In 1885 William C. Springer moved from Cleveland Ohio to
Peterborough, Ontario and established The Belleville Hardware and Lock
Manufacturing Company.
Here is a bronze bodied Belleville lock opened up. The Belleville logo can also be seen on the deadbolt strike
face:
In 1910 Springer left this company to establish The Springer Lock Company.
This is a link to a complete catalogue of Springer products circa 1920: (The live link is in red.)
https://archive.org/stream/IllustratedCatalogueOfLocksAndBuildersHardware/CCA67339#page/n85/mode/2up
The company's solid bronze hardware secured the Lieutenant
Governor's residence in Toronto, the Sun Life head office in Montreal --at that
time, the largest and finest office building in the British Empire -- and also shipped abroad to England, New Zealand, Mexico, China and other
countries.
Below is a Springer Lock opened up:
Springer sold the company to The American Hardware Corporation* (AHC) of New Britain, Conn. in 1931 and it was renamed The Corbin Lock Company of
Canada Ltd.
Around 1947, Corbin Lock purchased two other
lock-manufacturers: The Belleville Hardware Company Ltd., on Pinnacle Street and
The Peterborough Lock Manufacturing Company of Peterborough, Ontario.
Below is a Peterborough lock opened up:
Following the acquisitions the company was renamed The
International Hardware Company of Canada LTD until operations ceased in 1978.
Here is a vintage Corbin Lock of a style very common in Toronto:
Here is a vintage Corbin Lock of a style very common in Toronto:
Another common lockset in the High Park area are those
made by The Toronto Lock Manufacturing Company which was in business as early
as 1916, and possibly earlier.
Below is a Toronto lock opened up:
If your vintage lock is giving you problems, High Park Lock may be able to help you with out with diagnostics and/or parts from our selection of refurbished and replica hardware. If you are interested in DIY, another excellent source for parts, and vintage builders hardware is The Door Store on Castlefield Road, Toronto.
If your vintage lock is giving you problems, High Park Lock may be able to help you with out with diagnostics and/or parts from our selection of refurbished and replica hardware. If you are interested in DIY, another excellent source for parts, and vintage builders hardware is The Door Store on Castlefield Road, Toronto.
For additional options to vintage lock repair and replacement, please visit my
article on "Antique Mortise Lock Solutions" posted here: http://highparklock.blogspot.ca/2013/07/antique-mortise-locks_17.html
NOTES:
*The American Hardware Corporation was formed in 1902 as a holding company through the merger of the Russell & Erwin Manufacturing Company and P. & F. Corbin, which were at that time separate and independent and rivals in the market for builders' hardware. At the time of the merger the two companies produced nearly one-half of the total hardware of this type in the United States.
In 1964 American Hardware was bought out by
Emhart Corporation and in 1970 a new plant was built in Berlin. In 1989 Emhart
was taken over by Black & Decker. Today, Corbin Russwin Architectural
Hardware in Berlin, Connecticut, manufactures padlocks and is owned by a Swiss
concern, which also owns Sargent Lock Company in New Haven, Connecticut.