The Emporia weekly news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1881-1889, 1886-03-04
Iockamiths Locked ont.

'sTen you something about the lock
smithsfs exclaimed the craftsman, dole
fully. There are none now. The
trade is dead. Locks are now ali made
by machinery, except. perhaps. safe and
prison locks; those are handmade, be.
canse they afford greater security thar
the other kind.
Time was when the lockmaker was 8
smith and bell-hanger as wen. and the
trade was q good one; but it has all
changed now, and we do nothing ex.
cept repairing or duplicating q key that
has been lost 'Electricians' do the
bell-hanging, and 50 we are crowded
out.
THE factory-made lock has taken the
place of the handmade article. Now
perhaps twenty men are required TO
make . lock which was formerly the
work of one man. These men superin-
tend machinery by which certain parts
of the lock are made. One man handles
. punch and cuts out the tumblers;
another makes the sliders; the springs
are made by another, and so on, until
all the parts are ready to be put to-
gether. One of the men could not
make lock without assistance from the
other workmen, and they have no
knowledge of the principles of locks.
Before the era of machinery all locks
were made by hand. That is why old
locksmiths understood their business so
well. But there are very few smiths of
the old school in the business now.
Most Of them have quit making locks,
and are making sewing-machines. The
principles on which sewing machines
are made can be easily understood by
any locksmith, and there is more money
to be made in the new business.
There's an old key TO one of the
doors on what used to be the Con-
necticut bastile, the old copper mine at
Simsbury. It's large enough and heavy
enough to knock a man down with.
There's an old key that used to Jingle at
state prison turkeys waist, but all
these old keys are now out of use and
style.
Eyes, the modern lock is superior to
the old-fashioned one, and for this
reason it is harder to pick. The old
lock was made to accommodate large
key, so that no matter how fine the con-
struction inside, an accomplished cracks
man could always get an idea of the
works. The keyhole being large, he
would insert wire, the end of which
being covered with wax, would receive
an impression of the lock. It was an
easy matter to make key after this
model in wax, so that most of the old
locks could be picked with but little
difficulty. Banks used to secure their
outer doors with locks that required
keys six inches long to open, and the
plan and skeleton keys
have opened many and many bank in
years past.
''But the patent lock of to-day, re-
curing fiat key. defies any attempt at
picking the works, because the keyhole
is SO small and the slots are SO numer-
Gus. For that reason skeleton keys are
useless to thieves nowadays. and cracks
men rely for success principally on their
possession of duplicate keys.
Jail work, as it is known to the
trade, is the only branch of our bust
ness where machinery is not used.
'.All the locks for jails and peniten-
tiaries are made of wrought iron and
constructed with from two to five
finished off smooth on the in
side, and held together by steel screws
and brass clasps. The parts, when
thus Joined, are alright, and the only
opening in the lock is the keyhole Such
a lock is as durable as can be made. -
Hartford Globe. -szsu.