Padlock

A padlock is a portable, detachable lock with a shackle that can be passed through a chain link, hasp or similar opening to prevent theft, vandalism or unauthorized use. Padlocks appear across several ancient civilizations independently: archaeological evidence places them in the Roman world as early as 500 BC, they were used in China from the late Eastern Han dynasty, roughly AD 25 to 220, in early designs made of bronze, brass or silver with both key-operated and combination mechanisms, and in Europe padlocks are documented from the middle La Tene period, later spreading through the Roman world and, by the Viking Age, appearing as spring-mechanism padlocks recovered from the Jorvik settlement in York, England, dated to around AD 850.