A lock puzzle is a type of mechanical puzzle. It consists of a lock with unusual or hidden mechanics. Such locks are sometimes called trick locks, because opening them is like performing a magic trick. A matching key may or may not be used in this trick.
Lock puzzles have a long history.
Chinese jewelry boxes often contain trick locks and hidden drawers. An example of such a box is an integral part of the plot of the movie Shanghai Knights. Clive Barker's horror novella The Hellbound Heart (later adapted into a movie Hellraiser, followed by numerous original sequels) centered around Lemarchand's box which appears to be such a puzzle box but in fact opens the gates to another dimension when manipulated.
Other lock puzzles stem from the necessity to invent secure locks in the Middle Ages.
Lock puzzles are closely related to puzzle boxes.
Famous quotes containing the words lock and/or puzzle:
“Benjamin: Are you always this much afraid of being alone?
Mrs. Robinson: Yes.
Benjamin: Well, why can’t you just lock the doors and go to bed?
Mrs. Robinson: I’m very neurotic.”
—Calder Willingham (1923–1995)
“What are you now? If we could touch one another,
if these our separate entities could come to grips,
clenched like a Chinese puzzle . . . yesterday
I stood in a crowded street that was live with people,
and no one spoke a word, and the morning shone.
Everyone silent, moving. . . . Take my hand. Speak to me.”
—Muriel Rukeyser (1913–1980)