Iowa voter. [volume] (Knoxville, Iowa) 1867-1874, 1871-05-25
Locks and Keys.

invented q lock tnaC cOulQ not De pickeQ
or key that could not be duplicated. In
fact, it is doubtful whether we have made
80 very much progress over the ancients,
according TO the researches of writer in
Chambers Miscellany. As thieving is the
first recorded sin in human story, it is but
reasonable to suppose that devices for the
protection of movable treasure employed
at very early age the ingenuity of the
craftsman. In all probability, Tubal Cain,
the inspired artiiicer in brass and iron, was
the first locksmith who excited the pro-
verbal hilarity of Cupid; but it is pretty
clear that, in very remote age, the lock-
smiths craft had become renowned for its
ingenuity and skill. In the book of Ne
hemiah, Solomon's song, and other parts
of holy writ, are illusions to locks and
keys, but they afford little indication of
the character of the articles then in use.
The most ancient lock of which we
have any descriptive evidence is one eculp.
tured in detail on a marble slab found
among the ruins of the great temple of
Karnac. This lock represented those in
use more than forty centuries ago. and its
construction was thus described by the
discOverer Of the relic: A staple was
fixed to the side Of the door, bolt at
right angle with it, three loose pins in the
upper part of the staple dropping into
three consecutive holes, 80 as to fasten the
door when the bolt was pushed to its full
extent The key "a straight piece OF WOODY,
having at one end three pegs, correspond
ing in position with the movable pins or
tumhlers in the lock, was inserted length
wise through the hole formed in the bolt /;
and then the pegs in the key correspond
ing with the vertical holes 10 the bolt into
which the movable pins of the lock had
dropped, raised the pins level with the top
side of the bolt, thus disengaging the
movable pins, and allowing it to move
backward and forward, fastening or I'M
fastening the lock. None but the right
key could open the lock, owing to the va
ration Of the movable pins. In its lead
ing principles, this lock has proved to be
the foundation of most OF the inventions
In recent times.
The earliest keys were curved in shape
and of prodigious size. The poet Aratus,
in his description Of the constellation
Cassiopeia, states that in shape it resem-
bles key, the stars to the north COM
posing the curved part, and those to the
south the handle. Ariston, in his " An
tholgia," applies to key an epithet signi-
flying one that is much bent. According
W lHcSC htyS WSLC
shaped; and some notion of their size is
conveyed by Callimachus in his Hymn
to Ceres, "where the priestess of Nicippe
is described as carrying a key supertuma-
lem. Homers allusion to the lock and key
of Penelope's wardrobe is better known.
Pope thus renders the passage:
A brazen key she held the handle turned,
With steel and polished ivory adorned;
The bolt, obedent to the silken string,
Forsakes the staple as she pulls the ring;
The wards, respondent to the key. turned round;
The bars fly back, the flying valves resound:
Loud a bull makes hill and valley ring,
so roared the lock when 1t released the spring.
Pliny and Polydore Virgil ascribe the in
vention of keys to Theodore of Samos !;
but this is refuted by other authors, who
mention these articles as having been in
use before the siege of Troy.
Another ancient lock, in which the Sc
curity is obtained by levers or tumblers, is
of Chinese invention. Mr.. Chubb has in
possession lock of this description, made
entirely of wood, and, although many cen
turtles old, it is founded on exactly the
same principle as the modern Bramah
lock, having "sliders or tumblers of differ
ent lengths" which cannot be opened I'M
less raised simultaneously to q particular
height Some authorities consider the age
of this lock as remote as the time Of Con-
fucius. Some idea of the ingenuity Of
this invention is afforded by the fact that
"a lock Of five siiders or tumblers admits
of 5000 variations, while one of eight will
have no less than 1896, $50 changes )" or,
in other words, that number Of attempts
at making key or picking it may be
made before the lock can be opened.
Latch keys-tha terror of Mrs. Caudle
A., ,.x A,,th
fury, and the Oldest specimens had cross
inserted in the center of the bow. This
was very common ornament in the an
Gent keys, and was doubtless due to the
superstitious belief in the power of these
articles to influence the inhabitants of the
spirit world Mr. Fairholt favors us with
note on the ornamentation Of keys in
the seventeenth century. "They were"
he tells us, in many cases as deliberately
decorated as the articles for which the
locks were intended, including even the
most magnificent cabinets of the middle
ages"
The history Of locks ard keys supplies
an interesting chapter in the curiosities of
intervention. Mark Scaliot, smith of
Elizabeth's time, is reported TO have made
lock consisting of IL pieces OF iron, steel
and brass, all of which, with pipe.key,
weighed only two grains of gold. The
ingenious Marquis of Worcester includes
in his Gnturie IF Inoenti ms several won
ders in the shape of locks and keys. "A
little triangle screwed key, not weighing
shilling, yet capable and strong enough to
bolt and unbolt round about great chest,
100 bolts through so staples, two in each,
with direct contrary motion, and as many
more from both sides and ends, and at the
self same time shall fasten it to place be
yond mans natural strength to take it
away; and in one and the same turn both
locketh and openeth it," Such was one
invention of this prolific mechanical
genius. Here is another, equally remark
able in its way; "An escutcheon for q lock,
with these properties: The owner (through
a woman) may, with her delicate hand,
vary the ways of coming to open the lock
ten millions of times beyond the knowl-
edge of the smith that made it, or of me
who invented it. If stranger open it, IT
setteth an alarm agoing, which the stranger
cannot stop from running out, and, besides,
though none should be within hearing,
yet il catcheth his hand as trap doth
fox, and though far from manning him,
vet il leaveth such mark behind it "a will