Page:Rudimentary Treatise on the Construction of Locks (1853).djvu/20

6 which the Cyclopédie consists, several are devoted to arts and manufactures; and one of them contains the article in question. It occupies 168 quarto pages, and is illustrated by 35 copperplate engravings, shewing in detail not only the parts of various locks, but the tools used by the lockmaker. It is proper, however, to remark, that much of the letterpress and many of the plates relate to smith's work generally, and not exclusively to lock-work; the French name serrurerie being applied not only to lock-making, but to most of the smith's work required in dwelling-houses. This affords, indeed, a striking illustration of the fact, that until lately a lock-maker has been regarded rather as a smith than as a machinist, rather as a forger and filer of pieces of iron, than as a fabricator of delicate mechanism. One of the most curious features in this treatise is a vocabulary, containing, in alphabetical arrangement, a minute account of all the French technical terms employed in the locksmith's art. This vocabulary alone occupies 88 quarto pages.

The Germans, like the French, bestow great attention on their treatises relating to the manufacturing arts. Some of these are, indeed, worked up to a degree of minuteness which would seem superfluous, where little distinction is drawn between the importance of fundamental principles and that of mere technical details. Locks have had their due share. The article on locks in 's Technological Encyclopedia written by, and published in 1842, occupies about 140 pages. Locks are very minutely classified by the author, according to their purposes and their modes of action, and are illustrated by many plates. One of his classifications is into German, French, and Bastard locks, referring in part to the extent to which the key turns round in the lock; and the last of the three having an intermediate character between the other two. After treating of the ordinary warded locks, he comes to the combination principle; and it is profitable here to notice, how well the works of our machinists are understood on the continent, when they have