rue or . ie ARPA Te ot ed Jiceal hal ns the 4 AAR ina tee beh it ee ps BSE ae. iS 2844 29 gta ties was tty ta hie eit pet — ss rai al \ it ae Raisers a are) ae Meets Py eer th Par PL eeee & eX £ 5 aaa = vi ss ae ay tear hs Lhe omnis twa ie A ty can We UTS) ve ve, AveT atten et yt ic! rk b se : 4 ‘ a gear ye em et ve by Role ode tbe Ee Li toe * r teks leg ibe ; a] ategl ah altho Maka ea oe — bate: ree = por mmcemn bs a ee jae WAM hee) ay i xjwih7 ( 7 > {rieler valet i lad athe he Balas peti yrre vitals aogt Hy wmoatay One a ieel ; eile freee ale aap) LE Le rote) Sera at n BL | peek Bibate He |] “s ee my iy idee she) bee ae) 8) “Aiea BEAN 98 a of Nit, “eA (Pita. by Aah a0 “4 ate deed hed Aad ey pet at ia Ch hooks shih iP Sr beee ee a ahs pep sayae Mh ihe a vopiis a wih Ane . pul sth i erey x) bie hk dit ai ‘ait i hint 1a \a 7 doit 7 a AP et ebiah de hy gies ren dayig na adhe Aim seg} s ts Pave ates) pad et prritrt sy Nblaere ye De yp iet bean ad eb ee] dy eet ieital’ lia $5 Hae Fl) i ie ' es vhs ve S ot pie Moats {iY a itedae lee SLiabe sad tyieie) Meher d Aa bak 224 Piney: dr eh sh ert Ten tyes Oy) iaphte 1 { - i Sey rs Ue 7 aaa Ret re) Hie ii Ld ASE Gre) galt pare Eien att eet} Was? oe oe mmanr ri aen tire Ratt he tata sae ep aen SLay Disha ten tetera itt Patt pea af chatty +* ‘had ts ery ¥ ia Hite hee 4th vee cab tae M alt ah) ots ee Tae Sao ates ve! nar ria Sere =~ 3 me | a pees oes 25%) ae a sere a ul tole mie eee i: x Ss vd eS * Sea Re eri tty! Tht yy yar Hite y Potten Srey eh ee ek “AetF ie AMAL OMUSH Tease & wee nee A ni Pr Rohl Hla ithe! t SST a * GATT : a8 Be Reed ha ¥ te ake ce alte : irene et, ta a, MH nt ay ats 44 ae Vdd ial ei ihe £408 Pay Va —_* free VAP ei ook 74a AccEssion SOG SD . \ 48 14 PR Ace (a | LOCKSMITHING AND GENERAL SHOP INFORMATION CONTAINING AN EXCEPTIONALLY COMPLETE AND COMPRE- HENSIVE TREATISE ON THE ENTIRE FIELD OF LOCKSMITHING TOGETHER WITH A LIBERAL ASSORTMENT OF USEFUL IN- FORMATION COLLECTED AND ARRANGED FOR NOT ONLY LOCKSMITHS BUT THOSE DOING SIMILAR WORK IN HOTELS, OFFICE BUILDINGS AND INSTITUTIONS OF VARIOUS KINDS, HARDWARE DEALERS, NQYEL?Y> SHops ap’ ETC., IN’ FACT. 20 2-6 3@ e.6°_6 et ae .@ gion. ra > o's & s FOR ANYONE ENGAGED, SRM ANY VAY INTORESTED IN THE LOCKSMITHING BUSINESS. | Om <3 $ i) ee) 2 > ® pooe oe” 6090080 ARRANGED AND PUBLISHED BY H. W. ROUTSON OAKLAND, CALIF, — COPYRIGHTED 1925 H. W. ROUTSON TAME NOI AO Lf OOOO NG NOOO NO ONGOING NGO) ORL OIIN BASED STE HIND | B eer K ceria EVERY YEAR. mae a fe WY / i . |G i - 4 A yy Tt > Si OO OA WOOL OOO) VO. NOLO VOLS OV NO) OL Oi 8 OLS Gy NO OOO Ors fi re hay A Toast. « fiete is it toast Ewanteo: d“ink . : To a fellow I’ll never know; To, the fellow who’s going: to take my place : When it's time for me to. go. “hes wonterty: ait at of a chap he’ll be, And I’ve wished I could take his hand In a way that he’d understand. I’d like to give him the cheerful word That I’ve longed at times to hear! I’d like to give him the warm hand-clasp When never a friend seems near. I’ve gained my knowledge by sheer hard work, And I wish I could pass it on To the fellow who'll come to take my place Some time when I am gone. ebiaw eee Aa aN THE GETTY CENTER LIBRARY Just to whisper, ‘‘I wish you well, old man,’’ ee @iaNiten ita. ‘ei « Atve\ ant fanitrax Vii fav tt avi extant ax: /ay italiani (an! eX, anti ay PREFACE This little book, a treatise on LOCK- SMITHING AND GENERAL SHOP IN- FORMATION, which has also been quite appropriately termed, 500 TRICKS OF THE TRADE, contains a very complete, comprehensive, plainly written and liberally illustrated collection of the best ways and means of handling the numberless jobs a locksmith or general novelty shop repair- man will be called upon to do. A large number of the so-called ‘tricks’ herein described have been originated and worked out by a score of the very best ex- perts in this line in the country and their publication is the result of no little amount of ingenuity and personal persuasion on the writers part in getting’ possession of many of these ideas which seemingly have been considered and cherished as their personal professional trade qualifications or secrets, -and never intending that they should be- come known through publication channels. In reality the entire contents of this book might well be classed or considered as con- fidental trade information, consequently it is not the intention of the writer and publisher that the book will be indiscrim- inately distributed, but is intended to be used only by those who are following this line in a perfectly honorable and legit- imate way and while the work treats the sub- ject generally there will be found nothing therein on which the opening of individual locks will be touched, but only collectively and in a general way will the subject be handled. 5 IG eS SS It is a well known law of human nature that ‘practice makes perfect’ and it seems to apply excellently in this case for when one works year after year in any particular line, if he is at all interested and has any traces of ‘grey matter’ it is quite reasonable that he should become very proficient or an ex- pert in that particular vocation regardless of the line it should happen to be. When! originally contemplated getting out a book of this nature | had in mind the fact that without a doubt there were many ex- perts in the locksmithing line throughout the country possessing original ideas that they naturally felt belonged to them in- dividually and were keeping them well guarded against the possibility of becoming generally known and consequently the pub- lication of many of the stunts herein described are the result of no little amount of scheming and manipulation on the part of the writer to be able to give you any information at all on some of them. It is not my purpose or intention to make this TREATISE ON LOCKSMITHING a book that possibly might make a world-wide reputation by its beauty or size, but on the contrary | am perfectly willing to risk its future solely on the value of its contents and from the encouragement I| have already re- ceived, | am reasonably certain | need not worry much from that score. ] have also taken into consideration the fact that it is intended and designed for a practical daily reference and its size has been made such that it will easily fit almost any pocket and thereby be conveniently at hand for any emergency. When I first began to think seriously of 6 getting out a book of this nature, [ debated with myself for some little time before de- ciding to spend the necessary outlay of time and money on such a venture. It was a question whether or not the’ field would be sufficient to expect any returns for the work and investment necessary. The encouragement | have received however in the earlier editions | have published, (which by the way were no where near as complete as this) has convinced me that beyond a doubt the majority of those engaged in this particular line are not only eager but anxious to better themselves in every way possible and it is this class of workmen for which this little book has been arranged. A number of additional stunts have been added to each successive edition as they have been brought out, making them more com- plete each time but never until now have | ‘been quite satisfied in this respect and it is my ambition to make this edition so finished and complete that there will be but little chance for criticism especially on the subject of the modern locks and key work. The cylinder lock, owing to its many superior features and advantages is fast tak- ing the place of all other locking devices wherever reliability and security is an object and its adaptability to every conceivable purpose as a lock places it in a class by itself, consequently you need not be _ surprised should you find considerable space devoted to this particular kind. Do not be misled, however, by the above assertion for you can rest assured that every different variety of lock will be taken into consideration and all the available informa- tion will be treated practically, thoroughly 7 and as completely as possible so that even a beginner will be able to get a full under- standing of the entire line and wherever it will be possible to improve the description by illustrations they will be liberally in- cluded. No doubt to an old experienced locksmith or novelty shop man there will be lots of *“‘stunts’’ described that he already knows but to serve all, it must be complete, conse- quently my only suggestion is that the ex- perienced man can add the new ideas he finds, which I am certain will be numerous, to what he already knows and then get big returns for the investment. For a number of years of my earlier ex- perience | was lucky or unlucky (which ever you wish to term it) enough to draw a travelers job and my business was of such a nature that it continually brought me in con- tact with many of the very best locksmiths all over the country and naturally of course I became, you might say, intimately acquaint- ed with many of them and though | felt personally that I did not by considerable know it all | soon discovered | was able to show many of them ‘stunts’ in the lock business new to them and it continued to occur so regularly that in time it dawned on me that if | was able to show most of them something new, why not get out some in- formation on the line for the good of us all and the little book herewith submitted is the result. After I had fully decided to get out some- thing of this nature, for a long time | made notes of all the different ideas as they came to me and along with what | had in store of my own, | was able to get out my first trea- 8 tise on locksmithing and a poor excuse it was almost a disgrace. ~ You may believe me or not, but I| assure you it is no small job when one is obliged to not only do all the thinking, writing, and: planning, but even make all the drawings: for every cut which is no small job in itself. In fact I found the whole undertaking an excellent consumer of midnight oil. I am going to treat exch subject as plainly and completely as possible and wherever an illustration will be of any assistance in mak- ing the descriptions plainer it will be used and if the reader is but a beginner he should have no difficulty in thoroughly understand- ing all of the different stunts in every detail. Not as a matter of apology or anything of that nature | will say that even if the subject of locksmithing has never been published be- fore, from a qualification standpoint it com- pares very favorably with many trades or professions upon which book after book has been written. With all the care and caution | am taking of the possibility of overlooking anything of any value, that very thing may possibly happen but even if it does I am positive the reader will find plenty to keep one guessing for some little time. As I| have said before every stunt will not be new to the experienced locksmith, but I will promise all, experienced or otherwise, that they will find, time after time descrip- tions worth many times the price of the book. | It is reasonably certain that I have already bored the average reader sufficiently with the customary preliminary ‘slush’ and it is high time that we get down to the real ob- ject of our mission ‘(LOCKSMITHING’. 9 LOCKSMITHING In traveling around the country as | did for several years I will confess that I was many times very much surprised at the dif- ferent characters of people interested in the Locksmithing business. Many were real ex- perts in the line, but the majority were crude and simply (‘“‘would be’s’’). Many were so wise it was utterly impossible to tell them anything, in fact they did not want to know anything more, but the real locksmith was always looking for everything new that would help him in any way, and it is this class of workmen for whom this little book has been arranged—the “‘know it alls’ are hopeless cases. As an example—I once called on a lock- smith in a good sized western town and as it so happened he was at work making a key for a Yale four lever padlock. It was a case of simply murdering the lock, a blacksmith could have done a far better job than he was doing, so | suggested that I was quite certain there was a much better way of doing the job than the way he was going at it—one that was much easier and did not in any way injure the lock. He flared up as huffed as could be—made a wonderful $100.00 bet offer that it couldn’t be done, but when I seriously began making preparations to take him up on his wonderful bet he imme- diately backed completely out, gave me to understand he did not want to know any better way, his was plenty good enough. I telate this little incident merely as a sample of the general view of many similar expe- riences and it is just this class of “hot air” experts we are not wasting or consuming any energy on. 10 As the cylinder lock of today is so popular and possesses so many superior features, | will devote the first division and descriptions to this variety. Owing to its peculiar design there seems to be no limit to the uses of this principal of cylinder construction, and you will see them arranged and designed for every conceiv- able purpose for which a lock is used and all possessing the same pin tumbler principal. It is wonderful how this particular line has grown into popularity and familiarity since it was first introduced to the public along about the year 1869 by a man by the name of Yale, who if the story is correct, like many others, had his troubles to begin with but by per- sistence and perseverence, hard work, and long hours, finally won out and from an in- significant start his business has undergone developments until now the Yale and Towne establishment is a mammoth institution working thousands of people. And if the acknowledgment could be rightly placed, I am reasonably sure we would be obliged to give them credit for one thing and that is, they have educated the public to such an extent that at least 85% refer to a cylinder lock as a Yale regardless of the name of the firm that manufactured it Referring to the different makes of cylin- der locks, there are a number on the market, and practically without exception any one is almost a duplicate of the others, the only difference being the arrangement of the key hole, these are all different, aside from this they are as near alike as two peas in a pod. At this point the question arises, which is the best lock? (A question that has been put to me thousands of times, and in answer will say this—The Yale is perhaps the most popular, not necessarily because it is the best, but more on account of the firm’s per- sistent advertising, and the working organ- ization behind it, then comes the Corbin, Sargent, R. E. Penn, and many others all ' good and probably one just as good as the other. They have to be or they could not exist—competition is too ‘keen’ now-a-days. From the above statements it will be readily seen that a complete description of the cylinder lock will apply to all the dif- ferent makes, for they are practically iden- tical in construction and a general descrip- tion will apply to all except perhaps for some minor detail which of course will be considered though it may be of no great consequence. Referring to the cut on page 15, No. | represents the cylinder from which no doubt the commercial name has been adopted. Next to it will be seen the plug or the part which takes the key, the pins and springs are represented just above. No. 5 is a cylinder assemble, completely made up of practically three parts, the cylin- der, the plug, and the pins. By carefully noting the construction and assembled cyl- inder, it will be seen that the locking con- dition is accomplished by the pins being held in their respective holes to certain fixed positions brought about by the pins being held firmly in position by the little springs above each of them. The unlocked, or turn- ing position is accomplished by the bit of the proper key which will be explained later. In other words the pins act as little bolts holding the plug into the locked position and it is only possible to turn it without the pro- per key by ‘actually shearing the entire row. 12 It will also be seen the different key com- binations are accomplished by varying the length of the pins, consequently the number of key changes possible is governed entirely by the different lengths, it is possible (with safety) to divide a pin into. For those who do not thoroughly under- stand the key making idea, I| will ask you to look over drawing No. 2 carefully, and