US Reg'd Mail - Navy 14

By Frank Scheer ... October 2007

This example seems to be a forerunner of the early 1900s diplomatic pouch rotary locks.
There would have been a limited number of these locks used on pouches of mail among Navy Department offices. I suppose they went to the letter coding such as "PXZ" to make it less obvious as to what departments were using the locks when they passed through the registered mail stream between offices. The use of these locks was restricted information, so finding factual primary source documents that explain them is difficult. Impossible is more nearly accurate, unless you have been able to find source information I haven't seen.

The top cut along the key is the same as that used for a "PXZ" series rotary lock, which I think was used for the Postal Military Express.

If you have additional information on this padlock please contact this website.