"US" Lock ID please

[Joefriday]

Hello folks, new guy here with my first question. I recently obtained this lock and I would appreciate any information that you may be able to provide.

The only markings that I can make out are "Crilly Philadelphia , US" and numbers on the lock and key.

Thank you very much,
Rob

[Timothy]

Those lock are call Scandinavi Padlock. If you can post a picture of bottom of padlock may help to see what kind they are. There a lot of company made those padlock. As examlpe like Star, Segal, Yale and I sure there are other on this forum will give more information....Timothy..

[Joefriday]

Thank you Sir. Where any of those companies in Philadelphia?

Best,
Rob

[oldbiscuit]

Rob, I'm no expert on these padlocks,commonly called "Scandinavian" padlocks. They originated in the mid to late 1800's and some were still made as late as the early to mid 1900's. However I can say that there were several companies that made this style of padlock and several were from Philly including one company called Star. One of the easiest ways to identify a Star padlock of this design was by the keyhole. Most if not all that I've seen have a 5 point raised star with a rectangular hole in the middle on the bottom for the key. Each point on the star had a a series of dots which indicated the key coding for that lock. Another lock company from that period was US lock company. However I don't have much information on them either. That's a very nice lock to have in a collection, do you have more locks? Mark

[Joefriday]

Hello Mark,
Thank you for the information. The bottom of this lock does not appear to look like the Star lock bottoms that you described.

How many of these companies were in Philadelphia?

I am not quite a lock collector...yet. I have several military locks but I do not consider myself a collector of them although my main collecting focus is on militaria. My impulse is now to start looking for nice old military locks.

Best,
Rob

[oldbiscuit]

Rob, the only two that I am aware of from that period were the Star Lock Co. and Miller Lock Co. However there could have been more as a lot of these early lock companies were start ups that were sold and renamed. Also a lot of these early companies lacked the capital and sales force to expand and they just couldn't compete. Hopefully others with more background information on the histories of these early companies will chime in and help with more information. Mark

[Joefriday]

Thank you again Mark. I'm sorry that I'm not able to give more information on this one my self. The only thing that I can read on the shackle is "Crilly" and "Philadelphia".

Best,
Rob

[Timothy]

You do have a real nice lock. The lock could be make for city or hardware company of Crilly Philadelphia, but as is has print of US on the lock could be for Post Office lock, or US Army. This is only a guess. There are some company of lock that was in Philadelphia as I came up with six lock company. H. Arensfeld, Barret Lock CO, Mckinney, G W Nock (son)Penn Lock) & Joseph Nock (father), S & M Mfg CO...Timothy...

[Joefriday]

Thank you very much Timothy.

[Cacher]

Picked one of these open 30 years ago with one of those huge gigantic bobby pins.