Arizona Locksmith

History of the Locksmith

Modern day locksmiths have emerged as security consultants to both domestic and commercial operators, so the profession of locksmithing has grown up and out of keys and locks. Locksmithing is one of the oldest and necessary professions, which has helped create easy and advanced locking solutions to the world. Locksmithing, as the name suggests, is hand-building and hand-designing locks and the keys to go with them.


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Over thousands of years, the locksmithing profession has evolved from working with heavy metals to using computer technology to develop complex locking systems. With increased popularity and demand for locks, the profession of locksmithing has also advanced, with the introduction of more technological locks into the market.


Keeping in mind these requirements of todays world, qualified locksmiths rose up to the challenge and came up with locks that were more contemporary and practical. During the 18th century, locksmiths improved lock mechanisms in order to make safer locks and keys. The locksmiths took notice of the deficiencies and created stronger, safer, improved locks during the 18th century.


Lock designs became considerably more complex during the 18th century, with locksmiths usually specialising in repair or design of locks. Revolutions in industry sectors led to the development of more complex locks designs, with the locksmithing profession experiencing dramatic changes. Locksmiths went from being manufacturers and suppliers, to being a cheaper service for maintenance and repairs.


Locksmiths also started to specialise in copying keys for customers that wanted multiple copies of locks made at factories. With changes to locks types and the ability to produce locks en masse, locksmiths began expanding their services, adding locksmith services like rekeying, copying, and even key making. By the late 19th century, the locksmith was no longer working as a metalworker, but was working to re-secure the locks being mass-produced, as well as cutting duplicate keys.


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Back then, locksmiths worked in wood and metal, making larger wooden and metal keys and studs for creating locking mechanisms. By the 1700s, metalworkers and locksmiths had progressed far enough that they improved how locks worked. At this time, the locksmiths created some of the earliest versions of locks that we know of today.


The early locks made by locksmiths were quite large and awkward, and unlike locks made today, they were made out of wood. Their locks were not pickable in their day, and are still used by todays locksmiths. Locksmiths focused their skills on making locks and locking systems for the protection of homes and businesses.


The locksmiths were talented artists and metalworkers, molding metal, creating locks and keys, and working metal files in addition to wood. Locksmiths were master artisans, experts at molding metal and developing various concepts for locks. In the modern world, a locksmith does not just make new locks and key systems; he is also an expert at performing a variety of other locks tasks, like installing, repairing, and creating duplicate keys.


In todays times, the locksmiths are doing the job in the convenience of their offices using the latest tools for making and fixing locks and keys. The locksmithing profession is nearly as old as locking up on yourself, because, let us face it, nearly everybody locks up on their own vehicle, their house, their business, their safe, or any area where they need to get in. A locksmith can be a businessman (working from a shopfront), mobile (working from a vehicle), institutional (employed from an agency), or investigative (forensic locksmith), or he can specialize in an aspect of the craft, like being an auto-lock technician, a master-key systems specialist, or a safe technician.


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Most locksmiths also perform electronic lock maintenance, such as making keys for vehicles equipped with transponders, and implementing and applying access control systems that secure individuals and assets for many major institutions. Most locksmiths also work on any existing door hardware, not just the locking mechanisms. Most modern-day locksmiths also move from fixing hinges and related door hardware components, like cutting keys, to modern-day security gadgets like surveillance cameras, alarms, and smart locks.


Many of the locksmiths are taking advantage of the new techniques and materials being used to enhance existing designs of locks and locking systems. A locksmith would specialize in a single field, like designing and building different locks for the purpose of stopping entry.


As locks, their materials, and the technologies that make them have changed, so has the locksmiths role, which has affected the history of the profession. Later, the Industrial Revolution and mass-production techniques came, and the art of locksmithing evolved once more, changing dramatically, but moving on.


The aesthetics of locks improved drastically between the fourteenth and seventeenth centuries, with the locksmiths becoming expert metalworkers and beginning to embellish products with elaborate designs fit for a nobleman. In the Renaissance, locksmiths began adding decorations to keys in order to make them more visually attractive.


Metal locks and keys were pretty much unchanged until the Industrial Revolution of the 18th century. Locksmiths used forges and anvils, and blacksmiths knew how to produce basic locks and keys.


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Moving on, in Europe in the 18th century, advances in metalworking techniques allowed locksmiths to make more durable, advanced locking systems. The emergence of complex lock designs made it impossible for the locksmith to sell inexpensive, industrial locks, and this forced the majority of smiths to either become industrial lock repairmen, or copybrokers for broken parts of locks used by major security firms. Cheap industrial locks took away the profitable market of locksmiths and forced them to specialize in two fields: working as repairmen for industrial locks (reconfiguring damaged gears or replacing broken parts with ones made in factories), replicating keys for individuals who wanted to have more of them available for personal use, or working in the big security companies who designed and built locks for banks and governments.


While key installations for replacing lost keys to cars and homes, and changing keys to homes and businesses for safety, are still a major part of the profession of locksmithing, locksmiths are now mostly involved with installing quality locksets, as well as designing, implementing, and managing key and lock-management systems.