Norman Lock cylinder

[BBE]

The Norman cylinder was invented by Norman Epstein and produced by his Pragmatic Lock Co. It was a High Security and environmentally friendly lock cylinder. High Security because it couldn't be picked and key blanks were not available. The mechanism consisted of a number of rotary discs inside the cylinder and each disc had embeded in it a ball bearing. Once all of the ball bearings were aligned end to end the mechanism was effectively longer and could then cause another ball to engage and ultimately the cam/tailpiece could be turned. It had a cast, curved blade key that was double bitted. Norman typically demonstrated the lock at conventions by having it buried in a fish bowl of sand. He would pull the lock out of the sand and give it to you with the keys and they would work smoothly after you poured the remaining sand from the lock.

Norman was a very interesting and intelligent guy who passed on a few years ago. I think the cylinder has been out of production for around 10-15 years.
BBE.

[mhmh]

Norman was a very interesting and intelligent guy who passed on a few years ago.

One never knows which online source is trustworthy, but I just found this by accident: http://www.obitsforlife.com/obituary...ein-Norman.php
It indicates that he passed away just weeks ago, Jan 23, 2015.

A great inventor indeed.

[BBE]

One never knows which online source is trustworthy, but I just found this by accident: http://www.obitsforlife.com/obituary...ein-Norman.php
It indicates that he passed away just weeks ago, Jan 23, 2015.

A great inventor indeed.

Looks real, a lot of us in the industry had bad info didn't we!
BBE.

[Dean Nickel]

Norman Epstein died at home in Kent on January 23rd 2015,
the 23rd anniversary of his mother's death,at age 83.
He had suffered a variety of illnesses in recent years.
He was born in Brooklyn September 22nd 1931 to Louis and
Rose (Silverman) Epstein.When he was a child the family bought
the land surrounding the intersection usually shown on maps
as "Mead's Corners",though the Epstein family has now owned
the land (which they have named "Twin Brooks") longer than
the Meads,the Foshays who preceded them,or the Reddings after
them.He moved there permanently in 1961 with his wife Turid,
to whom he was married from 1957 to her death in 2011.
He was a graduate of Tilden High School in Brooklyn and was
in the Army from 1952 to 1954,serving at Fort Dix.For some
years he worked for his family's chemical business in Brooklyn
and New Jersey before selling his shares to his brothers.
He was a mechanical genius who was awarded patents on various
locking devices,a tube sheet plug for heat exchanges,and
surgical replacement joints.Other projects never realized
included a fly-tying vise and a rotary engine with 70% thermal
efficiency.He was a longtime amateur magician and a former
competitive skiier and bicycle racer.For years he was a
private pilot of single-engine airplanes.His hobbies included
music,photography,and international cooking.He met his
Norwegian wife in Paris when lighting a stage production
(a talent he had first honed in Brooklyn) and they married
in London.
He was a founding member and second president of the Kent
Volunteer Fire Department,and for years managed the family
rental apartments at Twin Brooks,employing the same skills
he used to build and design his own home there.Built as a
summer colony by his father,he converted the bungalows to
year-round rentals in the 1960s.He was active in various
local political,environmental,and recycling groups.
He is survived by his son Louis of Twin Brooks,Kent,and a
brother Edward of New Jersey and Florida.A daughter died
in infancy in 1959.
Balsamo-Cordovano Funeral Home (225-2144) will conduct
graveside services at 1 PM Friday,January 30th,at
King David Memorial Gardens,Rose Hills Cemetery,Peekskill
Hollow Road & Mill Street in Putnam Valley.

[mhmh]

I got one lock and one key from Dean, managed to make a nice cutaway, but then I broke the one key... The key seems to be worn down a bit - nowhere near a "tight-fitting curve" as mentioned here: http://goo.gl/Qudem1
Basically, the key doesn't align the balls very well and a lot of jiggling and force was required to turn the lock.

So I want to make a new one.
Looks like it's about time to learn some CAD and try a 3D metal printer like http://www.shapeways.com/
I'm curious how many iterations this will take...

Attached is a rendering of the current version, designed in OpenSCAD. At this stage, it's a blank only, but OpenSCAD should also allow for a computer-generated bitting.

Cheers
mh

[Dean Nickel]

IF you get this working I would LOVE to know!

My keys are no better I am sorry to say.