Structural analysis of ancient Chinese wooden locks

Abstract

Humans all around the world have used locks for thousands of years. Wooden locks were the earliest locks in ancient China and were firmly fixed to the door. There are two principal types: bolt locks and pin tumbler locks. The original bolt lock was made with a thick bolt and the door. It could only be opened from the inside of the door. Improved continuously, a large number of wooden locks with different structures were invented. This work presents a systematic analysis of the structures of ancient Chinese wooden locks. The characteristics and the representations of wooden locks are described. There are totally 10 types of wooden locks that are presented as examples to demonstrate the operation processes. According to the insertion position of the key, Chinese wooden locks can be divided into seven types: no entry, bolt entry, case side entry, case bottom entry, case top entry, case front entry, and multiple entries. Ancient Chinese wooden locks come in various types with different ingenious designs, fully demonstrating the work of the highly skilled artisans in ancient Chinese society.