The first locks were quite simple—a wooden beam that was slid across a door. This concept, however, only worked if you were inside the room you wanted to lock. To remedy this, ancient Egyptians and Mesopotamians devised “pin-tumbler” locks, basically wooden-beam locks that could be opened from the outside with a wooden key. The beam was released from the tumblers that held it in place, and the key then pushed the beam into the desired position, locking or unlocking the door.
The ancient Romans took this concept a step further, inventing pin-tumbler locks forged of bronze, iron, or precious metals, whose keys lifted metal pins and moved the beam aside. The Romans also came up with the concept of wards, or obstructions, that a key must pass by to work. Ancient doors were guarded by lions, dragons, bulls, dogs, and other animal totems representing the gods—these images also appeared on early locks.
The Romans and the Chinese independently introduced the concept of the portable padlock. Padlocks were popular and widely used throughout the ages, as they were often cheaper than door locks and could be used to secure everything from cupboards and trunks to safes and jewelry boxes. Swedish padlocks from the Middle Ages are noted for their large arched-swing shackles. Chinese padlocks, meanwhile, are admired for their animal shapes.
Iron was the most common material for locks made in medieval Europe because it was believed to have the power to ward off evil spirits that might try to enter homes or churches through keyholes. Locks often were forged with images of a dragon's head on them, which was meant to scare away demons.
Around the 16th century, lock design became less about function or superstition and more about decor, thanks to the flamboyant and frilly baroque and rococo styles introduced in France. The throne demanded the most talented craftsmen for every detail of the palaces, right down to the door knobs, door plates, locks, and keys. European padlocks, too, became much more fanciful during this era, shaped like hearts, triangles, shields, or barrels, featuring spring locks and swinging shackles that swooped and scrolled like cat tails.
“Pull locks” were employed for sheds and barns where valuable stores of food and grain were kept on farms in the 17th century. To open such a lock, a person had to manipulate the key with one hand while pulling the ring attached to the bolt with the other.
In the early 18th century, Swedish mechanical engineer Christopher Polhem created his “unpickable” padlock, the forebear of the modern padlock. Inside the lock was a series of st...
During the late 18th and early 19th centuries, the English made locks that were difficult to pick thanks to complicated lever systems—examples include Robert Barron’s 1778 double-acting tumbler lock and Jeremiah Chubb’s 1818 lock. In 1784, Joseph Bramah patented his safety lock, which employed a cylindrical key with slides that must be cut to the correct length to turn the bolt.
The Victorian Era was the height of invention and creativity when it came to making padlocks in the United States and Europe. Barron's lever-tumbler invention led to padlock manufacturers boasting the number of levers their locks contained, sometimes even marked on the lock like the Cleveland 4-Way. Some padlocks contained as many as 6 to 8 levers; the more levers, the more secure the bolt.
These antique padlocks usually featured brass levers, which doesn't rust easily, while the casings could be made of brass, tin, steel, or iron. In a frenzy to patent their lock designs, makers created beautiful logos with words, pictures, scrolling, or monograms cast into them—once patented, no other company could use those words or images in their locks.
Some of the most stunning 19th-century locks feature bull dogs, lions, or dragons on them. Highly collected brands from this era include Winchester, Sure Grip, WB (Wilson Bohannan), Yale, Corbin Ironclad, Miller, and Excelsior. Even the famous E.C. Simmons Keen Kutter brand had a lock in its trademark pie-and-wedge logo shape.
Push-key lever loc