History

     Locks protect you and your belongings from theft and other unmentionables. But what do we actually know about where and when they came from? The History of Locks by Mary Bellis gives a brief, yet informative overview about locks and their origin. The article could use some beefing up, however. The author leaves the links to her sources at the bottom of the page and leaves the rest to the reader, instead of adding more text and images to her work.

     The first locks existed in ancient Egypt, and is at least 4000 years old. It resembles a modern day pin and tumbler lock, and was constructed of wood. In 1778, Robert Baron increased lock security and patented the double-acting tumbler lock. Joseph Bramah, quite the inventor, created an "unpickable" lock, along with a beer pump, and a quill sharpener. James Sargent patented the time lock mechanism, a lock that is only unlockable at a specific time of day. Harry Soref was the creator of the Master Lock Company, and created locks by laminating metal, enabling strong locks to be mass produced cheaply.

This article could have been much longer given the amount of research done, but it seems the author intended for the article to be that short. Because of this, that made the article nearly useless for my needs because I am going to end up doing more research anyways, all this did was give me a basic overview.