Would you have ever guessed that the King of France and locksmithing have something in common? Louis XVI, King of France from 1774-1792 and husband of Marie Antoinette, was an amateur locksmith.
He loved making locks and mechanical things and enjoyed spending time in the royal locksmith workshop assisted by the local locksmith. Fearing that the revolution would not be kind to him he built his own iron security chest to store papers. The chest could only be opened by somebody who knew the secret of the lock.
In 1776 France saw an opportunity to humiliate arch enemy Britain by supporting the American revolt. Louis XVI was convinced by Benjamin Franklin to send financial aid and large quantities of munitions, sign a formal treaty of alliance, and go to war with Britain. And so the Americans gained their independence. Continue reading Happy 4th of July with some locksmith trivia
We all know to lock our doors when we leave the house. But when it comes to social media activities many of us are inadvertently opening the door to expensive home damage and putting ourselves and our possessions at risk, according to the MetLife Auto & Home American Safety Pulse: Danger at the Door survey.
Did you know that Egyptians, Romans and Greeks used locks? Archeologists are not sure where the first lock was invented, but evidence suggests that locks initially developed independently in the Egyptian, Greek, and Roman civilizations. Wooden locks and keys were in use as early as 4,000 years ago. These type of locks consisted of a vertical beam with tumblers, a wood crossbeam and a wooden key.