then follow the different steps accordingly. To begin with, each cylinder pin hole will contain two pins and a spring and if a key were to be inserted in No. | it would turn the plug for the reason that there are no pins to interfere but if placed or inserted in No. 2 it could not turn the plug unless it was cut so that it raised the pins until the joint between the upper and lower ones were exactly in line with the joint between the plug and the cylinder. In other words, referring to No. 2, the key must raise pin D up sufficiently so that A will be exactly in line with joint B, the plug would then turn and the key would work. As this is the all important feature of this variety of lock, it is absolutely neces- sary that the reader thoroughly understands every detail and | will go still another step in explanation. _ For example, we will take four cylinders like No. 2, and if the D pins were the same length in each of them, a key cut to fit any one would fit them all, but if a single one varied in length, either longer or shorter than the others, that particular plug would not work for the reason that the key would lift the D pin either too high or not high enough so that joint A would be either above or below Joint B, again if A was held 13 below B the plug would be locked by the pin C, and if A were above B it would be held by D. This surely ought to be enough to teach anyone the idea of the cylinder. No. 15, page 41, shows cylinder complete. The next step will be on the combination features which are determined as follows. To begin with, it is all accomplished by the difference in length of the D pins, see No. 2. If, for example this D pin were made in say, ten different lengths, it would mean there were ten different combinations, no two of them being alike, and it would take ten dif- ferent keys to operate cylinders set up with these ten different pins. And as there are no cylinders manufac- tured with but one pin, we will go another step in explanation, with the assertion that regardless of the number of pins used, each set is worked out on exactly the same prin- cipal as No. 2. A key, when properly fitted, must raise every D pin in the plug so that the joints A will exactly line up with B. As soon as you have the above directions thoroughly fixed in your mind, you will have no difficulty in making a perfectly working key. I have mentioned the fact that above each set of pins is a spring and no doubt it will be well for me to give a little more in detail for this feature of the construction is as essential and important as the pins them- selves. The object of these little coil springs is to always hold the pins down to the very bottom of the holes in which they work. In this way the pins are always forced to bear on the bit of the key when inserted, and consequently, line the A joint up with- out fail and as soon as the key is withdrawn 14 “w& PINSANOSPRINGS ALMOST BE RAISEO IN LINE WITH Boy KEY BEFORE PLOG CAN BR TORNKR., | A voint BETWEEN VPPER ANO LOWER PINS B:pLog soInTt Cuupeper PIN DsLoweR Piiv POUBLE FOLLOWER, TWo SIZES Cot OOF TOFIT ewes OF CYLUNDRR PLOGE, No 7 KAWweY BLYUCK AND Box FOR HOLOING PIVS AND SPRINGS. SEPERHTERY Box FoR SchRwe qve ETC a a) ees BRISTLES: a oF AAAKE lane 12 oF ae rh Re ae SSS Xsosver TO HqANOKe E Yared OF HEAVIER WIRE FTHHM 1-23, Good ANO STRONG, MAKE Hie OF HEAVIER HW AAS No 10. 15 the pins are automatically forced to the bot- tom of there respective holes, and the plug remains locked. By reference to the drawing, it will be seen that I have only described a cylinder having but one combination to each set of pins, in other words but one A joint to each set and while this system of construction is sufficient for the ordinary lock many of the better class of building installations demand something more’ elaborate. By this, I mean that the locks are master- keyed and grand master-keyed, of course this necessitates considerable more in the way of complications, and owing to its im- portance, must be thoroughly understood for a locksmith will come in contact with these conditions continually, especially if he is located in some of the larger sized cities. Master-keyed locks are generally used in hotels, office buildings, and in fact, any- where, where some sort of service goes with the building. I will cover this feature of set up as com- pletely and plainly as possible for it is abso- lutely necessary for one to thoroughly under- stand the ‘stunt’ in order to handle a job intelligently, for this line of work is coming in to play more and more every day and the better you understand it the faster you will be able to turn out the work, consequently making yourself that much more efficient, and efficiency is the prime object of this little book. : Referring to drawing No. 3, page 15, it will be seen that there are three pins of vary- ‘ing lengths, F-G and H, and a key, if:cut so it would raise the pins up sufficiently so that H would cause joint 2 to line up with plug 16 joint J—it would work, now if another key were cut so it would raise the pins up until joint | exactly lined up with J it would also work. There would then be two different keys working in the same lock. Now let us suppose that there was a set of say, ten locks, and all the H pins in each were the same, the same key would work on all ten cylinders. This would be the master key. The next step would be to fit a set of G pins to each of the ten cylinders, being careful to have no two sets alike, it would then require a different key to work each cylinder, these would be the common keys. The condition you would then have would be, ten locks with a different key for each, and a single key, or master, that would fit them all. A few suggestions at this stage, might come in well—for instance, it will not be necessary to have every set of pins different in each cylinder for the common keys, every pin but one could be the same length, and you could still have ample difference on but one pin, so that the keys would not be inter- changeable. - In making keys for master-keyed Tacks: great care must be taken not to get the pins mixed, for very serious results are sure to follow, especially if you happen to master- key a set of locks that already have some keys out, or likewise in making a key for a cylinder that is already master-keyed. I would not advise anyone to attempt to masterkey a set of locks until they are very familiar with this line of work and it would be well to practice on two or three cylinders until you get the idea thoroughly fixed in your mind, just how it is done. Even with 17 the best of them it takes plenty of time and patience to make a nicely working set. To get the system of master-keying thor- oughly in your mind, I| will give you a sys- tem describing three cylinders and as the same principle applies to all such jobs, [| think you will be able to understand and work out the system without much difficulty. We will take three cylinders and set them up to a key, that is, so that the same key will unlock them all, and to simplify the work and make it as easy to understand as possi- ble, set these three cylinders up with short pins, consequently the cuts on the key will not be very deep and the pins will drop low when the key is removed. Now take cyl- inder number one and fit it up to a second key by adding more short pins on top of the ones already in the plug which fitted the first key. Fit the second key to the plug and consider each pair of pins in each hole just as though it was one solid pin, being very careful not to change the pins, or rather, the length of pins, that were arranged for the first key; proceed in this same manner with all three cylinders and the result will be that -you have one key that will fit them all and three keys that fit only one each. As many duplicates from these three may be made as desired and, of course, the master-key may be duplicated also, but the intention with these generally is to keep the number as low as possible in order to keep track of all of them, as they are a very important key to have, especially if it should belong to a large ‘office building or some hotel. When the original combination is set up at the factory it is generally done by first inserting a cut key into the plug and fitting 18 pins so that they are just flush with the plug, then inserting the plug into the cylinder and adding the other halves of the pins, then the springs, and finally the slide cap, or top. This is one way of making a key and is a very good way in getting rid of cut keys that otherwise would be an entire loss. In this way you get full price for them and though it is a little slow it is well worth the time, considering the high cost of material at the present time. Here is one way of making an original key: First remove the sliding cap covering ' the row of pins, carefully holding your finger over the holes as the cap is withdrawn, otherwise the springs will fly out and you will never be able to find them, as they are wonderful things to jump out of sight. Now carefully take out the springs, laying them so that they will not get together to keep from getting tangled up; when the springs are out carefully tip the cylinder to one side enough so that you can, with a pair of tweezers, get hold of and take out the upper half of each pair of pins, being careful again not to get these mixed. When you have done this turn it again so that the remaining pins in the cylinder are straight up and down; the plug can now be taken out. Now take the proper blank and file it so that the pins will be just flush with the plug. When this is done insert the plug into the cylinder, put back the other halves of the pins just as they were taken out, put back the springs and the cap, and if you did a good job of fitting the key to the plug you will have a perfectly working key; if you left any of the pins a little low or high the key will not work smoothly, and if it is a new 19 lock it may not work at all; be sure to get them just flush and you will have no trouble. This is a good, reliable system, but is not used much on account of its being so very slow. Another system which is easy to learn and very quick and handy is the tapping system. The best success that I have had is to do it in the following way: I take a piece of friction tape about four inches long and fold it to one inch long, lay this over the back end of the plug (see drawing No. 4, page 15). Now hold the cylinder in your hand exactly as in the draw- ing (see No. 5) and proceed as follows: Take a good hickory hammer handle, not too heavy, but one | would say that would be used on a rather large tack hammer; now, holding the cylinder as illustrated, firmly in your fingers, tap with quick blows along _where the slide is, allowing it to give to the front when you feel it loosen; the instant it loosens allow the plug to slip forward only about one-sixteenth of an inch, then care- fully turn to right or left about one-twelfth of a revolution. This particular part is very important for this reason: do not let it come more than one-sixteenth of an inch forward in order that the upper pins will not be able to drop back into place, and turning to right or left is to keep the pins from dropping into the holes ahead and also that they will slip along on the plug to the very end, which must be pushed out with a follower in order to keep the upper half of the pins in place; when you have pushed out the plug with a follower (see cut No. 6), you have the plug 20 with the lower half of the pins in it; now fit a key as previously described; when you have fitted a key and are ready to put back the plug, do it in this way: start it back into the cylinder with the follower ahead and be very careful not to push it back in without the key in place, otherwise the first pin of the cylinder will drop into the last hole of the plug and you will have to take it all apart to get it together at all, so it is necessary to be very careful in this respect. | If you fail to open the cylinder after tap- ping a few times, loosen up on the tension of your fingers and you will hear the pins drop back; this will show that you are on the right track, and it is only a case of keeping at it and you will soon succeed; on the other hand, if you do not hear the pins drop back, it will show that you are holding the plug too tightly, or something else is wrong. Nine times out of ten, yes, I will say even better than that, you will be able to open them in this way without any trouble in an average of less than two minutes. Simply keep these things in mind: Do not press too hard; if you do not feel the plug give after tapping a few times, release the pressure and try it over again. Be very careful and do not let it slip too far out when it does let loose. Be careful and have a follower that fits the end of the plug when you push it out, so that the pins from the cylinder will not get into any of the holes of the plug or you will have to take it all to pieces. And when pounding on the top to open, pound along from end to end directly over the pins, and at the front end you will always have to even pound on the flanged end; this is a little hard 21 on the stick, but sticks are cheap. A little practice and you will be able to open prac- tically any cylinder in a few seconds, and the stunt is well worth the space I have de- voted to it, if it is new to you. Squirting a little gasoline into the cylinder helps a great deal at times. Still another way which is often used to good advantage is as follows: Insert the proper blank, which has the effect of raising all the pins to their limit of height; now take a piece of very thin steel (such as a piece of thin steel tape line) and from the back care- fully slip in the steel until it gently comes in contact with the first pin; now slip out the key until you feel the pin beginning to lower, and when it comes to the joint the steel will slip in between the two halves; push your steel up to the next pin and proceed in the same manner. Repeat this until you have separated all the pins, and take out the blank key. The next thing is to take a follower that is a loose fit and push out the plug, being very careful not to allow the steel to get from between the pins, and keep it in place until you have the follower entirely in and the plug out. When the plug is out it will contain the lower half of the pins; then fit a key as already described on a preceding page. While this process is not used very much, | have found a few cases where it came in very nicely. (See follower illus- trated, No. 6, page 15). The following system I| have used to good advantage, especially on rare occasions when they do not yield to the tapping process or 22 on some door that is locked: Slip into the lock the proper blank. This raises all the pins so that the upper half is above, or at least flush with, the plug joint; now deter- mine where you think the point is that a hole, if drilled at the side of a row of pins, would just catch them all and at the same time allow the lower half to drop when the key blank is withdrawn. Drill with a small, say No. 58, drill just to the side, aiming to just catch enough of the pin to hold it up, leaving.in, the drill, you will see that if you have made a good guess when the key is tak- en out the lower pins will drop and, of course, the cylinder will turn and unlock. While this system may be worked to very good advantage a great many times, it is not a first-class stunt, for it is uncertain and has the disadvantage of defacing to some extent the front of the cylinder and damaging the interior. You will find that while it is not an A-| way, you will sometimes be justified in using it nevertheless. This system will be more completely described later. Another way which was described to me, and which was claimed to be used to very good advantage, was to take a piece of thin celluloid, or even thin wood, say about one- eight inch wide, and cement onto it a row of stiff bristles for about the length of a key bit; clip them off so that the whole thing is about the width of a key blank and work as follows: Carefully insert the bristle key (which in reality it is) and hold the plug with the fingers, giving it a slight twisting strain. While you are doing this, work the “bristle key’’ back and forth; this will have 23 the effect of raising the pins, and when they come to the joint of the plug and cylinder enough give will take place to hold it just at this point; keep doing this until all the pins have been raised, if they will raise, and if you are able to get