Hollar Lock Inspection and Guarantee Company Philadelphia, PA, Model 3

The Hollar v.3 time lock was the largest and heaviest of any time lock made at 8.5"h x 9.25"w x 4"d and 29 lbs. The expense, complexity and size contributed to its limited production run.

Model 3. Circa 1901. This small company used the earliest 'M' sized movements supplied by Seth Thomas about the time E. Howard exited the time lock business in 1896. This example also has a set of the very rare 96 hour version of the standard 72 hour design. It was thought that there were only three of these movements existing until this example with four was found with a complete and consecutive set. This company's unique design incorporated an electrical device (located behind the top front  logo plate ) that could, in case of an emergency, allow the time locks to be rewound without having to open the  vault door. This could be useful in the case of a civil catastrophe such as riot or fire. an occurrence that Bankers of the 1890's would have been aware of, having seen recent unrest from such issues as race and labor organization as well as earlier concerns such as the Civil War draft. Apparently this was not a feature that the market felt justified the extra cost. Less than 100 Hollar locks were made in two design formats of which only two of each format are known to survive. Given the many similarities in the case design and the fact that Hollar's movements were interchangeable with Yale's, and indeed the Model 1 was equipped with Yale insignia movements and used Yale's Model Quad N case design, the locks were certainly supplied by Yale. Just as Hollar designed, but did not fabricate safes and vaults, it appears that this too was the case with its time locks. Later Yale would help out another new entrant into the time lock market, Mosler Safe Co. in 1916. Case #362, movements consecutively numbered M.H. 69, M.H. 70, M.H. 71, M.H. 72. The M.H. designation for the 'M' size and 'H' for Hollar. 9.5"w x 9"h x 4"d. file 11

An article from Scientific American April 21, 1906 (see below), explained the value of Hollar's winding device: "Should conditions arise, however, which would, in the opinions of the proper custodians of the vault, justify them in keeping the vault locked for any additional number of hours, beyond the time for which it was originally set, this can be accomplished without opening the vault doors, and without anyone having to access the locks. The value of this feature may be illustrated when the contingency of fire or or riot is considered, for in either case it would be undesirable to permit the action of the time lock mechanism to make possible the unlocking of the vault. Under these conditions, all that would be necessary would be to simply close a switch, when the time lock movements would be electrically rewound, thereby preventing the opening of the doors until the expiration of the added number of hours."

Most complex or otherwise esoteric time locks like the Hollar, Holms and Consolidated Dual Guard have either been modified or replaced as time went on and their reliability or serviceability became problematic. In the case of Hollar it was especially easy to convert the lock to a Yale Quad N by replacing the third winding mechanism with a regular third movement and the Hollar snubber bar with the Yale counterpart, so few unaltered examples of the Hollar survive.

The two photos above show a Hollar v.3 mounted to a Hollar vault door. Notice the case color is the standard Yale silver finish. This is not so surprising as Hollar had always subcontracted their time lock movements to the Yale company. But this is the first example of the silver finish this author has seen. Note that the cover plate at the top where the rewinding drive coil is located is missing, it is likely that the electrical rewind feature has now been disabled. Photos courtesy of Paul Broughton.

Most complex or otherwise esoteric time locks like the Hollar, Holms and Hall/Consolidated have either been modified or replaced as time went on and their reliability or serviceability became problematic. In the case of Hollar it was especially easy to convert the lock to a Yale Quad N by replacing the third winding mechanism with a regular third movement and the Hollar snubber bar with the Yale counterpart for the Model 1 and 2, and nothing needed to be done for the Model 3 so few unaltered examples of the Hollar survive.

This vault door, in Willmington, Delaware is designed by the Hollar company has the signature brass case coloring. The vault maker is illegible on the name plaque.

*American Genius, John & David Erroll, pp. 276.