| Walter Schlange's Lockpick | |
|---|---|
|
Origin |
Walter Schlage |
|
Type |
Lockpick |
|
Effects |
Interfaces with any lock |
|
Downsides |
Requires precision use |
|
Activation |
Contact |
|
Collected by |
|
|
Section |
|
|
Date of Collection |
14/05/1933 |
| [Source] | |
Origin[]
Walter Reinhold Schlage was a German-born American engineer and inventor. Known as the Lock Wizard of Thuringia, he is best known for the bored cylindrical lock and the lock company that bears his name, Schlage Lock Co..
His first patent was in 1909, inventing a door lock that turned lights on and off. In 1919, Schlage patented a door knob which, when pushed up, locked the door. This was succeeded by a door knob incorporating a push-button lock, patented in 1924. Leaving employment with Western Electric Company in 1920, Schlage opened a shop in San Francisco in the present-day financial district. In the same year, he applied for a patent for a lock that could be drilled into a door with only two holes. This new cylindrical lock had a single plate, serving as both escutcheon and striker plate, wrapping around the door's edge.
Effects[]
Used in his testing of knew lock designs, the lockpick will attune itself to any lock it comes into contact with, insertion not required. Careful manipulation of the picks can allows the user to open any lock, even those that wouldn't normally be interactable physically.
Misuse or improper usage can cause locks to jam up or break, making them completely unusable.
Use in the Warehouse[]
Following its collection in 1933 its potential use as a tool was not missed. Contracting Alan Turing in 1939, the Warehouse was able to connect the artifact nature of the lockpick to an analog decoding device. Delicate gears moved the pick at an almost imperceptible angle to almost always successfully crack any physical lock. This device was named The Schlage, after the pick's creator.
Some decades later, in the late 1990s, the rise of electronic locks prompted the need for a new innovation. Again taking from the works of Turing, Warehouse technicians managed to create a new digital attachment for the pick. Named the Analog Mechanical Translator (incidentally the same initials as Alan Mathison Turing), the device contained a connector compatible with most electronic devices. The lockpick could be inserted into either attachment for use on both physical and electronic locks. Again in the early 2000s the device had to be altered, adding another addition to the repertoire. A detachable USB connector was devised for use on computers which thrust the effects of the lockpick into the digital age, allowing it to decode most computer passwords.