them all up to the proper height, the lock will, of course, open. I made one of these keys once and it seemed to work well for a limited time, but it had the disadvantage of being very frail and going to pieces very soon. You will find a drawing (No. 8, page 15) which will give you an idea of just how it was done. Still another way is to make a key on the following plan: Take a piece of brass and solder wire lifters in the different positions, using heavier wire for the two longest pieces than the others. I will illustrate one that I saw, and should you care to make one, think by this you will be able to get the idea how to make it. (See drawing No. 9, page 15.) I made one of these and had good success with it for a time, but it also had the dis- advantage of being frail and easily going to pieces. The next way that I will describe is as follows: Take a blank to fit the cylinder that you desire to open and shape it as per dia- gram No. 12, page 27. Now, just at the point on the front of the plug opposite the joint (see No. 13) drill a small hole and proceed as follows: Insert your key (No. 12) and in the hole that you have drilled in- sert a piece of very thin, narrow steel, cut just wide enough to enter the hole drilled —this may be very small, as small as a number 60 drill can be used; now, as the key is inserted and comes in contact with 24 the first pin, it will raise it to the limit of height and immediately begin to let it down again; as it goes down, carefully feel for the joint, and when you come to it slip the steel between the pins and on to the next pin; push your key ahead and work exactly as the first, and proceed with all of them in exactly the same way; when you _ have slipped the steel between all the pins, and the key is in far enough, the pins will all be low enough that they will allow the plug to turn and, of course, the lock is unlocked. Drawings No. 12 and No. 13 will show you just how it is done, more plainly, perhaps, than | can explain it. : Still another way, and which I believe is the best though probably the hardest to learn, especially for doors that are locked, is by a set of thin flat picks. It takes con- siderable patience and experience to become expert with these, but in the long run you will find it the best way and well worth the time spent in learning to do it quickly. The picks are made of thin, flat steel, about the thickness of the larger sized steel tapes or the main-spring of a watch. Drawing No. 14, page 27, will give you an idea of how | shaped the set | have, and to use them pro- ceed as follows: (I will assume that the door is locked.) Take a screw-driver, or any tool as far as that is concerned, and make a dent at one side of the plug (see No. 15); this is for the purpose of having a place by which you can hold something against the plug in order to give it a twist- ing strain which will have a holding effect * on the pins; now insert a pick, and starting at the pin farthest back very carefully raise it until you feel it come to the joint and con- oe) tinue in this way until you have raised all of them; the instant the last one is raised the plug will turn and is, of course, unlocked. To hold the cylinder I often use the tool (No. 16), which works well and does not mar the front of the cylinder. One of the first things I do in opening a cylinder with this system is to insert a .pick, and while holding the plug as described, wiggle it up and down, trying to get as many different positions as you can, and you will often catch the combination this way in a fraction of a minute. [| remember just the other day I was called on to open three office doors by a party who had lost their keys, and [| suc- ceeded in opening all three doors in less than ten minutes with picks similar to those I have illustrated in No. 14. I will describe another system which was sent in, and though it does not appeal to me as being very practical, yet it might come in to good advantage on some occasions. It is as follows: Have an-oil can, with a very slender spout, filled with melted paraffine; squirt some of the hot paraffine into the key opening and around’the pins, enough to have all the pins well covered; now insert a blank, which will raise all the pins up, and leave it there until the wax has cooled sufficiently to hold at least all the upper half of the pins; now warm up the blank until it is quite hot and insert it into the lock; watch very closely and when the hot key has warmed up the pins enough, quickly take the blank out and the lower half of the pins will slide down, leaving the upper half up. This seems like a rather crude system, but, nevertheless, | intend to give you as many systems as | have ever seen or heard advanced and you can 26 AS THE ney PASSES FIRST PIN, SAIPSTEEL BETWEEM SIT DROPS AND CONTI NUG WITH EACH PIN WHEN ALL ARE DOWN PLOG WILK TUAN WHEN FAR PNovGH STCE. CHW BE fenmovceo PARDE FROM RECU ANA BEAK FOR CYLINDER YOU WISH TY OPEN No 14, THIS SHOWS HOW PICKS SHOULD RE WROE | Yo 2 !'5 | Site u tow, Botte ——— J ToP wa Mad ee TOOLS FOR TWISTING CYLINDER PLUG of WHILE WORKING PICKS TENSION TOOKS? No (7 COUNT ¥ oan] ea RM CENTER PUNCH ERO | UAL v Se No 18 — FE NARROW ERE a a, ee ry use your own judgment as to the ones you care to use. I will now describe a system which is said to be very good and for which I paid $8.00 for the set to do it with. The operation is very simple, yet for its success depends entirely on how good a set of tools you have to work with.” Make a couple of tension tools similar to No. 16 and also some picks, such as No. 17; these should be made out of steel carefully tem- pered. To operate, take No. 17 and insert past the last pin, then insert No. 16 and put a twisting tension on the plug; now give No. 17 a rather quick outward pull, carefully feeling your way, and the cylinder should open. The theory is that the tension put on the plug as the tool (No. 17) is being quickly drawn out tends to give at each pin joint and consequently holds it from one to the other until all are the proper height, and it will open. The same condi- ° tions hold good in the tapping process al- ready described with the exception that with this system they are held by a side strain and by the tapping system the strain is from end to end. You will find this sys- tem a very hard one to master, but when it is learned it is very good, perhaps the best and fastest of them all. i will now give you a cylinder unlock- ing “‘stunt’’ practically word for word as it was sent to me: Take a pair of dividers and measure on any cylinder which you wish to open, from where the key pins rest on the broach cut to the top of the plug (there is a shoulder on 28 the plug for which you must make allow- ance), this gives you the longest key pin that could be used in the particular plug that you are measuring. After you have set the dividers to this measurement, put one point of the dividers on the top of the broach cut in the plug, and with the other point scratch the face of the cylinder thus: See M. No. 4, page 48. Now take a blank that fits the cylinder and adjust the jig so that the small hole as indicated is directly in line with the mark (M). Tighten the set screw on the jig, and with a drill of the proper size carefully drill through all the pins. Keep drawing out the drill to remove the chips to avoid sticking, and when you are sure you have gone through all the pins, leave the drill in place and withdraw the blank key. Tap the cylinder gently, and the lower key pins should all drop, allow- ing the plug to turn and the lock to open. Now remove the cylinder and take out the drill. Should the pins fail to work freely, tap them as described on page 21. You will find a system similar to this worked out on page 23, though perhaps not quite so» elaborate. In opening doors that are locked, success is largely dependent on surrounding condi- tions, all of which should be quickly taken into consideration. Size up the job from all angles and conditions, for it it happens to be a cylinder lock there may be a much easier way of getting by than picking, for instance, there may be other doors with much easier locks to open, a window or transome may offer but little resistance in getting past the “‘paracentric’’. If it is a common night latch it is often 29 very easy to simply slip a thin piece of steel between the casing and the stop and the crack of the door and push back the latch. You can do this with nine-tenths of the latches and it is the quickest way out of it. (See cuts No. 7-A-B-C-D, page 59.) Mor- tise locks where the bolt is not thrown, can usually be opened this way also. Another way, if it is a night latch or a mortise lock with just the latch on and not the bolt thrown, is to have a thin piece of brass or tin about 26 to 32 gauge and beginning way up at the top of the door carefully slip it through the crack and then gradually work it down to the lock and as you come in contact with the latch it will easily push it back if you have the piece inserted held at the proper angle. [| have often worked this successfully with a piece of stiff paper, a thin piece of celluloid is also very good, even better than thin metal. Another way is to have a pair of special screw-drivers, which | will illustrate, and if there is much of a crack in the door simply unscrew the set screw that holds “the cylinder enough to allow it to unscrew. You can often help matters in this by simply putting some kind of a wedge between the door and casing, a piece of wood for in- stance, and forcing a little larger crack to work in. (See illustration Nos. 10 and 11, page 15). To open a cylinder lock on a door when locked, drill a hole through the cylinder ring along side of the cylinder through the wood of the door to the set screw (see No. 1-A page 56); drill through this screw, and with a pair of pincers or wrench care- fully turn the cylinder so the set screw will 30 SPRING. SHOWS METHOD oF I REMOVING DRAWING OUT THE SHOULDER. goer : Nos 2. 4n0 3 's ft JIG FOR HOLDING KE Nos. 2 ano 3. : = AND CYLINDER Ewn “IND SIDE views : PLoG, WA Woon BhLocwkS I! | FoR OPENING FOR OPENING ‘ S CYLINDERS re a ae TWo KINDS FOR Rano B PLUGS, No7 A. pe =a. END VIEWS OF SHEET METAL FOKLOWER, Twe KINDS, Noid SPECIAL SAWS FoA KEYS, J KINDS TOMABLERS, \ Sd | No 9 DIFFERENT OF LEVER No 14. SAMPLE ae ” ToOPEN Lock as ae REMove Ringe A. ESCRIBE dfasctsediexiin nee DESCRIBED JIN Boor, 31 break off; it will then be very easy to un- screw it and take it out in good shape. , The above directions do not mention the locks that use but one screw, together with a double locking “‘dog,’’ but we suppose that where these are used it is intended to drill the same as though it was a screw, which, of course, amounts to the same thing. (See illustration for complete details, Nos. l and 2, page 56). No. 5, page 59, shows a piece of solid rubber, cut to fit as illustrated, and to use hold in the hand and operate as described in the book, page 20, and illustrated on pages 15, 4 and 5. This stunt makes it much easier on the hand, and improves the operation considerably. Before going any further I will give you an idea of the experimenting | have been joing with a little lock opening tool of my own. I had not intended to give out any- thing in this line until | had done a little more in the way of development but the results have been so encouraging and so far beyond my wildest expectations that I have decided to give the readers an idea of the details and an idea of its working principals and you are at liberty to continue in the development yourself, and here is hoping you will be able to perfect the thing so that you will have a tool that you will not be afraid to tackle the opening of any lock. As far as I am personally concerned | am confident it can be done, for the success | have had already is sufficient to prove that, as an example | have opened a number of different cylinders many times in but a very 32 few minutes, in fact some of them open almost as readily as if it was done with a key. More in detail and explanation will be found later should you be _ sufficiently interested to take it up and continue the development from this point on. No. 7 A-B-C-D, page 59, suggests the several different ways a night latch may be found mounted on doors, and suggest- ions on the ways of slipping the _ bolts. They are so plainly shown that further de- tail seems unnecessary. Here is a_ new cylinder opening stunt given me by a man who claims he is work- ing it successfully and is novel in the ex- treme. To open a locked cylinder on a door take an electric massage machine, apply the applicator to the upper edge of the cylinder and with some other tool put a little pressure on the plug the same as you would in using a key, this vibratory action is said to jar the pins sufficiently so that the pins will line up and the lock conse- quently open. Another way of working the same idea is as follows; put a piece of spring steel in the plug just under the springs and scarcely touch them, now hold the vibrator under this spring so that the rubber applicator just touches, at the same time put aa little turning tension on the plug and start the motor, the spring is supposed to vibrate sufficiently to jar the pins so they will line up and the plug will turn to open. 33 The above stunts are said to be worked successfully by the party giving them to me and | have no reason to doubt him and personally it does sound as though there might be something to it and it might be well to do a little experimenting along this line. Another system of opening cylinders, which might be termed a tapping system, one way of which is described on page 20, and which is good, very good, in fact, is as follows: Have a piece of hard wood, say 4x4x4 inches, take the cylinder in your right hand, hold it so that the thumb is pressing “as to open’’ on the back end, at the same time hold the front with the first and second fingers, so as to allow it to slip out not over |-16 of an inch when it opens. Page 15, No. 5, gives you an idea of just how to hold it, except that you keep in mind that it must be worked upside down in comparison to the system described on. page 20. Now strike it with sharp, quick blows on the block, “the end grain,’’ keep- ing in mind that the instant it releases it must not slip to the front more than 1-16 of an inch when you have the plug loose. Proceed by turning a trifle and taking out the plug with a follower the same as by the other system, on page 20. This is one of the best cylinder opening stunts there is. It is very quick, saves time, patience and your temper, and is well worth keeping in mind at all times. Here is a little stunt well worth remem- bering in making keys: On nearly all key 34 machines there are some blanks that do not hold well in the clamps. To get around this, simply take some small one-inch brads, nip off the heads, and slip them in the slot of the key and you can hold them with no trouble. Never put oil in a cylinder lock. It will collect dirt and will mean that the lock will have to be cleaned in a very short time. All cylinders are made of brass, so that they will not be affected by the elements, and consequently should not be oiled. An excellent idea is to put a little dry graphite in the box along with the pins you have on hand and also dust some into the key holes when fitting keys it will help wonderfully and will not collect dirt and grit. Dixons No. 2 is the best | know of. A quarter pound can will last you for years. It seems out of place to call your attention to a little point in installing cylinder locks, but we see so many cases where “it would have come into play, that | will do it, and that is, be very careful and get them right side up, or so that the pins work on top of the key. You are bound to have trouble in a short while if you don’t. On page 27, No. 19, I will illustrate a way to raise the cuts on the bit of a key in case they should happen to be cut too low and on page 31, No. 1, I show another way by drawing out the shoulder. Many times when a key is inserted into a lock it fails to work, but when withdrawn 35 a little, works nicely, this indicates that the bit has been cut too low and by drawing the shoulder out and to the front slightly the key will work satisfactorily and save making a new one. On page 31, Nos. 2 and 3, is illustrated a plug holding jig used in setting cylinders, | am showing it just as it was given to me and all of the details can, I think be easily under- stood by a little careful observation. I can see at a glance it would no doubt be