Mallory Wheeler (M.W. Co) with Banded Shackle

timof5stars

I recently acquired a Mallory Wheeler “Smokehouse” style padlock but instead of a standard round or oval shackle, it has a flat steel band. It does not appear to be listed under the smokehouse padlocks at:

http://www.antique-padlocks.com/smoke_mw&co.htm

However, this was the closest I could find. Can anyone tell me what I’m looking at and its approx. age? It came without a key but I found a Corbin key that fit like a glove and the lock is operational.

oldbiscuit

Tim, looking at the pictures, it appears that the hinge rivet has been altered. I find it hard to believe thay would make a padlock with a flat shackle like that from the factory. It looks more like a farmer/blacksmith fix, back when we weren’t a throw away society,but a fix it and make it work people. That’s what I love about lock collecting, so many different locks.🙁nerd):

Scott Klemm

Your M.W. Co. padlock, if authentic, would date between 1865 and 1910. However, I have doubts about its authenticity. I have a 1901 Mallory-Wheeler padlock catalog (reprint), and I cannot find anything that is an exact match. Based on the drop or keyhole cover, the closest is one that uses a flat key. Even then the match is not exact. The M.W. initials should have an ampersand (or “and” sign) with it. The blob above the letters should be this symbol. Also, I noticed the the catalog picture does not have the dot or circle at the bottom of the drop. The drop in your photo looks whitish. What metal is it? It should be brass. I have included the image from the catalog for your study.

timof5stars

Scott,

The metal is indeed brass … the miscoloration is my fault… due to the blue-ish white LED lamp used in the photo… I didn’t want to take the time to dig out my incandescents.

The blob above the MW is indeed and ampersand - most clear in the 8th photo I uploaded. What is a bit more concerning is the barrel/pin keyhole - my other 2 MW Co’s do have flat keys.

I thought Mark’s suggestion that perhaps the shackle was repaired at some point from materials available made a lot of sense. It would explain the flat band.

If it is some kind of odd reproduction, it doesn’t add up. The barrel keyhole was the give away that the Keen Kutter I had purchased was not authentic. I need to dig deeper here. Thanks for your observations and for the catalog page. I’ll see if I can find any other Mallory Wheeler using the barrel key / pin keyhole configuration.

timof5stars

I found several Mallory Wheeler locks using barrel keys here:

http://tinyurl.com/mwlocks

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Scott Klemm

I didn’t mean to imply that Mallory-Wheeler did not make wrought iron padlocks with the barrel type keyholes. What I meant to say was that I could find no exact match with the the keyhole cover design your padlock has. Yes, I agree that the blob above the letters is the outline of an ampersand, but I don’t understand why there is no space inside the symbol. Possibly extreme wear or a poor attempt at cleaning might explain how it was worn down so much that none of its features can be seen other than the outline. I’m glad to hear that the drop is indeed brass. This is consistant with a real M-W padlock.

timof5stars

I took a closer look - I’m pretty sure Mark is right about the shackle rivet being altered - or at least it does not look like what you would expect a professional craftsperson to produce (would “blacksmith” be the correct term for that person and period or would it still be “locksmith”?). I don’t know how much of this was done by hand - I’m aware that SR Slaymaker was among the first to apply mass production techniques to padlock production but I don’t know squat about MW Co.. I just can’t see someone trying to reproduce the Mallory Wheeler design skipping the part about the round wrought iron shackle, substituting a flat band and calling it good enough. I could however imagine someone inadvertently damaging their padlock and, because they couldn’t simply drive down to the local Ace Hardware, they might take it to a local blacksmith asking them to repair it “as best they can” with whatever they had available. Can we at least be reasonably certain this lock did not come this way from the factory? I love this stuff. Everyone else thinks I’m 3 locks short of a fully secured load…

timof5stars

Mallory Wheeler apparently began life in 1835 as Pierpont - Hotchkiss. Burton Mallory was hired as a bookkeeper for the company in 1840. Mallory apparently purchased John Hotchkiss’s share after John died in 1843

In Thomas F. Hennessy’s book, “Early Locks and Lockmakers of America”, the back of the book lists the following dates and names for New Haven, Conn. lockmakers:

1843-1851
Pierpont, Mallory & Co.

1852-1857
Davenport & Mallory Co.

1858-1861
Davenport, Mallory & Lockwood

1861-1865
Davenport, Mallory & Co.

1865-1910
Mallory, Wheeler & Co.

According to Hennessy, the company was considered one of the largest in America by 1851. In 1873, the company is reported to have produced 600,000 locks

Doug MacQueen

Having been in the trade for a few years, I would say that shackle was definitely replaced and either done done by the owner at the time or someone very new to locksmithing. Typically, a proper repair would be done out of heavier stock, although there is a slim chance it was a customized shackle for specific purpose but I doubt it. If you would like it repaired with a more proper shackle PM me. Doug