1778 - Technology

Technology

The Barron lock patented by English inventor Robert Barron is a double-acting tumbler lock (a tumbler is a lever that falls into a slot in the bolt and prevents it from being moved until it is raised out of the slot by the key to precisely the right height, whereupon the key slides the bolt. Barron's lock has two tumblers, and its key must raise each tumbler by a different amount before the bolt can be shot. All lever (pawl) locks will hereafter employ Barron's principle, but his lock is easily picked by a determined lock picker (see Bramah, 1784; Chubb, 1818).

Spinning jenny inventor James Hargreaves dies in Nottinghamshire April 22 at age 58.