Yale & Towne Manufacturing Co., Stamford, Connecticut - 4 movements, Quad-M, Quad-L

  A

  B

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  D

A. Quad-M, c. 1900. This was Yale's biggest and heaviest time lock using the companies' largest movements, the "M" size. Weighing in at twenty two pounds it was for use in the largest vault doors, see photo below. This example had the earlier nickel plated, geometrically damascened finish. The model was introduced in 1899 and was advertised to have a combined pull exceeding seventy pounds. It was a bit of an odd promotion since the Quad M did not depend on the movements to "pull" anything. It was sold for use with hand operated bolt works only and simply dropped the side release block within the case. This model as well as some others in the Yale line included an "Open Attachment" visible though the case door to the side of the movements. The mechanism allowed the lock to be wound and set but not actuated when the vault door is locked with the combination lock during the business day. Once the OPEN lever is thrown up, the time lock will secure the door when it is closed and locked. (1) The fact is that this model was scaled up to match the size of the larger vault doors. It would not look good for a massive door to depend upon a 'dinky' time lock to guard it even if this was a perfectly efficient design. Appearance, decoration and promotion was a big part of the industry at this time. The profit margins were large and so litigation to keep out competitors as well as impressive presentation to the customer played a large part in the design of these time locks. Yale made 109 of the early nickel plated model shown here and only two are known to survive.(2) 11 3/4"w x 5 1/2"h x 3 1/4"d. Case #57, movement #2482, 3988, 3989, 3990. file 145

B. Quad-M, c. 1908. Same model lock as above. Quad-M models beginning in 1908 had a brass machined case finish, smaller glass and winding eyelets in the metal door. Twenty five of this style are known to have survived. This example has all original consecutively number movements, a rare event with a four movement lock.  11 3/4"w x 5 1/2"h x 3 1/4"d. Case #157, movement #3578, 3579, 3580, 3581. file 153

C. Quad-M, c. 1920. This example is a retro fit which has had the original, larger Seth Thomas 'M' sized movements replaced by later Swiss made and smaller 'L' sized movements. These are the same size movements as displayed in the quad 'L' below, but the later Swiss made version.  In this lock no bolt dog is present, it used a side extension to hook into the bolt work thus there is no dog within the case to block the bolt work. This design was used in Sargent & Greenleaf's Model P but as far as this author knows has not been employed in any time lock made by Yale. Yet the outlines for the movement beds exactly match those for Yale 'M' movements in the time lock so one must assume this was originally a Yale time lock. Retro fits are rare since these were expensive and very few people were equipped or trusted to do this kind of work. Moreover banker's were reluctant to have this done since if the lock did not function correctly, the vault door could not be opened. Retro fits were only undertaken when the movements that belonged in a particular model of time lock were no longer available and it was impractical to replace the the time lock with another model due to the configuration of the vault door's bolt work. All of the other retro fits I have seen are associated with early Sargent & Greenleaf time locks, page one, page two. Those early time locks used proprietary movements made in house and as time went on those movements were no longer available. I have never seen a retro fit that was designed to replace the later designs that employed modular, interchangeable movements as used in this and all later time locks. It is true that the largest Yale time locks were always fairly rare and perhaps the availability of the 'M' movements became to difficult to maintain the lock and given the unusual bolt configuration of this lock, the retro fit became a necessity. 9 1/4"w x 5 1/2"h x 3 1/4"d. Case #427, movement #79273, 79280, 79281, 79282. file 164

D. Quad-L, c. 1920 - 1940. A smaller and rare version of the Yale four movement using longer duration 96 hour "L" sized movements made by Seth Thomas. Seth Thomas made replacement movements that fit the cases originally designed for the E. Howard movements after Howard exited the time lock business in 1902. 8"w x 4 1/2"h x 2 3/4"d. file 100b