Linus Yale Sr.

Last updated

Linus Yale
Linus Yale Sr., father of Linus Yale Jr., founders of the Yale Lock Company.png
Born(1797-04-27)April 27, 1797
DiedAugust 8, 1858(1858-08-08) (aged 61)
Resting placeNewport Cemetery, Newport, Herkimer County, New York, U.S.
Known forMultiple patents including pin tumbler locks. Father of Linus Yale Jr
Children Linus Yale Jr.
Family Yale
First plant of the Yale Lock Manufacturing Company, started by Linus Yale Jr. and Henry R. Towne Original Yale Lock Factory.jpg
First plant of the Yale Lock Manufacturing Company, started by Linus Yale Jr. and Henry R. Towne
Old Yale Lock Shop, Newport, New York, first location of Linus Sr.'s bank lock shop Old Yale Lock Shop, Newport, New York.jpg
Old Yale Lock Shop, Newport, New York, first location of Linus Sr.'s bank lock shop

Linus Yale (April 27, 1797 – August 8, 1858) was an American inventor, manufacturer of bank locks, and 1st Mayor of Newport, New York. His patents were signed by President Andrew Jackson. His son, Linus Yale Jr., would later found the Premier manufacturer of locks in the United States, and be a pioneer in the American lock industry through the Yale Lock Company.

Contents

His family were notable gun-machine makers in Vermont and Massachusetts during the American Civil War, supplying Lincoln's Union Army with muskets and interchangeable parts. Toward the end of his life, Yale's enterprise obtained from the US Treasury Department the contract to become the sole supplier of all the new bank locks, mints, sub-treasuries and custom-houses in the United States.

Early life

A Springfield Model 1861, built by Lamson, Goodnow & Yale for the Union Army, special government contract with Samuel Colt Lamson, Goodnow & Yale, Springfield model of 1864.jpg
A Springfield Model 1861, built by Lamson, Goodnow & Yale for the Union Army, special government contract with Samuel Colt

Yale was born in Middletown, Connecticut, and later moved with his parents to Salisbury, New York. His parents were Rosetta Bronson and Divan Berry Yale, great-grandnephew of Capt. Theophilus Yale. [1] He married Chlotilda Hopson, September 27, 1815, and they had four children. His brother was Allen Yale and his cousins were Dr. Leroy Milton Yale Jr. and Burrage Yale, who married the daughter of Col. Boardman. [2] Burrage was a manufacturer of cutlery and machinery with Mr. Lamson in 1820, and by the 1850s, they cofounded Lamson, Goodnow & Yale, which evolved into a gun-making machine manufacturer based in Shelburne Falls, Massachusetts, and Windsor, Vermont, with Allen Yale being part of the venture. [3] [4]

Their company was behind the majority of the weapons manufactured to the Union Army of Abraham Lincoln during the American Civil War, and supplied companies such as the U.S. government, UK government, Springfield Armory, Colt's Manufacturing Company, Remington Arms, Amoskeag Manufacturing Company, and many others. [5] [6]

They were also one of the largest cutlery manufacturers in the U.S during that war, and supplied bayonets and muskets to previous wars, such as the American Revolutionary War, the Mexican-American War and the Crimean War of Napoleon III. [7] [8] Around 1858, they acquired the bankrupt Robbins and Lawrence Armory with Eli Whitney and Samuel Colt, a long time associate, and produced weapons such as the Springfield Model 1861. [9]

Parts were interchangeable with these weapons and with the Colt musket parts. [10] They had received a special government contract from the Lincoln administration for this model, and was accepted by the Senate, under the personal request of Secretary of War Simon Cameron and Edwin Stanton, and with the approval of Joseph Holt, Robert Dale Owen, Peter V. Hagner, and General James Wolfe Ripley. [11]

LG & Yale was one of the companies that shaped the American Civil War itself, as they produced gun-making machinery to supply most of the factories making rifles, carbines, and pistols for the Union Army. [12] [13] Mr. Lamson, fervant abolitionist and head of the company, was one of the ten historical representative American manufacturers of the Civil War period. [14] His home was a station on the Underground railroad network, hosting many African Americans at his table on their way to Canada. [15]

An exhibition named "Arming the Union" can be seen at the American Precision Museum, where the factory of Lamson, Goodnow & Yale was located.