good, but the average locksmith would not be equipped to get up any such elaborate tool. Another suggestion to be used in the place of the tape in the tapping system of opening cylinders, illustrated on page 15, is shown on page 31. It consists of a block of wood shaped as illustrated and was claimed by its originator to work to good advantage. | never used one and personally cannot say. I have often been asked the best system of taking impressions of keys, especially cylinder keys and will say that to my knowl- edge there is no first-class or very reliable system, | have however had fairly good suc- cess by using dental wax, it solidifies when cold and becomes sufficiently hard to keep the impression for fitting a key so that one will have a fairly good chance of producing a key that will fit. This impression system however I| am not inclined to recommend for one can hardly afford to take the time together with the chances of failure by work- ing under such a handicap. In making an original key for a cylinder, a good way of locating the exact position of 36 ee) 2S OF JNane several Sizes dnd ditterent depth cuts. O O No 27. g Some are also corrugalear® af i f suggestion | No 9:9. // x Yor AN Wasee | nae e\larepar | fe) ° B. crise in positiento tap yor alooth H position of chisel read to dvae back yer next Tooth 37 the cuts is to insert a blank key into the plug and put in a set of pins long enough to extend out of their respective holes suffi- ciently so that with a pair of pliers one can press the pins against the bit of the blank and make a mark which of course will be the exact position of each pin and showing just where the cuts should be made, the extend- ing pins will also act as gauges as to the depth each notch is to be cut and with a little practice you can run out a key in this way in a very few minutes. Another suggestion to take the place of the follower No. 6, page 15, is as follows, take preferably sheet spring brass, ‘or even tin will do’ and roll a cylinder over some form of the proper size which will produce a flexible and handy tool as illustrated on page 31, No. 7. A stunt for using up the old cut keys is as follows: For instance take three Yale keys already cut, take one of these for the pattern and run the other two through the key machine, now take one of the two you just cut and use if for the pattern key and run the other two through the machine, now take the remaining key for a pattern and run the two through as before, you will then have all three keys alike all cut to the lowest cuts in each of the three keys there will be no objection to this, consequently all you have to do now is to fit them to a cylinder. Something to remember is that a series of locks may be arta DEES as to their keys, in three different ways, viz. 1. All different, each key opening only one lock. 38 2. All alike, any key opening all of the locks. 3. Master-keyed, with keys all different (as in |) but with a master-key also, which works on all of the locks, (as in 2). This master-keying system is a great con- venience in factories, hotels and large build- ings and even in the homes. All such sys- tems should be planned however before the installation of the locks, so remember good locksmiths are often called on for technical advice of this kind and the better you are versed on the subject the more intelligently you will be able to handle it. A locksmith tells me he has had good success in a number of instances by simply slipping a wire in behind the latch and pull- ing it out as illustrated at No. 2, page 48. No. 8, page 59, is a tension spring used in connection with picks in opening cylinder locks. It will be found a very handy instru- ment, and is very easy to make. The illus- tration is so plain that details are unneces- sary, and use your own judgment as to size. To change a combination, remove the plug of the cylinder as already described and rearrange the pins or substitute others of different lengths in place of those that are already in. Then make an original key to fit the new set of pins. Cylinders that have a large number of keys and have some that do not work well, coun- tersink the holes with a tool made for the purpose, or a knife will do. This will help the pins to slip in line and the key will work much better. (See No. 18, page 27). 39 If a key is cut too low it can often be drawn out to fit as well as a new one by simply using a small center punch, as per drawing No. 19, page 27. | Save all of your cut keys and old keys and get in the habit of setting up cylinders to them. In this way you have no waste stock and it will soon come as easy as though you made them from new blanks every time. You will find that you have saved a good many dollars in this way, especially when blanks are so expensive and run into money so rapidly. Never think of filing cylinder keys by hand; you will find it a tedious, uncertain slow job, with lots of waste. By all means get some kind of a key-cutting machine which will save its cost in time and material and will be so much more satisfactory. There are a number of machines on the market and one should not have any trouble in getting one. A locksmith writes me that it was said of a reformed burglar that if you find a $15.00 lock on the front door, look for a 15-cent one on the back door. There is a lot of truth in this, and | have done this very thing myself a number of times. Before going further it might be well to call your attention, in the way of a reminder, to a few points that come into play from time to time, though perhaps familiar to most experienced locksmiths. As regards to your work, let me say as a suggestion: Do not go out on a job only 40 ShoT FOR PIN; RAiviteo iv Kock. ALL TRUNK LOCKS USING DESK PASS KEY « | i) KEYS LIKE CUT AWRY THIS PRAT } f FOR DETRILS, ae idee EF Pics LIKE THIS per lake oF BESSEMER foo CAN BE SHAPED @O4O A son non PABHMOERE SHOWIMG CYLINDER ConsTRucTiow JN DETAIL. > ' : Fit CYLINDERS ARE MADE BBour BIKE THIS ly Up, < A NAMAAS AN fe F \ a S 2 USE ROBBER BROCK IN CONWECTION Not, 4 : : : B WITH METHOO OW PAQK~23~4-d. PICKS MADE OF @ AND PAQR Ia~4-3, No Zc, SLIP FLAT PIECE OF any STEEL IN: HERE Jp LoosEN AWD WoRK BORE Gy-HOKE- USE AS Now, BovwO PIECE OF STEEL FOR PICK, Lit. WoRK LIKG No 7-C, ss ScD LE) venom . \ BALL Hone NT a No.7. ugh weoee AT B. a9 a doubt you will be able to get some good out of them for the cuts are exact size and exact cuts and properly numbered so you ought to be able to easily make a key from these illustrations for any lock of this na- ture with a corresponding number. Now do not get these locks confused with Post Office box keys for they are not but are simply the locks on the letter boxes you see installed in all the flats, apartments, homes and places of that nature. It is a- gainst the law for anyone to make keys for P. O. boxes except by those with the proper authority, consequently you will find noth- ing in this book on this subject. There are a great many kinds of cabinet locks, more in number, | imagine, than any other kind of locks, house doors perhaps excepted, and though this be the case there are but a few that are really hard to open, and nearly all you will find using the flat key you will be able to open with the set of picks No. 20, page 27, made from the proper blanks. In making keys for this line of locks the makers generally arrange for a hole in the casing located properly so that one can readily see the action of the key on the tumblers and by filing and trying it is a very easy job to fit a key. I personally prefer to fit keys for this kind of a lock with the bolt thrown, the action -can be seen better | think, although this may be just a ‘fogie’’ idea of mine. Locks that do not have any opening in the casing as mentioned above are generally easier to fit a key to with the bolt in the unloocked position for this reason, if the tumblers have a slot for the bolt bar to pass through similar 60 to No. 8, page 41, then fit a key with the bolt in the unlocked position, but if the tum- blers are like No. 9, page 41, fit the key with the bolt in the locked position. Just a little experience in this line will help you more than a dozen pages of ex- planations. You must remember however that when you get in this class of locks with three or more tumblers your difficulties increase in direct proportion to the number of tumblers but it is simply a case of having a good assortment of picks and plenty of patience and a little good luck and you will be able to unlock practically anything in this line you will ever be called upon to handle. Some suggestions on a good line of picks will be found illustrated on page 27, No. 20; page 41, Nos. 10 and 11; page 59, No. 6 and page 69, No. 6. There are a couple of different designs of night latches made to supply the demand for something cheap and for those who do not know a‘ good lock from a poor one, these use keys similar to No. |-10-6-44 and No. 7-41. These can all be opened by mak- ing pass keys out of the proper blanks similar to No. 11-44 and No. 7-41. You will find this variety of locks installed principally in places where security is not taken seriously into consideration. You will also find them in the small towns for invariably the country dealers keep them well displayed and the consumer as a rule does not know whether they are good or bad, it is seldom they are judges of the good or bad features of locks. 61 AS MANY WIRES = i AS KEVERS, iz i ~ OPENING LOCK SIZE OF WIRE EQUAL To ge a ct THICKNESS OF LEVERS, : es PICK USED FOR 4 LEVER PADLOCKS, Pick USED FOR 3 LEVER PickS USED BY HOUDINI THE KANO CUFF KING. A DOUBLE END PICK HANDY AND ComPACT, 4 2 ~» ° 2 Pp 3 = “ A. PREST-O- TORCH OWE OF THE HANDIEST Toms A SHOP cA POSSESS, a KEY FIRING wIQaN) : A VERY Gooo Toon TO I CARRY IN THE GRIP, SUIH duyus 4° QYOH Houbo SIGN SucceSTION No 26, By, HCFINK. 62 a NOT TO SIZE. SS Ts = PP ie. om FRONT. VIEW SIDE VIEW. eed) MAKE THE BLOCK ANY SIZE. A A f a 3574 9243, Hs incodsaoy—1241 ©) iy KEY CUTS. RRE NOT TO SIZE. 63 To make a key for this variety of locks you simply have to cut the proper blank to pass the wards arranged in the barrel which can easily be located by smoking your blank. The most of them you will find are double bitted, that is they work either way the key is put into the lock, again you will find a few that work only one way and the grooves are necessarily cut deeper on one side than the other, there are few of these around nowadays however and it will be very sel- dom that you will need to work on them. Padlocks—In taking up this subject, there are so many different kinds that quite a little space will be necessary in order to even give you an idea of how to handle the more important designs. Like all other varieties of locks the ele- ment of security increases as the purchase price goes up, consequently one cannoot expect much in a cheap padlock. In the majority of cases where the inex- pensive padlock uses a flat key cut similar to No. 27, page 37, a pass key can be made that will easily open them similar to 24-37, . they simply have cast or permanent wards | arranged to engage the key and by simply filing for them to pass and locating them ‘“‘generally by smoking’’ it is an easy matter to make a key. c Again there is a cheap jJine similar in de- sign to 2, page 44, using a key on the plan > of 10-41, keys made for them are also made by the filing and trying system and no serious difficulties are generally encoun- tered in fitting keys for all such locks. 64 I will now give you a system of opening the three and four tumbler locks using double-bitted keys similar to diagram No. 23, page 37. Make a key like No. 24 thin enough to allow a thin steel pick to pass alongside of it. Insert No. 24 and hold snugly in the direction to unlock. This brings the bolt against the tumblers; now insert picks (Nos. 13 and 14, page 62) and work them back and forth carefully, feeling the tumblers, and you will soon be able to get them in the proper location and the lock will unlock. To makea key, leave in the un- locked position for the reason that the bolt has slipped into the tumbler slots and are held in exactly the position the key would leave them; now simply locate the tumblers on a blank (a good way is by smoking it) and file until the key just turns around with- out binding. When you have tried this a time or two you will easily get the idea. To open the cylinder padlocks see No. 26, page 37, having a key on the plan of No. 25: Hold the lock in such a way that you can keep pulling as to open and with picks (No. 14) work the same as to open a cylinder; when it opens unscrew No. 27 and remove the spring which you will see after taking out No. 27. It is now ready to remove the plug, which you can do by using a follower, and proceed to make a key as for any cylinder. To open a padlock similar to diagram No. 2, page 44, také a piece of thin flat steel about the width of the hasp of the lock you wish to open, and work it into the lock along side of the hasp and move it back 65 and forth as shown by the dotted lines in diagram No. 3. The piece of steel can often be improved for use by bending it on the end as shown in the drawing No. 3. On account of its flexibility it does not in- terfere with working it into the lock, and as soon as it is past the end of the hasp it slips over and engages the locking dog, which if it was straight it possibly would miss. You will find a great number of the cheap class of padlocks that you will be able to open in this way. How to open a padlock similar to draw- ing No. 4: Take a drill in size about No. 56 to 60 and drill a hole through the outside casing just between the letters V and E as shown in diagram No. 4. Have a piece of wire in size about equal to the thickness of one of the lock levers in the lock on which you are working; first insert the plain end of the drill into the hole you have just drill- ed; carefully lift the first lever until the drill slips into the slot intended for the dog; now lift the second lever in exactly the same way until the drill slips into the slot of this lever, and proceed in this way until you have rais- ed all of them and you are sure the drill is holding all of them up. Now proceed to make a key as follows: Take the proper blank, if you have one, and if not a blank that will enter the keyhole; now smoke the blank and insert it, and as it comes in con- tact with the lowest lever move the key back and forth in order to mark the location of the lever which comes in contact with the blank first, or in other words, the lever having the lowest position. File with a thin file not thicker than the lever a slot just deep enough that you think (by looking into the 66 lock) will allow the next lowest tumbler to touch the blank. Mark this position as de- scribed above and file in the same way, taking into consideration the fact that all slots that you have already filed will have to be made deeper in the same proportion. When you have located all the tumblers and filed the key so that it comes in contact with all the levers at the same time, you can remove the drill which has been holding the levers in the exact position that the key holds them when inserted. Now insert the key carefully, and when the lock unlocks mark on the key with an awl just the position for depth. If you have used the proper blank to begin with, this will not be necessary, but if not, it is for the purpoose of locating the position of the stop. The key should look like No. 4. Carefully fill the hole and it will never be noticed. How to open and make a key for 3 and 4 lever locks similar to drawing No. Make a thin steel pass key, drawing No. 6, and a pick, No. 7. Both of these must be thin enough to pass into the lock at the same time. To unlock, first insert No. 6 and turn so as to unlock as far as possible; keep holding this key snugly and insert the pick, No. 7; when you feel it touch the first tum- bler, push it out until you feel the dog slip into the slot; work the next tumbler the same way; always keep holding on to No. 6. Now take out No. 7 and insert in the opposite way and work the tumblers on this side the same as the others. The instant the last tumbler is pressed back, No. 6 should turn farther around and open the lock. It will be nec- essary to make a set of Nos. 6 and 7 for each different size of this class of lock. Now I 67 will go one step further in this lock opening ‘‘stunt’’ and say that when the lock is open the tumblers are held in exactly the position that the proper key places them, and there- fore a key can be made as follows: With the lock in the unlocked position, smoke and insert the proper blank and mark the position of the tumblers; file the key until it just passes all the obstructions. Be care- ful and particular, and if you do a good job you will have a perfect working key. A little practice and you will have no trouble and will be well repaid for your work. It is best to file out the wards first; then the first two pairs from handle No. 8; then file for tumblers. Will also state that the pick is worked first on one side and then the other, for the reason that half the tumb- lers work on one side of the key and the other half on the other. (See page 44). To open padlocks and desk locks using double-bitted keys, proceed as follows: Select the proper blank (this is im- portant), insert in the lock and turn as to open several times. You will then be able to locate the position of the tumblers by the marks on the key. Now locate the brightest marks on the blank; these will be the deep- est cuts, now start and file this mark “the same on each side’, about | /32 of an inch; insert the key and at each trial file again at the same time looking for marks of the next tumblers to mark the key, just keep filing each slot in the same proportion and when the key turns a quarter turn the lock will open and you will of course have your key made. 68 : a\\ OPEN. posiTiow, a \ Spring TENSION Toow NO k acuT our AND FiLh WITH LEO COMMON BENT WIRE PICK, om CYLINDER KEY yene VIEW Heol DER, KEYS AS LISTED IN CHTRELOCOES. 