[263791] picking the core of the universe under 30 seconds and making a pschyhospecidemic wormhole that creates a unitenchiual paradox destroying the universe as a whole
Tan110688 - exactly. Look up tamper seals, they are almost exclusively very thin pieces of wire with a tag with a very specific serial number. So cutting it is extremely trivial, any dollar store pair of wire cutters could do it, but these sorts of bags are supposed to be under the constant care of a postal worker. I suppose the beefier locks are just meant to delay any sort of offensive seizing of the bag, like a person disabling the postal worker and going for the goods, this might slow them down or deter them a slight amount, maybe enough for police to arrive. The counter is there to keep honest postal workers honest.
@Hugohopser The numbers could be shipped separately along a different route (possibly by courier, or by telegraph, fax, the internet, or telephone) As long as they both get to a nonmalignant recipient who can check the numbers match, it's *much* better than just shipping the package unsealed
@@wazz35 Registered Mail also involves a Chain of Custody record. Every USPS employee who touches the lockbox has to sign receipt of it, date and time, and note when they surrendered it to the next person. The customer can demand that chain of custody record upon receipt. Registered Mail can be used for DoD Secret material, and the DoD often requests that record, especially if the internal packaging shows signs of tamper.
I would have never guessed that the overclock security was simply because of a little bit of extra plastic preventing the thousandth position 9 to roll over to a 0.
If it did change later, you then face the issue of being able to open it before it clicks over. You can’t lock it again without it incrementing, but then I guess it was a tradeoff they made during design.
Brilliant locks that should be still used today. Manufacturers should look to the past for lost ideas that were simply not viable for the time. Great work! 👍
Fascinating design. The fact that the pick needs to inserted into the plug almost the entire way is almost a security feature itself. If the keyway would have been more paracentric and tight it would make for breaking picks much easier which would up the pick resistance, but at the end of the day its a lock for administrative use. keep up the awesome vids.
@@DeeSnow97 im sure the postal service knows this and isnt gonna be that dumb, they for sure have a method for detecting when its opened in anyway shape or form
I used those padlocks for years in my job as registered mail dispatch and receiver. I never thought much about the inner workings of those locks. Thank you for sharing your knowledge.
Someone may have noticed that a lock intended to "self-destruct" after 10,000 operations didn't need to be made from expensive machined brass when the molded nylon would easily hold up for the limited number of operations.
it's not to self destruct, it's to prevent people from opening it at a certain number and then rotating it 10000 times back to that same number, falsely indicating that the seal is unbroken
@@matthewlehman7937 - anything that prevents the lock from functioning after some number of operations (no matter why it is done) is "self-destruct" in my book. I didn't mean to say that it would explode a la Mission Impossible. It's a quibble; never mind.
There are two explanations for that. 1.) You could theoretically melt the brass down and recast it as new locks. 2.) The federal government designed and purchased these.
This is such a great video, thanks for taking the time to make it. I have a very old version(sitting at 698 right now) and I've always wondered how the internals operated, so thank you kindly! I've heard that once these locks reach around 600 uses they usually retire them.
Thank you. 600? I guess that makes sense, and I was wondering about how long these lasted. I am seriously skeptical that the plastic ones would last 9,999 cycles. That's one open a day for over 27 years!
I love how you give us history, whether it's mail related, or cold war soviet union, it gives these locks a certain kind of value that makes me want to own them. Also the ingenious ways different locks are designed. Some of them look almost alien in design whilst others look incredibly primitive. I seriously can't wait to receive my hook and tension kits and start this myself.
Commenting in 2022. This was a genuinely fascinating video, of the sort that got me hooked on this channel. No advertorial, just analysis of a beautiful but, at one time, commonplace mechanism. Thanks so much for this.
That "counter wheel" feature is a cool concept! Strange that other lock designers don't try to incorporate something like that in their products, esp. those for more industrial usage.
@@twiztedzombxboxfu With lockouts you generally don't care how many times a lock has been used, you only care about it stopping a system from being energized. At least where I've worked much of the lockout equipment was nylon with identification of what department it belonged to. Couple places had locks, but I think that might've been a thickness issue rather than strength issue.
Also I would imagine lock picking was a more marketable skill back then. Now it's a novelty. Probably easier to pop some seems in the damn bag and restitch the gap after :D @black guy
There's also another point: Most of the bits that involve resisting destructive methods are still brass, while the plastic bits are there to detect non-destructive tampering: If the lockpick goes for a destructive method to handle them, even if it's easier, it's still more likely to be detected, unless they take extraordinary measures to hide it, but if they have enough time and access to do that, they can do it with the older models as well, which is to say, basically taking the entire lock apart and putting it back on the desired number. As such, there's little reason to have that extra cost for something that doesn't actually increase security.
@@marcellogenovese199 It's literally just a canvas bag. The point isn't to secure the bag against theft, but to secure whatever is in the bag against tampering. The chain of custody will make sure they know exactly where anything happens, including a bag vanishing.
At least in the older ones, you can drill two small holes into the screws holding it together and unscrew 'em with a security driver - that's what I did with one of mine that had a broken counter wheel. Thanks for the video - it's very interesting.
I realized that they were peened screws after I got them apart... Your idea mirrored my own. I wondered if I could drill a hole and use a broken screw extractor.
LockPickingLawyer A dull vibrating engraver may be able to unscrew it without further effort. I've done this on other security screws, but, no idea how tight these are.
That is absolutely fascinating! I wonder if the similar locks you see on the money bags the armoured trucks use are similar. That is pretty dang cool man, thanks for the demo!
