Dies for forging lock plates and pans

[Mark Elliott]

I finally made it down to the CW gunshop today to take a look at the dies they are using to make locks these days.

They have dies for just about every part except the cock.   I didn't photograph the stuff that is already documented in JHAT.

The two new dies of interest that allow them to forge lock plates with the integral pan WITHOUT welding are shown below.   Note the grooves around the lockplate die.  These are necessary to stop the metal from flowing out of the die.   For both dies, the work must be white hot when initially hammered into the die.   This is particularly important for forming the pan.   You have to work the metal in the pan back up into the fence area with a fuller.   You can finish the work just red hot.  

George Suiter noted that he would like to cut a notch in the plate die from the front of the plate to the edge of the die allowing  the formation of a sprue with which to hold the plate in the die for finishing.    Otherwise,  he said the plate jumps around making it hard to work.  

George said the documentation of these various dies was found in a Russian text written around 1800 by a British man who went to Russia to modernize their arms making industry.   There are only five of these texts known to exist so good luck getting hold of a copy.  Apparently,   the Birmingham lock making industry utilized many dies, filling templates, and drilling jigs to speed up the production of locks. George referenced Guns by Greener.

George showed me hardened templates they use for filing the lock plates and sears.   He also showed me a jig they use for drilling holes in the locks and bridle.   I didn't get photos of these, but the filing template and drilling jig are what you might expect with the lock plate sandwiched in between two other plates that are screwed together.  

It takes some time to make all these dies, templates and jigs, but George said they significantly speed up the process of making a lock.  

Please excuse the quality of the photos.   I didn't take a flash and it was fairly dark in the shop.   I had to shoot the photos at a high ISO so they are very grainy.   Perhaps, the next time I go down, maybe come Spring,  I can arrange to take all the dies, templates and jigs outside to properly photograph them.  

[Chris Treichel]

Rides on Railways Leading to the Lake & Mountain Districts of Cumberland ... By Samuel Sidney 1855 pg 89
Speaking of Birmingham firearms manufacture comparing flintlocks and percussion locks. Not a very interesting read but mentions...

"By a process patented about eleven years ago, parts of a gun lock formerly forged by hand are now stamped with a die."

In an article in Cassiers magazine about making locks (1894)... This article is a translation from the 1809 ability Translation Extract from the Aide Memoire de Gassendi Edition of 1809 page 589 INTERCHANGEABLE LOCKS the die is referred to as a "monkey." Also refers to trapazoidal projections called pivots... pg 473 this article is pretty interesting
Interesting Aticle Link

[Chris Treichel]

We will give a description of those locks in which all the parts are perfectly uniform so that when a number of such locks are taken apart and their pieces mixed and then taken again at random we are able to reconstruct a perfectly adjusted lock These pieces are made by heating iron etc red hot and putting it into stamps or dies and striking it with a monkey This mode of making locks by mechanical means was proposed about 1722 and was tried by order of the Government for nearly ten years and was then abandoned It was reinvented as new about 1789 M de Gribeauval ordered a trial which was long and expensive The Academy became interested and its committee found the method good The revolution came we followed and suspended and took up again this method of manufacture We made with care some hundreds of these locks which we submitted to the test of mixing their parts and remounting them which reproduced the locks with great ease in the eyes of those without knowledge In vain we represent to the oily partisans of interchangeable locks which they have called sintillarcs a name exactly opposite to what the locks were intended....