ancient locksmithing

How ancient are you looking for? I'd suggest contacting the lock museum and seeing which books they suggest.

interested in th 17th and 18th century

The thought occurred to me of whether the ancient Egyptians masterkeyed their pin tumbler locks (the pegs in the key serve as the lower pins, so differs depend on the positions of the pegs). The masterkey could have 8 pegs, with the locks having 8 pin chambers to receive the pegs. However each lock would have 6 pins only (two holes left empty) and its associated change key 6 pegs. 28 different change keys would be possible with this arrangement. In the process they would also have pioneered rotating constants. <g>

"Safe" as we know it today (ie fire- and thief-resistant cupboard) dates only from the 1840's. Up until the late 18C, 'strongboxes' were used. Earlier ones were woood, increasingly reinforced with iron bands. From early 17C sheet iron chests appeared, commonly known as 'armada chests' (though they had nothing to do with the Spanish navy, coming from Germany/Low Countries/ and a few south-east England). These strongboxes had multi-point locking arrangements covering all the inside of the chest lid. When lids became too heavy to lift easily, as they did when the cast iron chest appeared late 18C, the chest was stood on end and became a cupboard.

There are numerous books about old wrought iron work; not so many about cast iron.

Was there something in particular you wished to know?

Richard