暨南國際大學通識講座
顏 鴻 森
Hong-Sen YAN
成功大學講座
機械系教授 / 兼副校長
2013 年 12 月 11 日

Introduction
 Locks have been widely used in our daily life in the past thousands of years.
 It is still a myth concerning the origin of the earliest lock in history.
 Cave dwellers learned to put heavy rocks at cave openings to block wild animals and protect their belongings.
 The oldest locks paired with a key were wooden locks .
 Ancient Egyptians are deemed to use wooden pin tumbler locks no later than 4,000 years.
Yhs-2013 02

 Ancient Chinese metal locks appeared in the Eastern Zhou
Dynasty ( 770-256 BC ) .
 Metal padlocks with thin & flat springs installed inside became popular in the
Han Dynasty ( 206 BC - 220 AD )
 Most currently available ancient locks were made in the Qing Dynasty in 18 th -
19 th century, with few recovered from ancient tombs of the Tang Dynasty
( 619-907 AD ) .
 Most locks made before the Sung
Dynasty ( 960-1279 AD ) are lost.
Yhs-2013 03

OUTLINE
 Motivation
 Story of Collection
 Research & Publication
 Exhibition & Education
 Heritage & Donation
 Concluding Remark
Presenting author’s internal journey with ancient locks since 1986, including motivation, collection, research, publication, exhibition, education, donation & heritage.
YAN-hs/2013 04

Motivation
Major Advisors in USA ( 1976~1980 )
＊ M.S., University of Kentucky
(1976.08-1977.12)
Prof. Dr. D. C. Tao ( 陶德昌 )
Antique European Furniture
＊ Ph.D., Purdue University
(1978.01-1980.05)
Prof. Dr. Allen S. Hall, Jr.
Antique Weighting Scales
YAN-hs/2013 5

YAN-hs/2013
Motivation
Specifications of Items (1978.05 - 1980.05)
一 、 Should be a mechanism or machine .
二 、 Should be related to native culture .
三、 Should not be too large .
四、 Should not be too expensive .
五、 Should not commonly collected.
6

Collection
Stage I (1986.11~1990.09) ~ 50 locks
＊ The 1 st lock (1986.11)
A vendor stall near
Taipei Main Railway Station.
~ 10 US dollars
＊ The 1 st puzzle lock (1990.09)
上海友誼商店 100 RMB ( 外匯券 )
The Friendship Store of Shanghai.
Guangxu ( 光緒 ) regime (1875-1908 AD)
A broad padlock
The key head and hole so oddly shaped as to create a 3D puzzle
YAN-hs/2013 7

YAN-hs/2013
Collection
Stage II (1990 ~1999) over 600 locks
8

YAN-hs/2013
Collection
Stage III (1999~2007) up to 700 locks
9

YAN-hs/2013
Collection Other Items
Poem 杜甫：『弟子誰依白茅屋，廬志獨啟青銅鎖』
10

YAN-hs/2013
Collection & Research -
Lock Museums
(1991~ )
11

Research & Publication
On the Characteristics of Ancient Chinese Locks
1st China-Japan Int’l Conf. on History of Mech. Technology
Beijing, China, pp.215-220, 1998 .10.12-14.
1998.10
1997.06
Design Considerations of
Ancient Chinese Padlocks with Spring Mechanisms
Mechanism and Machine Theory ,
Vol.39, pp.797-810, 2004 . (SCI)
YAN-hs/2013
1999.06
2003.05
12

Characteristics of Ancient Chinese Padlocks
Types
Opening
Keyholes
Location
Shapes
Springs
Keys
Key-heads
Shapes
Materials
Decoration
YAN-hs/2013 13

Research & Education
YAN-hs/2013
Combination lock
Spring locks - puzzles
14

Fish pattern locks
漢代《芝田錄》：『門鑰必以 魚 ，取其不瞑目，守夜之義』
Zhi Tian Lu (Han Dynasty, 206 BC - 220 AD )
Door locks must take after the shape of fish, for fish sleeps with eyes open and so it guards the house at night.
YAN-hs/2013 15

