No. LXIX.
A way how a little triangle and screwed key shall be capable and strong enough to bolt and unbolt, round about a great chest, an hundred bolts through fifty staples, two in each, with a direct contrary motion, and as many more from both sides and ends, and at the self-same time shall fasten it to the place, beyond a man's natural strength to take it away; and, in one and the same turn, both locketh and openeth it.
NOTE.
This invention, with its two following modifications, is evidently intended to operate on the principle of applying a screw for the purpose of forcing the lock bolt, in lieu of using the handle of the key as a lever for that purpose. That this plan might be applied to locks generally, there can be no doubt, and by a similar contrivance the large keys at present in use for outer doors, iron chests, &c. might be advantageously reduced to the size described by the noble author. By employing the escutcheon mentioned in No. LXXII. these locks would be equally safe and much more simple than those in common use. For the latter part of the Article, any ingenious smith may make a lock with an hundred bolts; and to fasten it to the place, the power of a screw key is abundantly sufficient to force an iron bar through a staple previously fixed in the floor.