Tom has asked me to post this message on his behalf due to computer problems he is having. ............

I arrived in London over an hour and a half late due to terrible trafic. I am presented with the lock on arrival. It is some three and a half inches long, very solid and very heavy. As you can see from the diagram, (not available ED) the mechanism is sitauted at the end of a deep keyway that runs the length of the lock and this key way is sealed with a plug.

I was going to have a prototype to play with but they failed me. Only one lock of this design is in existence and worse still, there is only one key, and not of a style you can duplicate...

The key has moving parts in it. If you twist the head, some ball bearings pop out at the bottom of the shaft. It is a cam construction. The head of the key has a short screw on it. This screws in to the threaded hole in the plug to remove it. Then the key goes into the mechanism a coloured dot on the key is aligned with a coloured dot on the body of the lock by the keyhole. There is a circle of dots (indents) around the keyway. Your twist round to the third dot, activate the key by twisting its head, at the same time as holding the shaft of the key stationary and then rotate the whole kanoodle two dots to the right. In that last motion you are twisting the cam at the base of the keyway that releases the ball bearings which hold the lock closed. The lock is now open and you can remove one end of the dumbell. The opposite actions lock the lock.

Yes, utterly confusing and it took some 15 minutes to fully understand as the chap explaining had quite an unfortunate stutter.

So, I was fretting by now as I had no idea how I was going to deal with this lock. It was something of a beast. I got thirty minutes to myself under supervision of the BBC security.

Then it was off to film before the light went - we were doing it outside in the BBC's circular courtyard. I was chained into a sack which completely covered my body. It happened to be a DeVal mail bag because that fastens in the most spectacular fashion but if you are familiar with that device you will get a surprise when watching because you will not see what you think you are going to see!

Luckily, it didn't go too badly inside. It was comfortable until I got cramp in my thigh and I couldn't get my leg straight inside the sack. That was awkward.

To find out what eventually happened, watch BBC1 this Wednesday night at 8pm'.

Tom Lyons

Ian thanks for Posting it. I wonder if we can see it over here in the States. Don,

So Ian, the question that is of paramount importance, how long until you start producing this lock for the EA community?

I saw the escape. Full marks to Tom, but poor marks to the BBC for very edited highlights

Dear Lloyd. I was also sent the diagram of this lock. The inventor who had challenged Tom didn't want to give away to much information about the lock and didn't even over the prototype for Tom to look at. Only a rough sketch without to much detail was given.

The lock appears to be of a dumbbell shape and has a key within a key arrangement. There were no details as to the combination or positions of the tumblers within the lock. The double opertation of the key in this lock would make it difficult to use as I guess both hands would be required for the key, let alone trying to hold the lock.

Being in Australia, I haven't seen the TV show, but it appears that Tom has beaten this lock. Great work to be able to beat something you have seen operate before.

Ian

Ian-

Thanks for the details, I guess sometimes my dry humor doesn't come across in print.

All credit to Tom Lyon on his success.