Lock (security device)

"Lock and key" redirects here. For the novel by Sarah Dessen, see Lock and Key (novel).
"Locksmith" redirects here. For the American rapper, see Locksmith (rapper). For the Marvel Comics character, see Locksmith (comics).
historical Locks from 17th century Russia

A lock is a mechanical or electronic fastening device that is released by a physical object (such as a key, keycard, fingerprint, RFID card, security token etc.), by supplying secret information (such as a keycode or password), or by a combination thereof.

History

Antiquity

Medieval lock in Kathmandu

The earliest known lock and key device was discovered in the ruins of Nineveh, the capital of ancient Assyria.[1] Locks such as this were later developed into the Egyptian wooden pin lock, which consisted of a bolt, door fixture, and key. When the key was inserted, pins within the fixture were lifted out of drilled holes within the bolt, allowing it to move. When the key was removed, the pins fell part-way into the bolt, preventing movement.[2]

Simple three-disc locking mechanism
from a wooden box recovered from
the Swedish ship Vasa, sunk in 1628

The warded lock was also present from antiquity and remains the most recognizable lock and key design in the Western world. The first all-metal locks appeared between the years 870 and 900, and are attributed to the English craftsmen.[3] It is also said that the key was invented by Theodore of Samos in the 6th century BC.[4]

Affluent Romans often kept their valuables in secure boxes within their households, and wore the keys as rings on their fingers. The practice had two benefits: It kept the key handy at all times, while signaling that the wearer was wealthy and important enough to have money and jewelry worth securing.[5]

Modern locks

Chinese lock and key from Yunnan Province, early 20th century

With the onset of the Industrial Revolution in the late 18th century and the concomitant development of precision engineering and component standardisation, locks and keys were manufactured with increasing complexity and sophistication.

The lever tumbler lock, which uses a set of levers to prevent the bolt from moving in the lock, was perfected by Robert Barron in 1778. His double acting lever lock required the lever to be lifted to a certain height by having a slot cut in the lever, so lifting the lever too far was as bad as not lifting the lever far enough. This type of lock is still currently used today.[6]

Diagram of a Chubb detector lock

The lever tumbler lock was greatly improved by Jeremiah Chubb in 1818. A burglary in Portsmouth Dockyard prompted the British Government to announce a competition to produce a lock that could be opened only with its own key.[7] Chubb developed the Chubb detector lock, which incorporated an integral security feature that could frustrate unauthorised access attempts and would indicate to the lock's owner if it had been interfered with. Chubb was awarded £100 after a trained lock-picker failed to break the lock after 3 months.[8]

In 1820, Jeremiah joined his brother Charles in starting their own lock company, Chubb. Chubb made various improvements to his lock; - his 1824 improved design didn't require a special regulator key to reset the lock, by 1847 his keys used six-levers rather than four and he later introduced a disc that allowed the key to pass but narrowed the field of view, hiding the levers from anybody attempting to pick the lock.[9] The Chubb brothers also received a patent for the first burglar-resisting safe and began production in 1835.

The designs of Barron and Chubb were based on the use of movable levers, but Joseph Bramah, a prolific inventor, developed an alternative method in 1784. His lock used a cylindrical key with precise notches along the surface; these moved the metal slides that impeded the turning of the bolt into an exact alignment, allowing the lock to open. The lock was at the limits of the precision manufacturing capabilities of the time and was said by its inventor to be unpickable. In the same year Bramah started the Bramah Locks company at 124 Piccadilly, and displayed the "Challenge Lock" in the window of his shop from 1790, challenging "...the artist who can make an instrument that will pick or open this lock" for the reward of £200. The challenge stood for over 67 years until, at the Great Exhibition of 1851, the American locksmith Alfred Charles Hobbs was able to open the lock and, following some argument about the circumstances under which he had opened it, was awarded the prize. Hobbs' attempt required some 51 hours, spread over 16 days.

The earliest patent for a double-acting pin tumbler lock was granted to American physician Abraham O. Stansbury in England in 1805,[10] but the modern version, still in use today, was invented by American Linus Yale, Sr. in 1848.[11] This lock design used pins of varying lengths to prevent the lock from opening without the correct key. In 1861, Linus Yale, Jr. was inspired by the original 1840s pin-tumbler lock designed by his father, thus inventing and patenting a smaller flat key with serrated edges as well as pins of varying lengths within the lock itself, the same design of the pin-tumbler lock which still remains in use today.[12] The modern Yale lock is essentially a more developed version of the Egyptian lock.