69 ira Bam 9 Fea UL Ny HEY 19) MATATFTOT UID 1 CYLINDER TRUNK boen, L A-8-C NIVETS HOLOING ON bOCK. ON seerace I § THE RINET HERE U6Ls CAAT OTRECED CAR CE TEDBC TALL ae —SeSinnini ar 4 €.4T STEEL rAEY To fit keys to six-lever padlocks, such as No. 4, page 44, use thin pieces of steel or spring brass, shaped similar to No. 3, a, b, c, d, e and f, and hold in position with a clamp on the plan of No. 3, page 52. For the three and four tumbler padlocks of the standard variety, such as No. 5, illus- trated on page 52, the following described tool or combination pick seems to possess exceptional advantages. As there are three sizes of this variety of locks in general use, it will be necessary to make three different sized picks, which will be well worth the time it will take to do it. The proper dimensions will be regulated en- tirely by the size of the lock, and the best. way to determine this is to use the dimen- sions of a key for the size you wish to make the pick for. If you will keep closely to the size of the proper blank as te thickness, width, length and so forth, there is no rea- son why you should not be able to make a set of these picks which should give first- class service and satisfaction. I would ad- vise making them out of first-class material, and your troubles will be greatly eliminated from the start. The main part of the key No. 7-A should be made out of steel, preferably tool steel. The wire piece can be made from a steel hat- — pin, with the little end piece silver soldered or brazed on to stand the strain.. (See No. 1-| space a2): In drilling the hole in part No. 7-A, be careful to keep to the center, or, better still, have plenty of material, and dress down to the hole. 70 The drawings show the different parts so plainly, and just how it is constructed, that it is hardly necessary to go into detail as far as making it is concerned, and will say that if you make a good tool out of good material you will be well pleased with the results, for this is one of the best lock-picking stunts there is, and with a little practice and the proper sized pick you will have no difficulty in opening any of the locks of this variety. If you make the parts of tool steel, oil temper them, or they will not hold up, and will be no better than if you used common material. When you have a lever lock with the key broken off in it, and are obliged to take it apart, a good way is to put the hasp in a vise see No. 4, page 52, and with a wedge driven through the hasp, force it open. It will come apart almost straight, and very seldom breaks at the lock point, and all that is necessary is to straighten the bent parts when you have it apart. Pin tumbler padlocks can be opened by boring a 60 drill hole into each end of the lock (see No.5) and by pushing a pin (made from a piece of steel wire) in each end at the same time, the shackle will fly out, or open. The hole to be drilled just below rim No. 5-A, to one side (see position B), so the drill will pass by the shackle and not into it. To open small locks similar to No. 6, drill a hole in the face on one side of the lock just below the rim and back of the shackle, so the drill will not hit it. Drill only just through the case, push in the steel pin, and it will open. (See drawing No. 6, page 52). 71 There is a combination lock on the market similar to No. 5, page 48, and as there seems to be no successful way to pick them, about the best way to open is to proceed as described: Drill a hole with about a 56 drill at the point indicated in the drawing; take some fine steel wire and flatten to about one and one-half thousandths; insert the wire and turn dial to the left until the wire slips down one notch, then turn to the right, and when it slips through the next slot, the lock will open. A very little practice and you will have no trouble at all in doing this, and by putting a little plug in the hole it will never be no- | ticed. In answer to several inquiries as to the best way for making key impressions, the following suggestions are about as good as any that I have heard of: Press the key you wish to make the impression of firmly into some substance, such as beeswax, soap, sealingwax or paraffine. Another very good way, especially for flat keys, is to make an impression an carbon paper. You get a very good pattern, and this can be stuck onto a blank, and there is little likelihood of one missing a fit. Some suggestions for a set of picks for use on padlocks, etc., are shown at No.. 6, and they will be referred to from time to time, in use with the opening of several different kinds of locks. To open spring handcuffs, take a piece of very thin tempered steel, push into the lock, and it will slip under the bolt sufficiently to release and open. 72 To open cylinder padlock No. 11, page 62, hold the wedge firmly in and wrap on the side opposite the cylinder (see A and B). This is a good idea, and saves lots of: time. One should have several wedges for the different-sized locks. ‘No. 18, page 62, is a handy and compact combination pick, and is well worth making; in fact, a person should have two or three of them made up in different sizes in his kit. No. 19, page 62, shows a way of opening cylinder padlocks when locked on a door. You simply hold the lock by the strap and rap on the side, as described at No. |]. For making keys to padlocks similar to No. 7, page 69, the best way is to remove one side as shown in the cut. Be sure and take off the right side and the cylinder can then be easily removed. A way to open lock No. 8, page 69, is as follows: Take a No. 30 drill and drill through the casing on an angle, and then take a piece of steel wire and push back the catch, and the shackle will fly open, then force out the plate holding in the pins and fit a key; have some brass rod that will fit the hole, and it can be filled up so that it will never be noticed. The drawing will give you an idea as to just how it is done. Padlocks of the cheaper type have from 6 to 36 changes, a few of the best have up to 144 changes, and the pin tumbler locks have upwards of 25,000, which will give you an idea of the comparative value of each as far as security is concerned. 73 The following idea for opening combina- tion padlocks, as illustrated (No. 5, page 48), or any other combination lock is ex- ceptionally good. The combination of a two-numbered lock reads similar to this: Turn knob two or more revolutions to the right, stopping on the first number (—), then turn to the left, stopping on No. (—), and the lock will open. Locks with only two numbers are very easy to open and are of the cheap sort. We will say the numbers on the dial run from | to 40, and to open, proceed as follows: Turn two or more revolutions to the right, stop on No. |, then turn slowly to the left, trying each number by pulling on the shackle, and if it does not open by the time you have reached the last number, start over again, stopping on No. 2, and proceed as be- fore, keep this up, starting with 3, 4, 5, 6 and so on until the combination is found. A little practice and you will be able to run it out very quickly. The three-number lock is the more com- mon, and takes more time to open. The directions to open usually read os follows: Turn two or more revolutions to the right, stopping on No. (—), then turn to left, stopping on No. (—-), then turn to right stopping on No. (—), pull shackle to open. To work out, first turn two or more revo- lutions to the right, stopping on No. |, then turn to left, stopping on No. |, then turn | slowly to the right, at the same time pulling slightly on the shackle. If the first two num- bers are correct, the lock will open when the correct last number is reached. It not, then try 1-2, 1-3, 1-4, 1-5, 1-6, 1-7, and so 74 on up to 40, then start with 2-1, 2-2, 2-3, 2-4, 2-5, and so on up to 40 again, keep trying and using out the numbers as shown. and the lock will open when the right com- bination is reached. It is best to have a table prepared to go by which will avoid confusion and the chance of skipping a number. I have run the idea to 40, but the table can be run higher, all de- pending on how high the numbers run on the lock you are to open. This idea can be worked out on any combination lock, and seldom takes but a few minutes, for one is likely to find the combination long before he has run the table out. The padlock codes found on pages 101 to 110 will be found very useful for this line of work. They are the most complete and up-to-date | have been able to get together and will work well in any number of cases. The lock manufacturing companies however are rearranging these codes so it will soon be almost impossible to get lists of some of the lines—there are also getting to be so many different lines of locks having recorded lists of combinations that if I were to try and in- clude them all I would have room for noth- ing else—when | say this I have in mind not only padlocks but the auto lock lines which are far more elaborate than the padlocks. Cut No. 25, page 124, is a stunt that was given to me to use when it is necessary to . drill a lock. To locate the spot to drill, set your dividers at A, then set at D and scribe E, then set at B and scribe C, the intersec- 75 tion F will be the point to drill. This was given me by an old safe-cracker, and | have used it with some success myself. To open a cylinder padlock like No. 5-52 and No. 8-69—when locked, hold to give tension on the hasp similar to No. 19, page 62, and with a hammer handle or something of this nature rap the hasp on the outside, © first one side and then the other, at the same time holding firmly on the lock. With a little practice you will have good success. opening locks of this variety in this way, and is a very valuable trick and comes in handy on many occasions. The cheap locks with flat keys similar to No. 27, page 37, can all be opened by a key made of the proper blank similar to No. 24, page 37. Now I could go on indefinitely telling you how to open any number of the cheap variety of locks you will find on the market, but I feel that the average locksmith is not looking for a lot of information that will be of no interest to him, for | feel that anyone who can handle the cylinder end of it can easily get by with the other part of it, for he will have an opportunity to work them out as they come in. Therefore I believe that the great ma- jority of the good locksmiths are anxious to learn all they can concerning the higher grades of locks, and it is this class of work I _ intend to bring out more than any other. Of course anyone can open any and all locks by forcing them, but the locksmith that under- stands his business and is a mechanic will do his work with as little damage as possible. 76 l am going to give you a lot of items in the way of general information that have come to me from every imaginable source and which I can hardly classify under any particular line of locks, consequently you will find a little of everything “‘well mixed’’. Figure No. | is a pick for use on the old style locks using a key similar to No. 4, page 59. These locks are made in three and four tumbler sizes generally, and the pick works out very nicely, and one is nearly always able to open them with but little trouble with a tool of this kind. The blade should be 6 or 8 inches long, one-quarter inch wide, and about the thickness of the keys they use. The heavy quarter-inch lock spring is quite suitable for this purpose. The handle, made in two pieces, simply clamp them together with the pick between, in a vise, and the impression can be deep- ened and a very serviceable and nicely fitted handle is the result. It possesses enough merit that | have illustrated it (No. 2). No. 3, page 59, is a key-filing gauge, the steps being graduated in thirty-seconds of an inch, and of any convenient size that one might fancy. I would suggest making it out of cold rolled steel, 1-16 x 3-4 x 4 inches, - case hardened, would be an ideal size. No. 6, page 59, are pick suggestions, made from heavy wound piano wire, which can be picked up around almost any music or piano store, and the copper winding makes ideal handles for small picks and a variety of such tools. 77 Nos. 10 and 11, page 59, are very in- teresting, because of the fact they are well arranged and submitted by a locksmith 78 years old. Nos. 13 and 14, page 62, are picks used for opening three and four lever padlocks, to be used the same as Nos. 6 and 7, page 44, in previous sheets. The advantage of No. 13 is that it does not have to be taken out and reversed, which gives it consider- able advantage over other style picks. Nos. 15, 16 and 17, page 62, are used for lever desk locks. No. 15 works on the levers, No.. 17 works on the bolt, and No. 16 is used as a tension tool when there is a shoe on the bottom that works the bolts. To make a pattern key for a six-lever lock, No. 10, page 62, cut six pieces of No. 18 brass wire about one and one-half inches long, square up one end of each wire, and after getting the six levers pressed in so that the drill goes down past all of them (see cut No. 4, page 44), hold the drill straight, put the six pieces of wire in, one for each lever, put soldering paste on the wires and hold in the flame of a Bunson burner and touch with wire solder, and you have a pattern which you can clamp on a blank and have a per- fectly fitting key. To open mail boxes having spring locks, make a tool as shown in diagram No. 10, page 56, and operate as follows: Insert the tool through the crack of the door and manipulate so that the hook part is behind the bolt of the lock. By pulling it out -it will put sufficient strain on the bolt that it will be forced back and fly open. The cut gives the idea plainly, with proper dimen- sions. 