Thanks. No idea about the money bags, but it would certainly make sense... though I suspect that an economically rational player like a bank would use a $.01 plastic tamper seal rather than a $50 specialized padlock. Only the government does things like this!
+Chris Morse - Not when you have to pay someone to record and separately transmit the counter readout of the USPS padlock. The one-time plastic seal comes out at much less than the price per use of the padlock.
@@Milosz_Ostrow Old video but: Someone still has to record the anti-tamper seal as unbroken and it's built in serial number. Either way somebody has to write somthing down. ALso it's probably a lot easier to fake an anti-tamper plastic seal. There probably is a cheaper way to do it though than these, and i can think of a way to tamper with one of these if you've got the right tools and time.
I especially enjoy these older locks. What a treat . Thanks for showing it to us. The older lock of the two was made particularly well with the all brass internal components ,the counter milling ,and serated pins! what a great job. They sure dont make em like they used too.
These locks are used to date. The security mechanism is not the lock. The security mechanism is the United States Postal Inspection Service, the lock just lets them know someone needs to have the exit end of their digestive tract oversized in any one of the government's fine penitentiaries. Registered Mail is signed for every time it changes hands and is exceedingly slow but very secure. I am a mechanic for the USPS, don't work with accountable mail anymore, but the USPIS does come in to use our pedestal vise to perform maintenance tasks on their weapons every once in a while. They had to take muzzle devices off their new M4 SBRs that were not approved and it took me a minute to figure out that it wasn't a bold coworker bringing in a rifle to modify at work, it was an Inspector. [18 USC §930 keeps me from doing my gunsmithing and maintenance at work.]
Thank you so much for making these videos. Your voice is calm and soothing and the videos are informative yet not overstimulating. Whenever I feel my anxiety creeping up on me, I watch one of your videos. Thanks to you, I am now completely off of xanax. You will never know how much good you have done for me .
As a window clerk, I deal with these every day. The older model can be difficult for us because it sometimes is hard to read the numbers because of all the debris from the brass plates. Also, there's nothing worse than dropping one after you've done the paperwork, because it frequently closes the lock, which means having to redo the paperwork. I've always wondered what they look like inside. Thank you for this! Can you do an arrow lock too please? They are the locks used to secure mail collection boxes and neighborhood group mailboxes.
Interesting they are still using these super old looking locks. I was a RCA, we didn’t see these at all. I second the arrow lock. That is one crazy looking key
@@lynnwillis441 No padlock can stand up to the presence of a Mighty Powerful Makita XAG13Z1 - 36 Volt Lithium battery powered steel cutter, armed with a high quality industrial grade 3M-7200 DAD (Diamond Abrasive Disc).
That has to be one of the neatest locks I have ever seen. I'd love to have a more practical version of that for a regular applications. At a quick glance you could see a tampering, or open...Tho that would depend on the offender taking the time to re close the lock after opening. Still its a cool lock. Thanks for the share.
I was thinking about the fact that you can only use then 9,999 times... and really, that doesn't bother me. I doubt these things will last that long anyway!
When the lock reaches 9999 on the counter, couldn't you disassemble it, take it apart, and file that higher notch down to the same depth as the others on the newer one? Or just rearrange the counters. Pretty involved, but I think it might work. I know this video is a couple years old, but I had to throw my 2 cents in. Cool locks.
Excellent ! I will like to see how did you actually “drilled” out the brass cylinders that hold the lock together. I will like to do the same in order to reset the counter back if needed when I purchase one soon ! Thank you for your outstanding video series ! I have been watching them for a while now and they are “addictive”. I start watching one and I can easily spend a couple of hours or more watching them! Thank you Sir for a great Lock-picking Video Series !
Great video. Very unusual lock and well explained. The older lock appears to be of a better quality, all brass and better security. I wonder if Master Lock up graded the newer model (!).Thank you.
My guess would be because brass doesn't spark. There would be less of a risk of fire if it were to be repeatedly jostled against another piece of metal in transit or in a handling facility.
Re Set this is exactly why, the chains for our arrow keys (which used to be ferrous and are now SS) are brass, it prevents corrosion as the brass touches a plethora of different surfaces and won’t oxidize them.
What a very cool little piece of kit! A lock with an Rev counter! Honestly a pretty cool idea in regards to tamper detection. Record keeping and verification must have been crucial for that as well.
I agree... the change in quality is saddening. I really wonder if the nylon parts are up to the task. 9,999 openings is quite a few. That's once a day for 27 years! Not too many quality locks hold up to that kind of use.
@@lockpickinglawyer The same basic design plastic counters are used in vehicle odometers and will count happily past 1,000,000 in 1/10ths when made in nylon, brass is lovely, but the extra cost is pure waste, especially when the life is capped at (9,999 - factory testing) cycles.
I wonder if the "piece of brass" acting as the ratchet on the second lock was possibly beryllium copper instead? I would not expect brass to have much of a sustained spring action and have seen BeCu used for mechanical pieces like those before.
LockPickingLawyer Is there no way to defeat the counter? Can’t pick lock at every ratchet gear in reverse? I just started watching tonight so I likely missed something obvious that screams “no”
When I worked as an election judge in Texas (supervising polling places), we used both locks and numbered, tamper-evident seals for anything that recorded votes. The seals, of course, were to show whether a case or bag had been opened. The locks were presumably just to discourage the most casual attempts to open the containers.
