Alfred Charles Hobbs
Encyclopedia
Alfred Charles Hobbs was an American locksmith.
He was born in Boston, Massachusetts in 1812 and married Charlotte F. (1815-?) and had a child: Alfred J. Hobbs (1843-?). Both of his parents were born in England
.
Hobbs went to London
as a representative of the New York company of Day & Newell, which was exhibiting at the Great Exhibition of 1851. Hobbs had brought with him his boss Robert Newell's Parautoptic lock, designed to compete with, and surpass, the locks available at the time in Britain. http://www.cabinetmagazine.org/issues/22/kastner.php He was the first one to pick Bramah's
lock and the Chubb detector lock
at the Great Exhibition of 1851 and forced the lock manufacturers to improve their designs.
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. But by 1855 it had become Hobbs, Ashley and Company. The name then changed to Hobbs, Ashley and Fortescue, with an address at 97 Cheapside in London. Then for the next ninety years the address was 76 Cheapside in London. http://home.earthlink.net/~drillpoint/achobbs.htm
In 1860 Hobbs returned to America and lived in Bridgeport, Connecticut
, and went on to hold a dozen patents for firearm ammunition manufacturing. In 1880 he listed himself as a "Superintendent Of Cartridge Factory".
He was born in Boston, Massachusetts in 1812 and married Charlotte F. (1815-?) and had a child: Alfred J. Hobbs (1843-?). Both of his parents were born in England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
.
Hobbs went to London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
as a representative of the New York company of Day & Newell, which was exhibiting at the Great Exhibition of 1851. Hobbs had brought with him his boss Robert Newell's Parautoptic lock, designed to compete with, and surpass, the locks available at the time in Britain. http://www.cabinetmagazine.org/issues/22/kastner.php He was the first one to pick Bramah's
Joseph Bramah
Joseph Bramah , born Stainborough Lane Farm, Wentworth, Yorkshire, England, was an inventor and locksmith. He is best known for having invented the hydraulic press...
lock and the Chubb detector lock
Chubb detector lock
A Chubb detector lock is a type of lever tumbler lock with an integral security feature which frustrates unauthorised access attempts and indicates to the lock's owner that it has been interfered with...
at the Great Exhibition of 1851 and forced the 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 Gibraltar— 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 descendents 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. http://www.cabinetmagazine.org/issues/22/kastner.php
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. But by 1855 it had become Hobbs, Ashley and Company. The name then changed to Hobbs, Ashley and Fortescue, with an address at 97 Cheapside in London. Then for the next ninety years the address was 76 Cheapside in London. http://home.earthlink.net/~drillpoint/achobbs.htm
In 1860 Hobbs returned to America and lived in Bridgeport, Connecticut
Bridgeport, Connecticut
Bridgeport is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Connecticut. Located in Fairfield County, the city had an estimated population of 144,229 at the 2010 United States Census and is the core of the Greater Bridgeport area...
, 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)