I was at my local tool supply shop (Lee Valley Tools, for those who know of it) to buy some trick bolts yesterday when the salesperson mentioned that they had some puzzle locks in stock. Naturally curious, I asked to see one. One of the two that he brought out was a simple puzzle (hidden button and hidden keyhole) but the other was quite interesting:



It appears to be one solid piece of metal (excluding the hasp) with only one seam partially visible. It comes with 6 keys (2 sets of 3 in case you lose one) and is quite heavy (I don't have the right type of scale so no exact weight, see the link below). I was informed that it is no longer in production or is no longer in stock, but that this last one was available (I paid around $80 for it). The solution is quite interesting as well:



It requires 3 screwing actions: 1 is performed by 1 key, and the other two are performed by the second key (the third key is used as a normal key). The seam between the main lock part and the small cap at the bottom is virtually invisible (the photo on the site shows the seams quite well). Does anyone know who designed this lock? The Lee Valley Tools site says that it was made in India (it also has some exact dimensions there).

I think that this lock could be made more challenging in several ways: firstly, by adding reverse-threading to the screws (especially the first one). This would encourage people to try the screwing action, but then be deterred when it doesn't work (not knowing that it needs to screw the other way). secondly, the first action is to insert the square key onto the end and twist to unscrew the cap. The instructions say that the square hole in the same key should be used to unscrew the cap. In order to force the user to do this, the square key should not fit on the end of the lock. This would also serve to confuse people further.

Now this is some VERY interesting lock! Regarding your question,
I could ask Hiren Shah about this the next time I meet him (he is
from India and he is *the* expert in such locks as well as the
biggest puzzle lock collector).




Pantazis

I have managed to contact Mr. Shah through Facebook but no reply yet. I still have to make plans to visit the collection the next time it is open...

Another bit of info on this lock is that I was not impressed with the conditions of the internal block. It was rather dirty, as were the keys. Some of the pieces were hard to turn. This is offset by the uniqueness of the lock and the "wow" factor.

I was going nuts trying to find one of these to order the moment I saw your video, too bad I won't get that opportunity It truly is a beautiful piece of work congratulations on acquiring it!

Chris Hemerich

I am assuming, then, that the Lee Valley websit couldn't offer any? That's too bad, I could have used another myself...