Doug MacQueen Arguably the world’s most popular safe combination lock is the S&G 6730. It has been cloned many times. The predecessor to this lock can be found in James Sargent’s second lock patent No. 51,973 of Jan. 9, 1866. This “cheap and simple” lock doesn’t get a lot of attention from collectors. It was omitted from Erroll’s “American Genius” and didn’t warrant a picture in “Lure of the Lock”, although it is mentioned, as an early example of this lock does exist in the Mossman Collection, Case 7 No. 273. It is included on the disc of the collection. Working with fellow Rochester, NY lock designer, Henry Covert, they put together several ideas to come up with a simple but highly effective and reliable lock. Included are pictures of my slightly later version, nicely redone by Tommy Watson. Doug
wylk With the hole in the top of the case, this looks like either a salesman’s demonstration lock or possibly a patent model. Do you happen to know?
Doug MacQueen Sorry I should have included this pic. It is a cutaway and surface embellished in the style of the more expensive S&G locks. He does a great job. Doug
Doug MacQueen There is more to this patent, which is one the most important in the evolution of the combination lock, when one considers Sargent and Covert’s first collaboration on a lock, the 1865 patent “Magnetic”, although original was pretty much a dismal failure. Not one of these original 1865 “Magnetics” are known to exist and I have spent a great deal of time trying to make a working model from the patent drawings. It is not known whether the improvements in the Jan 1866 “cheap and simple” lock patent were first applied to the revision of the “Magnetic” or the “cheap and simple” lock came first, The primary improvement is seen in the combining of the fence onto the bolt control lever. Both the improved 1866 “Magnetic” as well as the 1868 “Automatic” use this fence/lever design. I will post the 1865 patent and model to show just how different these locks were in design. Doug
Jack Sullivan Doug MacQueen wroteThere is more to this patent, which is one the most important in the evolution of the combination lock, when one considers Sargent and Covert’s first collaboration on a lock, the 1865 patent “Magnetic”, although original was pretty much a dismal failure. Not one of these original 1865 “Magnetics” are known to exist and I have spent a great deal of time trying to make a working model from the patent drawings. It is not known whether the improvements in the Jan 1866 “cheap and simple” lock patent were first applied to the revision of the “Magnetic” or the “cheap and simple” lock came first, The primary improvement is seen in the combining of the fence onto the bolt control lever. Both the improved 1866 “Magnetic” as well as the 1868 “Automatic” use this fence/lever design. I will post the 1865 patent and model to show just how different these locks were in design. Doug Here is the drawing (first page) of the patent referenced by Doug to Sargent & Covert, US47575. It describes ‘improvements in Magnetic Locks.’ Jack [unknown]
