w!tr innrknnb QrnllrdnrNumber 33 January-February 1989

American hardware industry needs recognitionTime for commemorative stamp

By C harles War de ll

II.....ependant on

~ ' _ imports forgenerations, the

. young Americannation was trying to akeit alone in the 18th and19th centuries. Livingconditions were poor andfew conveniences ade lifeshort and oftentimesbleak. Cold houses, coaloil lighting, coarseclothing, foot or animaltransportation, 14 hoursdaily work, little or nomedical care and otherfactors contributed to ashort and laborious life.For the average man,hunting, fishing, wor hipand singing were theescapes fro reality. Bardliquor, for so e, wasanother escape.

Mallory. Wheele r & Co .

Now, behold the develop­ment of the educationalsystem SO essential to anyprogress. '!he child wasconsidered the savior ofthe family ani tlle school,was a guarantee of bright­er days. From his crea­tion, man has been up­lifted by knowledge anitrainin;J ani any ilnprove­ments in life emanates ina trained min:l. A develop­ing love of beauty brin;Jsabout a desire to decoratetlle cammon things. Plainboards are carved, potteryani glass is painted ormolded, black iron isshaped into foliage,fabrics are dyed aniembroidered, "puckered anipressed to look theirbest. If Style demandedembellishment.

'nUs decoration wasawlied to OOildirgs aniits furnishin1s ani, attimes, tllere was hanllyany space unadorned bysame natural or contriveddevice. True, same of thisdecoration is tastelessbut style forever chanqes ,A vernacular (nativestyle) emerged tllat hasbeen cursed ani blessed.Whatever ones feelin;J asto its worth, it tells alot about the Americancharacter. An ornatedoorknob ani escutcheon ontlle front door literallyshouted, ''we are proud ofthis place!"

Mallor y, Wheeler & Co.

'!he American buildershardware i.n:iustry was bornin 1833 in Terryville,Connecticut. Eli Ten:y,John C. Lewis ani WilliamMcKee opened a factoIY fortlle manufacture of clocksand locks. Brass ani ironhas been worked forcenturies by the srnitllsbut a factoIY where agroup of men ani machinesproduced a finishedproduct was a new idea inAIrerica, '!he "cl.imate" fortb.is venture was right. Agrowi.nJ pcJI:AJ,l.ation ani aready market for itsproduct alorg witll avail­able men, money, materi­als, metllod ani ambitionbrought about a prosperingi.n:iustry enrployin;J tllou­sands of men.

'!he era has been glori­fied by tlle cxMrx:Jy as thestar. '!he conestoga wagon,tlle lc:x::arrotive, tlle coltrevolver, tlle tele:Jraphani tlle telephone, tllesewi.ng machine, tlle light

Texas has large flea market •

Publlshed six times a year by ADt1queDOOI'kDob Colleeton of America, Inc.P.O. Box 126, Eola, IL 60519-0126.Printed by Sun Pri nti ng, Naperville,Il.

Phane r 1-312-357-2381.Raymond and Lofttta Nemec, Editors.ADDUal Membership in USAa $20.00.Rates an Request for lnserta.

O!'ht 'IDoorknob CColiutor

Finding a place to stayin Canton, if you plan tovisit the First MondayTrade Days, can be a realpr obl em. There are onlyabout 150 hotel andb ed - a nd - br eakf a s t roomslocally and many arereserved months in advance.Many v i s i t or s stay in theDallas area or nearbycities of Athens and Tyler.

Canton, which once viewedTrade Days with contemptnow welcomes the crowds.The fame has captured theattent ion of the nationalnews media according to areport i n the Dallas .Morning News.

Joe Collins, Canton'sChamber of Commercemanager, is quoted in theMor n ing News, "We've justrecently began an activerol e in promoting Canton asa p lace to come and enjoy."The market generates morethan $1 million in annualrevenues. "We're sittinghere, sort of l i ke ad i amond in the rough," hesays .•

d ay s wi lland aga i n

Can t on ,milesi s ons ou th

Reports fr om ADCA membersas to t he i r suc c e s s at theCanton, Texas , f lea markethave been mi x ed. Some sayt hey f o und n i c e knob s ,ot her s c l a im they foundnoth i ng . One th i ng fo rs ure, t he f l e a mar k e t atCanton , known a s TradeDay s, i s b i g .

He l d t he thre e days priort o t he f irst Monday of themonth, Tr a de Days will haveabout 5,000 dealers andmore t ha n 60,000 tour istsa nd b ar ga i n- hun t e r s . Theycongregate on more t han 100a cr e s , wh i ch is de voted toFir st Monday Tr a de Days andi s b i l l ed by the city ast h e world ' s l a r ge s t fleamar ket .

The nex t t radebe Februar y 3- 5on March 3-5 .l oc ated about 50s ou t he a s t of Da l l a s ,Tex as Route 19 justof I nt e r s t ate 20 .

The Da ll as Morning Newsreporte d tha t the " ve nd orsmay seem t o be j ammed i n t ot he tree s t udde d grounds ,b ut the r e ' s a me t h od t othis merc an t i l e madness .The 15 mi les of pa v edwalkway s are div ided intone ar l y 100 rows, a nd ad i r ectory l i s t s t he boo t hsby t ype of mer c hand i s e , rownumber and i nd i vidual loton each r ow. The parkingl o t s alone cover another100 a c r e s (the f ee is $2 ac ar ) . "

Hardware •. .•• co nt inued from Page 1

bull:> am radio all con­tributed to our cultuream have been honored by acarnmem:>rative postagestarrp . 'Ibis is gcx:d butwhat about the nails amneedles, knives am knobs,h.in;Jes am haSPS, locksam latches that went intothe build.i.n;J of ourcountl:y?

