Alfred Charles Hobbs (October 7, 1812 – November 6, 1891) was an American

locksmith Locksmithing is the work of creating and bypassing locks. Locksmithing is a traditional trade and in many countries requires completion of an apprenticeship. The level of formal education legally required varies by country, ranging from no formal ...

and

inventor An invention is a unique or novel device, method, composition, idea, or process. An invention may be an improvement upon a machine, product, or process for increasing efficiency or lowering cost. It may also be an entirely new concept. If an ...

. He was born in

Boston, Massachusetts Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

, in 1812; his father was a carpenter. He married Charlotte F. Nye (1815-?) of

Sandwich, Massachusetts Sandwich is a town in Barnstable County, Massachusetts, United States and is the oldest town on Cape Cod. The town motto is ''Post tot Naufracia Portus'', "after so many shipwrecks, a haven". The population was 20,259 at the 2020 census. Histor ...

, in 1835 and had four children: Charlotte Hobbs, Alfred J. Hobbs (1843-?), Mary H. Hobbs, and Arthur Hobbs. Both of his parents were born in England.

Life

Hobbs went to London as a representative of the New York company of Day & Newell, which was exhibiting at the

Great Exhibition of 1851 Great may refer to: Descriptions or measurements * Great, a relative measurement in physical space, see Size * Greatness, being divine, majestic, superior, majestic, or transcendent People * List of people known as "the Great" * Artel Great (bo ...

. Hobbs had brought with him his boss's (Robert Newell) Parautoptic lock, designed to compete with, and surpass, the locks available at the time in Britain. He was the first one to pick Bramah's lock and the

Chubb detector lock A Chubb detector lock is a lever tumbler lock with an integral security feature, a Combination lock#Internal mechanisms, re-locking device, which frustrates unauthorised access attempts and indicates to the lock's owner that it has been interfered ...

at the

, and so forced lock manufacturers to improve their designs.

The lock controversy continues a subject of great interest at the Crystal Palace, and, indeed, is now become of general importance. We believed before the Exhibition opened that we had the best locks in the world, and among us Bramah and Chubb were reckoned quite as impregnable as
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— more so, indeed, for the key to the Mediterranean was taken by us, but none among us could penetrate into the locks and shoot the bolts of these masters. The mechanical spirit, however, is never at rest, and if it is lulled into a false state of listlessness in one branch of industry, and in one part of the world, elsewhere it springs up suddenly to admonish and reproach us with our supineness. Our descendants on the other side of the water are every now and then administering to the mother country a wholesome filial lesson upon this very text, and recently they have been "rubbing us up" with a severity which perhaps we merited for sneering at their shortcomings in the Exhibition.

In 1854 he was awarded a Telford Medal by the

Institution of Civil Engineers The Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) is an independent professional association for civil engineers and a Charitable organization, charitable body in the United Kingdom. Based in London, ICE has over 92,000 members, of whom three-quarters ar ...

for his paper 'On the Principles and Construction of Locks'. Hobbs Hart and Co sign

Hobbs became one of the founders of the lock making firm of Hobbs Hart & Co. Ltd. The company started in 1851 and was formally registered as Hobbs and Co. in 1852. By 1855, it had become Hobbs, Ashley and Company. The name then changed to Hobbs, Ashley and Fortescue, with at 97 Cheapside in London, an address it kept for 90 years.Evans, Jim
"A Gazetteer of Lock and Key Makers"
/ref> In 1860 Hobbs returned to America and lived in

Bridgeport, Connecticut Bridgeport is the List of municipalities in Connecticut, most populous city in the U.S. state of Connecticut and the List of cities in New England by population, fifth-most populous city in New England, with a population of 148,654 in 2020. Loc ...

, and went on to hold a dozen patents for firearm ammunition manufacturing. In 1880 he listed himself as a "Superintendent Of Cartridge Factory".

Publications

* Locks and Safes: The Construction of Locks. Published by Virtue & Co., London, 1853 (revised 1868)

Patents

* Improvements in Machines for Winding Wads April 15, 1873 * Improvements in Cartridge Loading Machines February 18, 1873

References

Bibliography

*The Stevens Point Journal; December 26, 1891; The late Alfred Charles Hobbs. *Fitchburg Daily Sentinel; December 29, 1891; ... Alfred C. Hobbs, noted lockmaker, aged 79 *Daily Northwestern; Oshkosh; January 2, 1892; ... Alfred C. Hobbs, noted lockmaker, Bridgeport, Connecticut, aged 79 ...

External links