Career

Bank vault, their manufacture will be continued by his son Linus Yale Jr. through the Yale Lock Company Immeuble du Credit Lyonnais (siege).jpg
Bank vault, their manufacture will be continued by his son Linus Yale Jr. through the Yale Lock Company

In 1857 the village of Newport, New York, was incorporated and Linus Yale was elected its first President and Mayor. [16] Yale opened a lock shop in the early 1840s in the village of Newport, New York, specializing in bank locks for bank vaults.

In 1850 his son, Linus Yale Jr. joined him at the lock shop and began working on improving his father's pin tumbler lock. Linus Yale Jr. would later found the Yale Lock Company with Henry R. Towne, which would end up becoming the premier lock manufacturer in the United States. They would later add the manufacturing of chain blocks, electric hoists, cranes and testing machines, and become the pioneer of crane builder. [17]

In addition to bank locks, he produced a number of locks for use on doors and drawers.Through his career as an inventor, Linus Yale Sr. registered 14 patents under his name at the United States Patent and Trademark Office, and were signed by the President of the United States Andrew Jackson as early as 1837. [18] [19] [20] These patents included innovations about a threshing machine, sawmill head block, combination lock, pin tumbler safe lock, bank lock, vault and safe door bolt, among others.

The innovations made in the gun-making industry were useful for the door lock industry, as gun locks and door locks were similar in design. [21] After the civil war, the factories stopped manufacturing weapons and started using their capacities to manufacture others products such as sewing machines, bicycles, factory-canned foods, home appliances, and automobiles. [22]

The knowledge gained through the war effort was very useful for the Yale Lock Company as each part of the lock system was designed to allow its manufacture with machine tools, just like the concept of the precise-machine tools of interchangeable parts used by his brother Allen Yale at LG & Yale during the war. [23]

Family

Marriage

Rookery Building, Chicago, 1888, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, offices of Julian L. Yale's railway supply business, son of Linus Yale Jr. The Rookery Building, Chicago postcard.jpg
Rookery Building, Chicago, 1888, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, offices of Julian L. Yale's railway supply business, son of Linus Yale Jr.
Last moments of Abraham Lincoln, April 15, 1865, John B. Yale's father-in-law, Hugh McCulloch, is at the bed's end on the left, with Mrs. Lincoln, Capt. Lincoln, Salmon P. Chase, surgeon Charles Leale, etc Death bed of Lincoln (cropped).jpg
Last moments of Abraham Lincoln, April 15, 1865, John B. Yale's father-in-law, Hugh McCulloch, is at the bed's end on the left, with Mrs. Lincoln, Capt. Lincoln, Salmon P. Chase, surgeon Charles Leale, etc

Linus Yale Sr. married to Catherine Brooks, who was born into a prominent New England family, and was credited for her active work in the abolitionist cause in Philadelphia, where she worked as a teacher at the school of abolitionist architect Theodore Dwight Weld. [24] [25]

She was the daughter of John Brooks, a doctor and member of the Legislature. His grandson was the Governor of Wyoming Bryant Butler Brooks, and his cousin was the Bishop of Massachusetts Phillips Brooks. Catherine's favorite teacher was the famous Ralph Waldo Emerson, who was also from Massachusetts. [26] Her half-sister, Jean Brooks Greenleaf, was married to Congressman Halbert S. Greenleaf, and was elected President of the New York State Women's Suffrage Association. [27]

Around 1850, Linus Sr. built the Yale-Cady Octagon House for the marriage of his daughter Chlothilda to Ira L. Cady. The building is now listed on the National register of Historic Places.

They were the parents of architect Merton Yale Cady, who married to Alice Maria Deere, daughter of John Deere, founder of the John Deere conglomerate. [28] Their granddaughter Jane Mabel Skinner married to Warren Crandall Giles, president of the National League of baseball and the Cincinnati Reds, and were the parents of William Yale Giles, co-proprietor of the Philadelphia Phillies. [29]

Grandchildren

Just as his son Linus Yale Jr., Linus Sr.'s grandchildren would be part of the industrial revolution.

