Consolidated Time Lock co., Cincinnati, Ohio, 3 movement Dalton Automatic for Ely Norris, v.1

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In the second photo one can see the original design of the boltwork connecting horizontally. In Yale's T-Automatic replacement lock the boltwork was vertical.

   

These two photos show the snubber bar assembly. The slanted tail of each timer pushes against the round bollard attached to the snubber bar which is pivoted at each end causing the bar to push downward on a button located just to the left of the center movement placing the lock off guard. To this author there is a rather crude and improvised feel to this design.

At some point during 1906,¹ the Consolidated Time Lock Co. stopped production, bringing to a close the last of Joseph Hall's legacy of independent lock production. While historically interesting, this also had commercial consequences. One of these was to force Ely Norris Safe Co. to go elsewhere for time locks for its cannonball-style safe. Ely Norris also had another model of time lock made by Consolidated the Dalton-designed automatic v.2 , but this was designed for a different model. The lock illustrated here was one of the few examples Consolidated produced before their demise for the Cannonball safe. Afterward they turned to Yale which developed a new smaller version of their flag ship L-movement, it was their T-Movement Automatic and this was first used as a replacement for the original Consolidated time locks seen in the example here. By 1908 Yale had completely redesigned the time lock to incorporate three staggered T-movements the Yale T-361. The Yale Y-261 and Y-361 have identical case designs (with the exception of the glass openings) to the T-361 so it is commonly thought that these were the models that supplanted the T-361 but it wasn't until 1909 that Yale developed the new Seth Thomas tri-oval-shaped Y-movement, the last type to be developed by Yale. The Y-models were for another safe by Ely Norris, their Manard line.²

Harry Dalton Automatic for Ely Norris, v.1., 1904. The second version c. 1905, substituted a sliding lever for the key actuated square arbor to wind the bolt motor as well as replacing the fixed front bezel with a hinged door. This is the only example known to date of the v.1 Dalton Automatic. 6 3/4" dia. x 3 1/4" d., 9 1/4"dia. with mounting flange. Case #27, movement #38, #188, #214. file 326

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(1) This author has some question as to exactly when the Consolidated Time lock Company went out of business. A case can be made with the Harry Dalton v.2 Automatic for Ely Norris for a later date to at least 1914. That lock is described in a patent #1,109,666 dated September 8, 1914 and is the same lock as illustrated in American Genius Nineteenth Century Bank Locks and Time Locks, David Erroll & John Erroll, pg. 304-305. Furthermore another lock with different style Harry Dalton movements appear in a time lock with a Hall's Safe Co. logo that is illustrated in a patent #1,632,429 dated June 14, 1927.

(2) American Genius Nineteenth Century Bank Locks and Time Locks, David Erroll & John Erroll, pg. 310-311