Americana

In the mid 1700s, locks were few in the Colonies and most were copies of European mechanisms. With the founding of the Republic and the new prosperity, there was a growing demand for sturdy door locks, padlocks, and locks for safes and vaults, and so the American lock industry had its start. Each native craftsman had his own ideas about security, and between 1774 and 1920, American lockmakers patented some 3,000 varieties of lock devices. Among was the patent for a "domestic lock," by Linus Yale, Sr. This lock was a modification of an old Egyptian pin-tumbler principle that utilized a revolving cylinder.

In the early 1920s, Walter Schlage advanced the concept of a cylindrical pin-tumbler lock by placing a push-button locking mechanism between the two knobs.

Emphasis was on security; yet equally important to the modern architect and decorator, the lock became an intricate part of the door design. It was now possible to select complimentary styles of locks, metals, and finishes.

Shown here is a rim lock from Fort Sumter at Charleston Harbor, South Carolina. The Fort was the site of the start of the Civil War. On April 12, 1861, the Confederate forces opened fire on Fort Sumter, a federal garrison. After a bombardment of 36 hours, the Fort surrendered on April 14. The lock was found by Captain James Kelly, formerly a blockade runner, when he was delivering materials for the rebuilding of Fort Sumter at the close of the Civil War.

The revolutionary Schlage lock is a completely different concept of a cylindrical lock with the button-in-the-knob mechanism placed between the knobs, introduced by Walter Schlage in the early 1920s.