Rudimentary Treatise on the Construction of Locks

by A. C. Hobbs; George Dodd

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.
„	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.			vol.	page.
1.	317	Mr.	Moore.	38.	111	Mr.	A. Ainger.
2.	187	„	Cornthwaite.	„	205	„	Bramah.
3.	160	Marquis of Worcester.		42.	125	„	J. Duce.
„	165	Mr.	Mr. Taylor.	43.	114	„	W. Friend.
„	163	„	Marshall.	45.	123	„	Machin.
18.	239	„	T. Arkwright.	48.	132	„	S. Mordan.
„	243	„	Bullock.	50.	86	„	A. Mackinnon.
19.	290	„	W. Bullock.	51.	128	„	J. Meighan.
36.	111	„	M. Somerford.

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.