Chinese Mechanical Locks - Designs and Defeats

[huxleypig]

So the Yuema 750 has at least 2 defeats for it (the free-spinning one) and I heard that the 760 has been done now too. I wanted that prize money too...

[kwoswalt99-]

Wait.. there was prize money?

[huxleypig]

Wait.. there was prize money?

Yes mate, it worked out to about £12k GBP. I was seriously considering going but not until I had one of the locks so I knew I could do it. But then they stopped doing it, I heard the reward got paid out and now I hear the lock is not in production any more.

It is a shame that there is no longer a culture for rewarding prizes to anyone who can pick certain locks - like back in the 1800's when Hobbs claimed several rewards for picking locks, such as the Bramah (which is still in use today and is a very secure lock). He was also responsible for 'The Great Lock Controversy' in 1851, which involved Chubb's detector. Hobbs gets credit for being the first person to ever pick a Chubb detector but I think that is probably untrue. Interesting guy though.

[kwoswalt99-]

Strange that they would stop production just because they were picked. I wonder if they'll become valuable now?
What makes you think Hobbs wasn't the first to pick a Chubb detector?

[huxleypig]

Strange that they would stop production just because they were picked. I wonder if they'll become valuable now?
What makes you think Hobbs wasn't the first to pick a Chubb detector?

I don't know that production has stopped for sure and even less certain as to the reason why. Just rumours.

Likewise with the Hobbs thing; I have no proof to the contrary, just an opinion that is shared by some people. I think it very unlikely that Hobbs was the first. That is for several reasons:

1) The lock was created expressly to trip should someone use Hobb's general method of picking (or if a wrong key was used that had at least 1 cut higher than the real key). As it happens I believe Hobbs used the detector against itself in order to pick it (so deliberately setting the detector off). The point being that the method of picking like this was already known, to Chubb if nobody else (again, very unlikely). Indeed, the early versions of the detector had a spring pressure on the detector arm that could be felt getting stronger the closer it got to tripping, if it was attacked by a skilled lockpicker. Was this technique Hobb's too? I think unlikely.
2) Hobbs was American. This is not a slight on Americans per se, but rather that his access to and knowledge of the lock would have been more difficult to get. He clearly knew what he was doing though, Hobbs was a very talented man.
3) I have come to realise that even in the 21st C, just because something is not 'public' does not mean it has not been done. I have experienced this first hand with the Ablator (my Abloy Classic pick/decoder). In the 1800's this effect would be magnified greatly I think. Hobbs was not a thief, he revealed his picking of the lock at a big public event (The Great Exhibition of 1851). The thieves of the time who might have been able to pick the detector would have kept the knowledge very much hidden. Remember that 37 years passed between the lock coming out and Hobbs picking it. That is a long time for a lock to go unpicked. If Hobbs did it then I think that someone probably worked it out beforehand too.

[nedgreely]

So i suck at these things, these boards, i'm not sure if i am replying properly, but if i am, it was Bill and thank you Squelch, i actually figured out how to assemble the lock. But to Bluelight/Urban, the writer of the post on Chinese locks, so I have the key and all of the parts, can you or anyone else point me in the direction of learning how to decode the DiskD key so i can arrange the disks and washers in the right order so the lock works with the key. I was searching and most stuff tells you how the lock works but nothing tells you for example, when you have a key and a pile of parts how to get them to play well with each other. Do you get my question?. Thanks for any help anyone can provide.