Here's some puzzle boxes which have got some very advanced mechanisms inside to open them.
It's a part of the world of mechanical puzzles which I think is a most attractive part of it.
These are much, much sought after.
This is a particularly clever one because it's a time delay one.
You actually have to have the box...
you can't open the box, it's impossible to open,
but when you have it at a certain angle like that and let some time elapse,
inside is a little egg timer,
one of those little things with sand falling down, and when a sufficient time has elapsed,
about 20 seconds usually, then this lid will open.
Well, who can think of that?
It's just something you have to discover for yourself I guess.
Is it ready to open? Not quite.
Sand still falling down inside.
Let's try it like that, yes, and there she is.
So there's the little egg timer there, and when that's tilted down,
when the sand's fallen down to this end,
this thing is going to tilt up and attach itself or obstruct the lid from being pulled back.
There are a couple of other little security devices so you can't just simply turn the
thing upside down and hope to solve it like that.
You have to have it at that angle like that, let all the sand fall down into this half
of the sand timer, then and only then will the box open.
What a brilliant idea.
There are two or three in this range, but these are all ones where there's a hidden tool
or a tool that's there
but you have to know what you're doing with the tool.
So this one here in one end has...this is the end that's normally open,
and you take out from it a little match. It's supposed to be a little match box.
And you're supposed to strike it on the plate like that. An action like that.
You can feel immediately there's a magnet there.
Then the other side of the box will open.
It doesn't always work but it's a nice concept. So the match is needed
in order to make the other side of the box open.
And this one, which is a beautiful reproduction of an old Hoffman one from the 1850s.
It's a barrel with a little marble inside it, and to open it what you have to do is
you have to squeeze very hard, top and bottom like that.
And when you're doing that there's enough friction for me to unscrew the bottom of the barrel
which has got a little lid with a marble inside.
Again very, very hard to find that and so unusual, I don't think any other puzzle
has ever been made of this sort.
So, you're definitely on new territory when you're trying to solve a puzzle like that.
Both of those then require a tool, which is provided,
but you have to find out how to use the tool.
This is probably the most remarkable one, although it's not working anymore.
But it's a magnetic orientation box. This one you have to point to a certain position in the world.
You have to point it I think to the South.
And then inside, though it's all broken up, I've had great fun finding out how it works,
there's a little magnet, a wheel here,
very well balanced with a magnet on it; when that orientates to the right position
this slot allows a small mechanism to operate and you can pull the lid open.
So this box actually has to be pointed in a certain direction.
You have to do it in a room that hasn't got too much metal in it.
You can't do it in a big office building, I don't think.
So there are limitations where the earth's magnetic field is a bit weak.
I did thoughtfully manage to put a small magnetic compass in with it, just to convince myself
I've got to actually point it in the right direction.
A beautiful bit of engineering that one.
This is a pneumatic one which again is a great rarity. There are very few of these around.
This is more like a disassembly puzzle, but they certainly could make a box of this sort.
This one requires you to blow inside that hole there as you're pulling the thing forward.
[Blows into hole]
When I blow hard two pins fall out. One of them actually is a gravity pin,
this one here will just slip down and recess when you turn the thing upside down.
But the other one, the interesting one, is this one here which sits in there
and when you blow hard on the hole it's pushed up in the air into this little recess here.
It allows you to unlock the box as it were, to take the lid off.
So pneumatic, it requires air pressure.
And there are others which I've come across recently
but I haven't actually got in my collection.
One which requires you, a thermal lock they call it, you have to put it in the refrigerator
because inside is a little bimetal strip which will move when it's cold enough.
That's a nice idea.
There's a sat nav one which has been recommended...it hasn't yet been made
but it's going to be made I think...
where you have to put the box in a certain person's backyard,
in a certain part of I think California.
Then and only then the sat nav, it will open. Wonderful ideas.
I'm proposing to have a voice recognition box, you know the sort of thing?
You talk to it and say something like, 'Open Sesame' then it will open. What a lovely idea.