Madeline Yale Wynne became an artist and philanthropist. She married Senator Henry Winn, son of Senator Reuben Winn, and studied at the Art Students League of New York.

John Brooks Yale joined the Union League of New York, and married to Marie Louise McCulloch, daughter of U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Hugh McCulloch, who played a central role in financing the American Civil War under Abraham Lincoln. [30] [31] He was a millionaire in 1892, and was with President Lincoln the morning he was shot and at his death bed until his last moments.

John became Treasurer of the Yale Lock Company, and helped Henry R. Towne scaling the enterprise into a global company, with 12 000 workers and their products sold in more than 120 countries. [32] [33] [34] He also became the Representative of the Illinois Steel Company from N.Y. in the Empire Building. [35] The company was the largest steel producer in the United States and they later acquired Andrew Carnegie's company, Carnegie Steel, with J.P. Morgan.

Julian L. Yale (1848–1909) was the owner and President of Julian L. Yale & Co., a railway supply business from the Railway Exchange Building and the Rookery Building in Chicago. [36] [37] He introduced the Shelby Steel Tube to the railway market. [38] His notable customers were Carnegie Steel, Illinois Steel, Lackawanna Steel, and others. [39] [40] He also became a member of the Union Leagues of New York and Chicago, the Chicago Club, the Chicago Athletic Association, the Cliff Dwellers Club, the Union Club, and the St. Louis Club. [41] [42]

A great-grandson of Linus Sr. was golfer John Deere Cady, and another member of his family was merchant William Henry Yale, grandson of merchant William Yale. He was in the dry goods business, co-proprietor of Townsend & Yale, one of the oldest and largest commission house in the U.S., with offices on Fifth Avenue, New York, Boston, Chicago, and Philadelphia. [43] The firm was the sole agent of the Boston Manufacturing Company, one of the very first factories in America. [44] William Henry Yale was a Yale graduate, and a member of the Yale Club, Sons of the American Revolution, and the Union League Club of New York. [45] [46] His father, Henry Clay Yale (1829–1897), was also a member of the Union League Club of New York. [47] [48]

Patents

Patents by Linus Yale Sr. from the United States Patent and Trademark Office, signed by the President of the United States, Andrew Jackson: [49] [50]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Locksmithing</span> Science and art of making and defeating locks

Locksmithing is the science and art of making and defeating locks. Locksmithing is a traditional trade and in many countries requires completion of an apprenticeship. The level of formal education legally required varies from country to country from none at all, to a simple training certificate awarded by an employer, to a full diploma from an engineering college, in addition to time spent working as an apprentice.

Newport is a village in Herkimer County, New York, United States. The population was 640 at the 2010 census.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Linus Yale Jr.</span> American mechanical engineer (1821–1868)

Linus Yale Jr. was an American mechanical engineer, manufacturer, and co-founder with millionaire Henry R. Towne of the Yale Lock Company, which became the premier manufacturer of locks in the United States. He was the country's leading expert on bank locks and its most important maker. By the early 20th century, about three-quarter of all banks in America used his bank locks. He is best remembered for his inventions of locks, especially the cylinder lock, and his basic lock design is still widely distributed today, and constitutes a majority of personal locks and safes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Colt's Manufacturing Company</span> American firearms manufacturer

Colt's Manufacturing Company, LLC is an American firearms manufacturer, founded in 1855 by Samuel Colt and now a subsidiary of Czech holding company Colt CZ Group. It is the successor corporation to Colt's earlier firearms-making efforts, which started in 1836. Colt is known for the engineering, production, and marketing of firearms, most especially between the 1850s and World War I, when it was a dominating force in its industry and a seminal influence on manufacturing technology. Colt's earliest designs played a major role in the popularization of the revolver and the shift away from single-shot pistols. Although Samuel Colt did not invent the revolver concept, his designs resulted in the first very successful model.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Springfield Model 1861</span> Rifled musket

