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#40Years40Facts
To celebrate 40 years in business we thought we’d give you 40 interesting facts about the services we offer; 10 facts each for burglar alarms, CCTV, locks and access control.
Following on from our 10 facts about burglar alarms and CCTV, here are our 10 interesting facts about locks:
- The oldest known locks were used by the ancient Egyptians around 4,000 years ago and were large wooden bolts
- The first combination lock was invented in 1957 by an American called James Sargent. Today’s locks still use many features of his original design
- The most common locks are key locks but locks can also be operated by fobs, codes, cards or even biometric information including fingerprints and retina scans
- Locks represent your most basic security measure. 30% of burglaries are ‘insecure’, meaning via doors or windows that have been left unlocked
- The most common method of damaging a lock to facilitate a break in is ‘lock snapping’ where the cylinder is broken. Anti-snap locks don’t allow this to happen
- Harry Houdini was a locksmith before becoming an escapologist
- A good locksmith can copy virtually any key
- ‘Love locks’ are padlocks that people attach to particular bridges, such as the Pont des Arts in Paris, and then throw the key into the river as a romantic gesture. In some cases, the combined weight of these locks can create structural damage and lead to them being removed
- Locksmiths usually undertake some kind of apprenticeship to become qualified. You are advised to only use Master Locksmiths verified by the Master Locksmith Association as this way you know that they have been vetted, inspected and are qualified
- Master Locksmiths can work with traditional locks, safes and access control systems
Our business began life as a lock and safe company and locks have been a big part of what we do for all of the 40 years we’ve been in business. If you need any kind of locksmith service, including key cutting, call us on 0345 833 5543 or call into our security shop.
Our next ‘10 facts’ from our 40 facts series will be Access Control. You can also read our 10 facts on Burglar Alarms and CCTV or catch up with all posts relating to our 40 year anniversary here.
