shoot in or out accordingly. The Bramah
key, although it acts as a master-key, is not such as usually obtains
that designation; it is simply a means of putting in action certain
rack-and-pinion mechanism, which does not belong to lock-work considered
_per se_. All the locks are faithful representatives of the several
patents or modes of construction to which they severally refer; and each
exhibits the works sufficiently open to display the principle on which
it is arranged. Each lock is numbered, and is referred to in an
accompanying description. The works are finished with the utmost care
and polish; and the trophy being somewhat tastefully arranged, and kept
under a glass shade, forms a really elegant specimen of mechanical
skill.
For an account of the locks themselves which constitute this trophy, we
cannot do better than avail ourselves of the description given in the
article “Lock” in Tomlinson’s _Cyclopædia of Useful Arts_, adding a few
further details in respect to some of the locks of the series. The locks
are arranged and numbered according to their similarity of construction;
and it is instructive to remark the evidence here afforded, that many
patentees would have saved much time and money if they had better known
the productions of their predecessors. In describing these locks we
shall do so briefly, sufficient to shew their relative principles of
construction; many of them having been described more or less fully in
former chapters.
No. 1 on the list is called a _Roman lock_; it consists of a single
bolt, with a binder-spring for holding the bolt in any position in which
it may be placed until a sufficient force is applied to overcome it: it
embodies the simple principle on which thousands of common locks are
annually made.
No. 2, called a _French lock_ (all such designations are of rather
doubtful correctness), resembling No. 1 in every thing except having the
addition of a friction-roller. The bolt of either of these two locks can
easily be forced back by pressing on the end.
No. 3 is marked _Ancient_; it is a bolt-lock, and was found in an
ancient building. It exhibits an improvement on both the former
specimens, in so far as the bolt requires, before it can be shot, to be
pressed down, in order to release it from a catch at the back end of the
bolt; this release cannot be effected without the aid of a key or some
other implement applied through the key-hole, and thus the bolt answers
the purpose both of bolt and tumbler.
No. 4, also marked _Ancient_, is in principle a single-acting
tumbler-lock; that is, one in which the tumbler may fail to be lifted
high enough, but cannot be raised too high, to release the bolt: whereas
a double-acting tumbler, being susceptible both of too much and too
little ascent, must be raised to one definite and precise height to
attain the required object.
No. 5, an _old English lock_, exhibits a great advance in principle,
being provided with the double action just described as being wanting in
No. 4.
No. 6, _modern English_ (no maker’s name), is a single-acting
tumbler-lock.
No. 7, by _Mace_, is a double-acting tumbler, but without exhibiting any
peculiarities of construction.
No. 8 is _Somerford’s first patent_. It is a double-acting _draw_
tumbler-lock; that is, there is a tumbler which is drawn down instead of
being lifted, as in most locks.
No. 9, designated, we know not on what grounds, an _Indian_ lock, has a
single-acting tumbler with a pin.
No. 10, patented by Thompson in 1805. In this lock there are two
tumblers, one of which is single and the other double-acting.
Next follow a considerable number of locks, which differ one from
another too slightly to render any formal description necessary. No. 11,
by _Daniells_, is a single-acting tumbler, differing only in form from
those previously used. No. 12 is by _Walton_. No. 13 is _Barron’s_ first
patent, taken out in 1774. No. 14 is by _Bickerton_. No. 15 is a _Dutch_
lock. No. 16 is by _Duce_, senior. No. 17, by _Sanders_, is a lock with
four double-acting tumblers. No. 18, patented by _Cornthwaite_ in 1789,
is so nearly like Sanders’s, brought before public notice in 1839, as to
corroborate what we have said concerning the identity, or at least close
resemblance, of inventions widely asunder in point of time. No. 19 is by
_Richards and Peers_.
No. 20 is _Somerford’s_ second patent; a lock which seems to embody the
principle of Mr. Tann’s “reliance-wards,” patented many years later. No.
21 is _Rowntree’s_ lock, patented in 1790. No. 22 is the first patent
lock of _Duce_, junior, dated 1823. No. 23 is _Parsons’_ first patent,
of 1832. No. 24 is _Bickerton’s_ second. No. 25, patented by _Price_ in
1774; this, so far as at present appears, was the first lock ever
constructed with four double-acting tumblers, bearing a closer
resemblance than would generally be supposed to those patented by other
persons in more recent years. No. 26 exhibits a somewhat similar
coincidence. It was introduced by Aubin in 1830, and is furnished with a
_revolving curtain_ for the purpose of closing the key-hole during the
revolution of the key. Other inventors have since then adopted the
revolving curtain; and in a patent taken out so recently as 1852, this
appendage is claimed as part of the patent.
