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Other than when they are locked out or need faulty locks to be replaced, most people don’t give locksmiths too much thought. However, locksmithing certainly requires a very specific skillset and as a result, there is plenty of interesting history and trivia to be found about locksmiths.
Let’s talk through some thought-provoking facts about the locksmithing profession:
There’s much more skill to locksmithing than just changing locks
Whilst opening, repairing and replacing locks are certainly extremely necessary skills for a locksmith, there are plenty of other skillsets that a locksmith needs, including those of an engineer, mechanic, security expert and carpenter. It’s this unique combination of skills that provide the highest quality services and products.
Locksmithing is an ancient practice
It could certainly be argued that locksmithing is one of the very oldest professions in the world, as evidence of locksmithing can be found as far back as Ancient Egyptian and Babylonian times, around 4000 years ago. At this time in history, locksmiths developed wooden locking devices that used the tin tumbler principle to prevent free movement of a door bar. The pins could only be moved with a large wooden key that was inserted into the lock and pushed upwards, unlocking the door.
After the advancement of metallurgy, locksmiths were finally able to create much more durable locks and keys in 18th century Europe. Locksmiths were able to improve on designs that had remained practically the same since the end of the Roman Empire. However, with the introduction of these new designs and the ability to mass produce locks, locksmithing changed considerably. Locksmiths instead became specialists in work as repairmen of industrial locks and replicating keys, or worked for larger security companies, developing locking systems for banks and government buildings.
Locksmith or Clocksmith?
It was a locksmith that is credited with the invention of the modern-day clock. Records show that Peter Henlein, a locksmith from Nuremburg, Germany, made his first clock in 1510. By 1541, he was well known for his work and was called upon throughout Europe to design clocks for palaces and big clock towers. In addition to clocks, he also designed many portable watches.
Harry Houdini and locksmithing
Harry Houdini is famous for his many magical feats of escapology, but before he became one of the world’s most famous magicians, he gained experience and knowledge of locks working with a locksmith. At the age of 11, working for a local locksmith, he was quickly able to pick any lock.
According to Houdini himself, it was a locksmith from Birmingham that gave him one of the hardest tests he ever encountered. In 1904, at the height of his career, The Daily Mirror challenged Houdini to free himself from a pair of handcuffs with a supposedly unpickable lock. The handcuffs in question were made by a Birmingham Locksmith named Nathaniel Hart, who had taken five years to perfect them.
Performing at a packed theatre in London, Houdini had invited spectators to challenge him to break out of any handcuffs or shackles. After easily slipping out of a number of sets of handcuffs, a Mirror reporter presented him with Hart’s handcuffs. Leading locksmiths had inspected the solid steel cuffs and agreed that they had never seen such an impressive mechanism and Houdini refused to take up the challenge after one look at the lock.
Houdini was eventually convinced to pit himself against Hart’s design five days later. It took a total of an hour and ten minutes for him to finally escape from the cuffs.
Although it’s unlikely that you will ever find yourself in a similar situation to Harry Houdini, if you are in need of a locksmith in the Birmingham area, you can call Gibb Locksmiths on 0121 353 3644 or 07817 643 167.