78 To open trunk locks, using the barrel keys. Take a blank and cut as per cut No. 7, page 56, also make picks as per cut No. 8, and to operate, proceed as follows: In- sert No. 7 and turn as if to unlock, and hold snugly in this position; now take No. 8 and work the tumblers until they allow the little pin to enter the slot, and it will unlock. By a little practice you will have no trouble with this “‘stunt,’” and it will come in handy many times. Another suggestion for making the pick or tension key is to take the proper blank, file as per No. 7, and then heat the handle red hot and bend into the shape suggested in No. 9. I have had so many inquiries for the sets of trunk keys that are described in the book, and also the different sets of picks, that I have decided to get out cuts illustrating the different keys and picks in exact size, and cuts numbered so it will be easy to make the. sets complete; or better still, simply get the number on the lock, look it up and file as per illustration. This will have the advan- tage of giving you a full set of trunk keys, and no money tied up, which will be quite an item. (See pages 111 to 120). This feature alone will be a great help, I am sure, to lots of the locksmiths, especially in the smaller towns. You must bear in mind that it will be impossible to spring everything new to all of us, but the idea is that all will get something of interest to everyone from time to time. 72 To open the standard opposed lever pad- lock as per sketch No. 5, page 44, slide a thin piece of steel down by the side of the shackle and put some pressure on the lock- ing bolt, at the same time work the levers to position with picks similar to 13-14 and 15, page 62. To pick the knob lock on the inner or steel doors of safes, the kind that have the raised knob with knurled edge and key-hole in the center, proceed as follows: Hold the knob in the fingers and apply unlocking pressure at the same time use a suitable pick, even a knife blade will often do, and raise the tum- blers until you can feel them enter the slot and with but very little practice you should be able to open any of this variety in two to five minutes. To produce an exact picture or reproduc- tion of any flat key, cover one side with Prussian blue, “some call it mechanics blue” put colored side next to the paper and tap on the key with something of sufficient weight and you can easily produce a cut almost as good as a half tone. Another spring idea for putting a tension on the hasp of a padlock while opening is made on the plan of 12, page 41, the cut gives enough of the detail that you will have no difficulty making one. If called on to open the inner door of a safe and if after a thorough try out you feel that you will be obliged to drill a hole in the door the following measurements were 80 given me which were claimed to be suffi- ciently correct for almost all the popular makes. Drill a 14 inch hole 14 inch above and !/2 inch to the left of key hole. Now I will not vouch for the accuracy of these measurements but the party giving them to me claimed they would work out on almost any of them, consequently I am hand- ing it on. Ford auto keys have only 4 different com- binations except for the milled slot. For instance take keys Nos. 51-57-63 and 69 and file the bits enough to take out the milled slot and the four will work all Ford switch locks. The No. 51 key will work Nos. 51-52-53-54-55-56 and so on with the others. This makes a very handy combination of keys to have for emergency work for it does not require carrying the whole set. Of course the proper keys with the milled slot work much better for they can only be in- serted the right way, while one of the above may go into the lock and not work until taken out and turned over. A comparison of some of the keys will show plainly how it is worked out and how the four keys above mentioned does the work of the full set. Also see illustration on page 63 show- ing a proper 5| key and how the combina- tions with the four are worked out. To open combination on tin cash or bond boxes, proceed as follows: Place a screw- driver or other such tool between lid or cover and the box to take up all slack or play (No. 9-a, page 58), and directly over center of the lock drill with a No. 50 drill 81 through the box and face of the lock (No. 9-b). Now take a small piece of music wire that will go through the hole, with one end sharp and slightly curved, push back spring bolt to the right, and the box is opened. Fill up the hole with black sealing wax and it will never be noticed. I] have had such a large number of in- quiries as to stunts for getting in extra money or sides lines, you might say | have taken a little space, suggesting the key name plates. They take well, have a good margin of profit, and have the effect of an advertise- ment. I have come in contact with several shops that were taking in a number of extra dollars each month in this way, and prac- tically no money invested. (See page 62, _Nos. 20 and 21). Another locksmith at Rochester, N. Y., tells me he does a nice little business each month repairing hot water bottles. He does it as follows: Clean around the leak with gasoline and sandpaper, then put on rubber cement and let dry about six hours; take auto tread gum and roll on glass until a neat, round patch is made; then press firmly on cement bag, and after the job has dried your repair is as good and will last as long as the bag lasts. I have a stopper with a bicycle valve attached, and by pumping up, it is easy to find all the leaks. One gets from 25 cents to $1.00, according to the original value of the article. One of the handiest tools one can have around the shop is a Prest-O-Lite gas torch outfit. They are a mighty handy little tool and the cost is very moderate. No. 24, 82 page 62, gives you an idea, though there is a much better outfit out now. The little key filing jig No. 25 is also a handy tool to have in the grip for outside jobs. They are small, accurate, and are a first-class tool for hand filing where one does not have access to a power cutting machine. The cut on page 63 shows an idea for mounting a pair of calipers on a block of wood, in this way they are always set up- right and have all the ear marks of making a very handy tool. Pages 121 to 124 are the mail box keys. These are the boxes you will find in- stalled in apartments, flats and homes, and are hard to pick and to fit keys to, for the fact that they are spring locks and are riveted on. Do not get the idea that these are Post Office box keys, for they are not. In fact, nothing in this book contains any- thing on Government work, for if you are not authorized by proper authority to do it you had better let such work alone. | pistANcE AT B g~l VISA COT EQuak TOB ALL WARO CUTS FRE rip see a S DIs/4AS DEEP AS 4, EQUAL TO Ho 4 -CuTs. 1180 COT AT Alb. We aM A rab a ,8, * ( ALL WARGO CUTS ARE THE SAME RS THE fEQULAR cut, No43tl. Covg-ON BLANK. THAN LOCATE THE TOMBLERS ANDO FIKE CUTS THE DEPTH INOICATED BY MOMBERS. No 4-CoT EYoKES DISTAKCE -B x 83 The tapping system for opening cylinder locks that I have described previously, works on some varieties of padlocks, especially those similar to cut No. 26, page 37, and the six-lever kind using the double-bitted key. To open, put a strain on the hasp and rap on the hinge side; if they do not open quickly, relieve the strain and try again. This allows the tumblers or levers to go back to their - normal position, some of which may have been forced too far to line up. Dropping a little oil into the lock always helps with this kind of a job, and very often it could never have been opened had it not been oiled. In opening cylinder padlocks such as No. 26, page 37, a good way is to use a strong spring about the size of a tenpenny nail, and bend as illustrated, page 69, and tap from end to end on the side as indicated in the drawing, the spring giving the necessary tension to hold the pins while tapping to open. On the push key type of padlocks the fol- lowing system was described to me: Clamp it in a swivel vise by the hasp, turning the vise so that the bottom of the lock faces you, and with a piece of straight wire, while you are putting a tension on the lock by pulling on the hasp with one hand, push up the tum- blers with the other. When the lock is opened, to make a key, first file a key rough- ly by looking into the keyhole and getting the line-up of the levers, and finish by black- ing the key and inserting and filing wherever it shows a high place. This system may work well on some type of locks, but do not think it will work out on but a few varieties. 84 Do not forget that the tension spring (No. 1, page 69), comes in nicely on all jobs where it requires a strain on the hasp for opening. Cut No. 2, page 69, represents a desk, cabinet or key that is used on inside vault doors of the older makes that one comes in contact with occasionally. Take a blank and cut out a place as indicated at X, and fill in with solder and bevel off as shown; now by carefully working the key back and forth, you will slowly cut out notches with the tumblers or, in other words, each tum- bler will cut its own notch, and when your lock opens you have a pattern to go by for making a new key, if there is no way to see the tumblers in the lock when making one. This system is claimed to work out on all locks where the key does not turn all the way over. You can hurry up the operation by keeping the bit of the key beveled as the tumblers cut the grooves down. (The above stunt was sent me but I am sure it would work only with locks using -tumblers similar to No. 5, page 63, and then with the bolt in the unlocked position). From Kilgorie, S. W. Australia, the fol- lowing two ideas were sent me. One seems to be nothing more nor less than the good old reliable buttonhook pick No. 4, and the other is what I would call an impression jig. It is made up of a number of suitable little plates held with a clamp and operated as illustrated (No. 5 A, B, C and D, page 69). A locksmith well up in the line gave me the following idea in making picks: File 85 them as illustrated (cut No. 6, page 69), the idea is this, file the picks so that they work on either side by simply turning them over. In this way you double the capacity of your pick. Another idea which I got and probably should have been taken care of in the fore part of this book is this. I have covered the cylinder operating stunt by the tapping system quite thoroughly, and it is one you will use more than any other for making original keys, but it does not seem to have been described for use on doors which are locked and which can be used in the follow- ing way: Make a spring tension tool (No. 8, page 59), insert this into the key hole, being careful not to touch the first pin, and giving the plug a side strain tap with a wooden or rubber mallét on the top of the cylinder. This was sent me and recom- mended as being a good stunt but person: ally | think it is worthless. To open a cylinder padlock similar to Nos. 7 and 8, page 69, can often be done in the following way: Take a piece of lock spring about two feet long, put one end in a vise and the other end in the lock keyhole, give it a tension of one turn and rap the lock with a piece of wood on the proper edge just as you would in rapping open a cylinder. You will be able to get a great many open in this way with but little difficulty. For those who are not old experienced hands in the locksmithing business | here- with offer a few suggestions in the way of supplies necessary in handling work of this kind. : 86 The first requisite is good tools, especially files, get Warding files, 3, 4, 5 and 6-inch, plenty of cylinder springs, both sizes, a good assortment of pins, both upper and lower in the large and small sizes, also get in limited amounts, connecting screws, con- necting bars, mortise lock coil springs, knob screws, knob washers, both large and small, trunk nails, assorted trunk rivets, No. 9, assorted lengths, burrs for the rivets, assort- ed flat lock spring steel, some brass flat spring wire, one-sixteenth and three thirty- seconds wide by .035 inch thick, some round brass spring wire .035 inch and .045 inch thick will be found very useful. For filing cylinder keys by hand, get®5 inch or 6 inch rat tail files, medium cut. Cylinder pins should be made of wire as follows, large, .115 inch; medium, .102 inch; small, .095 inch. A good assortment of blanks of course is necessary and care should be used in selecting them so as not to get a lot of dead ones on hand. Now on the subject of making picks for _all the different locks, my experience has been this: That you can go ahead and make a lot of fancy ones out of Stubb steel, with polished handles and all that, but they are not one bit better than those | make out of a piece of flat spring steel with a pair of tin- snips in about a minute, and | can unlock as many locks with these inexpensive little tools as anyone can with their fancy outfits. It is far more important to get a good set of picks of the proper sizes and shapes than to spend so much time on looks and quality, although of course I will admit that those made of Stubb steel are as good in quality as it is possible to get the others answer the 87 purpose practically just as well and have the advantage of being very easy to replace should they get broken and at scarcely no expense at all. No. 19, page 62 shows a way of opening cylinder padlocks when locked on a door. You simply hold the lock by the strap and rap on the side as described at No. 11, page 62. To open padlocks and desk locks using double-bitted keys, proceed as follows: Select the proper blank (this is important, ) insert in the lock and turn as to open several times. You will then be able to locate the position of the tumblers by the marks on the key. Now locate the brightest marks on the blank, these will be the deepest cuts. Start and file this mark (the same depth on each side) about 1/32 inch deep; insert the key and at each trial note the marks and file again at the same time looking out for the other tumblers that will begin marking the key. To make the key keep filing each slot in the same proportion, and when the key readily turns a full quarter turn the lock will open and your key is complete. The cheap class of night latches using a key, similar to No. 10 (page 44) can all be unlocked by simply making a pass key as per No. ||. They can also be opened by slipping something between the door and casing as explained elsewhere in the book. There are several firms, nowadays putting out to the public sets of what they term ‘master keys’, of course they have well worded and attractive ads and do lots of business but as far as being master keys they are far from it, they are simply a set of pass keys that will work on some of the cheapest locks such as you will find on the back door 88 of the hen house or some old closet and occasionally perhaps a back door of a home but that is about all. They are selling a lot of them though and if the public is satisfied it is a sure thing | am. I am calling your attention to this with the idea that it could be worked as a sort of a side line in almost any community. One wouldn't do a great deal of business of course but he would sell some and every little helps. The cut, No. 12, page 31, will no doubt be familiar for one sees ads of this nature in a number of the magazines these days. In looking over and checking up the dif- ferent stunts the so-called escape artists and handcuff kings whose acts you see in all the show houses throughout the country, | find that without exception they are all faked in one way or another, all depending on doc- tored locks “many of which | have fixed my- self’ together with special keys hidden and concealed in every imaginable way and place. The construction of the canopy un- der which or in which they always work solves the mystery of the whole thing for hidden within it are the necessary tools and keys for the entire act. For instance there is the escape from the iron cage, a massive affair apparently secure in every way, the artist being placed inside and in addition to the regular locking device additional chain is interlaced up and down through the door and securely locked with padlocks. Nowa covering of course is placed over the cage and in a very few minutes the artist appears and the cage apparently is as securely locked as before, in fact it is, for in order to escape the actor has simply removed the pin from the specially constructed hinges, placed the 89 pin back as soon as he was out and that was all there is to it, and so it goes with every act of this kind. They are not wizards in manipulating locks or anything of the kind, they are simply clever fakers. I have worked out a number of these out- fits and should any of my readers be in- terested in the line I can give you details of a number—such as escaping from a mailbag, glass case, iron bottle, iron box, straight jacket, handcuffs and so on, in fact any of those stunts. To make a key for those auto tire locks, the kind that goes around the tire and rim of the wheel is not so easy a job as it per- haps looks. Several ways have come to my notice but one of the best is as follows: First pick the lock so that the halves are separated, and without putting them to- gether lock the cylinder, this will turn the bolt that holds the two parts together, now simply slam the free parts together un- til the cylinder shears off the two little rivets that hold it in place and it will then be an easy matter to remove the lock complete, from here on proceed to make a key as you would any cylinder lock. While you have the lock out it is easy to drive out the rivets and when you replace the lock it will be easy to drive new pins in the place of the ones you removed. After you have done one