The Springfield Model 1861 was a Minié-type rifled musket used by the United States Army during the American Civil War. Commonly referred to as the "Springfield". It was the most widely used Union Army shoulder weapon during the Civil War, favored for its range, accuracy, and reliability.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Daniel Cady</span> American judge

Daniel Cady was an American lawyer, politician and judge in upstate New York. While perhaps better known today as the father of Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Judge Cady had a full and accomplished life of his own. He served one term as a U.S. representative from New York.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James Hartness</span> American engineer and Vermont politician (1861–1934)

James Hartness was an American business executive, inventor, mechanical engineer, entrepreneur, amateur astronomer, and politician who served as the 58th governor of Vermont from 1921 to 1923.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Henry R. Towne</span> American mechanical engineer and businessman (1844–1924)

Henry Robinson Towne was an American mechanical engineer and businessman, known as an early systematizer of management. He donated several millions to philanthropy at his death, in 1924.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">American Precision Museum</span> United States historic place

The American Precision Museum is located in the renovated 1846 Robbins & Lawrence factory on South Main Street in Windsor, Vermont. The building is said to be the first U.S. factory at which precision interchangeable parts were made, giving birth to the precision machine tool industry. In recognition of this history, the building was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1966. In 1987, the building was recognized by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers as an International Heritage Site, and the collection was recognized as an International Heritage Collection. For each of these designations, the armory was considered a site where pivotal events occurred in the history of American industry, as well as a place that lends itself to comprehensive interpretation of that history.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wafer tumbler lock</span> Type of lock

A wafer tumbler lock is a type of lock that uses a set of flat wafers to prevent the lock from opening unless the correct key is inserted. This type of lock is similar to the pin tumbler lock and works on a similar principle. However, unlike the pin tumbler lock, where each pin consists of two or more pieces, each wafer in the lock is a single piece. The wafer tumbler lock is often incorrectly referred to as a disc tumbler lock, which uses an entirely different mechanism.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Halbert S. Greenleaf</span> American politician

Halbert Stevens Greenleaf was an American Civil War Colonel and Congressman from Massachusetts. He became Brigadier General of the First New York Veteran Brigade.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yale (company)</span> American lock manufacturer

Yale is a lock manufacturer and a subsidiary of Assa Abloy. The company is headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yale-Cady Octagon House and Yale Lock Factory Site</span> Historic house in New York, United States

The Yale-Cady Octagon House and Yale Lock Factory Site is a private residence at 7550 North Main Street in Newport, New York, comprising an historic octagonal house and the adjoining site of the lock factory of Linus Yale, Sr. and his son Linus Yale, Jr., the inventor of the cylinder lock and the founders of the Yale Lock company.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">5th Rhode Island Infantry Regiment</span> Military unit


The 5th Rhode Island Infantry Regiment was an infantry regiment in the Union Army during the American Civil War.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yale (surname)</span> Surname list

The surname Yale is derived from the Welsh word "iâl", meaning fertile ground, which was the name of the lordship of Yale in Wales of the royal house of Mathrafal. The name was later given to the estate of Plas-yn-Iâl by the House of Yale, a cadet branch of Mathrafal through the princes of Powys Fadog and Fitzgeralds of Corsygedol.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Barnabas Yale</span> Abolitionist lawyer from New York (1784-1854)

Barnabas Yale was an American abolitionist attorney, vice-president and cofounder of the Central New-York Anti-Slavery Society, part of the American Anti-Slavery Society. He petitioned Congress in 1838 for the abolition of slavery, about 30 years before the American Civil War, and was made Justice of the Peace of Martinsburg, New York.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Leroy Milton Yale Jr.</span> Doctor and New York Etching Club cofounder (1841-1906)

Leroy Milton Yale Jr. was a medical doctor and surgeon from New York, cofounder and first president of the New York Etching Club. He was a member of the Social Register and wrote several of books and articles on medicine and etching. He also joined the Century Association as an artist, introducing various members to the club, and actively promoted the print department of the New York Public Library.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Julian L. Yale</span> Railroad entrepreneur from Chicago

