Where's all the technical and historic info?

[Pete]

Someone out there has to have a bunch of old sales catalogs from lock companies and safe manufacturers.

There must be diagrams showing the internal workings of the older lock mechanisms in safes.

How about a timeline with all the lock manufacturer's information.

A section with a photo of every key made by company.

There just has to be so much information out there but I find almost nothing on the internet. Even the section here for the historic documents only has one catalog scanned in.

I find the old safe mechanisms fascinating! And this site is fun! I am learning so much.

[Dean Nickel]

WOW.... You are looking for allot. Even the key for every manufacture would take a long time if anyone had them all. I have some (a few hundred OEM logo keys from only 6 lock makers and I KNOW I don't have them all being I only collect keyways made between 1900-1980 of lock makers that made Unit locks. That is so I can make keys to the locks I collect with the right logo keys from the time it was made.

I am sorry to say even the professionals don't have everything. Take the safe bolt layouts we have some of the common (there are enough that almost every tech will see one at least once every few years.) has taken decades to create books and even then it will never be done.

Now there is some books out there that cover some of the info on the lock manufacture of America over the last 150-200 years. I don't know of anyone that would cover more than just a country or continent. There are just too many over the last 100 years to know more than the larger ones or the one in your own country. Example I knew of Lockwood here but didn't know that it was a company also in AUS till 10-12 years ago.

As for documents/ catalogs there are collectors of those but you and I getting access is another matter I am sorry to say. I know of what LARGE collection in NYC but access for me would be a challenge. I would LOVE to trade catalog scans I have for any US lock makers catalog scans just for my archive. I have several old Yale, Corbin, Russwin and Sargent catalogs from the 1930s-1960s that I have been scanning. A few I got from Corbin Russwin when I visited the factory for my service book. I got to raid their document archive in the basement and found more catalogs than I could carry away. I have been looking for a scanner to make it faster.

[Doug MacQueen]

Wow is right. This is a security business and historically it has been fairly restrictive in what was given to the public. Even more so the further back you go. The internet is changing that somewhat, not to everyone's approval, but that is what is happening. If you were to join the different U.S. associations of NSO, ALOA and SAVTA you would then have access to buy all of their monthly magazines as well as much other info on locks and safes. If you spend the time to go to the big city libraries and historical societies, as I have, you will also find some catalogs and company info. Then there are the patents which you can collect and study, which I have done for many years. Jack Sullivan, a member of this forum sells a CD of collected patents. Also there a quite a few books on the subject, American Genius" being dedicated to U.S. safe locks of the 1800's. Since there are hundreds of companies that aren't around anymore, it is a tough job collecting and more importantly, absorbing all the information that is available. My suggestion is to read every thread on this forum and when you have done that, realize that you have now just scratched the surface. Doug

[Pete]

I will look into getting some books and maybe that CD. I have a few libraries near me that might have some old catalogs.

And I know there are many, many companies, but if there was a way for everyone to photo their keys, locks, and safes, then all the info can be added to a huge list.

It's funny to think of the old safes and locks as once being high tech. And they would have a secret mechanism, yet need to make patents to protect their designs.

[Doug MacQueen]

You are currently contributing to that list here. Doug