Research
Ancient & Modern Inventions
Ancient Chinese
Wooden bolt lock (1368~1644)
Modern pin-tumbler cylinder lock
YAN-hs/2013
Ancient Egyptian wooden pin tumbler lock
16

Exhibition & Education
(since 1999)
＊ 1999.10.18~11.13
News Center, NCKU , Tainan
＊ 2000.05.22~09.24
National S&T Museum , Kaohsiung
＊ 2003.06.27~2004.01.04
National S&T Museum , Kaohsiung
＊ 2003.11.07~2009.12
General Library, NCKU , Tainan
＊ 2009.12~2014.11
Main Museum, NCKU , Tainan
＊ 2012.09.19~12.19
Museum of Asia Arts
University of Malaya , Kuala Lumpur
＊ 2012.11.08~2012.03
/2013.07~
National Science and Technology Museum
Kaohsiung
YAN-hs/2013 17

Exhibition & Education
Invited International Seminars
 1995.12.12 Award Luncheon Speaker
4th Applied Mechanisms & Robotics Conf.,
Cincinnati, USA
 2003.12.01 Keynote Speaker
9th Int’l Conf. on the Theory and Application of Cryptology and Information Security, Taipei, Taiwan
 2004.09.27
NSERC Design Engr. Chair
Mechanical Engr., McGill University, Montreal, CANADA
 2006.09.09
Invited Speaker
Mechanical Engr., Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, USA
 2009.06.23
Keynote Speaker
Int’l Conf. on Reconfigurable Mechanisms & Robots,
King’s College,
London, UK
 2011.11.11
Keynote Speaker
Int’l Conf. on Engr. and Tech. Innovation
Kenting, Taiwan
YAN-hs/2013 18

Heritage & Donation
＊ 1993 dreamed to found a lock museum visited Germany Keys & Locks Museum
＊ 1995 as the site of the museum bought a parcel of land in Tainan
＊ 1996 planned to found the museum visited Padlock Museum
＊ 1997 to financing the museum founded Ancient Chinese Machines
Cultural Foundation
＊ 2002 thought of heritage of locks directed National Science &
Technology Museum
＊ 2003 announced donation of locks directed National Science &
Technology Museum
YAN-hs/2013 19

Donation Substantial development since 2003 collection, preservation, research publication, exhibition , education
＊ 2000 requested by a former president
National Cheng Kung University
＊ 2003 announced donation of locks
National Science and Technology Museum
＊ 2011.01 yes for the requested by the director-general
National Science and Technology Museum
＊ 2011.08 recruited an assistant curator for locks
National Science and Technology Museum
＊ 2012.11 held a special exhibition on locks
National Science and Technology Museum
＊ 2013 on regular display in a permanent exhibition hall
National Science and Technology Museum
YAN-hs/2013 20

Ancient Chinese Padlocks
Design Considerations of
Ancient Chinese Padlocks with Spring Mechanisms
Journal of Mechanism and
Machine Theory (SCI)
Vol.39, pp.797-810, 2004
2004.09.27, On the Design and Beauty of Ancient Chinese Locks
NSERC Design Engineering Chair, McGill University, Montreal, CANADA.
YAN-hs/2013
21

 Motivation : MS & PhD advisors’ cultivation
 Hobby Item : Engineering logic of problem solving
 Collection : Enjoyed & matured from the journey preservation Treasure for future research
 Research: Scholar’s nature to find something new
A remarkable interdisciplinary topic
 Publication: Sharing with others
 Exhibition: Sharing with others & promotion
 Education: Inspiring students & young scholars
 Donation: Substantial development
來有影去有蹤的古鎖桃花源
YAN-hs/2013 22

Recluse Taishang (Tang Dynasty, 618-906 AD )
“Beneath a pine I occasionally came.
Upon a rock pillow I comfortably napped.
Reckoning no days in the mountains,
I did not know the year after the cold winter.”
唐朝
( 公元 618-906 年 )
太上隱者
『偶來松樹下，高枕石頭眠，山中無曆日，寒盡不知年。 』
YAN-hs/2013 23

暨南國際大學通識講座
顏 鴻 森
Hong-Sen YAN
成功大學講座
機械系教授 / 兼副校長
2013 年 12 月 11 日