Tom Jenkins, Master Locksmith, explores the history of security locking
The Bramah Challenge Lock is in the Science Museum in London.
Joseph Bramah. As a well-established inventor from Yorkshire, he attended some lectures on
the technical aspects of locks. Bramah then designed a lock of his own, receiving a patent for it in 1784. This was the same year he started the Bramah Locks Company that resided at 124 Piccadilly. Bramah is today based in Marylebone, London and also has a factory in Romford, Essex.
I worked for Jeremy Bramah in the 1990s at what is now known as Bramah Security. The locks produced by Bramah were famed for their resistance to lock picking and tampering. I can honestly say that the Bramah, along with the Abloy lock, designs are the best in the world today, in resistance against picking, bumping, and manipulation in general.
The company most famously had a ”Challenge Lock” displayed in the window of its London shop from 1790 mounted on a board inviting people to try and open it: “The artist who can make an instrument that will pick or open this lock shall receive 200 guineas the moment it is produced.”
The challenge stood for over 67 years until, at the Great Exhibition of 1851, the American locksmith Alfred Charles Hobbs, as previously described, was able to open the lock.
August Stenman. In 1881 a blacksmith called August Stenman, owner of a small hinge manufacturer in the town of Eskilstuna, Sweden, returned home to find his good lady had embroidered a pillow slip with his name on it. Her design was forwards and backwards, “August Stenman, Stenman August”, Taking the first letter from each name ASSA. August thought it would be a good idea to name the company with this name. Sounds like ABBA had a similar idea?
In 1939 ASSA was registered as a company, and in 1959 produced its first five-pin high security cylinder. ASSA later became a leader in designing ‘master key systems’, and today is a world-class lock company.
The locking systems today are designed on the principles taken from August Stenman, and have not changed specifications. Typically the “Swedes” do things differently, but it all makes perfect sense, and we have adopted these principals with our own household names. These make up almost every key ring selection in 21st century Britain.
Emil Henriksson. The unique ABLOY lock and key was invented in 1907 by Emil Henriksson, an office machinery mechanic in Helsinki, Finland. While repairing a cash register, he realised that the rotating cylindrical disks of the machine were eminently suitable for use as a lock mechanism.
The first locks went on sale two years later and lock production at Ab Låsfabriken Lukkotehdas Oy began in 1918. If you can
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pronounce that, well done! We all just call it “OY!” The name ABLOY is formed from the letters of this company’s name in a similar fashion to ASSA.
Today, Henriksson’s disk lock invention can reach 1.97 billion combinations.
With this fantastic history and experience, the future proofing of this industry is safe in our hands.
I am just one of 33,000 employees and today we focus on education in safety and security standards across the world and share this through our academy.
Tom A Jenkins Master Locksmith Abloy
Assa Abloy was formed in 1994 when ASSA AB joined the Finnish high-security lock manufacturer Abloy Oy. The company was introduced to the Stockholm stock exchange later the same year. Assa Abloy now owns an estimated 25% of the world’s locking “Household” names, some of which are mentioned in this article.
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