or two of these jobs it will be easy and I| never yet have seen a lock damaged to any extent by this method of getting them out so you will be taking no great chances. The main thing is to get them unlocked so as to release the opposite half and [ would advise that you do this part of it by your favorite way, some prefer one way and 90 others another. This will be largely up to you. Use your own judgment as to this. A good thing to keep in mind, especially if your business is such that you are called on to install the various kinds of locks, is this. All the standardized locks, particularly cabinet locks may be had in several dif- ferent makes, for instance, the following list and many more will each fit in the same place and under the same conditions, in other words they are interchangeable. Corbin Eagle Yale Corbin Eagle Yale 01 42 SA21 310 473 Piva 2 55 S22 316 1927 P183 4 34 525 331 1060 PA200 032 37 SA2 405 49 R354 34 166 S4 0411 302 RA2 36 160 S6 0450 562 RA100 38 83 S8 452 454 R101 046 01896 SA296 457 237 R108 47C 1864C S246 0462 413 RA111 063 585 SA68 500 6031 R160 80 583 S82 590 GO90 p= 104 427 S114 0602 6002 RA312 0137 01850 SAz290 626 72 R466 0145 6070 SA155 630 81 R470 0676 01902 RA396 0784 01910 RA399 0140 6099 SA150 0626 68 RA466 0145 6070 SAI155 630 81 R470 0168 03061 5541 635 180 R475 0172' 03003 521 0667 03203 5560 301 1881 P160 0675 01901 RA395 There is a list of about three times as many more but | have not the space for more and they can be easily obtained by writing to the manufacturers who will gladly furnish them. 91 Padlocks of the six-lever variety using the double bitted keys can generally be opened by putting some pressure on the hasp and tapping on the hinge side. They generally will pop open without much effort. The following idea was given me for opening a door locked with a Segal Cylinder lock. Cut off the ring surrounding the cyl- inder and unscrew the two nuts holding the parts together, the cylinder can then be re- moved and the bolt easily thrown with a screwdriver. One generally has an extra ring that will replace the one destroyed. See No. 11, page 31. An idea for fixing up a little vise for filing keys was handed me and was claimed to work very well and there seems to be no reason why it should not be a very handy tool. No. 13, page 31 will give you an idea of how it was arranged. A great many locks -especially mortise door locks with cast iron parts and cases that are often thrown away on account of some little piece being broken can’ very often be repaired by welding and a very good job done at a little expense and good profit where otherwise if a new lock is installed some dealer will get the profit and you will lose out, so make it a point to fix them up if there is any fix left in them and you feel they will stand up. Of course it is better to pass up some of them if you feel they are liable to come back, for then is when you loose your profit. To exist in a small place — it is absolutely necessary that you guarantee all your work and depend on the trade com- ing back. 92 A number of inquiries have come to me asking why I do not include in the book the codes for the different auto locks, and my answer to this is as follows: The codes themselves are of no value unless you have the different sets of tem- plates, another thing there are so many they would make a good book with nothing more. For instance the Yale have any num- ber of different series of lock combinations which for example run into numbers as fol- lows: Series K, 300 changes, SF-250, HM-250, EC-500, P-300, RD-300, and probably dozens more on the same plan, and when you take several different man- ufacturers. doing the same thing you can easily see the almost impossibility of me in- cluding them in the book. I will however give you an idea of how the template idea is worked out. We will take for instance the small cyl- inder key of a certain series, the pins are divided into say seven different lengths, making that many different depth cuts, a gauge for these different cuts is made as per drawing No. |, page 63. Now the tem- plates are simply keys of the same kind cut the whole length of the bit the same depth, so if there is seven different lengths pins, there would be seven templates necessary (see Nos. 2-3 and 4 templates, page 63), consequently if you were to get a certain key number for some series, says S. F. Yale, you - would get your Yale template keys and cut each cut from your set of templates. This you will see requires an elaborate set of tem- plates and codes, and if you are doing an txensive business in this line it will be quite necessary to have them, otherwise it will 93 hardly pay, but will work out more to your- advantage to buy them outright from some- one having the codes rather than spend a lot of time trying to get them together. I have before me a circular from an outfit in the east trying to get together a complete set of codes and making an appeal to the different locksmiths to come in on the scheme, and the price will only be $100.00, and then not complete, so you see only the big key making outfits can Hardly afford to get into such a deal. I will give you an idea of how to work out a scheme for keeping track of keys that will pay, this idea is for the auto sets more than anything else. To use, the locksmith should take the gauge, No. |, page 63, and measure each cut, keeping a record of the number on the key and the gauge number— for instance, key number N. E. 702 might be 5131, read- ing from the handle out. The first requisite of course is the gauge which will have to be made and fitted to factory cut keys. By getting two or three of the same series one can easily make up the gauge which will have 7 different cuts (see Nos. 2, 3 and 4, page 63). Your key templates can also be made the same way by first selecting the dif- ferent cuts and taking 7 key blanks and cut- ting them as follows: No. | is not cut at all, No. 2 is first cut 3, second cut and so on, remembering that each template key is cut the same the entire length of the bit (see Nos. 2, 3 and 4, page 63). If you are doing much key cutting in the auto key line it will take but a short time before you will be able to cut the different sets by number. 94 I might also suggest that you’ can hurry your list along by exchanging numbers with other locksmiths, providing they have a gauge exactly like yours. The seven size gauge illustrated, of course, is for locks using keys of such a size that the pins are divided into but 7 lengths. Larger cylinders may use more pins. Pages 111 to 120 are the set of trunk keys and contain about every combination using these keys. As ‘they are exact size and cuts, it is only necessary to get the num- ber on the lock and file as the cut indicates. I recently received a letter from a party running a large and successful locksmithing business in one of the eastern cities and among other things which were mentioned he gave the following idea on how to runa shop and they are so true that they are worth mentioning. First, don't disappoint a cus- tomer; if you promise to do a job at a cer- tain time, by all means do—get a good price and always guarantee your work. When a cylinder is brought in to have a key fitted and you have it apart, ream out the pin holes and buff up the front so it looks like new, always dust in some graphite so the key works easily and perfectly. You can get 75 cents while others get 50 cents, and the cus- tomer will be better satisfied. Always take the burrs off the bits and if it is a flat steel key, take a little fine emery cloth and polish it up, it will look 100% better and does not cost but a trifle more. 95 Have a small die made with your name and address and stamp your work, it's good business and an excellent advertisement. He also makes suggestions for getting extra business, such as threading of all kinds, soldering, brazing, etc. Outfits for this line of work do not cost a great deal and bring a good many extra jobs every day. For impression work of different kinds a loyal friend says he uses common modeling clay to very good advantage. It can be pur- chased at almost any school supply store, and lasts for years. Cut No. 3, page 48, illustrates a turn key for working keys when left in the lock. It works fairly well but has the disadvantage of being hard to make, very frail and easily broken. The same results are accomplished and more with the very simple and inexpensive little wire tool illustrated on page 31, No. 10. The directions for working out the com- bination of locks—on page 74, begins by turning first to the right, the opposite is often the case, consequently just reverse the entire operation. As a convenience in handling trunk key jobs I have arranged the following inter- change table. This has been condensed so that only the common keys that one comes in contact with ordinarily have been in- cluded—-many more could be added but would be so seldom used that it will hardly pay. 96 Eagle > > uAOVvOzZErAe < QROUND- PLATE. CONNECTED i IN PARALLEL | CELLS IN SERIES TEST FOR CKOSSEO WIRE IN BELL : E CONNECT SHORT PIECE oF WIRE B. jl! |! : PLACE Cava Don THE TONGUE |i SO rae IF THE WIRES ARE SHORTED (T BREAAER WILK.BE INDICATED BY A METALLIC TASTE ON THE TON QUE, IFNOT IT INDICATES A BREAK. OR LOOSE CONNECTION, CO ee ee ae © CONWROTION Fo EABCTRO MARRET, No & rest ror BReRK IN CRCUIT a A, 8. 164 SHOP NOTES AND FORMULAE Starting a Small Screw.—To start a sinall screw in a difficult place, a piece of fine wire is wrapped around the threaded part for several turns and the other end bent up to form a handle so that the screw can be held in front of the hole that it is supposed to goin. The screwdriver is then used to start it and when started, the wire is withdrawn by holding the handle of the screwdriver still while the wire is pulled hard enough to pull it out. The screw is then driven home. Tapping Holes in Sheet Metal.—In order to obtain a farmer hold for machine screws, when used in threaded holes in sheet metal, says Popular Mechanics, drill the hole with a drill somewhat smaller than the tap to be used. Then use a drift of the proper diam- eter to enlarge the hole. On using the tap, quite a number of extra threads can be cut, on account of the drift raising a burr on the raetal. Tap Guide Block.—A handy device is a steel block with holes for taps drilled from 4 to | inch. The block squares the tap so that it is perpendicular to the surface of the work. After three or four threads have been tapped the block is removed by loosening the wrench and lifting off. This contrivance is a great time saver. Reinforcing a Small Drill.—A very small drill which is liable to break or bend when the pressure of the lever is put on can be re- inforced by drilling a hole through a bit of 165 wood with the drill in question and letting the wood take the side strain on the drill. The block should extend up to the chuck and leave only as much of the drill sticking out as the depth of the hole requires. Grades of Abrasive.—The numbers rep- resenting the grades of emery run from 8 to 120, and the degree of smoothness of sur- face they leave may be compared to that left by files, as follows: 8 and 10 correspond to the cut of a wood rasp. 16 and 20 correspond to the cut of a coarse-rough file. 24 and 30 correspond to the cut of an ordinary rough file. - 36 and 40 correspond to the cut of a bas- tard file. 46 and 60 correspond to the cut of a sec- ond-cut file. 70 and 80 correspond to the cut of a smooth file. 90 and 100 correspond to the cut of a superfine file. 120 F and FF correspond to the cut of a dead-smooth file. Sandpaper Kink.—Sandpaper will cut old paint faster if kept wet with benzine. Keep Sandpaper Dry.—Abrasive paper and cloth should never be stored in a damp place, as the glue absorbs moisture very quickly. This loosens the grain and causes it to rub off before it is dull. Speed of Grindstones.—Grindstones to grind machinists’ tools should be run at a speed of about 800 feet per minute at its 166 periphery. A 30 inch stone should be run about 100 revolutions per minute. When used to grind carpenters tools a speel of 600 feet at the periphery. A 30 inch stone should be run 75 revolutions per minute. Rule for Gearing UP Engine Lathes for Screw Cutting.—Read from the lathe index the number of threads per inch cut by equal gears and multiply it by any number that will give for a product a gear on the index; put this gear upon the stud, then multiply the number of threads per inch to be cut by the same number and put the resulting gear upon the screw. Example.—To cut 111% threads per inch. We find on the index that 48 into 48 cuts 6 threads per inch, then 6 x 4 = 24, gear on stud. and 11!4 x 4 = 46, gear on screw. Any multiplier may be used so long as the products include gears that belong with the lathe. For instance, instead of 4 as a multiple we may use 6. Thus, 6 x 6 = 36, gear upon stud. and 11'4% x 6 = 69, gear upon screw. Rule for Finding the Length of Belts.— Add the diameter of the two pulleys to- gether, multiply by 3)%, divide the product _ by 2, add to the quotient twice the distance between the center of the shafts, and the product will be the required length. How Belts Should. Be Run.—Belts should always be run grain or hair side to the pul- ley. A belt made of firm leather, cut from the back or center of the hide, run grain side to the pulley, will draw 34 per cent more than flesh side to the pulley; 48 per 167 cent more than rubber; 121 per cent more than canvas. Keep belts clean. Scrape all dust and ‘dirt off. Keep belts soft and pliable by using good neatsfoot oil. Never use resin or other sticky substance on any belt. To Temper the Points of Small Tools.— Heat in the ordinary way to the right tem- perature and run the heated point into a potato; this hardens very hard and must be drawn to the right temper to remove its brit- tle condition. A cake of beeswax may be used instead of the potato: This will not harden quite as hard as the potato. To Temper Drills.—If you have a job that requires an unusually hard drill, heat the drill to a nice cherry red and dip about a quarter of an inch of the end in common soldering acid (muriate of zinc). To Temper Steel Very Hard.—Water 4 parts; flour | part; salt 2 parts; mixed to a paste. Heat the steel until a coating adheres when dipped into the mixture; then heat to a cherry red and cool in cold soft water. The steel will come out white and very hard. To Temper Steel on One Edge Only.— Dip the edge to be tempered into hot lead until proper color; then temper in ordinary fashion. : Methods for Heating Chisels, Lathe Tools, Etc.—Place a 3 inch gas pipe on a forge. Cover same with coal. Keep turning your pipe until you get an even heat. Place your article inside and you can watch the tool while it is getting to the right degree of Fahrenheit for plunging into the liquid. 168 Thermometer for Tempering.—Use ther- mometer in a kuth of oil. Place stock in same ana you can get any temperature you want. 395 F. is a very good temper for edged tools. 550 F. makes a good clock- spring temper. How To Anneal Small Tools.—Prepare two pieces of wood with one surface of each perfectly smooth. Heat the articles to be annealed to a cherry red and place them between the two smoothed surface of the wood and clamp the whole in a vise. The hot metal will burn a pocket with charcoal surrounding it. When thoroughly cool the tool may be removed. Annealing Steel.—For small pieces of steel, take a piece of gas-pipe two or three inches in diameter, and put the pieces in it, first heating one end of the pipe and draw- ing it together, leaving the other end open to look into. When the pieces are of a cherry red, cover the fire with sawdust, use a charcoal fire, and leave the steel in over night. Another Way to Anneal Steel.— Place a quantity of newly-burnt lime in a damp place where it will fall in the form of flour; put it in an iron box. Heat the articles to dull red; clean off all scale and put in lime and com- pletely cover with lime; cover box over with iron lid and leave until cold. The more lime and the larger the box, the better. Keep air-tight if possible. To Blue Small Steel Pieces.—Put sand in a babbit ladle, heat hot, put work in, shake the work over the fire until the required color is obtained. 169 Bluing Solution.—A method of bluing small steel goods by dipping, is to melt salt- peter in an iron pot, then immerse the pre- viously polished and cleaned articles until sufficiently blued. Remove and cool at once in paraffin oil and afterwards dry out in sawdust. Browning Solution.