The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1872-11-16 00:00:00

THE AMERICAN SEAL LOCK.
(From The Times.)

During the election at Wolverhampton the ballot-
boxes employed were secured by an American inven-
tion, the Patent Seal Lek, which was several times
mentioned in our columns in the summer in connexion
with the robberies from the luggage of continental roil-
way travellers that were then so much complained of.
seal lock is one in which the keyhole wimitA of
- completely covered by a sliding metal plate,
when pushed fully into its place is retained
there by a spring.catch. In this plate there ins small
hole, through which the catch may be pressed back
by a pin attached to the key, and the plate can then be
drawn down so that the keyhole is exposed. The plate
Is countersunk to receive the "seal,' wlaich is a small
square piece of Mass, held in position, when the plate
is pushed heme,-by the grooves in which it slides. The
seal, therefore, covers the hole through which alone
the spring catch is accessible, and this cannot be re-
leased until the seal is broken. So long as no seal is
Inserted the lock remains an ordinary lock, fit for all
ordinary purposes. When the security given by the
patent is desired, a seal is dropped into the place pre-
pared for its reception before the sliding plate is closed.
When this has been done no one, neither the owner nor
any other person, can apply the key until after the
seal has been destroyed. So long am the seal is intact
there is absolute certainty that the lock has not been
tampered with. _ _ _

being
which

);;ie,

The seal itself is a piece of common window glass,
marked on the back with a letter and number, and also
with various irregular dots and splashes, in a sort of
chocolate odour. These marks are backed up by •
white ground, and the whole is burnt in, so ea to be-
come part of the glass, and indelible. Each seal is
about half or five-eighths of an inch square, and •
large sheet is made at once, the separate seals being
afterwards cut out with • diamond. The lettering and
numbering are conducted on the same principle as on
Bank of England notes, so that no duplicate of a seal
will ever be made; and the dots and splashes are
accidental in shape and position, being sprinkled
on at hap-hazard. Before the seals are cut
the entire sheet is photographed, and the printed
photograph is perforated like • sheet of postage-
stamps. The filiitilisser of the seals is supplied also
with photograp ac-simiks 60 that he can send one
of these, and not nly the letter and number, to any
person whose business it may be to verify the security
of • package. For example, goods consigned to a
distance might be sent in a box with • sealed lock, and
a photograph of the seal might be enclosed to the con-
signee with the invoice. The consignee, on producing
his photograph, would satisfy himself that the lock had
not been opened, and the carrier would be relieved from
the possibility of claims for the loss or abstraction of
geode which the package had never contained.
The essence of the security which the seal affords I.
therefore, a certainty that no key has been inserted
into the lock during a given time. The principle may
be applied to a lock of any kind, any strength, or any
quality. What it does is to render the key-hole in-
viol Able, or, at least, to show that it has been inviolate.
Of coarse, the seal is easily broken, • smart tap being
sufficient for the purpose; and it is protected on this
account in the padlocks manufactured by the patentees
I by a strong cover which fastend down with a spring
catch. When the seal is broken no proof is afforded
that the lock has been opened; but, as long as the
seal is entire, there is positive proof that the lock has
not been opened.
In the United States the seal lock is extensively em-
ployed for many public and private purposes. It is
used by some of the chief railway companies for the
protection of their parcel vans, by the Custom.house
for goods bonded or in transit, by returning officers for
the ballot-boxes, and by private persons for securing
important matters which it is necessary to intrust to
the custody of others. A box of deeds or papers left
with a banker or lawyer, and a plate chest or wine
cellar left with servants in the absence of the pro-
prietor may serve as illustrations of such uses. For
deed boxes the arrangements for affixing the seal are
particularly neat, not to say ornamental, in their cha-
racter.

The value of the seal lock depends entirely, as a
matter of alum, on good workmanship, and on the
impossibility of releasing the spring of the sliding
plate in ally other than the way intended by the
maker. If the plate worked loosely in its grooves,
there might be means of getting at the catch in Rome
illicit manner, or it might be possible to file or drill
away Rome channel for the came purpose. But the
most that can be said of this possibility is that the
owner moot satisfy himself that the metal work of the
ock is uninjured, as well as that the seal is unbroken.