Yale V and P sectional keys, when were they introduced?

YALE7750

Hi everyone, I have several old Yale mortise cylinders in sectional keyways, VC, VB, and PB.
Several appear quite old, perhaps from 1920’s or 30’s. Is it possible to narrow down the
age of the cylinders based on these keyways? I know the G series were introduced around 1900,
but beyond that nothing about these others. Any idea when the other sections were first produced?

Pschiffe

YALE7750 wrote
Hi everyone, I have several old Yale mortise cylinders in sectional keyways, VC, VB, and PB.
Several appear quite old, perhaps from 1920’s or 30’s. Is it possible to narrow down the
age of the cylinders based on these keyways? I know the G series were introduced around 1900,
but beyond that nothing about these others. Any idea when the other sections were first produced?

BBE is the best source for this info but quoting from his memoir, Been There, Done That!, © 2014; pg. 75-76, I can give you this timeline for the introduction of various Yale multiplex (they call them Surety) key series:

1896 G
1927 S,T,V,Y,Z
1938 L,P

The Yale keyway hierarchy includes eight single section keys in each series as; GA, GH, GB, GG, GC, GE, GD & GF together with multi-section keys like; GAH, GBG, GV etc. and all section (master) keys like G, S, T & GST. V, Y & Z are the reverse of G, S & T respectively. See pdf here:
http://www.lsamichigan.org/Tech/Yale_Keyways_Hierarchy.pdf

Pete Schifferli

[unknown]

Billy B Edwards Jr. CML

YALE7750 wrote
Hi everyone, I have several old Yale mortise cylinders in sectional keyways, VC, VB, and PB.
Several appear quite old, perhaps from 1920’s or 30’s. Is it possible to narrow down the
age of the cylinders based on these keyways? I know the G series were introduced around 1900,
but beyond that nothing about these others. Any idea when the other sections were first produced?

According to the historical information I have the multiplex families were made as follows.

G Series - 1895
S Series - around 1899
T Series - around 1899
V Series - 1927
Y Series - 1927
Z Series - 1927
L Series - 1934
P Series - 1934

BBE.

[unknown]

Dean Nickel

Great! I have another book to buy!🙁nod):

YALE7750

Thanks everyone for the historical info. I had no idea how old the other keyways were, especially the L and P families.

As an aside, are there any pin tumbler keys that Yale once produced in significant numbers, but are now totally discontinued/no longer exist? For instance, I have some small diameter Yale cylinders that fit very old safe deposit locks. These have an odd keyway with the bottom half almost S-shaped. I’ve never seen it anywhere else. The keys are Y&T Paracentric with the gold colored bows, which would make these very old.

Pschiffe

YALE7750 wrote
Thanks everyone for the historical info. I had no idea how old the other keyways were, especially the L and P families.

As an aside, are there any pin tumbler keys that Yale once produced in significant numbers, but are now totally discontinued/no longer exist? For instance, I have some small diameter Yale cylinders that fit very old safe deposit locks. These have an odd keyway with the bottom half almost S-shaped. I’ve never seen it anywhere else. The keys are Y&T Paracentric with the gold colored bows, which would make these very old.

There are probably many. One little-known group I am familiar with is the K Series which was used on locks with small .40″ dia. plugs and .101″ dia. pins. This was a multiplex (Surety) system, the reverse of the J Series and apparently made in 4, 5 & 6 pin versions. See thumbnail of J Series attached. I also found reference to both an R and S Series multiplex also seemingly with .40″ dia. plugs in a Ilco catalog from 1941, as 997RA, 997SA etc.

Pete Schifferli

[unknown]

Billy B Edwards Jr. CML

Pschiffe wrote
BBE is the best source for this info but quoting from his memoir, Been There, Done That!, © 2014; pg. 75-76, I can give you this timeline for the introduction of various Yale multiplex (they call them Surety) key series:

1896 G

1927 S,T,V,Y,Z

1938 L,P

The Yale keyway hierarchy includes eight single section keys in each series as; GA, GH, GB, GG, GC, GE, GD & GF together with multi-section keys like; GAH, GBG, GV etc. and all section (master) keys like G, S, T & GST. V, Y & Z are the reverse of G, S & T respectively. See pdf here:
http://www.lsamichigan.org/Tech/Yale_Keyways_Hierarchy.pdf

Pete Schifferli

Just a note of clarification. The dates above Pete took from a book I wrote and those dates are the best record I have of production dates for those multiplex families.

In the post following Pete’s I have presented some different dates. Those dates are referenced in a usage record as design dates on drawings.

Hope that clears up any confusion.
BBE.

[unknown]

Timothy

Pete or BBE you have any pdf or other on V, Y & Z keyway…??… I used to have an Cylinder with V key way. Don’t remember where I put the dang thing but one day will fine it…..Timothy…..

Pschiffe

Timothy wrote
Pete or BBE you have any pdf or other on V, Y & Z keyway…??… I used to have an Cylinder with V key way. Don’t remember where I put the dang thing but one day will fine it…..Timothy…..

V=G Rev., Y=S Rev., see pgs. 2-76 & 2-77 of Ilco Key Blank Directory, 12th Ed, © 2010 for profiles of V, Y & Z multiplex keyways. PDF at the link:
http://www.kaba-ilco.com/key-systems/media/853756/v5/File/key-blank-directory-04-n-american-cylinder-sec-2.pdf

Pete Schifferi

[unknown]

Timothy

Thank Pete! should have know better it was in Ilco catalog book. Even I was not wise awake enough or was not thinking….Timothy….