Show THE CUTE CHINESE Time Yale Lock Known to them Many Many Years Ago WE ARE OUTER BARBARIANS The Chinese Have Used For Many Years Ii cks Similar to Those But Lately Known Among Civilized People SAN FKAXCISCO Nov 22Special correspondence cor-respondence of the THE HEUALD The Chinese in their uncomplimentary opinion of all other nations call them simply outer barbarians Their reasons for this Pooh Bah haughtiness are based on the assumption that their religion is better than any other their moral system higher their manners and customs eminently superior and their civilization much older It might perhaps ba shown with a little trouble that all these claims are not to unhesitatingly allowed but it must be confessed the Chinese can offer many proofs of A CIVIUZATIOX THAT ANTEDATES Cults by a few centuries although while accept iug this it could bo proved that this old civilization never got beyond a certain point and that Chinese civilization is today to-day Just where it was in tho hands of the painted red man In its era of progress nowevor China made some extraordinary strides and it can point to its silks its porcelains por-celains and its bronzes as evidence of an advance in the manufacture of luxuries whioh we have not yet been quite able to equal During a stroll through Chinatown two or three days ao certain brass objects lu u htoro window attracted the writers ai toiition and on inquiring what they were tho answer was given that they were locks An examination of them showed certain peculiarities of construction and it began to look as though locks might be added to tho list of Chinese productions for which that strange people could claim priority of invention This led to some research tn1 inquiries the result of which is given below To properly retain tho order of relation it will be necessary to say something first I about the history of locks and their antiquity an-tiquity The plan for the latter quality seems to be universally accorded to tho Egyptian artificer His lock rudo carvings carv-ings of which are said to have embellished the walls of ancient Karnak was constructed con-structed as follows Into the belt when pushed into its sockets three pins of varying vary-ing position fall into a similar number of holes and so hold it fast The key which bears three other pins in a position corresponding corre-sponding to that of tho pin is then pushed through a largo keyhole made through the bolt and lifted not turned until the locking lock-ing pins are theins3lves lifted out of tho way of tho bolt which then ran free This lock was unquestionably a very insecure affair but now 4000 years alter a lock has been made which is after all but an al adapltaiou of this old arrangement of pins which was used during the days of Moses THIS IS Tit CEIniiKATED YALE LOCK Dr Chubb the well known English locksmith lock-smith used to show his customers wooden e Chinese lock very superior apparently to the Egyptian and in fact founded upon the same nrincinlp as the Bramah and Yale locks in that it contained sliders or tumblers tum-blers of different lengths and could not be opened until they were all raised to tho proper heights and no higher The question ques-tion of relative antiquity never seemed to have entered Dr Chubbs head and for all entere al we know these wooden locks may have antedated the Egyptian by many centuries There is used in our San Francisco Chinatown China-town today a woo Jen and iron lock which is of an antiquity that is prehistoric I was while the writer was examining the I bras locks referred to in this article that I queer looking little block of teak I was picked up It was a cube of an inch Ian I-an a half each way After a good deal of questioning it was learned that this too was a lock and then after a good deal of rum maqing the key was also found Its exact use the salesman either could not or would Hot explain but on application to Consul Bee and his intelligent aid the lock and I key 1 were found to be a part of an apparatus whose age was lost in obscurity and somewhat some-what similar to the Egyptian lock Another lock that I have tound here in Chinatown is nothing less than the Yale lock key notches grooves and all The I very latest improvement of the Yale lock the ridged or corrugated koy was hero j found and so common that the salesman j seemed surprised it should be worth buy I ing It opened tho lock to which it belonged be-longed on the spring principle hut the shape of the key except for au elbow attire I at-tire end was the Yale dug up from TUE DEPTHS i A CHINESE JUNK SHOP These spring locks are very old and are among the most ordinary examples of the niiineso locksmiths art He makes as ho has been making for hundred of years locks that require two keys to open them combination locks letter locks intricate padlocks and in fact locks of every description de-scription The wise saying of King Solomon was never more strikingly verified M Ileigniers letter locks with which courier dispatchboxes were secured havo brought him fame and honor hon-or iu 1784 Joseph Uramah of Piccadilly London patented a lock which was declared de-clared midst a great flourish of trumpets to bo ainiraclo of security in 1818 camo Jeremiah Jere-miah Chubb with his combination locks then James Carpenter the inventor of the perpendicular action locks then Sanders San-ders with his sliding levers then Parsons Par-sons with his changeable locks then Hobbs with his machinemade levered locks and then Yale but with every allowance al-lowance for the ingenuity and constructive skill of these gentlemen it must be allowed that all tneir works aro founded on the identical principles which it has been shown have been known to the world for thousands of years |