Yale Lock Manufacturing Co., Stamford, Connecticut - 2 movements
Yale Model No: 1 c.1880. Double Pin-Dial Time lock (1). This was Yale's first time lock, and is probably one of the finest, complex and more beautiful ever made. Available with either 56 hour or, after 1885, 72 hour movements. An extremely expensive item the standard version was $400. A day of the week attachment, Sunday Attachment (2), was available for an extra $50. This lock is prior to the advent of the 'modular design' where individual movements were interchangeable. The movements were made by E. Howard & Co., Boston, one of the finest watchmakers of the period. Howard continued to supply Yale as well as other companies (Consolidated, Diebold) with movements for many years. Although a complex and expensive lock, it was popular and Yale made over 2100, therefore this lock for it's age is fairly common with over 400 known survivors of which 50 have the Sunday Attachment option. Movement #1227, case #1321. file 100 A feature unique to this type of time lock (pin dial) is that as well as being ' off guard ' it can go ' on guard ' in accordance with the settings of the pins. As such it is designed to run continuously, unlike the majority of time locks which go off guard when they run down. However, if the movements are allowed to stop completely they will take the lock off guard, despite the settings of the pins. Compare this model to the Yale single pin dial (a much rarer version).
(1) The pin dial is clearly a far more complicated design than Sargent & Greenleaf's Model 2, offered a number of innovations, the most obvious being the two front dials, each with series of twenty-four pins. Every pin, embossed with an hour of the day, could be pushed in, locking it, making the Pin Dial the first time lock capable of both unlocking and locking a safe at a predetermined time. Further the Pin Dial was the only mechanical time lock ever to be able to lock, unlock, and re-lock a safe for various one-hour periods throughout the day. American Genius Nineteenth Century Bank Locks and Time Locks, David Erroll & John Erroll, pp 164. (2) In 1876 Yale added the Sunday Attachment, which allowed the lock to skip the opening periods each Sunday. The mechanism is identified by two curved nickel runners next to the inner top third of the pin dials embossed with "Thursday Friday Saturday" and a small shield on each dial that is geared to rotate at one-seventh the rate of the dial. These shields move over the the names of the days, allowing the user to check to make sure it is accurate, and then, during the twelve hours Sunday day, will be interposed between the drop wheel and the pins, guarding the opening of the pulled pins and keeping the lock shut. This option was available after 1885. American Genius Nineteenth Century Bank Locks and Time Locks, David Erroll & John Erroll, pp 164. |
