Henry Fear maker

Huw Eastwood

Wondering if anyone knows anymore on the maker Henry Fear. I’ve re-discovered a small climax detector with an original E.Cotterill key, with the case marked Fear as maker. A bit of searching trawls up a few of Cotterill’s padlocks mostly ACME patents also marked Fear- but it’s not a name I’d ever heard of.

I’d always assumed Cotterill’s manufactured all their patent stuff themselves, and in the unlikely scenario they contracted out would have betted on one of the larger well known manufacturers, given the high levels of spec and precision involved.

My first port of call was of course….here! But it seems there’s been no previous mention, so went on to the gazetteer of lock & key makers then grace’s guide etc, but found no mention of Henry Fear at all.

Only info I’ve dug up is from a couple of history articles on the Birmingham jewellery quarter which stated he’d occupied one of the jewellers units at 16 Vittoria st.
He was originally from Briton Ferry, a very small town here in Wales which is only 40 miles from me, but he seemed to move around frequently and wasn’t in Birmingham long.
His four children were all born in Stourbridge and by 1876 he’d moved to Aston.
He was supposedly at 16 Vittoria st Birmingham in 1870/71, but dates are a little vague as another jeweller is noted as taking over his premises by an 1871 census.

For someone who clearly had some serious skills and manufacturing capability (to make top spec patent locks for Edwin Cotterill), its incredible how he could be forgotten with so little on record. Welshman too ;-)

Gary Stephenson

not a name I have ever heard mentioned

Huw Eastwood

Many thanks to John (safeman) for this fantastic information he’s sent me.
He’s having laptop problems so hope you can get it sorted soon John.
I couldn’t utilise the second email format so I’ve copied and pasted the text from your original email as follows:

Salesmen – Asset or Liability.
Personal experience in the safe and lock trade over many years has left me with a very tainted opinion having had to pull many irons out of the fire and defend the indefensible through the Court.

The main culprit is commission on sales. Ideally such selling should be assigned to Technical Representatives whose conscience would forbid selling an article which failed to meet it’s promise.

Lockmakers such as Edwin Cotterill & Co. are a good example. I believe that the man himself died in 1868 and the new Proprietor was Henry Fear. I first came across his name in the archives of the John Tann company with a sheaf of handwritten (what else in the 1860’s) letters from one proprietor to another complaining that one of Tann’s employees had been putting it about that the Cotterill Locks could be picked and even producing the implements that could be employed.

Challenges, due to salesmen’s statements as were very popular at that time, followed.
Not only Tann fell foul of challenges, Chatwood and Whitfield came under the wrath of Fear as well. Whitfield is more understandable as he stopped using Cotterill’s locks in favour of Mappin’s patent.

Towards the end of the Company’s story, possibly at the turn of the Century, the Proprietorship came under the name of George Titterton, safemaker also of Birmingham.
Back to salesmen. After retirement I was asked to represent my previous employer at the Guildhall Court where they were be counter-sued for the loss of money from a deposit safe which had been sold as suitable for the holding of cash commensurate with the safe without the deposit facility. Unfit for purpose.

Many thanks again John, hope I’ve posted it up correctly and hope you get your laptop sorted and back online soon. All the best,
Huw

Huw Eastwood

Also this handwritten letter which John has allowed me to post, which accentuates the damage done and animosity that followed.
Thanks again John👍

Gary Stephenson

Always interesting to me when challengers have access to the keys and the lock to take apart and measure up before picking challenges, seems a bit unfair and giving the picker too much of an advantage to me

Richard Phillips

I understood Fear to have been the inventor of the ACME lock, and E Cotterill & Co. bought the design from him — but maybe I’m wrong: I defer to Safeman.

Huw Eastwood

chubbbramah wrote
I understood Fear to have been the inventor of the ACME lock, and E Cotterill & Co. bought the design from him — but maybe I’m wrong: I defer to Safeman.

there were two ACME patent locks under Cotterill’s name-the first had half moon keys with turned grooves machined to the lever lifts and the second had the double bitted ‘signpost’ keys.

[unknown]

safeman

chubbbramah wrote
I understood Fear to have been the inventor of the ACME lock, and E Cotterill & Co. bought the design from him — but maybe I’m wrong: I defer to Safeman.

Thank you for your confidence,

In 1890 Cotterill took over F.E.Wilson & Co. and made a lock to Peter Wilson’s Patent number 3257 of 1869. They were sold as the Cotterill-Wilson Lock.

Bye for now.

[unknown]

Huw Eastwood

Hiya John, I’ve got a Cotterill-Wilson probably had it 40 years which always puzzled me-marked ‘nine slides’, when they only ever had 8 !

Paul Prescott

Huw Eastwood wrote
Hiya John, I’ve got a Cotterill-Wilson probably had it 40 years which always puzzled me-marked ‘nine slides’, when they only ever had 8 !

I think someones been over enthusastic with the stamps there .. Thats not wilsons patent and they did make locks with as many as 18 slides at times ..

[unknown]

safeman

oldlock wrote
I think someones been over enthusastic with the stamps there .. Thats not wilsons patent and they did make locks with as many as 18 slides at times ..

Thanks for putting things right Oldlock. The picture here of a Wilson Lock shows how quickly Cotterill stopped acknowledging the real inventor.

[unknown]

safeman

safeman wrote
[ATTACH=CONFIG]23721[/ATTACH] Thanks for putting things right Oldlock. The picture here of a Wilson Lock shows how quickly Cotterill stopped acknowledging the real inventor.

I know little of locks and keys but there is quite a similarity between Wilson’s Keys and those of Linus Yales Magic Bank Lock. I haven’t checked dates yet so could be a mile out. http://www.lockcollectors.eu/members/lockdatabase/yal1/_index.htm

Don’t know if this will work but here goes!

[unknown]

Huw Eastwood

We’d always assumed the bolt was swapped from a lock that had 9 slides as it seemed the most logical explanation- it has both original keys and the detector mechanism in the cap.
It’s also a common size with roughly an inch and an eighth cylinder and a 4 inch backplate.

I’d love to see 18 sliders in a cylinder this size, i’d always assumed that was the domain of the much bigger powderproof bankers versions.

Huw Eastwood

So the Cotterill-Wilson locks were specifically the first of the two different ACME designs (lever locks with half moon keys with stepped grooves), and not the original Royal Climax patent (radial slides) design.
My lock now makes about as much sense as the patent markings on this one!!