On the Development and Distribution of Primitive Locks and Keys

by Augustus Henry Lane-Fox Pitt-Rivers

Badge of the 14th Company Grenadier Guards.

All the spring padlocks hitherto described have the defect of being in two parts; the bolt, being entirely detached from the tube when open, was liable to be lost, and to remedy this defect, modifications were introduced by which the bolt became a fixture in the tube and was opened by means of a key.

Fig. 35C, Plate V., is a lock which I found attached to one of my gates at Rushmore, in South Wilts. Externally, it exactly resembles the spring fetterlock, but within, the bolt which fixes the semicircular bar in its position when locked, is retained there by a spiral spring. To unlock it, a key with a female screw is put in at the end in the same position as the key of the Roman lock, and after seizing the male screw within, the bolt is screwed back against the spring, thereby releasing the semicircular bar or staple, which is then turned upon its hinge and drawn out of the opening on the side of the tube.

Fig. 36C, Plate V., is a precisely similar lock from Paris. Fig. 37C, Plate V., is another from Germany. Our modern handcuffs retain the form of the fetterlock, having the tubular case for the lock, which otherwise is not precisely the form most suitable to fit the human wrist. Fig. 38C, Plate V., is a section of an old handcuff obtained in Wiltshire, the bolt of which is forced out of the eye, not by means of a screw, but by a key of the ordinary form of a door key, inserted in the side of the tube, which when turned forces the bolt back against the spiral spring and releases the semicircular bar.

Whilst in some of the more modern contrivances the external form of the Roman spring padlock was retained, the interior mechanism having undergone changes, in others the interior mechanism is retained, the external form having adapted itself to the more modern uses. Figs. 39C, 40C, and 41C, Plate VI., is an old padlock which I obtained in Paris, the date of which I have been unable to determine, but a precisely similar one is attached to the iron chest of the Royal Society, which was presented to the Society in the year 1665, and for the knowledge of which I am indebted to Dr. John Evans, F.R.S., the Treasurer of the Society. Externally it resembles the modern padlock, but both ends of the semicircular staple are provided with springs on the principle of the Roman padlock. It is opened by means of a revolving key of modern form, which is inserted into the side of the padlock, and which, when given a quarter turn presses back the three springs upon the bolts, and the staple is then withdrawn bodily from the body of the lock. In this case, the staple, being quite separate from the lock, would be liable to be lost, as with the spring of the Roman padlock; so to remedy this defect we see in figs. 42C and 43C, Plate VI., obtained at Clermont-Ferrand, in Auvergne, an improvement in which one of the arms of the staple passes down through the padlock and out at the bottom of it, where it terminates in a button, intended to prevent its being drawn entirely out and separated from the lock. The other arm is furnished with a spring as in the last example and, like it, is opened by a revolving key. When the spring is pressed back it is drawn out and merely turned upon its longer arm as a pivot.

Up to this point I have endeavoured to trace the gradual development of the European padlock from the earliest contrivance of Roman times up to the present time. In order to show its distribution and the varieties it has undergone in other parts of the world we must now return to the spring padlock in its earliest form. Figs. 44C, 45C, and 46C, Plate VI., represents an iron padlock from the Gate of Moultan, in India, now in the India Museum. It is in all respects similar to the Roman lock shown in figs. 21C to 23C, Plate V., and needs no further description. Figs. 47C and 48C, Plate VI., is a padlock obtained by me of a vendor of old iron in the streets of Cairo in 1881. It is constructed on precisely the same principle as the last, and is opened by a key thrust in longitudinally at the end of the tube, like the Roman key, but the opposite end of the bolt instead of being guided by a ring slipping along the parallel bar of the lock is curved round and inserted into a tube or socket in the parallel bar, like the Russian specimen and that from Swanscombe, in Kent. Figs. 49C and 50C, Plate VI., is another specimen obtained by me at Cairo; it also resembles the Roman lock in its construction, except that the key instead of being thrust in at the end of the tube is put in underneath at right angles to the tube, and having enclosed the springs by means of an opening cut in the side of the key, in order to compress them, it is thrust sideways along the tube, the neck being guided by a slit along the bottom of the tube. Figs. 51C and 52C, Plate VI., shows another specimen in my possession from India, which so precisely resembles the last that one is tempted to suppose they must both have been made in the same place, were it not for certain peculiarities which identify it as Indian. The key in closing on the springs is guided by two slits along the bottom of the tube instead of one, and beneath the tube is a projecting piece in the form of a Greek cross which fits into corresponding slits in the key so that none but the proper key can pass by it to compress the springs. This contrivance is therefore of the nature of a ward. Figs. 53C, 54C, and 55C, Plate VI., is another from India, now in the India Museum, the locality of which, viz., Myhere, is attached to it. Figs. 56C and 57C, Plate VI., is an Egyptian manacle in my collection fastened in the same manner. Figs. 58C, 59C, and 60C, Plate VII., is a similar lock from Abyssinia, now in the British Museum, affording additional evidence that the key, with the lateral movement inserted at right angles to the lock, is African as well as Indian. Two padlocks precisely similar to this are in my collection from Mogadore, on the West Coast of Africa, having on them the peculiar Moorish ornamentation in brass which is characteristic of that country.

