It's a Lock

I do a better (not great, but better) job of patching my aging house than my aging self. My leaking shower is in the process of being replaced. (The cat got into the newly exposed studs and then into the basement ceiling beneath, but that is another story.) Since the front door of my home provides the shortest access to the shower during the rebuild, I have discovered that my front door lock needs to be replaced. (Have you priced front door locks? Google them. They are simply ridiculous.) My door’s bolt locks solidly on the inside, so it serves its purpose of locking people out, but a key from the outside is useless. This normally doesn’t matter (which is why it has gone unnoticed) because the geography of my lot and floor plan funnels people to the back door. In the past 20 years I don’t think I ever have come home and entered the house via the front door. It is the rare rare visitor who rings at the front door rather than the back, and of course the door opens fine from the inside to let them in. Just in principle, though, I feel my door should unlock in both directions. At least a lock replacement is a minor repair compared to the shower.
 
The reader may have heard folks of a certain age (such as mine) remark that when they were kids no one ever locked their doors. Unlike the stories about walking five miles to and from school through four feet of snow uphill both ways, this has a small kernel of truth. “No one ever” is a wild exaggeration of course. Lock usage also was very neighborhood dependent, and even in the safest neighborhood people locked up sometimes, such as when they went away for the weekend. Nonetheless, in rural areas, smaller towns, and outer suburbs (including the one where I grew up in the 1950s) it was pretty typical most of the time for doors to houses, garages, and sheds to be left unlocked day and night. This may not have been the most intelligent practice, but it was a common one.
 
Today we are more cautious – or at least we intend to be. Sometimes we are careless, which is why even in 2022 nearly 30% of burglars gain access through an unlocked first floor entrance. The most common point of entry is the garage. (My garage doesn’t have a door directly into the house; the garage is attached to the house only by an open breezeway.) Odds are that the burglar won’t be a complete stranger (though that does happen): typically the burglar lives within two miles (3.2 km). I’m not sure if that is comforting or not.
 
This is hardly a new problem. As soon as people began acquiring personal property there have been others eager to relieve them of it. So, defensive measures are wise and always were. If an owner is inside the house, a simple slide bolt is very effective and difficult to defeat, but one can’t stay inside all day. Sometimes we want to leave but still keep out intruders. Accordingly, keyed locks are as old as civilization. A 4000-y.o. example found in Nineveh consists of an interior wooden slide bolt held in place by wooden pins that drop into holes on the top of the bolt. To unlock it, insert a key through a horizontal slot in the front of the door into a hole in the bolt beneath the pins; the key has vertical pegs that match the holes with the pins. Lift up so the key pegs push the pins out of the bolt; the bolt (key and all) then can be slid open. It’s quite clever really. To this day most door locks use a pin system, albeit with a rotating metal cylinder. Similar ancient locks have been found in Egypt, Zanzibar, and Japan. This design was bulky and easy to pick however so inventors kept working on the concept. The Romans (who needed to protect their loot) made iron locks with wards (interior tracks) operated with rotating bronze keys. They look very familiar. The Romans and ancient Chinese invented padlocks as well – apparently independently though it is possible a sample padlock traveled the trade routes in one direction or the other and inspired copiers. Most current mechanical locking systems (including a revamped pin system) were designed in the 19^th century, as was so much of industrial civilization. As for modern electronic locks such as those in hotel rooms, the less said the better.

Ancient Roman Key

 
In any event, no lock will do any good if is left unlocked. No alarm system will deter if it is turned off. So, I’ll take the precautions my parents and their neighbors ignored in the ‘50s. Though the bolt works fine, I’ll replace the front door lock too, just on principle.
 

Lydia Lunch – Lock Your Door