What was this Chubb key used for?

Arcade Al

I must emphasise that it’s not my ebay listing!

Brian Morland MLA Hon

That’s for a Chubb pre WWII rim night-latch cylinder.

Huw Eastwood

Seeing that brought a tear to my eye- my dad had a box of those cylinders and keys back in the 1970s- they were all used and worn but the whole lot went in the brass bin for scrap :=(: Just didn’t think anything of it back then.

Looking at the colour of the alloy I think the ebay seller means Nickel Silver when he says ‘white metal’. I cast the various white metals quite a bit and they’d be useless for any sort of key except for an exhibition ‘showpiece’!

Arcade Al

Brian Morland wrote
That’s for a Chubb pre WWII rim night-latch cylinder.

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Thanks Brian, very interesting. Not seen one before.

MaxVaultage wrote
Seeing that brought a tear to my eye- my dad had a box of those cylinders and keys back in the 1970s- they were all used and worn but the whole lot went in the brass bin for scrap :=(: Just didn’t think anything of it back then.

Looking at the colour of the alloy I think the ebay seller means Nickel Silver when he says ‘white metal’. I cast the various white metals quite a bit and they’d be useless for any sort of key except for an exhibition ‘showpiece’!

Indeed that did make me smile, white metal being used for bearings generally isn’t it?

The other one that amuses me is when people describe blued or greyish steel as “gunmetal”, when the rest of us know that it’s a type of bronze!

[unknown] [unknown]

Adrian Weber

Interesting lock for being pre WWII!

lucysmith

Is it still available?

Adrian Weber

The keys were sold on Ebay and the other lock belongs to the archive of the A&HoL Library

Arcade Al

Here’s something else - so we know what the lower keys are, but what on earth are the upper ones?

Parautoptic

I believe these are for chinese padlocks similar to

http://www.antiquesnavigator.com/d-457892/brass-chinese-padlock-with-key.html

Arcade Al wrote
Here’s something else - so we know what the lower keys are, but what on earth are the upper ones?

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/4-SMALL-VINTAGE-KEYS-2-ARE-CHUBB-/370996237794

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Paul Prescott

The top keys are not for chinese padlocks, although the principle is similar. Those keys are known as ‘French latch’ or ‘Odells Latch’ keys.

Arcade Al

Interesting thanks. Any examples anywhere do you know?

Some keys here but no examples of locks
http://www.historyoflocks.com/key001.html

Parautoptic

Which is why I could not find a better match looking for “chinese padlock” 😃: (thanks for the correction Paul.)

A written description here…

http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=JPKzAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA47&lpg=PA47&dq="french+latch"&source=bl&ots=aE-34OZc9F&sig=hphM33hy-Qc8ZeXL3L92sMrn9QI&hl=en&sa=X&ei=zYzpUsuwLtGshQeTl4GACQ&ved=0CGIQ6AEwCQ#v=onepage&q=%22french%20latch%22&f=false

Picture and description here…

http://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/dells-french-night-latch-key-lock-159838868

And this image…

Here…

http://romanlocks.com/Chestlocks.htm

Which is an interesting read all of it`s own.

oldlock wrote
The top keys are not for chinese padlocks, although the principle is similar. Those keys are known as ‘French latch’ or ‘Odells Latch’ keys.

[unknown]

Parautoptic

I made a small bid and have just received this little collection, they cost me less than 20 quid 🙂 and I am very pleased with them.

The latch keys are in good condition but with a bit of light rust in places so I shall employ my special pocket cleaning apparatus. 🙁giggle):

The Chubb keys are in good condition with very little wear and a nice patina so best left “as-is” methinks.

Does anyone have an internal image of the Chubb cylinder? something that shows how it works?

Arcade Al wrote
Here’s something else - so we know what the lower keys are, but what on earth are the upper ones?

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/4-SMALL-VINTAGE-KEYS-2-ARE-CHUBB-/370996237794

[unknown]