Page:A Dissertation on the Construction of Locks (1785).pdf/31

 more delicately conſtructed, are claims which I believe no lockſmith will diſpute with him. But, if his Locks are leſs expoſed to the effects of time and chance, he hath certainly furniſhed them with keys, which do not poſſeſs the ſame properties. They are leſs formed for duration, and are more liable to accidental injuries, than the keys of any Locks I have ever ſeen. For the various angles they deſcribe, unavoidably ſubject them to perpetual entanglements; and the ſtem (which in other keys is protected by the web) being left bare, is rendered conſiderably weaker, as well as more liable to be deformed; and of courſe muſt give more frequent occaſion to call in the aſſiſtance of the lockſmith. The key having thus loſt as much, as the Lock is ſaid to have gained in point of duration, the degree of frailty is upon the whole, undiminiſhed;—and, being leſs equally diſtributed, will of courſe be more inconvenient. The introduction of ſolid wards may