This photo shows, left the later movements with the Consolidated plate screwed
over the area where Elgin's name would be. Right is a movement without the
alteration, the first letter of "Elgin" is just barely visible above the numeral
72 on the setting dial.
A. c. 1904. First larger scale production version of Consolidated's
modular time lock movements,
abandoning individual time lock movements for production watch movements from Elgin
National Watch Co. This new design was based on Harry Dalton's patent #775,523
dated November 22, 1904 (see below). The new design may have been motivated by the fact
that the E. Howard company stopped making movements for time locks sometime in
1902. Notice the shock resistant spring mountings for each lock as well as the
beginnings of interchangeable modular design that was the trend in the industry by this
time. This lock has signed Elgin Nat'l Watch Co., Elgin, Illinois, movements, fifth photo. This
signature was quickly replaced with Consolidated's own logo and the early
numbers stamped on the movements demonstrate this. The last photo shows a
Consolidated rebadged, (left) and original Elgin signed movement (right). The
rebadged movements would remain with their change in movement suppliers until
the demise of the company in 1906. Consolidated and it's earlier incarnation as
Hall Safe &
Lock paid special attention to their case decorating. Here, although
the design is plain compared to their earlier models, they do a diamond
crosshatch on the case sides verses square pattern for the door, third photo.
Consolidated ceased production in 1906, so while this style of lock is of a
later vintage than those shown with the earlier Howard movements that have the
horizontally mounted balances, there were fewer of these made making them rarer. 4"w x 3 1/2"h x 2 3/8"d. Case
#1271, movements stamped #22, #23. Dials numbered #8165, #8186.
file 80
Harry Dalton's patent of November 22, 1904 marked a
significant innovation in time lock movements. While he was not the first to
use pocket watch movements within a time lock; that distinction belongs to
a pair of patent models by
Overmyer & Huston in 1876, but their time
locks were never commercially produced. Later Yale with the introduction of their
Type B model in 1888. was the first to be
commercially produced. However that design
incorporated three watch movements within one unit, each acting in concert
to operate the lock. Aside from Holbrook's Automatic time lock of 1858 which
saw such limited production that it had little effect on the trajectory of
the industry, Yale's time lock was the first to introduce modularity in a
production run time lock. Dalton's innovation as reflected in this patent
was to take that a step further and make each pocket watch movement a
self-contained modular time lock movement. He claims several advantages. The
first being that this design can use any common watch movement allowing
freedom from being bound to one maker. This was fresh in the minds of the
time industry as E. Howard had recently exited the time lock business in
1902 after its takeover by the Keystone Watch Case Co. leaving many firms to
search for alternatives. Second a pocket watch, even a common class variety
will generally have a finer escapement than that found on a special-purpose
time lock movement, although how useful this is in the application of a time
lock is questionable. Third, he claims that by using 'off the shelf' watch
movements he can produce movements at less cost than would be from a special
purpose made time lock.
Another reason that Dalton's design successfully employed a
pocket watch was the fact that the large spring used to give a 72 hour
duration was not geared up as was the case in
Yale's, where a small pinion to the watch was powered by a large spring
barrel gear. The Dalton patent drawings illustrate that the opposite is the
case where the spring barrel has a smaller diameter than the wheel used to
drive the watch, giving mechanical advantage; making the power drive efficient and thus more reliable.
In reality this design gained limited acceptance in the
industry. There may have been some good reasons for this. The servicing of a
watch movement is much more difficult than a special-purpose time lock
movement. The latter are specially designed for easy service with holes in
the plates at convenient locations for lubrication and removable escapement
platforms. Furthermore, the entire mechanism and all its components are
twice the size of those found in a pocket watch which tends to make
servicing not only easier but requires a bit less expertise.
Besides the Consolidated company one only finds this design
used by Bankers Dustproof Time Lock Co., Ohio Time Lock Co., and Mosler Safe
Co. This is no coincidence. Some circumstantial evidence suggests Bankers
Dustproof was the result of Victor Safe Lock's purchase of Consolidated in
1906 and banker's began production in that same year; further, Bankers
Dustproof movement designs were almost exactly the same as those of later
consolidated modular movements, the only difference being the fixed or
turning dial (1). Bankers was
sold to Mosler in 1915, and the short-lived Ohio Time Lock Co. (in business
two years), which shared many features from the Bankers design was also
bought out by Mosler in 1916. Even Yale, the first to use pocket watches in
their Model B through E series of locks never turned to pocket watches again
in any of their subsequent time locks.
