Type | Public |
---|---|
Industry | lock manufacturer |
Founded | 1925 |
Headquarters | Indianapolis, IN, United States |
Key people | Frank E Best, Founder, deceased |
Parent | Dormakaba |
Website | www.bestaccess.com |
Best Lock Corporation was an American publicly traded door hardware and lock manufacturer. Founded in 1925 as Best Universal Lock Company by Frank Ellison Best, the privately held company relocated from Seattle, Washington, to Indianapolis, Indiana, in 1938, where operations expanded and evolved. Product offerings are now marketed under the Best Access brand, which is one of several trademarked corporate divisions in Stanley Black & Decker's Stanley Security group. [1]
In addition to its associated commercial and architectural primary hardware components - such as locksets, padlocks, specialty locks and accessories [2] - Best Access is primarily known for its "small format" interchangeable cores, which were introduced under Frank Best's direction in the 1960s as a replacement for the removable core keying configuration that he had first developed in 1919.
Best Access products are sold primarily and directly to corporate and institutional end users without locksmith and wholesaler access to competitive distribution. Its products are typically marketed toward and installed into moderately sized or larger master key systems.
From the several keyways that Best markets, one product line, known as their Premium Key System, features a series of key sections of more substantial girth relative to most common industry types. Best held patents on the overall shape of these keys until Ilco-Unican Corporation (now Kaba-Ilco) ascertained that the patents were invalid and produced its own compatible blanks, which were first distributed with great interest at a 1993 ALOA convention.
Frank Best had created several companies for a number of inventions. Frank E. Best, Inc. held the original patents, while Best Universal Lock Corporation was licensed to manufacture and sell the products. Best Lock Corporation was established later to manufacture and sell a new tubular lockset called the 10K. Over time, the roles of these three companies changed. Frank E. Best, Inc. became, in effect, a holding company above Best Universal Lock Corporation, which in turn, controlled Best Lock Corporation which manufactured and sold the Best line of products.
Frank Best's oldest son, Walter Best, owned the majority shares of the three Best companies and served as President from 1966 through 1994 and it was during his tenure that the full line of mechanical lock hardware was developed.
Russell Best, grandson of Frank Best, acquired Best Lock Corporation in May 1994 from his father, Walter Best. He changed the name of Best Lock Corporation in November, 1997 to Best Access Systems. On November 25, 2002, all holdings of Russell Best, who had acquired all the outstanding stock of the minority shareholders of the three businesses in 1997 in "a legally challenged transaction", [3] were purchased by Stanley Black & Decker. The company became Stanley Security Solutions, but still doing business as Best Access Systems.
In 2005, family members of those that Russell Best had ousted from the original company began a new enterprise - Marshall Best Security - in the same Indianapolis community and producing the same types of interchangeable cores and related commercial hardware.
Best Universal Lock unsuccessfully sued Falcon lock claiming patent and trademark infringements on its 1960s core redesign. The focus of the suit was primarily on the use of Best cores in housings by Falcon or by any other manufacturer, which Best Universal Lock contended was illegal; however, since housings were not specifically identified in any patent documentation, the courts decided that there could be no infringement. Subsequently, Falcon was able to continue to produce housings and develop its own very similar core line to compete with Best Universal Lock. [4] [5]
Best unsuccessfully sued Ilco claiming patents infringements over their key blade design and utility patents. Ilco counterclaimed that the patents were not valid. In August 1996, court decided that both patents were invalid on basis that its utility patent was already covered in a prior art and that keyway shape was not an ornamental concern for the users. [6]
Trusted Computing (TC) is a technology developed and promoted by the Trusted Computing Group. The term is taken from the field of trusted systems and has a specialized meaning that is distinct from the field of confidential computing. With Trusted Computing, the computer will consistently behave in expected ways, and those behaviors will be enforced by computer hardware and software. Enforcing this behavior is achieved by loading the hardware with a unique encryption key that is inaccessible to the rest of the system and the owner.
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Lock picking is the practice of unlocking a lock by manipulating the components of the lock device without the original key.
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The pin tumbler lock, also known as the Yale lock after the inventor of the modern version, is a lock mechanism that uses pins of varying lengths to prevent the lock from opening without the correct key.
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An interchangeable core or IC is an adaptable locking key cylinder, which can be rapidly exchanged in the field via the use of specialized "control keys".
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The Checking Integrated Circuit (CIC) is a lockout chip designed by Nintendo for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) video game console in 1985; the chip is part of a system known as 10NES, in which a key is used by the lock to both check if the game is authentic, and if the game is the same region as the console.
Microsoft Product Activation is a DRM technology used by Microsoft Corporation in several of its computer software programs, most notably its Windows operating system and its Office productivity suite. The procedure enforces compliance with the program's end-user license agreement by transmitting information about both the product key used to install the program and the user's computer hardware to Microsoft, inhibiting or completely preventing the use of the program until the validity of its license is confirmed.
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Key duplication refers to the process of creating a key based on an existing key. Key cutting is the primary method of key duplication: a flat key is fitted into a vise in a machine, with a blank attached to a parallel vise, and the original key is moved along a guide, while the blank is moved against a blade, which cuts it. After cutting, the new key is deburred: scrubbed with a wire brush, either built into the machine, or in a bench grinder, to remove burrs which, were they not removed, would be dangerously sharp and, further, foul locks.
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