Page:A Dissertation on the Construction of Locks (1785).pdf/32

 may therefore be more properly termed an alteration, than an improvement in the art of Lock-making.

The reſiſtance of picklocks, and the entire excluſion of falſe keys, is a property, which is likewiſe aſcribed to the ſolid ward Lock. But to this excellence it hath no juſt pretenſion. For it poſſeſſes, in common with all other Locks, the imperfection of being liable to be opened (in the manner above deſcribed) by a lockſmith of any tolerable degree of ſkill; and it hath this peculiar diſadvantage, that the key may be more eaſily copied, than thoſe of the moſt common Locks. It ſeems, therefore, that the ſole property of this invention might have remained with the projector without a patent.

I could add many reaſons to thoſe I have given, in proof of my original poſition, “that all dependence on the inviolable ſecurity of Locks (even of thoſe which are conſtructed on the beſt principle of any in general uſe) is