Every now and then on my wanders around Glasgow, I come across one of these upside down T-shaped keyholes on the door of a Victorian building.
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Every now and then on my wanders around Glasgow, I come across one of these upside down T-shaped keyholes on the door of a Victorian building. It's for an Odell Night Latch Key, of the type shown on the right.
Cont./
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Every now and then on my wanders around Glasgow, I come across one of these upside down T-shaped keyholes on the door of a Victorian building. It's for an Odell Night Latch Key, of the type shown on the right.
Cont./
Patented in 1792, the keys came in a wide variety of different shapes and you put them through the cross bar of the T and then lifted them up. They'd only open the latch if their shape fitted the inverse shape of the mechanism in the lock on the other side of the door.
Odell Night Latches were most often used for communal doors to provide a level of security at a time when proper locks were much more expensive and the keys were much larger, making them hard to carry around.
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Patented in 1792, the keys came in a wide variety of different shapes and you put them through the cross bar of the T and then lifted them up. They'd only open the latch if their shape fitted the inverse shape of the mechanism in the lock on the other side of the door.
Odell Night Latches were most often used for communal doors to provide a level of security at a time when proper locks were much more expensive and the keys were much larger, making them hard to carry around.
@thisismyglasgow My first flat in Edinburgh still had a lock like this. We had a key for it, but we found that with a bit of practice we could stick a finger in the lock and lift the latch with that!
My favourite bit was the lever on each floor, linked to the latch by chains running down the building through tubes. You could unlatch the door remotely by lifting a lever, and you’d hear the metallic clunk several floors below.
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Every now and then on my wanders around Glasgow, I come across one of these upside down T-shaped keyholes on the door of a Victorian building. It's for an Odell Night Latch Key, of the type shown on the right.
Cont./
@thisismyglasgow Those keys are absolutely gorgeous!
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@thisismyglasgow Those keys are absolutely gorgeous!
@jcnotwit They are indeed!
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Ohhhh! Love those keys!
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J jwcph@helvede.net shared this topic
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@todays_wander So do I!
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Every now and then on my wanders around Glasgow, I come across one of these upside down T-shaped keyholes on the door of a Victorian building. It's for an Odell Night Latch Key, of the type shown on the right.
Cont./
@thisismyglasgow The fact that there's no Wikipedia article about these is a crime. Thank you for sharing!
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@thisismyglasgow The fact that there's no Wikipedia article about these is a crime. Thank you for sharing!
@jwcph Thanks! It's one of my little side obsessions! These particular keys are from my personal collection, amd are a step up from the more common patterns.
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@thisismyglasgow My first flat in Edinburgh still had a lock like this. We had a key for it, but we found that with a bit of practice we could stick a finger in the lock and lift the latch with that!
My favourite bit was the lever on each floor, linked to the latch by chains running down the building through tubes. You could unlatch the door remotely by lifting a lever, and you’d hear the metallic clunk several floors below.
@baz they are super cool looking keys. Disappointing they are easy to pick.
