Lancaster Lock Show

[raimundo]

lancaster was the home of the waltham clock company or some kind of watchmaking industry and I think it also had some lock manufacturing at some point,
Its one of those old east coast type towns that were active in the early industrial revolution, may also have built railroad locomotives. The amish are only a sub group of the community. Mostly they don't live in town.

[Squelchtone]

lancaster was the home of the waltham clock company or some kind of watchmaking industry and I think it also had some lock manufacturing at some point,
Its one of those old east coast type towns that were active in the early industrial revolution, may also have built railroad locomotives. The amish are only a sub group of the community. Mostly they don't live in town.

My buddy's office is in the old Waltham Watch Factory in Waltham MA, I wonder if the two are related...

Squelchtone

[mr-m]

I'm from Lancaster, and no, I'm not Amish, even though I have a beard. : - ) }}} Lancaster was home to the Hamilton Watch Company. The buildings are still there, now condo apts and offices. Right around the corner was a major lock Company named Slaymaker. Those buildings are still there too. In fact Lancaster was home to 13 or more different lock companies at one time or another. Some you may recognize are: Slaymaker, Fraim, Reese, Safe, J Walter Miller, Union, United States, and lots of smaller ones. It appears that no other US city was home to more lock companies!

The 1st Annual Lancaster Lock Show was held this past weekend with 64 dealers and about 100 walk ins from as far away as CA, Wash state and Tunisia in Northern Africa. Lots of wheeelin', dealin' and fun! Not a lot of High end security stuff, though 2 US Lock Manufacturers were there with great displays - Wilson Bohannan Co celebrating their 150th anniversary ("Locks since Lincoln) and the Marshall Best Security Co. There was also a great display by the J Walter Miller Co from Lancaster, once a lock manufacturer and still a major brass foundry. Next years show is July 15-16, 2011. You should check it out.

[RevDisk]

Went to the show, for a too brief period of time. Did get to meet Mr. M, who gave me some interesting info on a historical local lock prototype that he thought might be a bit hard to pick.

Wasn't bad, especially for the first year. Took some photos, with a pretty bad cell phone cam. http://www.revdisk.net/photos.php?spgmGal=LockShow





One guy was selling lockpick sets, all a random mix of mostly rakes with no half diamonds or hooks. But it had two ball picks!