Yale & Towne Manufacturing Co., Stamford, Connecticut - 3 movements, The T- Movement Automatic

At some point during 1906, 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 now that Consolidated's Dalton-designed round time lock was no longer available.

Ely Norris went to Yale, which began production of its T-Movement Automatic time lock in 1907 or 1908. This was Yale's smallest style of 'coffin' shaped time locks. The earliest Yale time lock to replace the Consolidated model may have incorporated Yale movements in a steel block made as a retrofit for existing Consolidated cases, but only one poor-quality copy of a photograph of this has ever been found. However Yale had no long term need for Consolidated's case design and by 1908 was making its T-Movement time lock completely in-house. As with its precursor, Yale's T-Movement used three seventy-two hour modular movements in a round case that also housed an automatic bolt motor, independently wound from the arbor at the top of the case. The case featured the same concentric-circle machine engraving as the consolidated model it replaced, but Yale's boltwork connected vertically within the back of the case rather than from the sides. Later production of the T-Movement mounted the three movements in a staggered format, Yale T361, with the center movement raised into the empty space of the round case and the automatic mechanism moved to the increased area below.

The case serial number for a Yale T-Movement time lock is found on the case interior, behind the movement mounting block. (This example is serial numbered 17.) The visible number "518" on the mounting flange was likely added by Ely Norris, corresponding to the safe serial number that the lock was installed in. Production of the early and the later types of the T-Movement automatic time lock are thought to have been quite limited, ending with Yale's introduction of the Model Y-361 in 1908. Today two examples of the earlier T-Movement automatic (this example) and four of the later, staggered T-Movement time lock are known to survive (the T-361 model). (1)

Model T-Movement Automatic, 1907. Yale's replacement for the three movement time lock made previously by the Consolidated Time Lock Co. for the Ely Norris Safe Co. cannonball model of safes until 1906. This was the precursor of Yale's later design made in a bronze finish, the T-361, which was superseded by the Y-361 in 1908, commonly known as the "pie movement" time lock due to its tri-oval shaped movements and door glass. So the T-Movement Automatic was in production for less than a year. This example is the same as pictured in American Genius Nineteenth Century Bank Locks and Time Locks, David Erroll & John Erroll, pp. 310-311. 5 3/4" dia. 3 1/2" d, 6 3/4" dia. with mounting flange Case #17, consecutive movements #T2570, T2571, T2572. file 184