Wow, great video. Very nice locks, it is awesome to see the mechanism of the counter. When you said 3 pins I thought it can be right but there is clearly not enough space for more pins. The evolution of the locks took a wrong turn somewhere, what a shame.
If you look closely at around the 13:00 mark, the brass backer of the last number disk has a tab that protrudes into the slot between 4 and 5, in the same place as the missing slot in the newer lock that would serve the same purpose.
I guess if you knew how these locks were constructed "which we now do" One could drill out the bottom peened over brass plug, disassemble/reset to the prior position, drill concentrically into the old brass plug, tap a tread and insert a short brass plug to then be peened over flush to the bottom of the lock. Awesome video non the less :)
@@danpowell806 but you wouldn't need to mess with the lock at all. They are shipped in canvas bags. It never leaves postal employees hands. No sane postal employee is going to mess with registered mail.
Technically, by opening this lock for 10 000 times, you will return to the number that was there when the lock was used to its purpose. If the key would turn a whole 360°, one could use a power drill to quickly reset the digits. On the other hand, if the shackle is turnable while the key is positioned and been turned, one could rotate the shacke with a power drill and a tool made specially for that purpose. All in all this was a very intriguing concept. Thank you for sharing this!
One of the best ways to ship gold is via Registered Mail. Some gold mines ship unrefined gold to refiners that way. The locks must not be much more than tamper indication, yes.
The Hope Diamond was shipped to the Smithsonian by the US Postal Service as registered mail. It’s amazing how little credit the USPS gets as far as government agencies go.
@@isthatatesla They have their own federal police agency (the US Postal Inspection Service, USPIS) and said agency helped take down down the Unabomber among many other criminals. Enough said.
@@isthatatesla The post office has 2 police agencies. And if they need it they can borrow from the FBI, state and local police as well. It's generally an awful idea to mess with the post office.
I worked as a Registered Mail clerk for quite a few years of my 35-year Postal career. For the most part, we went to using tin seals to secure Registered Mail pouches. LPL is correct in that the lock is more a seal to show tampering. If you wanted the contents of a mail pouch, all you need is a pocketknife or scissors to cut open the pouch. After mail is prepared and "secured" in the mail pouch with the manifest, it is hand receipted at each hand off. The locks all use the same key. We still would use the locks if they were available, put they quit manufacturing them quite a while ago. Fun fact: Shortly before I started working for the USPS in '85, Registered Mail clerks were assigned a firearm to keep on their person while working with the Registered Mail.
Seems the lock is irrelevant if whoever wants to get into the bag can just hack their way in with a knife. Were clerks trained how to use the guns? That’s nuts they assigned them a gun, that would never fly today. I worked as an RCA in 2022, heard some other crazy stories about usps workers back in the 80s, they had to drive their personal vehicle and sit in the passenger seat while straddling across to work the pedals and steer 😶
7:43 Could you prevent the ratchet from locking by using a strong magnet to keep the pins from dropping in the groove - I assume the pins and springs are made of steel? To answer my own question - probably not as the pins at least look like brass. In any case these are some really neat locks
I feel like this would actually be a cool feature to have on other locks too. Want to know if someone's broken into your house? Or even just how many times you've unlocked the door? Check the counter! Probably too expensive to be practical tho. Oh well XD
I actually really like that, wish I could buy one new. A count of how many times something has been accessed could be interesting in all kinds of applications.
As with many things, they don't make them like they used to. So sad to see that the market place has abandoned good engineering. A well-designed machine is a work of art.
Cool Locks. Never seen one before. I think the simple reason for the difference in locks isn’t so much much to cheapen the Lock, but in the older Lock with the all brass parts is because it was made before the use of nylon.
Its amazing. He was probably the kid in school who was relatively quiet, kept to himself. You'd often see him starring at door handles and fidling with pad locks. Would Jimmy doors for fun. Most kids prolly thought him weird and strange nit giving him the time of day. Now 3 plus million of use watch his every move and hang on every word. Knowing he has something they don't. Something that few can obtain it takes alot of patience to get to this level. I truelyy appreciate 🙏 that.
Seems like the ratchet mechanism could be bumped just like the cheap solenoid safes. Just Give the lock a thwack on a hard surface. If there isn't enough inertia in the pins it might also be possible to bump them through the core by hitting the shackle. The shape of the ratchet surface on the new version is shown at 7:23. Going backwards seems like the best approach. It looks like you'd hit the ratchet pin pretty much immediately, then the drivers at 30 degrees, then the ratchet pin again at 60 degrees. That might be far enough to get it off the mailbag, if not, getting past the ratchet a second time sees the core turn backwards 180 degrees and it'll definitely come off. Overall either two or three bumps to unlock it backwards. The overall attack is pretty easy. No need for a tension wrench since the shackle is part of the core. It should rake open with a bent paperclip then bump and rotate a few times till the shackle spins backwards 180 and you have it open. The counter mechanism won't jam up since it actuates immediately upon forward rotation and we never go near that position. If it doesn't work you can just turn it forward a bit to re-lock and no one will ever know.
Very interesting and unique lock. I'm not really surprised that they decided to forgo security pins and moved from brass to nylon parts in the later models; maybe they had to cut some costs, and detecting tampering was more important then preventing it. Perhaps actual tampering with the bags is so rare that cutting a few corners was worth it in the prevention area.
No padlock can stand up to the presence of a Cordless Mighty Powerful Makita XAG13Z1 - 36 Volt Lithium battery powered steel cutter, armed with a high quality industrial grade 3M-7200 DAD (Diamond Abrasive Disc).
