Page:Rudimentary Treatise on the Construction of Locks (1853).djvu/19

Rh smith's work as relate to the fastenings for doors, windows, closets, chests, &c.; such as hinges, hasps, latches, bolts, and other contrivances less complex than an actual lock. This brings us, by a natural transition, to locks in general, which form the subject of chapter five, to which is attached the illustrious name of as the author. Here are given a hundred folio pages of description, illustrated by twenty folio plates relating to locks, lock-making, and locksmiths. The sixth chapter relates to the iron-work of carriages, or the labours of the coachsmiths; while chapter seven, to wind up the work, relates to bell-hanging.

That chapter of the work which has reference to locks is the only one with which we have to do here. It is arranged in a systematic manner, beginning with the simpler locks, without wards or tumblers, and proceeding thence to others of more complex construction. The period at which the work was written was too early to lead us to expect to find a tumbler-lock described and delineated: there are, however, numerous examples of single tumbler-locks, many of them of great ingenuity. The use of multiple bolts, that is, of many bolts shot at once by one action of the key, seems to have been familiar enough to the locksmiths of those days. One lock represented is remarkable; it is attached to a strong and ponderous coffer or chest. The chest is open; and the whole under or inner surface of the cover is seen to be occupied by a lock of intricate construction; there are no less than twelve bolts, three on each long side, one on each short side, and one in each corner; these bolts are so placed as to catch under a projecting rim fixed round the top of the coffer. The collection of keys, exhibited on a separate plate, is remarkable for the great variety of forms given to them. We shall by and by copy some of the drawings of this curious work.

It was to be expected that in the Encyclopédie Méthodique, published in the same country and in the same century, the locksmith's art would be treated at some such length as in the work just described. Among the two hundred volumes of