Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1859-04-02
From the Albany Evening Journal
Greatest Wonder CT the Nineteentb
Century.


We thought we had obtained the ne
plus xltau of arithmetical and mechan-
zeal ingenuity, when We got our Rail
road Ticket Press, which registers and
numbers every ticket it prints as intel
Lightly as . clerk with pen and ink, and
with more infallible accuracy.
Bat we have been shown to-day an
invention in which the principle Of ar
ithmetical combination is carried out
and applied to a new use with surpris-
ing results. This is bank lock,
which absolutely defes the skill OF
Hobbs. EgsE -
1t works in this wise. Around the
door knob of the Bank is a small brass
index, on which are numbers from to
100. You lock the door and then set
the index to any number YOU please
(say ~ by turning to the right. You
then set it to second number lsav 95 J
by turning it to the left, and then a
third number by turning it to the right
again. You then give it twirl, and
go off and leave it.
La the middle of the night, I'D comes
a burglar with his dark lantern and
skeleton KEYS. He examines the lock.
No use for skeleton keys, for there is
no kev-hole to put them in. No use
for gunpowder, for there is no place to
ponr it. There is o round brass knob
with figures around it. That is all
Clearly, his only way to get in, is to
turn the knoh to the right number
He begins to try. He turns it 70
every number Oh the index. from to
100, TRYING the door each time. No
so. lie turns it back to every number
from 100 to /: Still no so. When he
reaches the right number, there IL no
click or other iiltimation that he has
reached 1t, and he is as likely to 90
past 1t as 10 stop. Granting even
that he accidentally hits on the first
number, he must lose it in trying to
find the second and third. He has to
find the right three numbers, and find
them IN the same order that yea set
them and keep each when found-!n
other words, he must find the RIGHT one,
out Of over million combinations of
figures II the night was as long Is
MathusaIah's life, the morning would
find him at his unavailiug work.
At O'Clock You come along, turn
the handle to the right numbers IN sue
cesslon, open the bank with perfect
case, and attend to business.
1t is OF no use to knock down the
Cashier or his way home at night. in
order to rob him Of the key. He has
no key. The KEY, such as it is, is LETT
ii the door. All the Cashier has, is
the memory Of certain figures in bis
head, where they cant be got at.
Neither does It's excellence depend
on complex and secret mechanism. It
is very simple. Anybody can under
stand it, and the more thoroughly he
understands it, the more completely he
comprehends the inpossibility OF un-
locking it.
One Of the chief troubles Of most
bank locks is; that they oet cut of order.
= cog IS Worn, on L spring falters and
the lock won't turn, and then the Bank
Officers are kept ont as well as the bur
glars. But this one has no springs
1t cannot faIter. It must turn when the
right numbers are known. and no
amount Of strength can turn them when
they are not.
The undersigned hegs leave to saw
that the article alluded to above, is
"Covert's Formulation Bank Lock-"
patented Oct. ), 1858, which is in use
by Banks in the State Of New York
and elsewhere, where they have given
entire satisfaction.
As all Banks and Bankers will of
course desire to procure as earlg as pos
Stbie, a-lock lrithOm q key or key-hOEe,
By which amateurs, burglars, picks aud
powder are excluded, they cannot fail
to see at once their interest in refusing
to adopt u7ay other loch until having
first examined this, which recommends
itself.
Having concluded an arrangement
for the erc5us5se sale Of this novel in
ventlon for the United States and Ter
ltorles, | will add, that all Banks aad
Bankers having purchased Bank Safes
from me who desire additional security,
will lie supplied with this lock at a yery
5o'o fyue.
Ny card to Banks and Bankers
throughout the country, will be issued
IN a few days In the meantime ad-
dress me at New Haven, Connecticut.
WILLIAM w. BACON.
March %, 1859.