Imagine this: it’s April first and lpl uploads a video. There’s no voice over, it’s just him picking these locks. Before the video ends you see the open numbers on the locks… 420… 69… *NICE*
I doubt I'd get it back together, but if I could, I'd use a ultrafine paper on that and then buff it to a shine... The aged look is nice and all, but these things would look amazing fully polished.
Funny story- during the Scottish independence referendum of 2014, modern tamperproof stickers were used on the boxes to transport the votes to the central location. Here’s the thing though- NOBODY TOOK A NOTE OF THE SERIAL NUMBERS. I’ve since enquired about this and found that this is pretty standard practice in British “democracy”.
Do you have an actual verifiable source for this? If this were the case, and if there were any concerns about electoral fraud, then you can bet that the SNP would have instantly used it to either cast doubt on the referendum result, or to immediately demand a second referendum.
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I like how he says "oh no I opened it the wrong way" thats like the whole point of this channel.
pretty much
😂
Lol
😃 Thats funny actually.
Bruh I read this like it was subtitles because he said it immediately after seeing the comment
Me: oh wow, 18th century padlocks?
LPL: "Here we have the US Postal service's two newest designs"
I thought the same lol😂
Yep pretty much 18th century postal services are trapped in the 18th century
I'm a postal worker and this is accurate.
LOLOL
@@krisd5697 too funny, true or not, very good
next week on LPL:
[840] Nuclear Launch consoles picked simultaneously
[1,247] Fort Knox blast door picked in under five minutes
[1,666] Picking the lock to the gates of hell and starting the apocalypse.
[263791] picking the core of the universe under 30 seconds and making a pschyhospecidemic wormhole that creates a unitenchiual paradox destroying the universe as a whole
Honestly you could probably do that if you were good enough.
[8675309] Picking the lock to Jenny’s door in order to make her mine.
So is the point that's it's not necessarily difficult to pick but anything you do will show tampering signs?
Exactly. Essentially a reusable tamper seal.
Tan110688 - exactly. Look up tamper seals, they are almost exclusively very thin pieces of wire with a tag with a very specific serial number. So cutting it is extremely trivial, any dollar store pair of wire cutters could do it, but these sorts of bags are supposed to be under the constant care of a postal worker. I suppose the beefier locks are just meant to delay any sort of offensive seizing of the bag, like a person disabling the postal worker and going for the goods, this might slow them down or deter them a slight amount, maybe enough for police to arrive. The counter is there to keep honest postal workers honest.
@@wazz35 , they probably wrote it down....
@Hugohopser The numbers could be shipped separately along a different route (possibly by courier, or by telegraph, fax, the internet, or telephone) As long as they both get to a nonmalignant recipient who can check the numbers match, it's *much* better than just shipping the package unsealed
@@wazz35 Registered Mail also involves a Chain of Custody record. Every USPS employee who touches the lockbox has to sign receipt of it, date and time, and note when they surrendered it to the next person. The customer can demand that chain of custody record upon receipt.
Registered Mail can be used for DoD Secret material, and the DoD often requests that record, especially if the internal packaging shows signs of tamper.
I would have never guessed that the overclock security was simply because of a little bit of extra plastic preventing the thousandth position 9 to roll over to a 0.
in a way it's brilliant
I love how it basically embodies "Keep it simple, stupid". No need to be too fancy.
If it did change later, you then face the issue of being able to open it before it clicks over. You can’t lock it again without it incrementing, but then I guess it was a tradeoff they made during design.
Its funny seeing something I work with every day viewed with the awe and wonderment of an archaeological dig.
Brilliant locks that should be still used today. Manufacturers should look to the past for lost ideas that were simply not viable for the time. Great work! 👍
Thanks... I really like the idea of a counter for tamper resistance.
Fascinating design. The fact that the pick needs to inserted into the plug almost the entire way is almost a security feature itself. If the keyway would have been more paracentric and tight it would make for breaking picks much easier which would up the pick resistance, but at the end of the day its a lock for administrative use. keep up the awesome vids.
Thanks. The fact that the pins are so far back definitely makes it more difficult, but there's only so much that you can do with three pins.
Me: oh wow, 18th century padlocks?
LPL: "Here we have the US Postal service's two newest designs"
Gosh it is amazing how consistent LPL's content has been over the years.
"the two newest" that look ancient...
Looking at the differences between the two locks, I can quite clearly picture the death of someones career making locks.
We don’t even use these anymore unfortunately, now it’s just a yellow zip tie that’s numbered.
Looks like roman brass
@@Schaz42 that's stupid, zip ties can also be opened in a non-destructive way
@@DeeSnow97 im sure the postal service knows this and isnt gonna be that dumb, they for sure have a method for detecting when its opened in anyway shape or form
imagine you send out your package with like "0090" on the counter and you get it back reading 9999 and the lock won't open
Lol
These locks are for the internal use of the Postal Service, not for the person sending or receiving a piece of mail.
This is the problem
Imagine an employee to lock the device at 9999 without realising that it cannot be opened in destination.
I thought of this and the lock is probably designed in such a way that it will get stuck in open position.. At least that is what I hope.
I used those padlocks for years in my job as registered mail dispatch and receiver. I never thought much about the inner workings of those locks. Thank you for sharing your knowledge.
Someone may have noticed that a lock intended to "self-destruct" after 10,000 operations didn't need to be made from expensive machined brass when the molded nylon would easily hold up for the limited number of operations.
it's not to self destruct, it's to prevent people from opening it at a certain number and then rotating it 10000 times back to that same number, falsely indicating that the seal is unbroken
@@matthewlehman7937 - Exactly: to self destruct if that was tried. EDIT: or at least become inoperable, which is much the same thing.