We have now to go to China for evidence of the continued distribution eastwards of this particular kind of spring padlock with the lateral key. Figs. 61C, 62C, and 63C, Plate VII., is a brass Chinese padlock and key in my collection. To the north of India we have figs. 64C, 65C, 66C, 67C, Plate VII., representing a padlock from Yarkand obtained by Sir Douglas Forsyth, and now in the India Museum. It has also the key with the lateral action. Mr. Thomas Wright says that he possesses a similar padlock, given him by the British Vice-Consul at Jacmel, and obtained from Hayti, which he says was probably a century old, and either made in one of the Spanish colonies or imported from Spain.[31] Sir Gardner Wilkinson also mentions one from Meroe Island, in Egypt,[32] and Mr. H. Syer Cuming speaks of one as having been obtained in Western Africa, but the locality is not stated.[33]

In order to show the modifications that this lock has undergone during its eastern migrations, I have represented (figs. 68C, 69C, and 70C, Plate VII.) a steel lock from Indore, India. It is furnished with a staple with two arms like the European specimen, fig. 39C, Plate VI., one of which only has springs attached to it; it is now in the India Museum. Figs. 71C, 72C, 73C, 74C, Plate VII.—also in the India Museum: the bolt with its springs is attached to plates forming an outside casing to one side of the lock, by which means the opening is concealed, and the opening for the key is also concealed in a casing for the other side, and opens also with a catch spring released by the pressure of a straight pin or wire introduced through a hole beneath the lock. Figs. 75C, 76C, and 77C, Plate VIII., is another variety, from Burmah; the key is introduced at the end of the tube by means of a male screw, formed somewhat like the propeller of a screw steamship. This screw is merely for the purpose of introducing the key into the tube by a half-twist; once in, it is pressed straight forward, and compresses the springs in the usual manner. Fig. 78C, Plate VIII., is the opening and key of a similar lock obtained by me in Nuremberg. It is constructed precisely on the same principle as the last, and with a similar object; it has all the appearance of being European, but I have no certain evidence that it may not have been imported from India. In figs. 79C, 80C, and 81C, Plate VIII., from Indore, India, we see the screw principle developed. Whether this originated in a lock of the last-mentioned form—and the screw, from having at first been used as a ward, was ultimately employed to release the bolt by a screw motion—I know not; but it exactly resembles in its construction the lock shown in fig. 35C, Plate V., from the gate at Rushmore, Wilts, and those of like form from France and Germany already figured and described. The bolt is retained in its place when locked by a spiral spring, and withdrawn by a screw key inserted at the end. Whether this is an independent growth in the two hemispheres, or copied the one from the other, I have no present means of determining. Unfortunately, when the objects in the India Museum at South Kensington were transferred from the old India Museum their history was lost; but I have figured none except those which have the localities attached to them. Figs. 82C, 83C, and 84C, Plate VIII., is a steel lock from India of similar external form to fig. 71C, Plate VII.; but the screw principle appears here to have entirely superseded the spring, which is altogether wanting, and it is dependent for its action entirely on a screw key inserted at the end, and by means of which the bolt (which itself formed the staple) is screwed up or screwed back again as required. As a parallel to this, the specimen in my collection represented in figs. 85C, 86C, 87C, 88C, and 89C, Plate VIII., may be given. It was obtained by me in Brussels, and resembles the tubular lock only in external form. The staple is secured to the tube at each end by eyes let into the side of the tube, through which a pin is passed, and screwed up or unscrewed by a key put in at the end of the tube. When unscrewed the pin is withdrawn and the staple taken out bodily. In this, as in the Indian specimen last described, the original spring mechanism has entirely disappeared; but, although resembling each other in this respect, there is nothing analogous in the two systems, which, from differences in the details of their construction, appear to be quite independent contrivances. Figs. 90C, 91C, and 92C, Plate VIII., represent a padlock and key from Toomkoor, Mysore, India. It is a barbed spring padlock of the ordinary kind, but the springs are closed preparatory to being withdrawn by means of a common revolving key inserted in the side and having a broad slit in the middle of the revolving plate. By giving the key a quarter-turn the slit in the key-plate compresses the springs, and they are then withdrawn from the lock. The action of the key in this specimen resembles exactly that of the padlock from Paris (fig. 39C, Plate VI.) and that of the Royal Society chest, except that in the Paris and Royal Society specimens two springs are compressed by means of a solid plate, whilst in the Toomkoor example a single-barbed spring is compressed by the action of a slit in the key. Barbed tubular spring locks of precisely the same form as the Chinese ones are also used in Japan, of which figs. 93C, 94C, 95C, and 96C, Plate IX., represent a specimen in my collection. Of these, some of the keys entered at the end of the tube; others are put in at the side, as shown in fig. 97C, Plate IX. The key, which, like the lock, is of brass, is placed in a handle, which shuts up like the handle of a knife (as shown in fig. 96C, Plate IX.) for convenience of transport. Another specimen from Japan (represented in figs. 98C and 99C, Plate IX.) resembles exactly the Toomkoor specimen from India, the springs being compressed by means of a revolving key. This must certainly be regarded as the first stage of improvement upon the original Roman lock, and its employment in Europe, India, and Japan is noteworthy.

