Читать книгу Rudimentary Treatise on the Construction of Locks онлайн

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In the volumes of Lardner’s Cyclopædia relating to the “Manners and Customs of the ancient Greeks and Romans,” we do not find any mention of the kinds of locks used by those nations; but the author, while describing the houses, says:—“Doors turned anciently upon large pivots in the centre, let into sockets in the lintel and threshold, so that one of the sides opened inwards, the other outwards; and Plutarch gives the following curious reason why persons were to knock and alarm the porter, viz. lest the visitor entering unawares should surprise the mistress or daughter of the family busy or undressed, or servants under correction, or the maids quarreling.” As the visitors had thus the power (if permitted so to do) to open the outer door of a house, it would appear that very little in the nature of a lock was employed under ordinary circumstances, unless indeed it were a mere latch. In respect to Roman houses it is stated, that “the doors revolved upon pivots, which worked in a socket below, and were fastened by bolts which hung from chains.” There is no mention of locks here. Mr. St. John, in his work on the same subject, says: “The street-door of a Grecian house, usually, when single, opened outwards; but when there were folding-doors they opened inwards, as with us. In the former case it was customary, when any one happened to be going forth, to knock, or call, or ring a bell, in order to warn passengers to make way.” After describing the various kinds of wood of which the doors were made, he proceeds: “The doors at first were fastened by long bars passing into the wall on both sides; and by degrees smaller bolts, hasps, latches, and locks and keys, succeeded. For example, the outer door of the thalamos in Homer was secured by a silver hasp, and a leathern thong passed round the handle, and tied, perhaps, in a curious knot.”