Notes

A lockpicking dice game for 2-8 players! Lock Dice! As a budding lock maker you have set out to test your designs against your peers. Take your picks and pins and challenge some rivals! Note: The game can be played with 2-8 people, but frankly, the bulk of the testing has been …

A detailed exploration of the state of smart locks in late 2014 I've been following the smart lock market with great interest. There are some odd ideas, common mistakes, and a lot of hyperbole, but also intrepid engineering, smart marketing and a level playing field. For the …

The untold story of one of the earliest lockmaking families in America. In discussing the early history of lock manufacturing in America, we necessarily focus on Hobbs, Yale, Sargent and a very few others. These were the men who advanced the art and paved the way to the future …

The patent office fire of 1836 wasn't a complete loss. In the years following the disaster many patents were recovered in some form or another. The lock patents specifically had only a handful of documents recovered, but those partial records are giving this project a great head …

It seems very appropriate to kick off this blog with an overview of one of the earliest finds I made when I first turned my attention to the history of security. While doing some fairly broad investigation of the aftermath of the Great Lock Controversy of 1851 I came across an …

"Few self-respecting professional 'inventors' have felt their mission to be fulfilled until they have 'invented' a lock of some kind." Henry R. Towne In the 19th century the problem of security was at the forefront of mechanical curiosity. The Royal Society in England held many …