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Thursday 15 August 2019

Yale lock

The yale lock consists of a cylinder which can rotate inside a housing to turn the bolt. In the cylinder is a row of holes, which match another row in the housing. When the lock is locked, two pins, held in each of the holes by a spring, prevent the cylinder turning. When the correct key is inserted, the lower pins are raised so that they reach the edge of the cylinder and allow it to turn.


The pin-tumbler lock was invented on June 13, 1844 by lock shop owner Linus Yale Sr.  It is a lock mechanism that uses pins of varying lengths to prevent the lock from opening without the correct key. Yale drew his inspiration from the Egyptian pin-and-bolt locks which were made of wood.

Linus Yale Jr. (April 4, 1821 – December 25, 1868) originally tried his hand at portrait painting before beginning to assist his father in improving bank locks. By 1849 he had set up a small lock factory in Shelburne Falls, Massachusetts and he began to invent and manufacture a continuous series of improved locks, both for banks and private use.

Linus Yale Jr

In 1851 Yale Jr. patented the first "double lock" - two locks within one case, operated by a key.
Inspired by the original 1840s pin-tumbler lock designed by his father, Yale Jr invented and patented a small cylinder lock with pin tumblers. It was operated by a smaller flat key with serrated edges as well as pins of varying lengths within the lock itself. This was the first modern pin-tumbler lock.

In 1863 Yale Jr patented the Yale Double Dial Bank Lock, the first dial-operated combination lock, which is the basis of bank safe locks still in use.

Linus Yale, Jr.'s 1865 patent for a pin-tumbler lock and key was a drastic improvement over previous models, and is the basis for pin-tumbler locks still in use.


With his Massachusetts factory busy making bank locks, in 1868 Yale Jr formed a partnership with John H. Towne and his son Henry R. Towne and set up the Yale Lock Manufacturing Company in Stamford, Connecticut, to make cylinder locks. Yale died soon after the factory began production.

Source Europress Family Encyclopedia 1999

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