Consolidated Time Lock Co., Cincinnati, Ohio - 1 movement mounted to Hall combination lock

  A

                                                                     B

A. Single movement Consolidated lock mounted to a combination lock by Joseph L. Hall, Cincinnati, Ohio. c. 1885. Consolidated Time Lock was a separate, but wholly owned company of the Hall firm. This was done to shield the parent company from the litigious environment that permeated the time lock business at that time. This is an important example of a short transition period that the development of time locks took. At first total control of the opening of the vault was not quite trusted to the time lock alone. The following is quoted from The Lure of the Lock, The John M. Mossman Collection, "This lock is of greatest possible interest as it contains a secret combination which can be used in case of "lockout". (Failure of the time lock). "This combination was held by the maker until an emergency arose when it would be telegraphed to the bank." Of course what's to prevent someone from inside the time lock company from performing an unauthorized entry? Seems to negate the entire purpose of the time lock in the first place. Soon, however, bankers realized the reliability of these locks, particularly when two or more movements were used to add redundancy, see safe door photos below. Movements made by E. Howard & Co., Boston, MA. made under the H. Gross patent of February 8, 1876. This is the only known example. case #3099, movement #3099, combination lock bolt #4072. See below photos of an example of a Consolidated dual movement time lock in conjunction with a Hall (later Consolidated Co.) combination lock on a safe door. file 9

B. Similar single movement Consolidated lock as above but mounted to a dual combination lock, also by the Joseph L. Hall company, c. 1883. This lock has a pair of four tumbler combination locks. Notice how easily this wheel pack can be removed for service or, in most cases, an easy change of the combination numbers, photo five. As with the above time and combination lock, this is the only known example of a single movement time lock controlling a dual combination lock. The rarity being in the fact that only a single movement time lock is used; offering no redundancy. case# 2370, movement #2370, combination lock bolt #296. file 152

Both of these locks represent a rare variety of 'transitional' time locks. Early locks that used both a time lock movement as well as an integral combination lock that could be used to open the safe in case of a timer failure. This was during a time when some bankers still did not quite trust the fact that their safe would be under total control of the time lock. Notice that these locks used only one movement. The use of redundant movements obviated the need for all the complex and less reliable or secure backup approaches. It should be noted that in the entire history of the use of factory installed time locks with redundant movements, when the lock was properly used and serviced, and in the absence of tampering or efforts at forced entry to the safe, there has never been a total failure of a time lock resulting in the door being unable to be opened. The safe door below shows this transitional arrangement with a single movement time lock controlling a single five tumbler combination lock as illustrated in example A.