Antique padlock Yale & Towne Mfg. Co. Stamford Conn. U.S.A. With key. 1930s

Antique  padlock Yale & Towne Mfg. Co. Stamford Conn. U.S.A.  With key. 1930s

Size 3.5 x 3 cm

Yale is one of the oldest international brands in the world and its roots can be traced back to colonial America. The Yale family immigrated to the New World from North Wales. A few generations later, in 1840, Linus Yale Sr. started working on the first Yale locks at his shop in Newport, New York.

Linus Yale Sr. specialised inexpensive, handmade, high-security bank locks, but it was when his son, Yale Jr., joined the business in 1850 the company started to pick up steam.

After getting aboard the family business, Linus Yale Jr. started working on perfecting his father’s pin tumbler cylinder lock – an innovation at that time.

Inspired by the original 1840s design, Yale Jr. created his most important invention: the Yale cylinder lock. The mechanism used pins of varying lengths to stop the lock from opening without the correct key.

In addition to the pins within the lock itself, he also patented a flat, saw-edged key needed to open the lock. The same design is widely employed across the world today.

Another innovation we couldn’t leave out is the Monitor Bank Lock which was introduced on the market in 1862 by Yale Jr.  This was a turning point as far as bank locks were concerned as it marked the transition from key locks to dial or combination locks.

The same principles Yale Jr. used to create the Monitor Lock are now standard in combination locks across the United States of America.

Between 1843 and 1857, Yale registered eight patents with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office in regards to the pin tumbler safe lock, safe lock, bank lock, vault and safe door bolt and padlock.