Julian Linus Yale was a prominent Chicago railroad entrepreneur and president of Julian L. Yale & Co., later sold to Samuel P. Bush's company. He was Carnegie Steel's representative for their railway business, and purchasing representative of the Big Four for the Vanderbilts. He was also the son of Yale Lock inventor Linus Yale Jr., and a member of the Union League Club of New York.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Merton Yale Cady</span> 19th century architect from Moline, Illinois

Merton Yale Cady was a prominent architect and builder in Moline, Illinois. He designed various buildings at Chicago World's Fair in 1893, and designed the Riverside Cemetery in Moline. He designed Cast-iron structures and number of buildings for his father-in-law, John Deere, and his enterprise, Deere & Company.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Burrage Yale</span> Tin ware manufacturer from Wakefield, Massachusetts

Burrage Yale was an American tin ware manufacturer and Justice of the Peace from Wakefield, Massachusetts. He was the town treasurer and the largest employer in the city. He gave his name to Yale Avenue and Yale Fire Station. He was also the first postmaster recognized in Washington, D. C., and the cofounder of South Reading Academy, with abolitionist minister, Cyrus P. Grosvenor.

References

  1. Rodney Horrace Yale (1908). "Yale genealogy and history of Wales. The British kings and princes. Life of Owen Glyndwr. Biographies of Governor Elihu Yale". Milburn and Scott company. p. 392.
  2. "Yale genealogy". Archive.org. Milburn and Scott company. 1908. p. 202.
  3. George D. Moller (2011). American Military Shoulder Arms, Volume III: Flintlock Alterations and Muzzleloading Percussion Shoulder Arms 1840–1865. University of Mexico Press. ISBN   978-0-8263-5002-2.
  4. "Guns for Billy Yank: The Armory in Windsor Meets the Challenge of Civil War" (PDF). Vermonthistory.org/. Retrieved September 26, 2022.
  5. "What the Citizen Should Know About Our Arms and Weapons : A Guide to Weapons from the 1940s", James E. Hicks, 1941, 256 pages.
  6. "Guns for Billy Yank: The Armory in Windsor Meets the Challenge of Civil War" (PDF). Vermonthistory.org/. pp. 147–158–159. Retrieved November 13, 2022.
  7. "Civil War musket with bayonet made by Lamson, Goodnow and Yale". www.americancenturies.mass.edu/. Retrieved December 3, 2022.
  8. "Guns for Billy Yank: The Armory in Windsor Meets the Challenge of Civil War" (PDF). Vermonthistory.org/. Retrieved September 26, 2022.
  9. "Guns for Billy Yank: The Armory in Windsor Meets the Challenge of Civil War" (PDF). Vermonthistory.org/. Retrieved September 26, 2022.
  10. "Civil War musket with bayonet made by Lamson, Goodnow and Yale". www.americancenturies.mass.edu/. Retrieved December 3, 2022.
  11. "Senate Documents, Volumes 170 to 171;Volume 176, United States Senate". 1862. Retrieved December 3, 2022.
  12. Arming the Union: Gunmakers in Windsor, Vermont (APM Exhibits), Carrie Brown, 2021
  13. "Guns for Billy Yank: The Armory in Windsor Meets the Challenge of Civil War" (PDF). Vermonthistory.org/. pp. 147–158–159. Retrieved November 13, 2022.
  14. "Proceedings of the Vermont Historical Society by Vermont Historical Society". www.archive.org. Retrieved December 3, 2022.
  15. Arming the Union: Gunmakers in Windsor, Vermont (APM Exhibits), Carrie Brown, 2021
  16. Yale, Rodney Horace. (1908). "Yale Genealogy and History of Wales" . Retrieved September 25, 2014.
  17. Wickham Roe, Joseph (1916). "English and American Tool Builders" . Retrieved September 8, 2022.
  18. Crane Valve World: (1911), Volume 7
  19. "United States Patent and Trademark Office".
  20. Yale, Rodney Horace. (1908). "Yale Genealogy and History of Wales" . Retrieved June 20, 2022.
