History
The earliest known combination lock was excavated in a Roman period tomb on the Kerameikos, Athens. Attached to a small box, it featured several dials instead of keyholes. In 1206, the Muslim engineer Al-Jazari documented a combination lock in his book al-Ilm Wal-Amal al-Nafi Fi Sina'at al-Hiyal (The Book of Knowledge of Ingenious Mechanical Devices). Muhammad al-Astrulabi (ca. 1200) also made combination locks, two of which are kept in Copenhagen and Boston Museums.
Gerolamo Cardano later described a combination lock in the 16th century.
In 1878 a German man by the name of Joseph Loch was said to have invented the modern combination Lock for Tiffany's Jewelers in New York City, and from the 1870s to the early 1900s made many more improvements in the designs and functions of permutation locks.
Read more about this topic: Combination Lock
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“In the history of the United States, there is no continuity at all. You can cut through it anywhere and nothing on this side of the cut has anything to do with anything on the other side.”
—Henry Brooks Adams (18381918)
“Free from public debt, at peace with all the world, and with no complicated interests to consult in our intercourse with foreign powers, the present may be hailed as the epoch in our history the most favorable for the settlement of those principles in our domestic policy which shall be best calculated to give stability to our Republic and secure the blessings of freedom to our citizens.”
—Andrew Jackson (17671845)
“When the history of guilt is written, parents who refuse their children money will be right up there in the Top Ten.”
—Erma Brombeck (20th century)