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I'm fairly new to this but am fascinated by these padlocks.
So when I look into the keyway of the Champion 6 Lever padlock I see 6 levers that the key needs to manipulate into the correct position to open the lock. I get that.
When I look into the key way of the Champion 4 Lever padlock I see 5 levers that can be pushed. I don't get that!
What is the other lever for if this is a 4 Lever padlock?
Any help in further understanding this is greatly appreciated.
I am including photos.
I do not have keys for these locks but in the future I plan to decode them and make working keys.
I also plan to purchase the book on Antique Padlocks by Lauren.


PS This my second attempt at making this post, the first attempt came up with the notice, "Your Message contains too few characters."

I have never had a 4 lever lock, so I don't know why it would have an additional lever. If you dig around on this forum, there's information on how to decode the 6 lever locks. I have Lauren's book, and it's interesting and useful for making keys for a variety of different antique locks. I wish you much success in making your keys!

Sorry to wake the dead, but others will no doubt look for this info.

It appears that while the 4 lever version was patented, it was never made as a four lever. They may be marked as 4 lever locks, but they were made with 5 levers. Have several of these locks, and it threw me for a loop when I got my first 4 lever lock and saw 5 levers. But it is standard.

Gordon

Thanks for posting this - this is a part of the history of these locks that I didn't know!

--Ted.