  21. "CONSERVATIVE INNOVATORS ALL ARMS: AN INDUSTRIAL HISTORY OF GFIELD ARMORY, 1794–1968" (PDF). pp. 467–468. Retrieved December 3, 2022.
  22. "CONSERVATIVE INNOVATORS ALL ARMS: AN INDUSTRIAL HISTORY OF GFIELD ARMORY, 1794–1968" (PDF). pp. 467–468. Retrieved December 3, 2022.
  23. "CONSERVATIVE INNOVATORS ALL ARMS: AN INDUSTRIAL HISTORY OF GFIELD ARMORY, 1794–1968" (PDF). pp. 467–468. Retrieved December 3, 2022.
  24. Deborah Rotman (July 25, 2009). Historical Archaeology of Gendered Lives. Springer. ISBN   978-0-387-89668-7 . Retrieved November 30, 2022.
  25. I Have Pretty Work : Madeline Yale Wynne and the American Craft Revival, Early American Culture, University of Delaware, Jessica H. Beels, 1995, p.13
  26. Springfield Republican March 25, 1900 "The Funeral of Mrs. Yale"
  27. Kellogg, Lucy Cutler (1902). History of the Town of Bernardston, Franklin County, Massachusetts. 1736–1900 with Genealogies, Press of E. A. Hall & Co., Harvard College Library, p. 314-316.
  28. Portrait and Biographical Album of Rock Island County, Illinois, Citizens Historical Association, Biographical Publishing Co., Chicago, 1885, p. 313-314
  29. Warren Giles, Society for American Baseball Research, Mark Armour, May 24, 2012
  30. "The Union League Club of New York", The Club-house, University of Michigan, 1905, page 80-121.
  31. "MRS. M'CULLOCH'S RECEPTION, New York Times". The New York Times. January 4, 1885. Retrieved November 30, 2022.
  32. "Commercial and Financial Chronicle : October 16, 1869, Vol. 9, No. 225" . Retrieved November 30, 2022.
  33. Carey, Charles W. (2002). American inventors, entrepreneurs, and business visionaries by Charles W. Carey. Facts on File. ISBN   978-0-8160-4559-4 . Retrieved November 30, 2022.
  34. "Hardware & Safes Catalogue 2022, our story" (PDF). Retrieved November 30, 2022.
  35. "American Machinist, Volume 27, Part 2". 1904. Retrieved November 30, 2022.
  36. "Steel: Volume 44, Jan 1909, Penton Publishing Company". 1909. Retrieved December 2, 2022.
  37. "The Street railway journal". New York : McGraw Pub. Co. 1884. Retrieved March 20, 2023.
  38. "Railroad Age Gazette: Volume 46, Jan 1909". 1909. Retrieved December 2, 2022.
  39. "Railroad Age Gazette: Volume 46, Jan 1909". 1909. Retrieved December 2, 2022.
  40. "Steel: Volume 44, Jan 1909, Penton Publishing Company". 1909. Retrieved December 2, 2022.
  41. "The Union League Club of New York", The Club-house, University of Michigan, 1905, page 80-121.
  42. "Railroad Age Gazette: Volume 46, Jan 1909". 1909. Retrieved December 2, 2022.
  43. "A business tour of Chicago depicting fifty years' progress : sights and scenes in the great city : her growing industries and commercial development". Archive.org. Chicago : E.E. Barton. 1887. p. 148.
  44. "A business tour of Chicago depicting fifty years' progress : sights and scenes in the great city : her growing industries and commercial development". Archive.org. Chicago : E.E. Barton. 1887. p. 148.
  45. The Heroes of the American Revolution and Their Descendants: Battle of Long Island Henry Whittemore, Jan 1897 · Heroes of the Revolution Publishing Company
  46. "Yale genealogy and history of Wales. The British kings and princes. Life of Owen Glyndwr. Biographies of Governor Elihu Yale". Archive.org. Milburn and Scott company. 1908. p. 498.
  47. "The Union League Club of New York", The Club-house, University of Michigan, 1905, page 80-121.
  48. The Heroes of the American Revolution and Their Descendants: Battle of Long Island Henry Whittemore, Jan 1897 · Heroes of the Revolution Publishing Company
  49. "United States Patent and Trademark Office".
  50. Yale, Rodney Horace. (1908). "Yale Genealogy and History of Wales" . Retrieved June 20, 2022.

Sources

See also