Despite some improvement in key design since, the majority of locks today are still variants of the designs invented by Bramah, Chubb and Yale.

Types of locks

Locks with physical keys

Pin tumbler lock: without a key in the lock, the driver pins (blue) are pushed downwards, preventing the plug (yellow) from rotating
Tubular lock: the key pins (red) and driver pins (blue) are pushed towards the front of the lock, preventing the plug (yellow) from rotating. The tubular key has several half-cylinder indentations which align with the pins
Wafer tumbler lock: without a key in the lock, the wafers (red) are pushed down by springs. The wafers nestle into a groove in the lower part of the outer cylinder (green) preventing the plug (yellow) from rotating

A warded lock uses a set of obstructions, or wards, to prevent the lock from opening unless the correct key is inserted. The key has notches or slots that correspond to the obstructions in the lock, allowing it to rotate freely inside the lock. Warded locks are typically reserved for low-security applications as a well-designed skeleton key can successfully open a wide variety of warded locks.

The pin tumbler lock uses a set of pins to prevent the lock from opening unless the correct key is inserted. The key has a series of grooves on either side of the key's blade that limit the type of lock the key can slide into. As the key slides into the lock, the horizontal grooves on the blade align with the wards in the keyway allowing or denying entry to the cylinder. A series of pointed teeth and notches on the blade, called bittings, then allow pins to move up and down until they are in line with the shear line of the inner and outer cylinder, allowing the cylinder or cam to rotate freely and the lock to open.

A wafer tumbler lock is similar to the pin tumbler lock and works on a similar principle. However, unlike the pin lock (where each pin consists of two or more pieces) each wafer is a single piece. The wafer tumbler lock is often incorrectly referred to as a disc tumbler lock, which uses an entirely different mechanism. The wafer lock is relatively inexpensive to produce and is often used in automobiles and cabinetry.

The disc tumbler lock or Abloy lock is composed of slotted rotating detainer discs. They are considered very secure and almost impossible to pick.

The lever tumbler lock uses a set of levers to prevent the bolt from moving in the lock. In its simplest form, lifting the tumbler above a certain height will allow the bolt to slide past. Lever locks are commonly recessed inside wooden doors or on some older forms of padlocks, including fire brigade padlocks.

Locks with electronic keys

An electronic lock works by means of an electronic current and is usually connected to an access control system. In addition to the pin and tumbler used in standard locks, electronic locks connects the bolt or cylinder to a motor within the door using a part called an actuator. Types of electronic locks include the following:

A keycard lock operates with a flat card using the same dimensions as a credit card or US and EU driver's license. In order to open the door, one needs to successfully match the signature within the keycard.

A smart lock is an electromechanics lock that gets instructions to lock and unlock the door from an authorized device using a cryptographic key and wireless protocol. Smart locks have begun to be used more commonly in residential areas, and have most likely grown in popularity due to widespread use of the smartphone.[13][14] Additionally, smart locks are gaining momentum in coworking spaces and offices where smart locks often enable keyless office entry.[15]

The sidebar lock operates using fins on a radial key that actuate sidebars that align with a cylindrical code bar within the lock. This is a new type of master key technology developed by the Australian Lock Company. The keys and the code bar are cut using a Computerised Numerical Control (CNC) machine.

Locksmithing

Locksmith, 1451
A Chinese locksmith in Jakarta (Batavia) around 1870
A Chinese locksmith in Singapore, circa 1900

Locksmithing is a traditional trade, and in most countries requires completion of an apprenticeship. The level of formal education required varies from country to country, from a simple training certificate awarded by an employer, to a full diploma from an engineering college. Locksmiths may be commercial (working out of a storefront), mobile (working out of a vehicle), institutional, or investigational (forensic locksmiths). They may specialize in one aspect of the skill, such as an automotive lock specialist, a master key system specialist or a safe technician. Many also act as security consultants, but not all security consultants have the skills and knowledge of a locksmith.

Historically, locksmiths constructed or repaired an entire lock, including its constituent parts. The rise of cheap mass production has made this less common; the vast majority of locks are repaired through like-for-like replacements, high-security safes and strongboxes being the most common exception. Many locksmiths also work on any existing door hardware, including door closers, hinges, electric strikes, and frame repairs, or service electronic locks by making keys for transponder-equipped vehicles and implementing access control systems.

Although the fitting and replacement of keys remains an important part of locksmithing, modern locksmiths are primarily involved in the installation of high quality lock-sets and the design, implementation, and management of keying and key control systems. A locksmith is frequently required to determine the level of risk to an individual or institution and then recommend and implement appropriate combinations of equipment and policies to create a "security layer" that exceeds the reasonable gain of an intruder.

