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Beard & Brothers. Introduction Company History Little is known about the St. Louis, Missouri, form of Beard and Bro.., a safe making firm of G. N. and E. J. Beard that produced its first time lock in 1878. Beard & Bro. employee Phinnias King secured his first time lock patent in February 1878, #200,312 for a design based around an unusual gravity bolt that extended vertically through the top of the case. King's patent prototype was a full featured lock with an industry leading ninety-six hour movement and a calendar mechanism. However this model was never produced, probably due to prohibitive cost projections considering Beard and Bro.'s eventual advertisement of its lock as the "Best and Cheapest on the Market," according to their letterhead of 1880. However King did finally see a Calendar time lock based in part on his patent with a calendar function after Mosler later bought out Beard. The first time lock that Beard did produce drew in part on King's original patent but was based primarily on a second patent of March 1878, #201,535. This Beard Type 1 lock uses two carriage clock movements with platform escapements visible through the two round case-top windows. At the time even the finest carriage clocks used inexpensive brass for plates and platforms. Yet the movements in Beard's Type 1 used silver plates and platforms., an incongruous extravagance for a lock advertised on its price. The case is plain nickel-plated bronze with rectangular door glass. ¹In November of 1878, Beard & Bro. placed its first recorded order with E. Howard for twenty five time locks using its revised Type 2 design based on the March 1878 patent. The type two continued some elements of the the Type 1, including two forty-eight hour movements but these now are combined into a single pillar and plate design by Howard instead of the two discrete carriage clock movements used in Type 1. The central twenty-four hour dial and release mechanism were retained but included a number of significant changes, some seeming to conform to the revised E. Howard movement design. With the new Howard movements' forward facing escapements, Beard did away with the case-top glass portholes with a now more rounded nickel-plated bronze case, now with open crosshatch damascening - a signature E. Howard design. The front door glass took on the standard E, Howard-made "camel back" shape found on Yale, Stewart, and later Holmes time locks. But in the Beard Type 2 lock, the camel back door glass was inverted. There were a total of 175 Type 2 ordered from E. Howard between 1878 and 1885. Between November of 1885 and 1887, Beard and Bro. placed its last two orders with E. Howard totaling fourteen pieces, twelve Type 2 and two Type 3 which was substantially the same as the earliest Mosler design. The similarity to the Mosler stems from Beard & Bro.'s 1887 sale of its entire time lock business to Mosler with Phinnias King apparently moving to to Mosler as well. ²Beard & Brothers and their time locks
Breard & Bro. Type 1, 1878.
Beard & Bro. Type 2, 1878-79
Mosler Safe & Lock Model 1, first time lock by Mosler being a near copy of Beard & Bro. Type 3 lock after Mosler bought Beard in 1887. (1) American Genius Nineteenth Century Bank Locks and Time Locks, David Erroll & John Erroll, pg 204-205. (2) American Genius Nineteenth Century Bank Locks and Time Locks, David Erroll & John Erroll, pg 206-207. |
