A Brief history of Historical/Vintage Mortise Locks in Toronto

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:

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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.

Here is an AHC lock opened up:

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:

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. 

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.