Full disclosure

Full disclosure requires that full details of a security vulnerability are disclosed to the public, including details of the vulnerability and how to detect and exploit it. The theory behind full disclosure is that releasing vulnerability information immediately results in better security. Fixes are produced faster because vendors and authors are forced to respond in order to protect their system from potential attacks as well as to protect their own image. Security is improved because the window of exposure, the amount of time the vulnerability is open to attack, is reduced. The issue of full disclosure was first raised in a 19th-century controversy over the revelation of lock-system weaknesses to the public. According to A. C. Hobbs:

A commercial, and in some respects a social doubt has been started within the last year or two, whether or not it is right to discuss so openly the security or insecurity of locks. Many well-meaning persons suppose that the discussion respecting the means for baffling the supposed safety of locks offers a premium for dishonesty, by showing others how to be dishonest. This is a fallacy. Rogues are very keen in their profession, and know already much more than we can teach them respecting their several kinds of roguery.

Rogues knew a good deal about lock-picking long before locksmiths discussed it among themselves, as they have lately done. If a lock, let it have been made in whatever country, or by whatever maker, is not so inviolable as it has hitherto been deemed to be, surely it is to the interest of honest persons to know this fact, because the dishonest are tolerably certain to apply the knowledge practically;and the spread of the knowledge is necessary to give fair play to those who might suffer by ignorance.

It cannot be too earnestly urged that an acquaintance with real facts will, in the end, be better for all parties. Some time ago, when the reading public was alarmed at being told how London milk is adulterated, timid persons deprecated the exposure, on the plea that it would give instructions in the art of adulterating milk; a vain fear, milkmen knew all about it before, whether they practiced it or not; and the exposure only taught purchasers the necessity of a little scrutiny and caution, leaving them to obey this necessity or not, as they pleased.

— A. C. Hobbs (Charles Tomlinson, ed.), Locks and Safes: The Construction of Locks. Published by Virtue & Co., London, 1853 (revised 1868).

Famous locksmiths

See also

Types of locks

References

  1. ↑ de Vries, N. Cross and D. P. Grant, M. J. (1992). Design Methodology and Relationships with Science: Introduction. Eindhoven: Kluwer Academic Publishers. p. 32.
  2. ↑ Ceccarelli, Marco (2004). International Symposium on History of Machines and Mechanisms. New York: Kluwer Academic Publishers. p. 43. ISBN 1402022034.
  3. ↑ "History". Locks.ru. Retrieved 2010-06-10.
  4. ↑ "History". Dimensions Info. Retrieved 2012-12-09.
  5. ↑ "History". Slate Magazine. Retrieved 2012-12-09.
  6. ↑ Pulford, Graham W. (2007). High-Security Mechanical Locks : An Encyclopedic Reference. Elsevier. p. 317. ISBN 0-7506-8437-2.
  7. ↑ "History of Locks". Encyclopaedia of Locks and Builders Hardware. Chubb Locks. 1958. Retrieved 16 November 2006.
  8. ↑ "Lock Making: Chubb & Son's Lock & Safe Co Ltd". Wolverhampton City Council. 2005. Retrieved 16 November 2006.
  9. ↑ Roper, C.A. & Phillips, Bill (2001). The Complete Book of Locks and Locksmithing. McGraw-Hill Publishing. ISBN 0-07-137494-9.
  10. ↑ The Complete Book of Home, Site, and Office Security: Selecting, Installing, and Troubleshooting Systems and Devices. McGraw-Hill Professional. p. 11.
  11. ↑ The Geek Atlas: 128 Places Where Science and Technology Come Alive. O'Reilly Media, Inc. p. 445.
  12. ↑ "Inventor of the Week Archive". Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
  13. ↑ "Ditch the Keys: It's Time to Get a Smart Lock". Popular Mechanics. 26 November 2013. Retrieved 15 June 2016.
  14. ↑ "Kisi And KeyMe, Two Smart Phone Apps, Might Make House Keys Obsolete". The Huffington Post. The Huffington Post. Retrieved 9 June 2015.
  15. ↑ Kurutz, Steven. "Losing The Key". The New York Times. The New York Times. Retrieved 9 June 2015.
  16. ↑ "Opening an Antique Bramah Box Lock". Hygra.com. Retrieved 2012-08-15.
  17. ↑ "Bramah Locks". Crypto.com. Retrieved 2012-08-15.

Further reading

External links

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