vicfangirlguide: The Bramah Lock, an exhibition padlock made in 1801 by the engineer Joseph Bramah. Bramah displayed the padlock in the window of his shop in Piccadilly with the challenge that he would pay 200 guineas to anyone who could invent a device to open the lock. The challenge was only taken up 50 years later by the American locksmith Alfred Charles Hobbs who had travelled to England for the Great Exhibition of 1851. After struggling for 51 hours, spread over 16 days, Hobbs managed to open the lock and the Bramah company paid him 200 guineas, though he had not “produced an instrument” as stated in the challenge.

vicfangirlguide:

The Bramah Lock, an exhibition padlock made in 1801 by the engineer Joseph Bramah. Bramah displayed the padlock in the window of his shop in Piccadilly with the challenge that he would pay 200 guineas to anyone who could invent a device to open the lock. The challenge was only taken up 50 years later by the American locksmith Alfred Charles Hobbs who had travelled to England for the Great Exhibition of 1851. After struggling for 51 hours, spread over 16 days, Hobbs managed to open the lock and the Bramah company paid him 200 guineas, though he had not “produced an instrument” as stated in the challenge.

(via victorianfanguide)

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