help dating masterlock padlocks... please..?

padlok47

hi, i recently found a masterlock number three that is old enough that it was made w/o a bumper and the key code is stamped [not printed] on the bottom. can any one tell me when they started w/ the plastic bumpers and/or when they went from stamped to printed key codes?
thanks,
pad

Dean Nickel

The plastic bumpers are a newer thing. Billy will be able to tell you for sure. I believe that they were started in the last 30 years. One of the better ways to date a Master is by the logo on the key. This is only if the original key is still with the lock. Lion keys are much older. I am not sure how many different logos they had but I remember at least 4.

Pschiffe

Halflock wrote
The plastic bumpers are a newer thing. Billy will be able to tell you for sure. I believe that they were started in the last 30 years. One of the better ways to date a Master is by the logo on the key. This is only if the original key is still with the lock. Lion keys are much older. I am not sure how many different logos they had but I remember at least 4.

I am guessing about 30 years since the stamped code numbers on the padlock bodies were discontinued, as Dean suggests BBE would know for sure. Also, early original keys were nickel silver not brass.

Pete Schifferli

[unknown]

Billy B Edwards Jr. CML

padlok47 wrote
hi, i recently found a masterlock number three that is old enough that it was made w/o a bumper and the key code is stamped [not printed] on the bottom. can any one tell me when they started w/ the plastic bumpers and/or when they went from stamped to printed key codes?
thanks,
pad

I’ve asked and no one knows for certain. I have been told the bumpers were added sometime around 1981-83 and the hard stamping of the code on the bottom of the lock was stopped around 1985. Printing of the code on the bottom of the lock stopped around 1990-92. Today the code is only stamped on original keys. Dating that is possible as a hard stamp was used on standard 1, 3 & 5 locks until around 2000 when it changed to a dot stamping head. Most changes have been made as running changes and consequently not specifically documented. The above is the best dating info I have been able to get since I started working here in 1999.
BBE.

[unknown]

padlok47

the info you guys provided is tenuous at best but don’t misunderstand and think that i don’t appreciate it. i got three responses practically overnight🙁rofl): you guys absolutely rock! i’m so glad i found this site and i promise i’l be asking a lot more questions in the future. i’m so tired of everyone looking at me like i’m crazy when i talk about locks, it’s great to find someplace where not only is every one as crazy as me but the same kind of crazy too! well met, my friends, and i look forward to talking more in the future!🙁handshake):
padlok