History of Locks

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Phase 12. Keycard Lock: Tor Sørnes patented the first electronic keycard lock in 1975, opening a new market for programmable locks. In recent decades, electric locks have made use of all kinds of authentication methods, from passwords to biometric data like fingerprints. Digital keys like security tokens and RFID tags have given us a world where blasts of infrared light or sequences of ones and zeroes will open doors. You can now even open some doors with your face, but installing face recognition is not cheap.

Phase 13. Keyless Entry: One of the first introductions was in 1980 on the Ford Thunderbird, Mercury Cougar, Lincoln Continental Mark VI, and Lincoln Town Car, which Ford called Keyless Entry System (later renamed SecuriCode). It was a keypad on the driver-side exterior door above the door handle. It consisted of a keypad with five buttons that when the code was entered, would unlock the driver's door, with subsequent code entries to unlock all doors, and the trunk.[9]

Phase 14. The Kwikset SmartKey: In 2007 Walt Strader’s Kwikset SmartKey, based on the concept of the earlier Rielda lock, began to make a dent in the markets. It’s one of the first popular rekeyable locks, able to be reset to a new key in literally seconds using only the unlocking key and a small piece of metal (the SmartKey). The SmartKey lifts and separates a system of pins and metal wafers, freeing the unlocking key such that a new key can be inserted and the pins and wafers will fall into place for the new system. Mighty convenient if your keys are lost or stolen.

Phase 15. Smart Locks: A smart lock is an electromechanical lock which is designed to perform locking and unlocking operations on a door when it receives such instructions from an authorized device using a wireless protocol and a cryptographic key to execute the authorization process. It also monitors access and sends alerts for the different events it monitors and some other critical events related to the status of the device. Smart locks can be considered part of a smart home.

Smart Locks allow users to grant access to a third party by the means of a virtual key. This key can be sent to the recipient smartphone over standard messaging protocols such as e-mail or SMS. Once this key is received the recipient will be able to unlock the Smart Lock during the time specified previously by the sender.[1]

Smart locks are able to grant or deny access remotely via a mobile app. Certain smart locks include a built-in WiFi connection that allows for monitoring features such as access notifications or cameras to show the person requesting access.[2]

Smart locks may use Bluetooth SMART and SSL to communicate, encrypting communications using 128/256-bit AES.[3]

Future Phase: With the advent of Internet OF Things(IOT) , we might someday use a lock which could interact with each and every device in your home , sense your mood and then set the ambience accordingly, ask your oven to cook something for you and switch on your favourite tv channel as you enter your home.

Impact Of The Breakthroughs…..

The Design of the old locks served as an inspiration for newer locks, thus phasing out the old locks. Invention of wooden locks led to phasing out of living locks and latchstring locks. But the wooden locks could not sustain heavy physical damage, so the use of metals phased out use of wood for locks. Invention of combination locks and timed locks led to retiring key locks in a number of applications like banks safe and home safes. Similarly design of Yale and Bramah’s locks became an inspiration for design of modern day pad locks, thus phasing out heavy locks that were not easy to carry.

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References:

- Smart Locks "Your Door Is About to Get Clever: 5 Smart Locks Compared" Wired Magazine. 2013-06-19.

- "Goji's Smart Lock snaps pictures, welcomes you by name". Engadget. 2013-06-04.

- "Smart Locks, Secure or Just Dumb?". Gizmodo. 2013-06-05.

- http://gizmodo.com/the-history-and-future-of-locks-and-keys-1735694812

- Harry E. Soref, Univ. Wisconsin Milwaukee Sheldon B. Lubar School of Business.

- Alfred, Randy, March 2, 1887: Birth of the Master Locksmith, Wired.com, March 2, 2009 (republished March 2, 2011).

- Master Lock Company History, Funding Universe,

- http://gizmodo.com/the-history-and-future-of-locks-and-keys-1735694812

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Remote_keyless_system

- https://storiesofworld.com/evolution-of-locks-from-egyptians-to-the-modern-world/#82536270

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