No. 27 is _Barron’s_ second patent, dated 1778; a lock which has perhaps
been the model for a larger manufacture of plain simple tumbler-locks
than any other. No. 28 is by _Bird_, 1790. No. 29 is the second patent
of _Duce_, junior. No. 30 is _Ruxton’s_, 1818. No. 31 is _Chubb’s_
simplified lock, 1834. No. 32 is by _Marr_. No. 33, by _Tann_, is the
“reliance-ward” lock adverted to above as having been anticipated, in
respect to its leading principle, by _Somerford’s_ second patent. No. 34
is by _Hunter_, 1833. No. 35 is _Parsons’_ second patent, of the same
year. No. 36 is by _Lang_, 1830. No. 37 is _Lawton’s_, dated 1815. No.
38, patented by _Strutt_ in 1839, has an arrangement for holding the
tumblers, in the event of a pressure being applied to the bolt; an
arrangement bearing a considerable resemblance to one recently adopted
in Chubb’s bankers’ lock. No. 39 is by _Scott_, 1815. No. 40, _Chubb’s_
patent of 1818, is the original detector-lock of this maker. Most of the
detectors since patented by various persons are little other than
variations of Chubb’s original.
No. 41, _Parsons’_ third patent of 1833, is a _changeable_ lock of
peculiar construction. The elevation of the tumblers is regulated by an
adjusting-screw passing through the lock to the inside of the door; this
screw changes the positive but not the relative positions of the
tumblers; so that the same difference in the steps of the key must be
retained, the change being made only in the length of the bit: the
number of changes for each lock is very limited.
No. 42, invented by _Pierce_ in 1840, seems to be a carrying out of the
plan suggested by the Marquis of Worcester in his _Century of
Inventions_, where he says that “a lock may be so constructed that if a
stranger attempteth to open it, it catches his hand as a trap catcheth a
fox; though far from maiming him for life, yet marketh him so, that if
once suspected he might easily be detected.” In Pierce’s lock a steel
barb or sharp arrow-head is concealed below the key-hole, in such a
manner that if any person in attempting to open the lock should
over-lift the tumbler, the barb would be thrust by a spring into his
hand. It is said that the patentee himself experienced the efficacy of
this invention, by receiving the barb into his own hand.
No. 43, by _Ruxton_, patented in 1816, is furnished with a tell-tale, so
arranged that if the tumbler be over-lifted in an attempt to pick the
lock, a pin or catch is thrown out from the lock, which would be visible
on opening the lock with the proper key. This invention preceded Chubb’s
detector by two years, and would be entitled to some of the honours of
originality were not Chubb’s arrangement much more simple and effective.
No. 44 is _Bramah’s_, the patent of 1784, and the crowning lock of the
trophy, by which all the others are opened. Similar locks by _Russell_
and _Mordan_ are applications of the Bramah principle, with little or no
variation.
* * * * *
No attempt has been made in these pages to describe every variety of
lock that has been introduced. Several forms of puzzle locks, known as
_Russian_ and _Chinese locks_, have the forms of various animals, and
they are locked and unlocked by pressing upon or moving some portion of
the body of the animal: the security of such locks depends in many cases
upon keeping the part to be pressed or moved secret. There are also
various forms of alarum locks; but these do not greatly differ from
common locks, except in having certain appendages, such as a pistol,
which if loaded and properly adjusted, will be fired on any attempt
being made to open the lock, either with its own key or some other
instrument. Some locks are furnished with a bell or a rattle, which is
rung or sprung on attempting to open the lock, and in this way the
inmates of the house are informed of the attempt to effect an entrance.
It will, however, be evident to any one who has read the preceding
pages, that devices of this kind do not add to the security of the lock;
they rather tend to degrade the art of the locksmith to that of the
toyman. The locksmith, in common with every other artist, can only
improve in his art by studying the principles upon which it rests, and
illustrating them by the most approved examples which the constructive
genius of his predecessors or contemporaries has furnished.
APPENDIX.