—One ounce (copper sulphate); | ounce sweet spirits of nitre; | pint clean water. Apply with sponge and allow time for drying between each coat; 3 to 5 coats will give good results. Rub down with oiled rag after browning solution is dry. Coppering Steel for Laying Out Work.— To copper the surface of polished steel, use a solution of | ounce of copper sulphate dis- solved in 8 ounces of water. If a few drops of sulphuric acid is added to the above solu- tion it will tend to. remove the oil that may be on the surface of the steel. Heating small pieces of steel to a blue will give a similar surface. | Etching Solution.—Three parts nitric acid to one part muriatic acid. Cover the piece to be etched with beeswax. This can be done by heating the piece in a gas or alcohol flame and rubbing the wax over the surface. Use a sharp steel point or hard lead pencil point asa marker. A pointed glass dropper con be used to put the solution at the place needed. After the solution foams for two or three minutes, remove with blotting paper and put oil on the piece and then heat and remove the wax. To Anneal Cast Iron.—Heat to a cherry- red having it lie level in the fire. Then with tongs, put on a piece of sulphur, a little less 170 in size than the hole is to be. This softens the iron entirely through. Let it lie in the fire until cooled, when it is ready to drill. Anti-Rust Drilling Compound. — One pound sal soda to | pint machine oil and mix with 4 quarts clean water. This com- pound is ready to use after standing a half day. Drillmg Aluminum.—Use kerosene oil— works well also in drilling, reaming or turn- ing malleable iron. To Prevent Files from ‘“‘Pinning.’’—In fil- ing steel or wrough iron, the file is liable to “pin, that is, the filings become wedged between the teeth. This may be prevented to an extent by filling the spaces with chalk or oil, or both. Ifa file card fails to remove filings, use a thin piece of soft iron, not hard steel. How to Anneal Brass or Copper.—lIn working brass or copper.° it will become ~ hard, and if hammered to any great extent will split. To prevent cracking or splitting, the piece must be heated to a dull red heat and plunged into cold water ;this will soften it so it can be worked easily. Be careful not to heat brass too hot, or it will fall to pieces. The piece must be annealed frequently dur- ing the process of hammering. Anti-Rust Compound for Machinery.— Dissolve | ounce camphor in | pound melted lard, skim off and stir in about 3 ounces powdered graphite. Clean the machinery and paint with a brush and allow one day to dry, then rub off the mixture with a soft cloth. 171 Anti-Rust for Tools.—Four ounces of vaseline and 4 ounce of powdered cam- phor gum; mix together by heating over a slow fire. Apply with a rag. Oil That Will Not Corrode or Thicken.— Take a bottle about half full of good olive oil, put in thin strips of sheet lead; expose it to the sun for a month's time, then pour off the clear oil. The above is a very cheap way of making a first-class oil for any light machinery. Graphite.—Mixed with heavy oil or com- pound is excellent for putting screwed pipe tocether. It has the advantage of making it easy to take apart later if need be. Tinning Acid for Brass and Coprer — Muriatic acid, one pound; give it al! tne zinc it will dissolve; add four ounces sal ammon- iac, one pint water. Acid for Soldering Brass and Copper.— Muriatic acid, one pound; zinc, four ounces, sal ammoniac, five ounces. Acid for Soldering fron.—Muriatic acid, one pound; sperm tallow, six ounces; sal ammoniac, four ounces. Fluxes for Soldering or Welding. Copper and Brass ..........--..-- Sal Ammonzniac Tron. sacccniceh sede eee Borax Lead o50-n0i 33 Tallow or Resin Lead and Tin Pipes ....Resin and Sweet Oil Tinned Iron ......2..1.4.45 ee Resin TENN Rae ROSA i Chloride of Zinc Melting Babbitt.—Put a piece of resin, the size of a walnut, into your babbitt; stir thor- oughly, then skim. It makes babbitt run 172 better, and improves it. Babbitt will run in places with the resin in, where without it it would not. It is also claimed that resin will prevent blowing when pouring in damp boxes—better still warm them slightly be- fore pouring. A little pulverized charcoal put on top of melted babbitt or lead will reduce oxida- tion. Heat for Babbitt Metal.—The greatest mistake in using babbitt metal is heating too hot before pouring. When the metal is hot enough to light a small pine stick, it is ready to pour. Never heat the metal until it shows red. Babbitt that has been over-heated or burnt crystallizes, and when poured is brittle, hard and not homogeneous. Never mix overheated metal with the good, hoping to restore it, as such mixed metal will be brittle. Babbitting Kink.—A little cheap resin soap is often handy in babbitting to hold the metal to its place. If there is a solid box to run, a coating of the soap on the shaft will make the separating of the box and shaft an easy matter. A Preventive for Emery in the Eye.—A pair of plain glasses that only cost 10 cents will save any amount of doctors’ bills at two dollars, per. If the workman would apply this simple rule whenever using an. emery wheel to grind a tool or polish a piece of work he would save himself some pain and cash. Care of Patterns.—All metal patterns should be thoroughly cleaned with a stiff brush, then with a brush having plenty of beeswax in it; dip this brush in powdered 173 plumbago. - Brush the pattern well with the above and it will draw much better and you will have a much smoother casting. For Burns and Scalds.—Wet the part with cold water and sprinkle with bicarbonate of soda (baking soda); the relief is instan- taneous and permanent. A good practice in foundries, where burns are frequent, is to put on thick soap suds. It beats all the patent compounds ever gotten up, and besides soap is obtainable anywhere at any time. The lather keeps out the air and draws out the inflammation. After a few minutes the burn, if a bad one, may be wrapped up, and if just an ordinary burn, an occasional application of lather is all that is needed. Steaming Out Splinters.— When a splinter has been driven into the hand it can be ex- tracted by steam. Fill a wide mouthed bot- tle nearly full of hot water, place the injured part over the mouth and press it slightly. The action thus produced will draw the flesh down, and in a minute or two the steam will extract the splinter, also the inflammation. ‘lry it and be convinced. Regarding the Use of Polishing Wheels.— In a tool used at so high a speed as a polish- ing wheel it is manifestly of greatest im- portance that the wheel be well and proper- ly made and properly balanced so far as may be. For ordinary work a polishing wheel should be used at a periphery speed of about 7500 feet per minute; at a lower rate the work tends to tear the polishing material from the wheel too readily and poorer work is done. 174 For roughing, where the corners must be square or surfaces flat, use paper or wood wheels. For roughing large, nearly true, flat or curved surfaces use special canvas, solid canvas, bull neck, solid sheepskin, paper or wood wheels. For roughing special shapes of uniform design, requiring a wheel that may be turned to, and that will hold a special shape, use bull neck, solid canvas or paper wheels. For roughing irregular shapes where a comparatively soft or yielding face is neces- sary, use loose sheepskin, stitched sheepskin, loose canvas, stitched canvas, solid lamin- ated felt or stitched laminated felt. For finishing or coloring on either cast or sheet metal use felt, bull neck or wood wheels. The Preparation and Care of Polishing Wheels.—More trouble and waste in polish- ing comes from either using the wrong glue or using a good glue wrong, than from any other item. The best polishing wheel made will not give efficient service if the glue is not right in character and treatment. The glue makers themselves find the polishing business a puzzle, because the polisher, being a polisher, not a chemist, does not know what kind of glue to use or how to use it. When first setting up a wheel with glue and emery, the glue should be thoroughly rubbed into the wheel with a brush much in the same manner as a barber works lather into the beard in shaving. In this manner the glue is worked into the wheel thorough- ly. Then the glue should be allowed to dry, possibly over night. After this drying out i a process the wheel should be again coated with glue, this time much in the same man- ner as a painter would apply a coat of paint, being careful to leave no laps, for if the wheel in this alter process be given an un- even coat, it result in ridges which, as soon as the work is held against the eS | causes the emery to fall off in pieces. After the wheel is thus coated with glue, it is put in the emery trough and coated with the emery. Complaints are occasionally made of pol- ishing wheels burning work, but a polishing wheel never will burn work if it properly used. Burning is the result of working on the glue after the emery is worn off. Wheels should be cleaned with abrasive bricks for removing old emery. Water rol- lers can also be used, provided the leather or other material does not become soaked, or the wheels may be ruined. Never dry wheels, after cleaning, with artificial heat, let them dry in the air. If the wheels are not thoroughly dried, there is not a good foundation upon which to recoat, and while the outer surface would show the proper finish, as soon as the work is held to the wheel, the emery glue breaks away, thus causing the complaint of inferior glue. Directions for Polishing.—Parts to be polished, after being first shaped on a solid emery wheel, are ‘“‘cut down” on a suitable polishing wheel or belt covered with emery or corundum, varying in grade according to the class of work from Nos. 40 to 60; then reduced to a smoother surface with Nos. 90 to 120 emery. Cast iron may then be finished on an oil wheel of Nos. 90 to 120 emery, which is 176 prepared by charging a worn wheel while it is running with oil on a cotton swab. A little flour emery paste on this wheel will add to its effectiveness. A freshly emery cov- ered wheel is too sharp for oil finishing. Keep wheel from gumming over by holding a piece of lump pumice stone to its face while running, as occasion requires. Steel and wrought iron require further cut- ting down to obtain the best results, and a third wheel of Nos. 150 to F emery may be used. After this an oil wheel or finishing wheel of Nos. 150 to F emery, prepared the same as previously described, will give de- sired finish. Irregular surfaces to which a polishing wheel will not reach, also cylin- drical surfaces of small diameter, are worked in a similar way with endless polishing belts and finished on a brush wheel with emery paste and oil. Copper and brass castings. After the sec- ond “cutting down” with 90 to 120 emery (preferably worn wheels) the article may be buffed to a finish on a hard muslin buff with tripoli composition. A high color is produced by further buffing on a soft mus- lin buff with brass rouge. Rolled copper, brass, German silver, etc., may be “cut down” on hard muslin buffs with tripoli composition, and buffed to a high color on soft muslin buffs with rouge. In all polishing operations the successive grindings should constantly cross one an- other as far as possible, otherwise the scratches will not be taken out, and the work will not have an even, mirror-like polish. The wheels should turn so that the lower edge moves avway from the workman and the tis work is held up to the wheel on its under side, so that the dirt, grit, etc., will fly back into the hoods, while the work, in case of accident, would drop away from the wheel instead of falling on it, as would be the case if another position were chosen for the work. The pressure should be light and even and the grinding should, in each case, be con- tinued as long as any of the scratches made by the coarser previous operation remain on the work; when only the marks of the wheel in use can be seen, the work may be con- sidered ready for the next operation. Speed for Polishing Wheels. — FOR QUICK CUTTING.—Run bleached cotton or rag wheels from 2,500 to 3,000 revolu- tions or periphery velocity of about 8,000 to 9,000 feet for “‘cutting down” and about 5,000 to 6,000 feet per minute for “‘color- ing.’ When using felt wheels, run 2,200 to 2,500 revolutions. FOR COLORING-UP OR FINISHING. —vUse soft or unbleached rag wheels. GLUE Glue to Resist Moisture—One pound good flake glue melted in 2 quarts of skim milk. Glue Cement to Resist Moisture.—F our parts good glue, 4 parts black resin, | part red ochre. Mix with least possible quantity of water. Marine Glue.—One part of India rubber, {2 parts of mineral naphtha or coal tar. Heat gently, mix, and add 20 parts pow- dered shellac. Pour out on a slab to cool. When used, it should be heated to about 250° F. 178 LET’EM SOAK IN Look upon your job as your business, financed by your employer, with a guaran- teed profit to you, even though he takes a loss. An employee with a fiery temper is soon fired. The School of Experience offers but two grades Up and Down. A ticket collector on a merry-go-round is not the only employee who is going all the time, but getting nowhere. It is the growling man that lives a dogs life. It takes time to make a position out of a job. That is why nearly all worth while positions are filled with men who have been on the job a long time. Unless a firm has satisfied employees, how can it ever hope to have satisfied customers. ‘The Customer is Always Right’’, may be a good policy. for the stores that have adopted it, but I do not believe there is any- one that is always right. The market has never Bese CaS wit trained braine. Peer ge Keep your biisitesy uit “of your peor - by putting your. religion into your business. Senile hae eo Whether or not an employee is receiving ‘a living wage’, depends entirely on whether or not he is willing to live according to it. _ There is just so many customers and the enly way your competitor can increase his business is by taking yours from you. The fellow who does not credit himself with knowing it all, is the man every em- ployer is looking for. Believe about half you hear and be sure it is the right half. Can a man loose something he never had? Why I ask, we so often hear salesmen telling of the fine sales they lost. There is nothing on earth an honest man need be afraid of. When a merchant uses up his time and my time trying to sell me something “just as good” in the place of giving me what I am looking for | generally find another store that is just as good. The factory clock may not be loosing time, but those who watch it do. The salesman who can tell a good story usually gets a laugh, but the one that can show them how to make more money gets the order. A FEW BLANK PAGES FOR YOUR OWN IDEAS 181 pst 50 YEARS OF SERVICE MEANS STABILITY COOO!S We Issue The Most Complete KEY CATALOGUE ask for it OOO®@ OUR KEY CUTTING MACHINE Has No Equal Ask For Printed Matter @O@OO® FRANCIS KEIL & SON, Inc. MANUFACTURERS 401-425 E. 163RD ST. NEW YORK EXCELSIOR TRUNK and SUIT-CASE LOCKS are so well known in our 30 years of production and distribution, it 1s to the ad- vantage of all Locksmiths to carry our full line of keys. Send for our catalog which gives cuts and numbers of our complete range. The Excelsior Hardware Company LOCK MANUFACTURERS WOODLAND AVENUE STAMFORD. CONN., U. S.A. THE GRAHAM MFG. Co. DERBY, CONN. U.S.A. OOO"? The original manufacturers of key blanks of every class and description for all makes and classes of locks. ESTABLISHED 1865 A complete line of key blanks and locksmith’s supplies Machines for ‘duplicating cyl- inder or _ pin tumbler keys. FA a “ ) ra Mi y ’ ‘ bLT. ‘ \ ; a = i a oe < + ~~ + oF eae, a - + oe oe = oy see | ES od ~ he Sr salle — mene EP % ae ee ee oe re en metas eet ii gee qe) Hie t+ ; Mt i phy DE ~~ Rp eH F Hye i i bh? Th * ait Ae + i . a} OA) 7 SOACR teed Ga Bi eiarten iv? i oy ( if i : th At th areal ¥ 7 4 ‘ } ] 4 i 1 i ible r ri i ae ett Tea ib las asc beahky (hey y t i (et > ps bebe Lie t bth Las he hy tity Phi behet sei ty Nar 3] ' hal i } VAT Shy bol + lad ¢ ony > “ 4 % ded “ iy) tees sPelel | “) om ble teh sy at —————s es ¥ Ay Hh a hw para ee At } uly % antes 4 aL. { , % 8, Bet ah) i ¢ m “ : AdS bet } th Ata iS rn SSS Sac cn es a a eee ine a — ame — tps =< a a = ee ea AO SN A = a eae POR Sack St pe et eS pee pa met Sees ous - a oo Cua pee & oe = ; —s re aa ee te RE OE aedtad wr = ce =