Yale Lock - I'm struggling to find more info

[brianc053]

Hi everyone. I found this lock yesterday, and I figured that it should be easy to find more information about the lock, but I'm failing.
As you'll see it says "YALE" in the circle logo and "Made In U.S.A." on the top. Other than that, there are no markings anywhere. No model #, no serial # - nothing.

I still thought that with a little Googling I would find a catalog of old Yale locks or a history of them or something, but again - nothing. I can find similar-looking locks that various sites call "vintage", but nothing with a more specific timeframe.

Anyway, I don't think it's all that old (20th century with high likelihood) but the property owner is someone very interested in the relics I find and any history I can learn about them, so I want to try to tell her a story.

Thanks in advance for any additional information you can offer.

- Brian

 

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[DizzyDigger]

I don't see it as being all that old...maybe 1970's?

Does look to have been cut off with a hacksaw.

 

[T.C.]

Ask AU24K, he's "Da Man" with lots of knowledge on locks.

 

[TheCoinKid]

Agree with Dizzy. Looks like the Yale locks around my house in the 70's.

 

[GopherDaGold]

I dug that same lock.

 

[Erik in NJ]

Hi Brian, in researching my "bitted key" from several weeks back, I came across some very interesting books on the history of locks. There are some good ones still in print and some great ones out of print. There are also some great sites (some UK based). As others have said this lock appears to be fairly modern (post 1950), but the Yale Lock Co site may have some history on their lock lineage.

 

[brianc053]

Agree with Dizzy. Looks like the Yale locks around my house in the 70's.

Thanks Dizzy and CoinKid. This property owner will still say, "That's a 50 year old lock - amazing!"
And it does look like it was cut with a hacksaw Dizzy, and for various reasons that will be interesting to the owner of this property also.

The thing that was throwing me on this was that some of the auction sites had very similar/identical locks and they called them "vintage". I guess people throw that term around rather freely.

Erik, I'll probably do some more research on this but I'm not too obsessed - I was just hoping there was a lock expert that could say with certainty, "that's the XYZ model from 19xx" by just looking at it.

Thanks everyone.

- Brian

 

[Digger RJ]

Nice!! Congrats!!

 

[Wildcat1750]

Looks modern but it's fun to research nevertheless.

 

[boogeyman]

Thanks Dizzy and CoinKid. This property owner will still say, "That's a 50 year old lock - amazing!"
And it does look like it was cut with a hacksaw Dizzy, and for various reasons that will be interesting to the owner of this property also.

The thing that was throwing me on this was that some of the auction sites had very similar/identical locks and they called them "vintage". I guess people throw that term around rather freely.

Erik, I'll probably do some more research on this but I'm not too obsessed - I was just hoping there was a lock expert that could say with certainty, "that's the XYZ model from 19xx" by just looking at it.

Thanks everyone.

- Brian

1970s up to the 80s.

Hint - Everything on the auction sites are vintage dintja know! Wanna buy some genuine 1960s antiques?

 

[GopherDaGold]

Thanks Dizzy and CoinKid. This property owner will still say, "That's a 50 year old lock - amazing!"
And it does look like it was cut with a hacksaw Dizzy, and for various reasons that will be interesting to the owner of this property also.

The thing that was throwing me on this was that some of the auction sites had very similar/identical locks and they called them "vintage". I guess people throw that term around rather freely.

Erik, I'll probably do some more research on this but I'm not too obsessed - I was just hoping there was a lock expert that could say with certainty, "that's the XYZ model from 19xx" by just looking at it.

Thanks everyone.

- Brian

The term 'vintage' can appy to an item that is at least 25 years old so your lock can indeed be described as vintage.