Padlocks

Padlocks
The padlock is used throughout the world to secure anything and everything from the vast plains of Africa to the few human settlements in the icy tundra of Antarctica. The use of these simple mechanisms dates back to nearly 4,000 years ago by the technologically advanced ancient Egyptians. The earliest of padlocks utilized a helical key that rotates into the lock assembly releasing one or more portions outward of the padlock. Although this was good design for the times, a need for greater security developed has developed in the past few hundred years. This particular type of design held strong until the mid 1800s. During that time the “Scandinavian” was introduced throughout the world. This design utilized a series of stacked disks in a cast iron housing that allowed a key to pass though all of the working parts zeroing out the pins and allowing the shackle to be removed. From this design padlocks went from being artisan creations to mass produced units with the introduction of Yale and Master Padlocks.
The Yale design utilized the pin tumbler mechanism that was patented in 1877. This assembly used a cartridge style mechanism that would slide down during opening and had an easily concealed flat key. As locks of the past would slide outward towards the user, it had many limitations in regards to usage. The new Yale style allowed greater diversity of uses for these great security devices. As it goes to show, this lock style is still employed by Yale nearly 140 years later.
By the roaring twenties prohibition was in full swing and the crime of that era soared to epic proportions. This crime surge led to Harry Soref the founder of Mater Locks, designing the first laminated design that was impact resistant and substantially more secure, all while being more inexpensive than other locks of the time. The laminated shell design taken from the design of military ships coupled with the security of individual plates became a winning combination in a short time. This simple but effective design can still be found in schools, home, colleges, businesses, or anywhere else one could need increased security.
The increase of security in society has helped with at least diverting illegal activity over the years. It has also led to the need of skilled persons to defeat the lock in an emergency or inconvenient situation. These people are known as locksmiths and they are employed throughout the world to help everyday people with inconvenient circumstances. Padlocks have many strong points on one hand but many faults on the other. There are many reasons like losing the key, forgetting the combination, the passing of the one who holds its pertinent information, and sometimes the padlocks simply fail and stop working. Situations like these happen hundreds of times everyday and we are all lucky enough to have locksmiths there for our every security need.
The next time you find yourself in this type lockout situation whether it’s a storage, garage, medicine cabinet, or locker at school consult a professional. As these situations can happen suddenly at any time, East Valley Lock and Key is available around the clock at 480-478-0157 for all of your security needs.