@@matthewlehman7937 - anything that prevents the lock from functioning after some number of operations (no matter why it is done) is "self-destruct" in my book. I didn't mean to say that it would explode a la Mission Impossible. It's a quibble; never mind.
@@PeterWMeek agreeing with you here.
There are two explanations for that.
1.) You could theoretically melt the brass down and recast it as new locks.
2.) The federal government designed and purchased these.
This is such a great video, thanks for taking the time to make it. I have a very old version(sitting at 698 right now) and I've always wondered how the internals operated, so thank you kindly! I've heard that once these locks reach around 600 uses they usually retire them.
Thank you. 600? I guess that makes sense, and I was wondering about how long these lasted. I am seriously skeptical that the plastic ones would last 9,999 cycles. That's one open a day for over 27 years!
I love how you give us history, whether it's mail related, or cold war soviet union, it gives these locks a certain kind of value that makes me want to own them. Also the ingenious ways different locks are designed. Some of them look almost alien in design whilst others look incredibly primitive. I seriously can't wait to receive my hook and tension kits and start this myself.
This channel is just an ASMR thing this dude has such a chilling and calm voice
Commenting in 2022. This was a genuinely fascinating video, of the sort that got me hooked on this channel.
No advertorial, just analysis of a beautiful but, at one time, commonplace mechanism. Thanks so much for this.
That old lock was really cool. I love old finely made machines and the brass parts look so much better than the plastic
Those are very interesting locks. Thank you for showing them and drilling out the 2 so we can see the insides!
My pleasure -- thanks for watching.
That "counter wheel" feature is a cool concept! Strange that other lock designers don't try to incorporate something like that in their products, esp. those for more industrial usage.
Would work on lock out /tag out locks
@@twiztedzombxboxfu With lockouts you generally don't care how many times a lock has been used, you only care about it stopping a system from being energized. At least where I've worked much of the lockout equipment was nylon with identification of what department it belonged to. Couple places had locks, but I think that might've been a thickness issue rather than strength issue.
Ok, but that name and pfp...really
@@bravo6959 says the guy praising 69 in his name 😄
@@Coastfog true
Wow that was cool, thanks like always. My Pops was right, they don't make them like they use too!
Quite literally here.
Also I would imagine lock picking was a more marketable skill back then. Now it's a novelty. Probably easier to pop some seems in the damn bag and restitch the gap after :D @black guy
There's also another point: Most of the bits that involve resisting destructive methods are still brass, while the plastic bits are there to detect non-destructive tampering: If the lockpick goes for a destructive method to handle them, even if it's easier, it's still more likely to be detected, unless they take extraordinary measures to hide it, but if they have enough time and access to do that, they can do it with the older models as well, which is to say, basically taking the entire lock apart and putting it back on the desired number.
As such, there's little reason to have that extra cost for something that doesn't actually increase security.
@@marcellogenovese199 It's literally just a canvas bag. The point isn't to secure the bag against theft, but to secure whatever is in the bag against tampering. The chain of custody will make sure they know exactly where anything happens, including a bag vanishing.
At least in the older ones, you can drill two small holes into the screws holding it together and unscrew 'em with a security driver - that's what I did with one of mine that had a broken counter wheel. Thanks for the video - it's very interesting.
I realized that they were peened screws after I got them apart... Your idea mirrored my own. I wondered if I could drill a hole and use a broken screw extractor.
LockPickingLawyer A dull vibrating engraver may be able to unscrew it without further effort. I've done this on other security screws, but, no idea how tight these are.
that's a very good idea, Harbor freight has the blocks of tamper resistant drivers for like $7 and wouldn't look bad on a lock you plan to keep
@@lockpickinglawyer don't you have any working screw extractors? How did you break them in the first place!
@@CraftBasti The tool is actually for removing broken screws, hence the name broken screw extractor. It doesn't mean his screwdrivers are broken....
That is absolutely fascinating! I wonder if the similar locks you see on the money bags the armoured trucks use are similar. That is pretty dang cool man, thanks for the demo!
Thanks. No idea about the money bags, but it would certainly make sense... though I suspect that an economically rational player like a bank would use a $.01 plastic tamper seal rather than a $50 specialized padlock. Only the government does things like this!
+LockPickingLawyer hey man, even@$.01 the seals would cost 2x more than the lock if you always got the 10,000 uses out of each one
+Chris Morse - Not when you have to pay someone to record and separately transmit the counter readout of the USPS padlock. The one-time plastic seal comes out at much less than the price per use of the padlock.
@@Milosz_Ostrow wouldn't that just be the mail carrier? No one would be employed solely to count the number.
@@Milosz_Ostrow Old video but: Someone still has to record the anti-tamper seal as unbroken and it's built in serial number. Either way somebody has to write somthing down. ALso it's probably a lot easier to fake an anti-tamper plastic seal. There probably is a cheaper way to do it though than these, and i can think of a way to tamper with one of these if you've got the right tools and time.
I especially enjoy these older locks. What a treat . Thanks for showing it to us. The older lock of the two was made particularly well with the all brass internal components ,the counter milling ,and serated pins! what a great job. They sure dont make em like they used too.
