When did key locks first appear?
Upvote:4
The earliest known key lock is supposed to have been found in Nineveh, and was described by Joseph Bonomi in his 1857 book Nineveh and its Palaces:
The Wikipedia article on locks states that:
... Locks such as this were later developed into the Egyptian wooden pin lock, which consisted of a bolt, door fixture, and key.
The "Warded Lock" is perhaps the most recognisable form of key-lock today. These locks incorporated "wards", or fixed projections to prevent the wrong key being entered into the lock or turned. The earliest known examples of warded locks come from the Roman period. The evidence from this period seems to suggest that, although the keys were made of metal (usually iron), parts of the lock itself were still made of wood.
All-metal warded locks begin to appear in the late ninth century. This form of lock normally used keys that closely resemble what most people think of when they hear the word "key" today:
In the article Locksmiths Throughout History they make the claim that:
Warded locks made by English locksmiths in the years 870 – 900 AD were some of the first all-metal locks ever made.
This would correspond to the Reign of Alfred the Great in Wessex. Alfred's reign was characterised by conflicts with Viking raiders and invaders. It is not hard to imagine just how useful an all-metal lock would have been when trying to defend person and property from Viking attacks! If this dating is correct, it is also easy to understand the incentives that might have led to the development of these locks in England at that time.
Upvote:13
During websearch, found this material (in Russian), based on the Ian Harrison's book "The Book of Firsts".
According it, wooden lock was invented in the Egypt, and it looked like this:
In Rome, people started to use the metallic locks:
And in modern times English locks became popular:
- Chubb detector lock by Jeremiah Chubb
- Double–acting Lever tumbler lock by Robert Barron
- Improved lock by Joseph Bramah
See also:
Update, based on your comment:
Acccording this, first keys on Papal coat of arms were in 1198, surely after the Romes invented the metallic lock. If you'll check the picture, the keys from it is in somethat similar to the Papal coat of arm's key.
More post
- 📝 Origin of "The grass did not grow where Attila had passed"
- 📝 When did McFaul & Sechin first meet?
- 📝 Were there any non-Afrikaner apartheid supporters in South Africa before 1994?
- 📝 How can we be sure that a certain historical claim is true and accurate?
- 📝 Who suppressed the Book of Jubilees and why?
- 📝 How and when was the modern company ownership structure invented?
- 📝 Why did North America economically prosper, and maintain stable government and South/Central America didn't?
- 📝 Which epidemic involved children passing notes window to window?
- 📝 Was Mary Stuart's execution not accompanied by attainder?
- 📝 Did the Romans melt down looted golden objects or did they keep them intact?
- 📝 When did GB acknowledge the USA as sovereign state?
- 📝 How did NATO handle the military coups and juntas in Greece, Turkey and Portugal?
- 📝 When did the American War of 1812 actually end?
- 📝 Was there any official affirmation from the US government that they would win the Vietnam War?
- 📝 What were China's thoughts on the possibility of a nuclear exchange, during the Cold War?
- 📝 The diminishing role of the "family name" throughout the Byzantine Empire
- 📝 Why were the populous coastal areas of China not linguistically united?
- 📝 What were women doing at the Battle of Dorylaeum during the First Crusade?
- 📝 What was the available level of agricultural technology in late 2nd century China?
- 📝 Around the time of Columbus, were there other failed attempts?
- 📝 How do historians treat gossip?
- 📝 Why did the rest of the Eastern Bloc not invade Yugoslavia?
- 📝 What type of plane is this wreck?
- 📝 Counterfactual reasoning and analogical reasoning
- 📝 In 1916, did an amputee, invalided out of the French army, get a pension?
- 📝 Were Napoleon's chances of being caught after Waterloo high or low?
- 📝 Were women banned from entering the castle of Trakai?
- 📝 Why did Japan never "apologize" enough for World War 2?
- 📝 Why did marriage and multiple children make Hurrem Sultan special?
- 📝 How many different countries could a person alive today have lived in without leaving their hometown?
Source: stackoverflow.com
Search Posts
Related post
- 📝 When did key locks first appear?
- 📝 When did wheel-mounted water-carrying fire-fighting machines first appear in Japan?
- 📝 When did Dei gratia/fidi defensor first appear on British coins?
- 📝 When did springs first appear in or below vehicle seats?
- 📝 When did the term "Nationality" first come into use? How did ancient civilizations refer to themselves? By ethnicity?
- 📝 How did people react to Cavendish bananas when they first replaced the Gros Michel strain?
- 📝 When did books first become affordable to the general population?
- 📝 When did the First Barbary War start?
- 📝 When did steel first appear?
- 📝 When did podium girls first appear?
- 📝 When did passenger ships first have an on board duty-free shop?
- 📝 When did scientists first postulate that Earth's atmosphere might have an upper limit?
- 📝 When did Soviet authorities first plan/conceive of migrating their industry if war broke out?
- 📝 When did the first riots between Hindus and Muslims happen in India?
- 📝 When did the first organ transplant operation occur?
- 📝 When did western doctors first start predicting prenatal diseases and disabilities?
- 📝 When and where did people first start wearing underpants?
- 📝 When did people first try to limit which weapons could be used in war?
- 📝 When did leaf springs appear in vehicles?
- 📝 When did Europeans make their first well-attested visit to mainland Alaska?
- 📝 When did people first recognize the estimate sizes/scales and nature of celestial bodies?
- 📝 When did pilots experience blackouts and redouts for the first time?
- 📝 When and how did classical mythology subjects start to appear in art in medieval/Renaissance Europe?
- 📝 When was acne first recorded in human history and how did it develop?
- 📝 When did Japan and the Three Kingdoms of Korea first meet?
- 📝 When and where did it first became usual that the ID Card holder signed his card?
- 📝 When did the key advances in vehicle suspension happen?
- 📝 When did enscribing messages on bombs first happen?
- 📝 When did toys first become "Made in China"?
- 📝 When did people first started to consider lead poisoning as a possible problem?