Needle Locks & Latches.

[Sprockets]

Dear kwosalt99,

Thanks for your interest-Yes, it did have deflectable springs, but there the similarity to "Viking" locks disappears, as the wires, acting as tumblers, were deflected in twoplanes by direct contact with the key.

I have at last tracked the inventor down to a certain Herbert Allman, who seemed to be a professional inventor. (He invented Hydraulic Tubing, Lamp burners and other devices) He had three patents for the locks-
A) GB186201328, the main patent. He proposes that a key be filed, then the pointed ends of the wires used to mark the bolt, so allowing holes to be drilled in exact positions.

B)-GB186502006-Safe lock

C)-This third patent in 1866 was never completed-One improvement was to have an internal cover of glass, so its workings were visible before mounting on a door!

I hope to now obtain copies of the two sealed patents, when I can hopefully post pictures.

Now I have found out the inventor's identity, does this ring a bell with anyone, as the lock was for sale for nearly three years.

[Huw Eastwood]

Thanks for posting this Sprockets- What an amazing lock- you've uncovered a long forgotten gem there for sure.

The exact degree of flex in all planes on each of the spring steel wires would have been critical to every operation of the lock. Coupled with the incredibly tight tolerances in the corresponding holes, and obtaining 100% consistency throughout production must have all added up to a nightmare and been a challenge in itself.

How they did all that quickly and cheaply to fulfil their aim for a simple yet secure lock is simply amazing. Can't help thinking it had the potential for serious reliability issues though.

Well worth the read and was a treble whammy for me as the first page of that date (221) covers Spiegeleisen steels and even mentions the old Erzberg in Styria Provence Austria. Something I am very familiar with through my live steam locomotives.

Heres the lock, courtesy of Grace's Guide


http://www.gracesguide.co.uk/Main_Page

Will be interesting to see if anyone out there has a working example of one- surely a few must have survived.

[Huw Eastwood]

The more you think about this the more it seems like something pretty drastic must have happened to end it all.

They were making some incredible claims for the "Needle Door-Latch" at the time:

"PERFECTLY UNPICKABLE"
"SECUREST LOCK MADE"
"CHEAPEST PATENT LOCK MADE"
"BEST LOCK EVER MADE"

Sprockets you've probably already found all this but there's a bit of info that comes up in google books which I can't post here.

Apparently the lock also appeared during 1866 in:

Mechanic's magazine 28th Sept
The Builder 29th Sept
The Ironmonger 29th Sept
Building News 5th Oct
The Builder's Weekly Reporter 8th Oct
The City Press 10th Nov

Although most might be adverts only and not actual features, I'm not sure