These locks are used to date. The security mechanism is not the lock. The security mechanism is the United States Postal Inspection Service, the lock just lets them know someone needs to have the exit end of their digestive tract oversized in any one of the government's fine penitentiaries. Registered Mail is signed for every time it changes hands and is exceedingly slow but very secure. I am a mechanic for the USPS, don't work with accountable mail anymore, but the USPIS does come in to use our pedestal vise to perform maintenance tasks on their weapons every once in a while. They had to take muzzle devices off their new M4 SBRs that were not approved and it took me a minute to figure out that it wasn't a bold coworker bringing in a rifle to modify at work, it was an Inspector. [18 USC §930 keeps me from doing my gunsmithing and maintenance at work.]
Thank you so much for making these videos. Your voice is calm and soothing and the videos are informative yet not overstimulating. Whenever I feel my anxiety creeping up on me, I watch one of your videos. Thanks to you, I am now completely off of xanax. You will never know how much good you have done for me .
zpridgen75 good for you. :)
@@joycewheeler968 Thank you!
zpridgen75 your welcome. :)
Like always in your videos, great informations. Thank you for showing. Those locks are so beautiful.
Thanks.
As a window clerk, I deal with these every day. The older model can be difficult for us because it sometimes is hard to read the numbers because of all the debris from the brass plates. Also, there's nothing worse than dropping one after you've done the paperwork, because it frequently closes the lock, which means having to redo the paperwork. I've always wondered what they look like inside. Thank you for this! Can you do an arrow lock too please? They are the locks used to secure mail collection boxes and neighborhood group mailboxes.
Interesting they are still using these super old looking locks. I was a RCA, we didn’t see these at all.
I second the arrow lock. That is one crazy looking key
@@cornsyruptrucker They are used on registry bags. Mostly used to secure financial transactions.
@@lynnwillis441 No padlock can stand up to the presence of a Mighty Powerful Makita XAG13Z1 - 36 Volt Lithium battery powered steel cutter, armed with a high quality industrial grade 3M-7200 DAD (Diamond Abrasive Disc).
That has to be one of the neatest locks I have ever seen. I'd love to have a more practical version of that for a regular applications. At a quick glance you could see a tampering, or open...Tho that would depend on the offender taking the time to re close the lock after opening. Still its a cool lock. Thanks for the share.
I agree... I would love to see a nice high security version on this.
Evidentiary of: “they don’t make them like they used to.” Awesome content as always and thank you for it!
I think LPL stole my mail
also, the next video is LPL discovering a big security flaw in the white house door lock
Not a problem for No.10 Downing St. It doesn't have a lock.
The door can only be opened from the inside.
I think LPL picked my identity
Allan Gibson l
There was. It's been fixed. As of Jan 20, 2021.
@June Bug The brown was strategic.
It washed off the orange.
Sometimes I just forget that was life before I was born, what a nice beautiful relic from a nother time.
Pretty cool locks you have there very interesting that they can't be used anymore when the numbers are up. Thank for sharing them with is.
I was thinking about the fact that you can only use then 9,999 times... and really, that doesn't bother me. I doubt these things will last that long anyway!
+LockPickingLawyer So true my friend. That's a lot of openings.
When the lock reaches 9999 on the counter, couldn't you disassemble it, take it apart, and file that higher notch down to the same depth as the others on the newer one? Or just rearrange the counters. Pretty involved, but I think it might work. I know this video is a couple years old, but I had to throw my 2 cents in. Cool locks.
Excellent ! I will like to see how did you actually “drilled” out the brass cylinders that hold the lock together. I will like to do the same in order to reset the counter back if needed when I purchase one soon ! Thank you for your outstanding video series ! I have been watching them for a while now and they are “addictive”. I start watching one and I can easily spend a couple of hours or more watching them! Thank you Sir for a great Lock-picking Video Series !
Great video. Very unusual lock and well explained. The older lock appears to be of a better quality, all brass and better security. I wonder if Master Lock up graded the newer model (!).Thank you.
Thanks. The old one is definitely better quality... I doubt the new one would survive 9,999 cycles!
Master Lock moved most if not all of their manufacturing from Milwaukee to CHINA a long time ago.
@@isthatatesla was it 3 years ago?
Love the older postal service counter lock 🔐, especially with its all brass inner workings, now I got to find one
What a beautiful design on the older lock. Thanks for sharing!
Why does Mail and brass go so well together?
I don't know....
Maybe the best weight/cost/security compromise? Steel is too heavy, aluminum is too expesive?
Rust
My guess would be because brass doesn't spark. There would be less of a risk of fire if it were to be repeatedly jostled against another piece of metal in transit or in a handling facility.
Re Set this is exactly why, the chains for our arrow keys (which used to be ferrous and are now SS) are brass, it prevents corrosion as the brass touches a plethora of different surfaces and won’t oxidize them.
What a very cool little piece of kit! A lock with an Rev counter! Honestly a pretty cool idea in regards to tamper detection. Record keeping and verification must have been crucial for that as well.
What lovely pieces of history.
Very cool locks! Thanks for the exploration! I need to get one of these for my collection.
Thanks. Look on ebay... they can often be found for very cheap.
That's the most beautiful lock I've ever seen. What character!
cool locks shows how much our industries change in quality. nice video thanks for sharing it 😎😎
I agree... the change in quality is saddening. I really wonder if the nylon parts are up to the task. 9,999 openings is quite a few. That's once a day for 27 years! Not too many quality locks hold up to that kind of use.
@@lockpickinglawyer The same basic design plastic counters are used in vehicle odometers and will count happily past 1,000,000 in 1/10ths when made in nylon, brass is lovely, but the extra cost is pure waste, especially when the life is capped at (9,999 - factory testing) cycles.