Amongst the specimens of these tubular spring locks, which appear to show evidence of connection over wide areas, are those which are constructed in the forms of animals. Figs. 100C and 101C, Plate IX., is a representation of a bronze padlock in the form of a fish, now in the Louvre, at Paris, figured by M. Liger. It is there described, though not without hesitation, as an Egyptian lock; if so, it is probably of the Romano-Egyptian period: the springs enter at the mouth of the fish, and are released by a key put in at the tail. Figs. 102C, 103C, 104C, Plate IX., represents a precisely similar fish-shaped padlock of iron from India, and now in the India Museum. Figs. 105C and 106C, Plate IX., is a Roman bronze lock in the form of a lion or horse, in the possession of Dr. John Evans, F.R.S., and here copied by his permission; a similar one is in the British Museum. Figs. 107C, 108C, and 109C, Plate IX., is another, also in the form of a lion, and about the same size, from China, in the collection of Mr. Chubb, the well-known locksmith. In all these the springs enter at the stern of the animal, and the other end of the bolt turns up and back in the form of a tail, and enters the neck of the animal behind the head. The key in the Chinese specimen has a peculiar secret contrivance to prevent its being inserted in the hole for it by anyone not acquainted with its construction. The head of the key will not enter the keyhole unless the handle end is put in first and slipped along the shank of the key, as represented in the drawing, fig. 109C, Plate IX. Mr. Romilly Allen, whose work on Scotch wooden tumbler locks I have already quoted, refers incidentally in his paper to spring locks, and says that he has himself seen them used in Persia in the forms of animals. We are thus led to infer that the practice of making them in these forms may have existed, or may still exist, continuously throughout the region referred to, and that, like the mechanism itself, and like many other articles of commerce, they may have passed by traffic from place to place, and been copied and adopted in the localities in which they are found. Fig. 110C, Plate IX., is a padlock obtained by me at Cairo; similar ones are in common use on out-houses at Naples, the long bar at the top denoting its descent from the Roman padlock, although the construction of the lock is different.