Parautoptic Safe Lock circa 1840s-1850s

**drcwks** · 04-12-06 02:42 AM

Here's a self contained safe lock with bolt work. I have had the pictures for sometime and the lock is in storage so I'm going by memory right now.
I'm sure there will be questions and that will force me to revisit this MYSTERY SAFE LOCK which I have been meaning to do. I HOPE to find
another collector who has the ENTIRE SAFE. That's what I'm after right now is to find out what safe manufacturer USED this lock. A special thanks
to Carl King who identified the KEY Patent way back in 1999. I finally downloaded from the U.S. Patent Office once the site was available to do so.
It will be attached later in the post.

First off. I'm just a collector...antique padlocks, safes, related advertising ,etc..... I'm not a locksmith so some of the terminology I use may be a little elementary but hopefully I'll get the point across.

This will be an on going transition...These are the pictures I have available at my finger tips ...but I may be revising this when I get the lock out and take more
pictures. SO....if there are any pictures you want...you had better save them now.... :-) I hope the ending format keeps the pictures set WITH the captions
underneath. I really don't use this HTML editor that much.....Well...here goes...I'm not sure how this will post on Paul's site....we'll see...

I bought this lock years ago at an estate auction here in Kansas. I knew it was some type of safe lock but didn't have any idea what brand of safe used
this type lock. I was sure it was American and since it used a key I figured it dated to the 1840s-1860s. It did have 3/8" half pin (not original) that fit into the
hole shown below. It turned and the bolt open and closed. UNBEKNOWNST to me at the time.... the KEY bit was in position. I didn't find that out until
many months later. I just never had the time to really disassemble it. The lock weighs about 28 pounds. As you can see below it's about 17 inches from tab to tab
by the bolts. I hope there is enough text on the pictures to explain how it works.

Parautoptic Safe Lock circa 1840s-1850s-parautopticsafelockall.jpg

I was going to try and insert pictures as I went.... but decided to just paste ONE large picture and make some ending comments below. I wasn't sure how the pictures and
text would end up. First off the above key is very similar to the patent below held by Albert Betteley. But the lock is more like the one in John & David Erroll's
book "The American Genius" on page 78. The safe lock maker was William Hall. THIS bit is NOT changeable like Hall's. I'm hoping to find someone who has this
exact lock in a safe. I would like a picture of the safe. After seeing the picture in "The American Genius" I'm sure that there never was a permanent dial or handle that
threw the bolt...Just a half-pin type key like the William Hall's lock.....anyway....I hope you find this interesting. The key holder ends are spring loaded (spring steel?)
I don't think the design of the removable key was that great. VERY easy NOT to be able to extract the KEY BIT. That's probably WHY I found the lock with the bit
still in it! Of course the design was to keep the levers away from being manipulated which I think that was accomplished with this mechanism.
My holiday project will be to get all the parts cleaned up and inside painted and mounted on a frame of some kind.

Here is the Betteley Patent

Parautoptic Safe Lock circa 1840s-1850s-parautopticsafelockalbertbetteleypatent.jpg

Parautoptic Safe Lock circa 1840s-1850s-patent8851.jpg

**Parautoptic** · 25-01-10 04:54 AM

Very interesting pictures.... I remember reading about a similar lock that took the bit and returned it via a little chute *inside* the door. This denied an attacker the chance of examining his false bit for any clue(s) as to why it had failed and alerted the owner to tampering. The true bit could of course be retrieved because the lock would be open. I do not recall mention of any special tool for inserting the bit or turning the lock.

I cannot recall where I read about this, (more than thirty years ago!) but the description has stayed with me and indeed is the reason for my username on this site. It may have been in the "Rudimentary Treatise"

Is the lock shewn here any relation to the one I read about all those years ago?

**Tom Gordon** · 25-01-10 08:48 PM

That key bit was banana shaped with a groove to ensure it was inserted the right way around-unfortunately it was quite easy for it to wear and be inserted the wrong way up and as far as I could see the only realistic way to then get it out at the time was to turn the safe upside down.

**Patent** · 10-02-10 06:24 PM

Hi.
Do you know the name of the Patentee or manufacturer of the lock with the "banana shaped" key?
Thanks in advance.
Patent.

**BBE** · 11-02-10 03:32 PM

The banana shaped key is commonly referred to as a 'grasshopper' because of the way it 'jumped' out of the lock. I believe it was made by Linus Yale Sr. under US patent number 10,584.
BBE.

**Steve Dudley** · 11-02-10 04:25 PM

Attachment 2628I have a Silas C. Herring safe that uses a “Grasshopper key” .The Attachment 2627"Grasshopper Lock" was originally designed and Patented by Joseph L. Hall on 1 August, 1848, for Silas Herring. Silas HerriAttachment 2626ng began producing safes around 1840. I will try to attach a photo of my lock and key.My safe was built around 1855 I thinkAttachment 2625

**Patent** · 11-02-10 04:46 PM

Thanks BBE for this info. I have looked up the patent diagram (was this lock ever produced by Yale in this format?).
I think that this design lead onto Yale's"Peanut" lock.
Patent.

**Doug MacQueen** · 11-02-10 06:04 PM

It was William Hall of Boston, not Jos. L Hall of Cincinnati that designed the "grasshopper" lock. Both of these men have several lock patents to their name. I have not yet determined who William worked for, so if anyone out there knows, give a yell. There were a couple locks, US and Brit, where the key bit traveled into the lock, and if I remember correctly, one that was deposited in a chute on the door.

**Patent** · 12-02-10 07:34 AM

Hi Doug.
One British lock that comes to mind that fits your reference "where the key bit travelled into the lock, and if I remember correctly, one that was deposited in a chute on the door" is Fenby's" Adytic" lock. This lock is described in the" Rudimentary Treatise" I believe that this is possibly the lock that Parautoptic alludes to in previous post.25.01.2010.

" I remember reading about a similar lock that took the bit and returned it via a little chute *inside* the door. This denied an attacker the chance of examining his false bit for any clue(s) as to why it had failed and alerted the owner to tampering. The true bit could of course be retrieved because the lock would be open. I do not recall mention of any special tool for inserting the bit or turning the lock.

I cannot recall where I read about this, (more than thirty years ago!) but the description has stayed with me and indeed is the reason for my username on this site. It may have been in the "Rudimentary Treatise"

**oldlock** · 12-02-10 07:50 AM

Rings a bell, I think it was in Tomlinson. Has anyone ever seen one ?

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