Awesome pick, and review of two very different identical locks.
You are really outdoing yourself latly. Great job!
Thank you!!!
I worked for the USPS 25 years and never got to see one of these locks =)
you are lucky, they are annoying as hell. I'll take a tinfoil seal of the new plastic seals over using these every day.
Fascinating and very interesting locks, Thanks for sharing.
Thanks.
I wonder if the "piece of brass" acting as the ratchet on the second lock was possibly beryllium copper instead? I would not expect brass to have much of a sustained spring action and have seen BeCu used for mechanical pieces like those before.
No idea. You lost me at "beryllium." :-P But I'll trust your judgment on this one.
Hah, okay. Just thought from the use and difference in color might indicate as much. Btw, nice dissection and explanation.
OK, I just looked it up... Makes sense now.
Isn't beryllium quite toxic?
+DanielVidz - Yes, but I believe only in dust / small particulate form that can get into the lungs.
Very interesting lock!
Obviously not intended for high security but rather proof of tampering.
Good video, thank you!
Thanks, and definitely intended for tamper resistance.
LockPickingLawyer Is there no way to defeat the counter? Can’t pick lock at every ratchet gear in reverse? I just started watching tonight so I likely missed something obvious that screams “no”
That was really cool. Nice to see some actual intelligent thought go into designing something!
When I worked as an election judge in Texas (supervising polling places), we used both locks and numbered, tamper-evident seals for anything that recorded votes. The seals, of course, were to show whether a case or bag had been opened. The locks were presumably just to discourage the most casual attempts to open the containers.
Every one of your videos is fun to watch, but I enjoyed this one even more. Really great job!
The misalignment on the counter digits is a coded proof for roll-back indication also common in automotive odometers.
Their newest upgrade was to get rid of this entirely. Now we use plastic seals.
It's satisfying heading the second lock click and turn the numbers
Wow! I never knew these existed. Neat locks! Thanks for sharing!
My pleasure. I've always wondered why these kinds of locks are not more common!
i really like the counter on those old mail padlocks , i wish they still made em.
Wow, great video. Very nice locks, it is awesome to see the mechanism of the counter. When you said 3 pins I thought it can be right but there is clearly not enough space for more pins.
The evolution of the locks took a wrong turn somewhere, what a shame.
Thanks, and I agree that the introduction of plastic innards is a shame.
If you look closely at around the 13:00 mark, the brass backer of the last number disk has a tab that protrudes into the slot between 4 and 5, in the same place as the missing slot in the newer lock that would serve the same purpose.
LockPickingLawyer, if it still works reliability what's wrong with saving tax payers money? Nylon is a pretty good material.
Great explanation about the inner Postal Locks!
I guess if you knew how these locks were constructed "which we now do"
One could drill out the bottom peened over brass plug, disassemble/reset to the prior position, drill concentrically into the old brass plug, tap a tread and insert a short brass plug to then be peened over flush to the bottom of the lock.
Awesome video non the less :)
Yes you could do that... even better, the brass plus are nothing but screws with the heads removed. So you just need to grind a new screw head.
Too much work to steal a letter to Ms. No One hahaha
Registered mail is for things that are worth stealing. Classified information up to Secret, for example.
@@danpowell806 but you wouldn't need to mess with the lock at all. They are shipped in canvas bags. It never leaves postal employees hands. No sane postal employee is going to mess with registered mail.
loved that vid , nice to have a change & a bit of vintage history, shame to damage them but was great to see how it works !!!
Thanks. I didn't fee too bad about damaging them. They are pretty common, even if not well-known.
I am now fascinated with lock picking. Thanks for the videos
Wow. That old one really looks fine to me. The swivel idea is nice too.
For some reason, when the pins dropped from the lock things it was satisfying as hell.
Technically, by opening this lock for 10 000 times, you will return to the number that was there when the lock was used to its purpose. If the key would turn a whole 360°, one could use a power drill to quickly reset the digits. On the other hand, if the shackle is turnable while the key is positioned and been turned, one could rotate the shacke with a power drill and a tool made specially for that purpose.
All in all this was a very intriguing concept. Thank you for sharing this!
Amazing! Those counters make these a formidable foe! Whether they are easy or not. :)
One of the best ways to ship gold is via Registered Mail. Some gold mines ship unrefined gold to refiners that way.
The locks must not be much more than tamper indication, yes.
The Hope Diamond was shipped to the Smithsonian by the US Postal Service as registered mail. It’s amazing how little credit the USPS gets as far as government agencies go.
Messing with the USPS can get you in all sorts of trouble with state and federal law enforcement that messing with other shippers just won't.
@@isthatatesla They have their own federal police agency (the US Postal Inspection Service, USPIS) and said agency helped take down down the Unabomber among many other criminals. Enough said.
@@isthatatesla The post office has 2 police agencies. And if they need it they can borrow from the FBI, state and local police as well. It's generally an awful idea to mess with the post office.
I worked as a Registered Mail clerk for quite a few years of my 35-year Postal career. For the most part, we went to using tin seals to secure Registered Mail pouches. LPL is correct in that the lock is more a seal to show tampering. If you wanted the contents of a mail pouch, all you need is a pocketknife or scissors to cut open the pouch. After mail is prepared and "secured" in the mail pouch with the manifest, it is hand receipted at each hand off. The locks all use the same key. We still would use the locks if they were available, put they quit manufacturing them quite a while ago. Fun fact: Shortly before I started working for the USPS in '85, Registered Mail clerks were assigned a firearm to keep on their person while working with the Registered Mail.
