Yale & Townie Manufacturing Co., Stamford, Connecticut - 2 movements, Type K31 1/2, prototype T pair

   A

A. Model K31 1/2. (sometimes called a 'bathtub' time lock due to the shape of the brass case housing the combination lock). This time lock was designed specifically for use in a freestanding bank chest designed by the Hibbard-Rodman-Ely Safe Co. of New York, NY (later the Manganese Steel Safe Co.). Each lock contained two Seth Thomas made 72 hour 'L' sized movements along with a four tumbler combination lock. The 'L' was Yale's medium sized and most popular type movement used in a wide variety of their time lock models. The safe contained a pair of these so as to encompass two combination locks and four (two pairs) of time locks. Unlike most time locks, with the exception of Consolidated, these operated directly on the combination lock rather than the safe's bolt work. Production runs for this lock ran from 1902 through 1911. Of a total of 1500 to 2000 of these locks made about 100 of these locks are now known to survive; fewer than 20 in sequentially numbered pairs. Movement #17,257, 17,258 case #821 and #17,289, 17,290 case #824. Single movement version. file 97

  B

B. Model Duplex No.3 ?, 1907. I suspect this was the first time lock Yale used for the introduction of their smallest movement size known as 'T'. The format for this introduction was similar to that of the K31 1/2, above; that is a pair of movements housed in a case with two cases used in tandem for a total of four movements. These however only contained the time locks and none of the combination locks as does the K31 1/2 and were meant to trip the automatic bolt motor shown here. I am unsure of the model designation for this time lock and used that which is on the bolt motor. However, Yale used letters for their time locks so the No. 3 may have been only for the bolt motor. The reason it's believed that these are the earliest T sized movements are the serial numbers. Time lock makers generally started their numbering system at 100 or as in the Consolidated Time Lock Company, number 1000. Case #11 and #12. Movement #100, #101, #102, #103.  3" w x 4 7/8" h x 2 1/2" d. file 133