At the Toool evening, Maurice from kluisspecialist.nl showed us one of the locks in his collection. It is a really interesting lock. I’ve never seen a lock with such a key before. And it’s old. But that’s about all that we know. Do you know more? Please leave a comment.
The keys are in a protective metal holder and they have 5 hollow pins.
The lock is opened by inserting the key fully and the retracting it. The mechanism is such that closing the lock after it has been opened, resets the lock mechanism. On the key you can see a horizontal stripe, this is a metal strip that, when removed, allows the key to be re-keyed.
Here’s a short video of the lock in action:
Hi everybody,
It is the so called “Kromer Stecher”, which means Kromers push-key lock. Made before 1900
http://vk.com/wall-64012055?offset=420&z=album-64012055_185242493
Thanks Oli!
That’s a weird mechanism.
There’s a lot of locks based on a similar principle of finger pins on a push key, but I think that’s the first serious safe lock I’ve seen based on it.
The key looks like a nightmare, too. At least they made the tips of the key hollow to align with the points in the lock. But one dent, and it’s not going to be working anymore. Plus it’s a giant square thing, made worse by the required cap to stop the key getting bent or dented!
Thanks for sharing it.
This reminds me of the Grasshopper safe lock, patented by William Hall, in America
The key is very similar, it fits into the knob/handle of the safe. The lock was nicknamed the grasshopper lock because of the tendency of the key to jump out of the lock after locking it.
There is some discussion, patent references & a picture of it at the bottom of this page : http://www.antique-locks.com/showthread.php/174-Parautoptic-Safe-Lock-circa-1840s-1850s/page2?highlight=Grasshopper