Popular Misconceptions and Trade Humours

Even such austere trades as those of the locksmith and safe maker have their lighter moments. Certain of the public fail to appreciate the fact that the maker of locks is unable to achieve what are, from a technical point of view, impossibilities. Many folks are under the erroneous impression that, on the loss of a key, a vague description of such key or the quotation of the number of the lock will induce the immediate provision of a duplicate key. It is therefore desirable to point out that were duplicate keys forthcoming in the free and easy manner suggested by such applicants, other people who had obtained similar information might obtain keys and be afforded access to the owner's valuables, with unfortunate results.

The duplicate key usually provided with a lock should be so disposed that, in the case of the original key being lost, the duplicate will be immediately available. Yet in practice it is frequently found that the duplicate is locked up in the very receptacle it is designed to open, and that access to it can only be obtained by the difficult and expensive process of drilling open a safe in which it has been locked. The carelessness exhibited by some folks in dealing with their keys is proverbial: safe and jewel case keys are left about with the same disregard of disagreeable consequences, as is displayed by the ladies who seem to consider that valuable jewellery may be disposed with safety on the dressing-table of an unlocked hotel bedroom; or those who, prior to a journey, place their jewel cases on the seats of empty railway carriages, whence they are spirited away, to the astonishment of their owners.

While almost tragic results often follow such casual methods, the "happy ending" is not wholly unknown, and experience shows that at times burglars fail to notice unprotected keys, which would have given them access to plate and jewels of far greater value than the property removed. In some cases thieves have, in their haste, taken away keys with other stolen property, leaving the owners in doubt as to whether the valuables in their safes had been overlooked, or had been extracted and the safe relocked. Lengthy safe opening operations have alone solved the question. In one such instance a noble lady, who found, on her safe being opened by an expert mechanic, that her family jewels were secure, was moved to impulsively signify her relief by an effusiveness which proved singularly embarrassing to the stolid mechanic, who failed to fully appreciate her somewhat pronounced indications of gratitude and satisfaction.

The early correspondence of the House of Chubb was often tinged with unconscious humour, and the early Victorian joke on the auctioneer's announcement of the sale of a piano "the property of a lady with carved legs," found a later parallel in serious enquiry for "a small safe suitable for a lady lined with velvet." In the sixties and seventies, particularly, the humorous press teemed with references to Chubb and his locks, and the following references in "Punch" are typical examples.

In "Punch's Almanack" for 1843 we read: "Directions for Anglers: The fishing books tell us that chubb may be found near Teddington Locks; but the best spot to find Chubb is near his own Detector Locks in St. Paul's Churchyard, which must be taken as they come, no picking being allowed. A good Perch may sometimes be secured on a lamp or tree in the Park during reviews and processions; and a Pike will soon reward the sportsman at any of the principal outlets from London. You may be sure of Flounders if you attempt to cross Battersea Marsh in the dark. A species of Shark, known as the Income Tax Collector, is caught, like barbel, with a ledger. White Bait are taken eagerly during the summer months with brown bread and butter; and every kind of Fly may be found returning from country tea parties, where the caddi(e)s will prove an attractive bait."

In "Punch" of Apri12th, 1852, appeared comments on hair restorers, which concluded thus:

"As to ourselves, we patronise none of these things; but if we resort to any expedient for preserving the few remaining patches of stubble on our poor old head, we shall try the effect of mixing with our own thin remnants of hair a few of Chubb's Patent Safety Locks."

The name was introduced in connection with two of Charles Keene's wonderful "Punch" drawings. In that drawing, now almost a classic, in which the inebriated wanderer rouses the fishing tackle vendor and points to the pendant trade sign as an indication that he should "strike," as he has a bite, the name Chubb appears over the shop front: while to another illustration in 1867, and which we have the courteous permission of the proprietors of "Punch" to reproduce, an amusing reference to Chubb's keys is appended.

The comments of Douglas Jerrold's celebrated Mrs. Caudle on Chubb, however, were not so complimentary, for in one of her trenchant curtain lectures she thus addresses her unfortunate spouse: "What! You'll have a key? Will you? Not while I'm alive, Mr. Caudle, I'm not going to bed with the door upon the latch for you or the best man breathing. You won't have a latch; you'll have a Chubb' s lock? Will you? I'll have no Chubb here, I can tell you. What do you say? You'll have the lock put on tomorrow? Well, try it; that's all I say, Caudle, try it. I won't let you put me in a passion; but all I say is try it."

In December, 1842, Professor Anderson, the renowned "Wizard of the North," was performing an illusion entitled" Chubb defied": while in the synopsis of an Adelphi Theatre harlequinade scene, about the same time, we find the scene laid outside" Chubb's patent locksmith establishment," and the following references made:

"That's him, hold him fast. A night escape.-The padlock.-How to pick it. Old files and strange keys.-A patent lockup. Love in a keyhole," etc. Chubb's long participation in Eastern trade, and the wide use of their manufactures in military, official and other circles in India" has resulted in their name being often employed in the native vocabulary. When the native butler of an Indian household wants from his Western mistress the key to lock up for the night, he asks for "the Chubby"; and it is a common thing in China for the word Chubb to be used as an adjective indicating superlative quality thus, "Chubb jam, Chubb matches," etc.

Dozens of similar references might be cited, but the subject may perhaps be closed by a quotation from" Tait's Magazine," April, 1841, which enables us to emulate the example of the immortal Sam Weller when inditing his love letter, and conclude our chapter with a verse: