May 27th No 4036. KEMP, Robert, junior. The object of this invention is an improvement in the manufacture of locks and keys. It “consists in applying to the interior part of the lock certain sliders or tumblers, in such manner that when the bolt of the lock is shut or locked, certain parts of the said sliders shall be in Contact with and intercept some projecting part of the bolt, and the said sliders being incapable of motion, except in a direction at right angles to the direction of the motion of the bolt, they will prevent the bolt being drawn back so as to unbolt the lock. The motions of the said sliders are all independent of each other, and the said notches in the projecting part of the bolt are made exactly of the size to correspond with the parts of the sliders which are to pass through them, therefore each one of the sliders must be moved precisely to its required position, and neither more nor less, or it will not correspond with the notch belonging to it, and cannot suffer the bolt to pass. The particular manner of communicating the requisite movement to the said sliders is by perforating the centre pin upon which the key turns round when it is inserted into the lock in order to lock or unlock the same, so that the said centre pin is a hollow tube; and I apply within the perforation or hollow of the tube pins which operate upon each one of the aforesaid sliders, so that by pushing back the said pins in the tube or hollow of the centre pin it will give motion to the sliders, and as two, three, or more independent sliders are used in the lock, as many different pins must be inserted in the hollow or centre pin of the lock to correspond with them.” “The making of keys consists in applying within the pipe of the key (or that hollow tube which is to receive the centre pin of the lock when the key is introduced into the lock) a pin which shall enter into the hollow or tube of the centre pin, and press upon the ends of the pins which actuate the sliders that detain the bolt, and this pin within the pipe of the key being made of determinate length, will depress or push back the pins and sliders to the required positions.”
From Prices 1856:-
KEMP’S LOCK, Patent dated May 27, 1816.
The security of this lock “consisted in the adaptation of tumblers or sliders, operated upon by two, three, or more small concentric tubes, of different lengths, placed inside the barrel of the key. These tubes were made of such a length as to push back the pins or sliders that detain the bolt to the required positions, until each one corresponds with the notch that is cut in it for the projecting part of the bolt. Mr. Kemp calls his invention the union lock, from the circumstance that it unites the qualities of Barron’s and Bramah’s locks; and from the manner in which the combination is effected, it affords, according to the inventor, a greater degree of security than either of the former, or than both of them together, supposing a lock of each kind was placed on the same door; and that a dishonest servant, who does not possess any particular ingenuity, may be instructed by a locksmith how to take the requisite impressions of either Barron’s or Bramah’s keys, even if he could be intrusted with them only for a few minutes; but this cannot be done with the key of the union lock, as it would require the locksmith to examine it himself, and to make several tools to ascertain its different dimensions, which he could not without having it in his possession for some considerable time, with leisure to make repeated trials. In this remark of Mr. Kemp’s we entirely coincide; and it still applies to all locks hitherto made (1834), that the keys, when in the possession of a workman, may be copied; and, in many, without possession. Mr. Kemp’s invention may supply a partial remedy for this defect; but until a complete one is provided the art of lockmaking is imperfect, and no locks are inviolable.
“Viewing the subject in this light, it affords the editor of this work (Hebert’s Encyclopaedia) much satisfaction to state that he has in his possession a lock, the key of which cannot be copied; a locksmith possessing no tools by which an exactly similar one can be made; and the machine by which the original one was made is so arranged as to be deprived of the power of producing another like it. The lock is very simple, very strong, and can be very cheaply made. The cost of a complete machine to make them would be about one hundred pounds; with that they might be manufactured at one-half the expense of any patent lock. The inventor is desirous to have the subject brought before the public under a patent, but want of time to devote himself to such an object at present obliges him to lay it aside.”* The machine here referred to has not to the present time (1856) been patented, and therefore nothing is known of its particular construction; but that such a machine is capable of being constructed to do all that has been stated we verily believe; and further, we believe that such a machine may even be made self-acting. If the attention of the Lancashire machinists were to be given
to the manufacture of locks and keys, a perfect revolution in the trade would be the result.
Hebert’s Encyclopaedia.
