The History of Six Lever Push Key Padlocks（六杆推动关键挂锁的历史）.pdf

The History of Six Lever Push Key Padlocks By Charles Cameron –May 2002 Daniel K. Miller has been acknowledged as the originator of the design for the six lever push key padlock mechanism. On July 26, 1870 patent #105,710 was granted to him and listed his address as Reading, Pennsylvania. While this first patent did not show a push key mechanism, it had a round shaped case, a “pop up” sliding bar or metal bolt (shackle) and a L shaped “dog” that interacted between the levers and the sliding bar to lock or unlock the lock. On October 21, 1873 patent #143,831 was then issued to Daniel K. Miller now of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. This patent shows the mechanism used in the prod uction models of the padlocks. One feature of this patent was the feature where the shackle could be released from the body of the lock when it was unlocked. The first padlocks produced by the D.K. Miller Lock Company were plain with the company name and original patent date sta mped on the front of the lock. Later the locks were produced with a cast design on the front. The first desig ns were Miller’s and Champion. An option was also offered for an “up charge” where a company could have “their initials” cast on the case instead of the stock design. This probably was the origination of the popular collectable “logo locks.” On April 20, 1886 patent #340,319 was granted to Milton Jackson of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania for the mechanism for the square type of Champion Six Lever padlock. Then on March 11, 1902 patent #695,347 was granted to Frank Soley and assigned to the Miller Lock Company. This patent presented a new design for the shackle and locking dog. This design was briefly used in the 1 3/4” diameter Champion 4 Lever lock and then abandoned. The size of the 4 lever lock was then increased to 2” diameter and used the