Not sure if this is the right forum but for people interested in the evolution of lock technology there will be a great exhibit at the Red Mill Museum in Clinton, NJ.
Here is a description of the exhibit:
Locks—the Search for Security, April 7 – July 12, 2009, at the Red Mill Muesuem in Clinton, New Jersey
Locks: the Search for Security presents an unusual look at the history of man’s age-old search for privacy and safety. Selected from the extensive collection of lock enthusiast Robert Loughlin, chaiman and founder of Stanton Concepts , Locks will be on view until July 12, 2009. Among the locks on display are examples of seals, wooden pin tumblers and modern mechanisms. These locks come in the most unexpected variety of sizes and shapes. They range from a dramatic large wooden example of a 4,000-year-old Egyptian tumbler lock, to ancient Greco-Roman and 600-year-old Persian padlocks. There are primitive-looking African locks and an elegant 1,000-year-old Chinese lock in the shape of a fish. And there are complex modern locks including the Robotic Key System Lock. Robert Loughlin, an engineer and graduate of Lafayette College in Easton, is a life-long inventor and collector of locks. He has worked in the lock industry for 35 years. During that time he helped develop weapons security systems for the Department of Defense.
John Loughlin, Stanton Concepts