Locks and Keys Throughout the Ages

CHAPTER I
What is a Lock?
A question easier asked than answered. To begin with it can be said without exaggeration
that the history of locks and that of civilization are equally old, but even in the earliest
times mankind had to protect themselves and their property against robbery. We
all know that envy and egotism led Adam and Eve’s children to commit fratricide,
and it may be assumed with certainty that stealing and robbery have since persisted
throughout the ages.
Man’s earliest possessions consisted of provisions, apparel and the like either gained
by labour from the soil or by hunting, and records disclose that ancient tribes dug holes
in the ground, blocked by heavy stones, or used hollowed out tree trunks, caves and
grottos as “strongrooms” to protect their valuable property against the avarice of their
fellowmen. Fig. 7 will give the reader an idea of these methods as applied in those days
and most likely still applied by certain tribes.
The rude hut, primitive dwelling though it was, marked considerable progress. It was
“locked” by means of a detachable door or wall hinged on cords or ropes made of rush
or fibre, which served to lock the door or wall.
Cords and ropes appear to have been in use for many years in several countries to lock
doors, walls etc. and thus to keep objects out of reach. Indeed they were known as the
only security device. It may interest the reader to know that archaeologists in their
records of this period refer to the so-called Gordian Knot.
The legend goes that the Gordian Knot could be untied only by one man. Gordius,
King of Phrygia, consecrated his chariot to Zeus as a thanks offering, and it became a
belief that the knot which bound the yoke of the cart to the shaft could be untied only
by the man who would conquer Asia. When Alexander the Great (334 B.C.) arrived at
Gordium*, he attempted to undo the knot, and failing to do so with his fingers, cut it
with his sword. Thus “to cut the Gordian knot” to-day describes a bold, decisive action
effective when milder measures fail. Cord and ropes gradually gave way to wooden
doors, locked by means of a wooden bar balanced in the centre of the door, with the bar
ends fitting into sockets sunk into the door style. It is curious to find that this system of
locking is still applied at present for the double doors of sheds on farms.
*GORDIUM, an ancient city of Phrygia on the road from Pessinus to Ancyra, and not far from the
Sangarius. Its site lies opposite the village of Pebi, a little north of the point where the
Constantinople-Angora railway crosses the Sangarius. According to the legend, Gordium was founded
by Gordius, a Phrygian peasant who had been called to the throne by his countrymen in obedience to
an oracle of Zeus commanding them to select the first person that rode up to the Temple of the God
in a wagon. The King afterwards dedicated his car to the God. Another oracle declared that whoever
succeeded in untying the strangely entwined knot of cornel bark which bound the yoke to the pole
should reign over all Asia. Alexander the Great, according to the story, cut the knot by a stroke of his
sword. Gordium was captured and destroyed by the Gauls soon after 189 B.C. and disappeared from
history. In imperial times only a small village existed on the site, (extract from British Encyclopaedia
- Vol. X page 542).
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