# Another key find from Downeast Maine



## adshepard (Sep 4, 2013)

Found this key while diving near the old steamship wharves in Downeast Maine.  I had no idea what it was for at first but now I think I know.  But first I'll let members take a shot at it.  It's brass with the number 78 embossed on it and about two inches long.  It is also hollow.  I found it in about 20 feet of water.









 Alan


----------



## GuntherHess (Sep 4, 2013)

ships clock?


----------



## adshepard (Sep 4, 2013)

Clock, potentially a ship's clock was my first thought.  However with the number "78" on it I thought maybe not and kept looking.  The wharves also had many businesses on them over the water which gave me another thought.  Many of the wharves and their businesses were destroyed in fires and storms over the years.


----------



## cobaltbot (Sep 4, 2013)

railroad switch lock key?


----------



## towhead (Sep 4, 2013)

Yup, RR key...?


----------



## GuntherHess (Sep 4, 2013)

the form is similar to clock keys but I suppose it could be a ship state room key with that number.


----------



## UncleBruce (Sep 4, 2013)

[sm=thumbup.gif]


----------



## adshepard (Sep 4, 2013)

My next thought after somewhat dismissing the clock key idea was a night watchmen's key.   There were many factories along the wharves that utilized night watchmen.  I dismissed that somewhat after looking at some old night watchemn keys on-line.

 However I finally stumbled upon an antique key website and one of the categories caught my eye.

*Antique steamer trunk keys.*  I looked through them and this key matched some of them very closely.  


 So that is what I believe it is.  It makes some sense.  Over the years these wharves were heavily visited by steamships and there must have been thousands of steamer trunks being loaded and unloaded each and every year.

 Of course I could be dead wrong.


 Alan


----------



## toddrandolph (Sep 4, 2013)

Looks like a  key for a carpenter chest or something similar. Most trunks had pretty cheap locks and I don't remember seeing any double bitted locks on trunks, but they may be out there. This one looks like it was for a good quality lock like a half mortise lock on a chest. Rolltop desks also used this type of key but those are usually solid shank, meaning that the lock doesn't have a pin to engage the hollow key shaft. I'll bet that 1800s ships kept a carpenter chest on board to have the tools to fix whatever went wrong while out at sea.


----------



## adshepard (Sep 4, 2013)

> ORIGINAL:  toddrandolph
> 
> Looks like a  key for a carpenter chest or something similar. Most trunks had pretty cheap locks and I don't remember seeing any double bitted locks on trunks, but they may be out there. This one looks like it was for a good quality lock like a half mortise lock on a chest. Rolltop desks also used this type of key but those are usually solid shank, meaning that the lock doesn't have a pin to engage the hollow key shaft. I'll bet that 1800s ships kept a carpenter chest on board to have the tools to fix whatever went wrong while out at sea.


 
 Corbin Lock ( of my town of birth, New Britain, Connecticut) made double bitted locks for trunks according to what I can find.  However I have no proof as to what it actually is.  I rather like the carpenter chest suggestion.


----------



## cobaltbot (Sep 4, 2013)

Railroad switch key is definitely out as I only see single bit keys for that.


----------



## botlguy (Sep 4, 2013)

I believe the stamped / incuse (not embossed) number has to be considered important to discover it's use. To me it seems obvious that similar keys were made to fit a number of similar locks. For example, a locker or some such use, something that was numbered, several of them.


----------



## GuntherHess (Sep 5, 2013)

state room keys seem to be in this general form so doubtful that's what it is


----------



## adshepard (Sep 5, 2013)

That thought crossed my mind and pushed me in the direction of nightwatchmen's boxes.  I have read accounts in old papers from the area concerning nightwatchmen on theri rounds in the old factories as relates to catastrophic fires.

 Alan


----------



## adshepard (Sep 5, 2013)

> ORIGINAL:  GuntherHess
> 
> state room keys seem to be in this general form so doubtful that's what it is


 

 I've got a few stateroom keys from previous dives andcertainly not one of them.


 Alan


----------



## botlguy (Sep 5, 2013)

> ORIGINAL:  adshepard
> 
> That thought crossed my mind and pushed me in the direction of nightwatchmen's boxes.  I have read accounts in old papers from the area concerning nightwatchmen on theri rounds in the old factories as relates to catastrophic fires.
> 
> Alan


 Size seems to make sense but why the number? How would that apply to the watchman's rounds or his recorder. I don't know how his recorder functions.


----------

