d, by a Mr. Barron in
1774, and it was shortly after this time that Bramah directed his
attention to the subject. After much study and many experiments, he
contrived a lock more simple, more serviceable, as well as more secure,
than Barron's, as is proved by the fact that it has stood the test of
nearly eighty years' experience,[1] and still holds its ground. For a
long time, indeed, Bramah's lock was regarded as absolutely inviolable,
and it remained unpicked for sixty-seven years until Hobbs the American
mastered it in 1851. A notice had long been exhibited in Bramah's
shop-window in Piccadilly, offering 200L. to any one who should succeed
in picking the patent lock. Many tried, and all failed, until Hobbs
succeeded, after sixteen days' manipulation of it with various
elaborate instruments. But the difficulty with which the lock was
picked showed that, for all ordinary purposes, it might be pronounced
impregnable.

The new locks were machines of the most delicate kind, the action of
which depended in a great measure upon the precision with which the
springs, sliders, levers, barrels, and other parts were finished. The
merits of the invention being generally admitted, there was a
considerable demand for the locks, and the necessity thus arose for
inventing a series of original machine-tools to enable them to be
manufactured in sufficient quantities to meet the demand. It is
probable, indeed, that, but for the contrivance of such tools, the lock
could never have come in to general use, as the skill of hand-workmen,
no matter how experienced, could not have been relied upon for turning
out the article with that degree of accuracy and finish in all the
parts which was indispensable for its proper action. In conducting the
manufacture throughout, Bramah was greatly assisted by Henry Maudslay,
his foreman, to whom he was in no small degree indebted for the
contrivance of those tool-machines which enabled him to carry on the
business of lock-making with advantage and profit.

Bramah's indefatigable spirit of invention was only stimulated to fresh
efforts by the success of his lock; and in the course of a few years we
find him entering upon a more important and original line of action
than he had yet ventured on. His patent of 1785 shows the direction of
his studies. Watt had invented his steam-engine, which was coming into
general use; and the creation of motive-power in various other forms
became a favourite sub