Can you tell the year of manufacture from the code stamped on a Eagle Lock Co. key?

The key says: Eagle Lock Company, Terryville, CONN, Made in USA. And 54PQ17 on the opposite side. Would the 54 mean 1954? I guess it is just to make getting a replacement key easy, but I believe the company is no longer in business.

Eagle lock has been gone a long time. I don't know when but it was at least before 1985 if not back in the 1960s. As for the code having a date in it I would doubt it. I have never seen that in any code ref yet. Referring to a key blank maybe.

Thanks Halflock.

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Originally Posted by Pete

The key says: Eagle Lock Company, Terryville, CONN, Made in USA. And 54PQ17 on the opposite side. Would the 54 mean 1954? I guess it is just to make getting a replacement key easy, but I believe the company is no longer in business.

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The former Eagle Lock Co. of Terryville, CT was formed in 1854 and was at one time one of America's largest lock manufacturers. They went out-of-business in June, 1975 and I'm told all the old codes were destroyed at that time. Lori Corp. of Southington, CT purchased some of the machinery at auction and continued to make a few of the old Eagle products even after they were acquired by Kaba Ilco Corp. in 1978. Your code has no connection whatever with the year of manufacture, nor am I aware of any that does. Some American Lock padlock bodies have a three or four letter date code to indicate when it was made.

Pete Schifferli

Thanks for the info Pschiffe. Why the heck would a company going out of business care if other people found their key codes? It doesn't seem that secret. So far from the internet I have read that Eagle Lock Company went out of business in 1954, 1960, and 1975. But you added June to the 1975, so that sounds more likely. I also read they were established in 1833, but incorporated in 1854, and purchased by Bowser in 1943. It seems like this would be well recorded information somewhere. I don't find much info online about companies that closed long ago. And the Eagle Lock Company is one of them.

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Originally Posted by Pete

Thanks for the info Pschiffe. Why the heck would a company going out of business care if other people found their key codes? It doesn't seem that secret. So far from the internet I have read that Eagle Lock Company went out of business in 1954, 1960, and 1975. But you added June to the 1975, so that sounds more likely. I also read they were established in 1833, but incorporated in 1854, and purchased by Bowser in 1943. It seems like this would be well recorded information somewhere. I don't find much info online about companies that closed long ago. And the Eagle Lock Company is one of them.

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Some of your information is partially correct, for a detailed history see Locks and Lockmakers of America, Rev. 3rd Edition by Thomas F. Hennessy, pg. 9-14.

• 1854 James Terry & Co. (1840) merged with Lewis Lock Co. (1851) and formed the Eagle Lock Co.
• 1943 sold to Bowser Corp.
• 1960 acquired by Penn Akron Corp.
• 1973 purchased by businessman Gale Hummel

Pete Schifferli