Junkunc Bros. American Lock H10 Padlock - Oldest/First Ball Bearing Padlock???

[Retro00064]

Donnie, do I see a padlock with a similar American Lock Co. logo to the "Succr's To" one except that it has "PATENTS PEND." above the logo and "CHICAGO U.S.A." below the logo, with no Junkunc Bros. name? Cool! I wonder where that one would fit in a timeline of the American Lock markings?

Further evidence that the "Succr's To" locks are earlier:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Junkunc-Bros...5/321220096139

One side of that key has a cool old "Grip Tumbler" logo, while the other side says "Junkunc Bros. Successors to American Lock Co." The "Grip Tumbler" logo suggests to me that this is an earlier key.

Just for what it's worth, I've attached a quick pic of my American Lock padlock with the shield logo. The toe/open end of the shackle is on the right side of the lock. No "U.S." marking on mine.

[Donnie]

Yes Retro, coming in late on your query. The Brass one in my group has: PATENTS PEND.
on the top & AMERICAN , with ( lock co) under the AMERICAN & CHICAGO.U.S.A. ---on the bottom.........the key has ; American lock co. Chicago U.S.A. on one side & grip tumbler cylinder locks on the other.....I will get some better photo's up as soon as I learn this new camera.........the key is well worn..... I too would like to know where this one fits in the line up......... this lock also opens from the left...........Donnie

also, this lock has NO mention of Junkunc Bros. anywhere???????
not on the key, not on the lock

[Adrian Weber]

Hey Pete,

yes I received the pdf file so do not worry my friend! Thank you a lot for that :)
It is a very interesting piece as the style of it looks style like being 90s. Also interesting to note that in your brochure from 2003 the history of the company and the roots still seemed to be very important and were mentioned through the whole document. As in the catalog from 2009 no history is mentioned at all or only very briefly.

If you page along further, a pdf scan of American Lock Catalog 14 (c1962?) can also be found.

Where can that be found? Either I am blind or I am searching at the wrong spot!
A little help would be appreciated

My Logo timeline is nearly finished but I was not able to pin them to dates yer nor time periods. I am still waiting for one last package with shield Logo padlocks. I will post everything when finished!

[Pschiffe]

Sure :)
even though I hoped it to be older

Attached is a pdf of the American Lock 2003 catalog pgs. 1-20.
Sorry, The uploaded file(s) were too large to process. Will send to your private eMail addy.

Pete Schifferli

[Pschiffe]

U.S. denotes a padlock made to order and built to specifications of various US government/military agencies. According to an older American Lock catalog in my possession, Our locks have been in Military Service from World War I.... K1V106962 is likely the key code, presuming a 6-pin mechanism.

...the young inventor's (John Junkunc) other padlock designs were the company's now famous ball-locking key padlock..*

Junkunc Bros. acquired, and became "successors" to American Lock Co. in 1919 see link:
http://www.americanlock.com/the_amer...rican_lock.jsp

*adapted from Locks and Lockmakers of America, rev. 3rd edition, by Thomas F. Hennessy

Pete Schifferli

[Adrian Weber]

The plot thickens

I am still waiting on a post from BBE. I was hoping he could maybe clear the fog

[BBE]

The plot thickens

I am still waiting on a post from BBE. I was hoping he could maybe clear the fog

What can be found here and on the web is much more information than was available to Master lock when American was purchased. You have to realize that there was a perception at American that MLC was the enemy and that MLC just won. Many historical records disappeared. There are probably design patents for most of the logo's and being able to find them would produce a cronology of use for them, but I have no records at all. Everything I know about American products more than 15 years old didn't come from inside the company.
BBE.

[Retro00064]

The earliest American Lock trademark registration I have found via the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office TESS online search system is registration #1,064,297, filed September 24, 1975 and registered April 26, 1977. I looked it up recently and selected the first "Specimen" link in the Documents tab of the TSDR page for that registration and saw a photocopy of the front of an American padlock with the lowercase "american" logo.

http://tsdr.uspto.gov/#caseNumber=73...e=statusSearch

http://tsdr.uspto.gov/documentviewer...Index=1&page=1 (direct link to specimen gallery; download the PDF to view it in higher resolution.)

But I just looked it up again, and WOW, why didn't I notice before that that specimen gallery had 12 more pages in addition to the lock photocopy, those pages being a scan of American catalog #9? :O The lowercase "american" logo is found throughout the catalog, but page 7 of the catalog (page 8 of the specimen gallery) shows some American padlock models with the shield logo. Guess that settles the issue of whether or not the padlocks with the shield logo are the earliest.

Page 9 of the catalog (page 10 of the gallery) has an illustration at the bottom right of an H-10 padlock and hasp set with the lowercase logo, to the left of which is a smaller, older outline drawing of that set with what appears to be the same Junkunc Bros. American Lock logo on the padlock as on Adrian's N.O.S. H-10.

[Adrian Weber]

Got it thanks Retro

Soooo it looks like the padlocks with the aforementioned Junkunc-less American Lock Co. markings are actually the earliest ones

Which ones do you exactly mean with that now? You got me a bit confused
I just bought one with the Grip Tumbler on the key and have a box of the ones with the shield logo incomming. Not sure if I have that one that you just referred to.

[Adrian Weber]

Thanks Jeff you are welcome

I hope so too!

Like this we could create a perfect timeline for dating American Locks both with pictures and text and put in a pdf. I will do all that in the End if being successful.