The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1889-11-24
The CUTE CHINESE.
The "Yale Lock" Known to them
Many, Many Years Ago.
WE ARE "OUTER BARBARIANS."
The Chinese Have Used For Many Years
Lscks Similar to Those But Lately
Known Among Civilized People.


SAN FRANCISCO, Nov. o. Special cor
respondence of the THE HERALD. The
Chinese, in their uncomplimentary opinion
of all other nations, call them simply ''outel
barbarians." Their reasons for this Pooh
Bah haughtiness are basedon the assumption
that their religion is better than any other,
their moral system higher, their manners
and customs eminently superior and their
civilization much older. 1t might, perhaps,
be shown with little trouble that all these
claims are not to be unhesitatingly allowed,
but it must be confessed the Chinese can
offer many proofs Of
A CIVILIZATION THAT ANTEDATEs OURS
by few centuries, although, while accept
ing this, it could be proved that this old
civilization never got beyond a certain
point, and that Chinese civilization is to-
day just where it was in the hands of the
painted red man. In its era of progress,
however, China made some extraordinary
strides, and it can point to its silks, its por-
celains and its bronzes as evidence of an
advance in the manufacture of luxuries
~
equal.
During stroll through Chinatown two
or three Gays ago, certain brass objects in
Il store window attracted the writer's a.
tention, and on inquiring what they Wen
the answer was given that they were locks.
An examination of them showed certain
peculiarities of construction, and it began
to look as though locks might be added to
the list of Chinese productions for which
nnnn1n pOnld ri m tv nf
invention. This led to some research IN
inquiries, the result of which is given
below:
TO properly retain the order of relation,
it will be necessary to say something first
about the history of locks and their an
tiquity. The plan for the latter quality
seems to be universally accorded to the
Egyptian artifcer. His lock, rude cary
ngs of which are said to have embellished
the walls of ancient Karnak, was con
structed as follows: Into the belt, when
pushed into its sockets, three pins of vary
ing position fall into similar number of
holes and so hold it fast. The key, which
bears three other pins in a position CORE
spending to that of the pin, is then pushed
through large keyhole made through the
bolt, and lifted, not turned, until the lock
ing pins are themselves lifted out of the
way of the bolt, which then ran free. This
v
affair, but now, 1000 years after, a lock
has been made which is after all but an
adaptation of this old arrangement of pins
which was used during the days of Moses.
THIS Is THE CELEBRATED YALE LOCK.
Dr. Chubb, the well known English lock-
smith, used to show his customers d wooden
Chinese lock, very superior, apparently, to
the Egyptian, and in fact founded upon the
same principle as the Bramah and Yale
locks, in that it contained sliders or tum-
blers of different lengths, and could not be
opened until they were all raised to the
proper heights and no higher. The ques-
ton of relative antiquity never seemed TO
have entered DR.. Chubb's head, and for all
we know these wooden locks may have
antedated the Egyptian by many centuries.
There Is used in our San Francisco China
town to-day wooden and iron lock which
is of an antiquity that is prehistoric. 1t
was while the writer was examining the
brass locks referred to in this article
That a queer looking little block of teak
was picked up. II was a cube of an inch
and half each way. After good deal of
questioning it was learned that this, too, was
a lock, and then after good deal of rum
maging, the key was also found. Its exact
use the salesman either could not or would
not explain, but on application to Consul
Bee and his Intelligent aid, the lock and
key were found to be a part of an apparatus
whose age was lost in obscuritv and some
what similar to the Egyptian lock-
Another lock that | have found here in
Chinatown is nothing less than the Yale
lock, key. notches. grooves and all The
very latest Improvement of the Yale lock-
the rIdged or corrugated key-was here
found. and so common that the salesman
seemed surprised it should be worth buy
ing. 1t opened the lock to which it be
longed on the spring principle, but the
shape of the key, except for an elbow at
the end, was the Yale, dug up from
THE DEPTHS OF CHINESE JUNK SHOP.
These spring locks are very old, and are
among the most ordinary examples of the
Chinese lOcksmiths art. He makes, as he
has been making for hundred of years,
locks that require two keys to open them:
combination locks, letter locks, intricate
padlocks, and. in fact, locks of every de
scription. The wise saying of King
Solomon was never more Strikingly
verified. NJ. Reignier's letter locks
with which courier dispatch boxes were
secured, have brought him fame and hon
or; in 1854 Joseph Bramah, of Piccadilly,
London, patented lock which was de-
clared midst great flourish of trumpets to
be miracle of security; in 1918 came Jere-
miah Chubb with his combination locks;
then James Carpenter, the inventor of the
perpendicular action locks" then San
ders, with his sliding levers" then Par
sons with his "changeable locks" then
Hobbs with his machine-made Ievered
locks, and then Yale-but with every al
lowance for the ingenuity and constructive
skill of these gentlemen, it must be allowed
that all their works are founded on the
identical principles which it has been
shown have been known to the world for
thousands of years.
With a record nke Summons Liver Regu-
latOr none should be afraid to use it for