Page:Rudimentary Treatise on the Construction of Locks (1853).djvu/15



manufacture of locks, and a consideration of the mechanical principles involved in their construction and security, have never yet been treated with any degree of fulness in an English work. Lock-making has occupied a large amount of ingenuity, and lock-patents have been obtained in considerable number, though not always, we are satisfied, with a commensurate return for the expense incurred,—but lock-philosophy (if so it may be designated) has not been largely attended to. And yet it may safely be said that much which is both mechanically and commercially important is comprised in a lock. Every improvement in the manufacture of iron, steel, and brass—that is, in the tool-making and machine-making processes—may be made to reflect its light on the lock-manufacture; the stamping, the casting, the planing, the slotting, the screw-cutting, the polishing of metals,—all, in proportion as they are improved, impart some of their aid to the lock-maker. Then, in the finer kinds of locks, the works are so delicate as to approach to the nicety of clockwork; thereby combining the manipulative skill of a talented