Seems the lock is irrelevant if whoever wants to get into the bag can just hack their way in with a knife.
Were clerks trained how to use the guns? That’s nuts they assigned them a gun, that would never fly today. I worked as an RCA in 2022, heard some other crazy stories about usps workers back in the 80s, they had to drive their personal vehicle and sit in the passenger seat while straddling across to work the pedals and steer 😶
I love how the older looking one is in better shape.
7:43 Could you prevent the ratchet from locking by using a strong magnet to keep the pins from dropping in the groove - I assume the pins and springs are made of steel? To answer my own question - probably not as the pins at least look like brass. In any case these are some really neat locks
i don't know shit about locks, but these video's are pretty interesting and addictive.
your video is quite timely - I have a couple of these coming to me for a fellow collector in Canada!
Nice -- these locks are really cool IMO... especially the older ones.
The precision with which he works , makes me think he was a helluva researcher in law school & beyond .
I feel like this would actually be a cool feature to have on other locks too. Want to know if someone's broken into your house? Or even just how many times you've unlocked the door? Check the counter!
Probably too expensive to be practical tho. Oh well XD
Those are pretty neat. Very well thought out. I'm very impressed.
I loed the older of the two. Righteous brass on a fine invention.
That rotating shackle is cool.
The older one looks like a work of art on the inside.
Wonderful locks. Particularly the old school fabrication. Love to see more.
Thanks... I'm with you on the old school brass mechanism!
I actually really like that, wish I could buy one new. A count of how many times something has been accessed could be interesting in all kinds of applications.
As with many things, they don't make them like they used to.
So sad to see that the market place has abandoned good engineering.
A well-designed machine is a work of art.
Great video, very interesting padlocks, they are beauties. A pleassure to view, thumbs up again!
Thanks for sharing ;-)))
Thank you.
yay .. everyday is a school day .. I did not know about counting locks thankyou
These locks are magnificent
Cool Locks. Never seen one before. I think the simple reason for the difference in locks isn’t so much much to cheapen the Lock, but in the older Lock with the all brass parts is because it was made before the use of nylon.
That was fascinating. Thank you.
Its amazing. He was probably the kid in school who was relatively quiet, kept to himself. You'd often see him starring at door handles and fidling with pad locks. Would Jimmy doors for fun. Most kids prolly thought him weird and strange nit giving him the time of day. Now 3 plus million of use watch his every move and hang on every word. Knowing he has something they don't. Something that few can obtain it takes alot of patience to get to this level. I truelyy appreciate 🙏 that.
You are definitely the G.O.A.T.
Seems like the ratchet mechanism could be bumped just like the cheap solenoid safes. Just Give the lock a thwack on a hard surface. If there isn't enough inertia in the pins it might also be possible to bump them through the core by hitting the shackle.
The shape of the ratchet surface on the new version is shown at 7:23. Going backwards seems like the best approach. It looks like you'd hit the ratchet pin pretty much immediately, then the drivers at 30 degrees, then the ratchet pin again at 60 degrees. That might be far enough to get it off the mailbag, if not, getting past the ratchet a second time sees the core turn backwards 180 degrees and it'll definitely come off. Overall either two or three bumps to unlock it backwards.
The overall attack is pretty easy. No need for a tension wrench since the shackle is part of the core. It should rake open with a bent paperclip then bump and rotate a few times till the shackle spins backwards 180 and you have it open. The counter mechanism won't jam up since it actuates immediately upon forward rotation and we never go near that position. If it doesn't work you can just turn it forward a bit to re-lock and no one will ever know.
I've never tried picking a lock in my life. Why have I been watching these videos since yesterday?
You just get sucked into them.
They're good videos though.
You will
Very interesting and unique lock. I'm not really surprised that they decided to forgo security pins and moved from brass to nylon parts in the later models; maybe they had to cut some costs, and detecting tampering was more important then preventing it. Perhaps actual tampering with the bags is so rare that cutting a few corners was worth it in the prevention area.
It's amazing you can reassemble that.
That lock is genuinely a stroke of genius; even if you pick it, they'll know if you did. O.O
No padlock can stand up to the presence of a Cordless Mighty Powerful Makita XAG13Z1 - 36 Volt Lithium battery powered steel cutter, armed with a high quality industrial grade 3M-7200 DAD (Diamond Abrasive Disc).
@@salvadorvizcarra769 True, but they'll know it. Lol
Old is better than new, nothing new back here ❤.
Imagine this: it’s April first and lpl uploads a video. There’s no voice over, it’s just him picking these locks. Before the video ends you see the open numbers on the locks… 420… 69…
*NICE*
Love your victorian era padlocks mate
This one almost accomplishes what I wish locks did every once and a while, make the core really deep so they cant pick it with conventional tools
Im getting addict to this channel, I want to start lock picking as a puzzle challenge/skill test.
I doubt I'd get it back together, but if I could, I'd use a ultrafine paper on that and then buff it to a shine... The aged look is nice and all, but these things would look amazing fully polished.
I love this video, as I work for USPS
Funny story- during the Scottish independence referendum of 2014, modern tamperproof stickers were used on the boxes to transport the votes to the central location. Here’s the thing though- NOBODY TOOK A NOTE OF THE SERIAL NUMBERS. I’ve since enquired about this and found that this is pretty standard practice in British “democracy”.
Do you have an actual verifiable source for this? If this were the case, and if there were any concerns about electoral fraud, then you can bet that the SNP would have instantly used it to either cast doubt on the referendum result, or to immediately demand a second referendum.