Page:A Dissertation on the Construction of Locks (1815).pdf/26

 . Every approach towards perfection in the art of Lock-making may be productive of much good, and is at least deserving of commendation and encouragement; for if no higher benefit were to result from it, but the rendering that difficult or impossible to many, which is still practicable and easy to a few, it furnishes a material security against those from whom the greatest mischiefs and dangers are to be apprehended.

The first claimant to merit in this branch of mechanics is Mr., whose Lock is undoubtedly more secure, than any that ever was in use before his invention was made known. An observation or two upon Mr. Baron’s Lock, will however illustrate what I have said on the subject of fixed wards, and prepare my readers to comprehend more readily, the principle on which my own Lock is constructed.

It appears from the object of improvement which employed Mr. Baron’s attention in the construction of his Lock, that he was aware of the impossibility of guarding the avenues to the bolt so effectually by, as to prevent all access to it; for leaving the entrance and passage to the common protection of wards and outworks, his ingenuity hath been wholly applied to the