It seems that theuni.versal presence of thenecessities has made themunappreciated so a littletribute is due.

As collectors, preserve­tionists am restorers weserve as historians ofAmericana. we should beproud of the service weare perfo:t:ntin:J as~­tively little of the earlybuilders hardware survivesam little or nothin:.Jdoa.nnents its existenceexcept in the books ofMaude Eastwood, len Bltnninam Tam Hennessy. our hopeis that our early hardwarewill eventually be recoq­nized as a shaper ofAmerican life••

~I.\ LL()m: , WB EELER -\: (, ()~I1 ' .\ :'\ Y.

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LOCK WHUSIASTS trRE. 51fRE. TO A'mcaATE. THE. HISlOOOF LOCKS lJISf>LA!JllJ AT THE. LOCK /fJUJ[JJffJ OF Af!JlJUCA.

6~ A. ~ LchLe Shaw

n Te r r yv i l l e , CT ,t he cente rpoint oft he triangl e thatencompasses

Tor r i n g t on , Waterbury andBristol, stands The Lo ckMuseum of America. Since1972, when the museum wasestablished in a small storeon Terryville's Main Street,the museum ha s grown to1 , 0 00 members and isoverseen by Curator ThomasHennessy .

Today, the mu s eum boas tsseven display rooms. Thenewest of these i s anextensive l o ck collectionthat includes a cannon ba l lsafe, 30 early-era timelocks, safe escutcheonplates and a large number ofBritish safe locks, d oorlocks, padlocks, handcuffsand keys . Another displayroom , known as t he Eag leLock Co. Room , contains over1 , 0 00 locks a nd keysmanufactured f rom 1854 t o19 54 . In additi on, for t hehistorical ly minded, thed i s p l ay l i s t s Ea g l e Lo c kemp loyees in 1889 and t h e i rweekly wages dur i n g t h epe r i od . At one t i me, Eag l ewas the l a r ge s t trunk a ndcabine t lock maker i n theworld .

ABUNDANT DI VERSITYThe Bank Lock Roo m

comprises a selection ofbank l ocks, vault l o c k s ,s a f e l oc ks a n d t ime l ock s .One of the vaul t l o c k s wasi n s e r v i ce dur i n g t heLi n co l n admi nis tra tion i nt he Whi t e House . The Emh a r tRoom contains a l a r gedisplay of orna t e h a r dwa r emanufactured by Cor b i n andRusswin . Severa l p i e c e s aregol d-p lated a nd e na me led .

One of the an imated d i s p l a y ss h ows how a pin tumbler loc kworks .

Re c e n t l y a dded is a l a r ge ,20 ' l ong d isplay of mounteddoorknobs and escutcheonsmade by Ru sswin and P and ECor b i n during the victoriane r a. Th e s e are ex tensivelyde tailed in styles s u c h a sRoma n , Greek, French andI t a l i a n Re nn a i ss an c e ,Goth ic, F l e mi s h andElizab e than English .

The Yale Room accommoda teslocks manu facture d by t h ec omp a ny f r om 1860 to 19 50 .One of the attrac t ions hereis t he or iginal patent mode lo f t h e morti se c y l i nd e r p i nt umb l er lock de s igned byLi nu s Ya le , J r . , i n 18 6 5 .Wh ile th is device i scons i dere d t h e gr eatestinve ntion i n t he his t ory ofl oc kma k i n g , it i s certainlynot wi t ho ut h i s t or i c a lpr e c e d e n c e . Cl ose by is a4 , 000 y e ar o l d Egyptian-madep i n t umbler l ock .

The se a l s o i s a larged i s p l a y of loc ks andhardware made by Sa r ge n t andCo. i n New Hav en, CT .Sever al e a r l y e x i t dev i c esand door c l o s e r s are ond i s p l a y a s we l l .

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Because lock manufac tur ingat one time wasConnect icut 's largesti nd us t r y , it is a fi ttinglocation f or the museum. Th eLo ck Museum of America isgrowing yearly and hasoccupied a b u ild i n g of i t sown since 1980 . ThomasHe nn e s s y sees the museum asa part o f American history,n ot exclusively o f interestt o t hose in the l ock orhardware manufa cturingi ndu s t r i e s . Anyone who isa s s oc i a t e d with the sefields, however , will f i n dthe museum's collect ionse specially intriguing . Themuseum i s open e v e r y dayexcept Monday f r om 1:30 to4 : 30 p.m., May throughOctober . For an experiencei n ornate design, his t or i c a lr elevance and un i queindustrial me mor a b i l i a , theLoc k Museum is a must-sees top f or anyone trave lingt hr ou gh Connect icut .See Museum •.• page 8

Antique Doorkn ob Co llectors ofAmerica welcomes letters from itsreaders . Address all correspondenceto " Lette rs to the Edit ors, " P, O.Box 126, Eola , 1L 60519-0126.ADC A rese rves the right to edit allsub missions .

(!P)rnamental besign ill antique boorknobsby Len Bl umin

FOURFOLD SYMMETRY

H-276H- 277H-278H-279

H-280H-281

Vernacular. Iron with br onze rim.Vernacul ar. Circa 188 5.Ver nacular . Circa 1885 .Vernacular . Pretty li t t l e knob , deepl y concave. Cast asa single pi ece , probabl y f or a screen door .Vernacular. Nil es/Chi cago, Small ish knob.Vernacul ar . A bi t crude .

H-276

H-277

H-278

H-279

H-280

H-281

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H-282H-467H-468[1 -469Il- 470Il-471

FOURFOLD SYMMETRY(cont inued)

Vernacular .Wrought .Ni l es/Chicago . Pleasing des i gn .Greek styl e .Si milar, i n some r espects, t o H- 469 .Pos sibly Ni l e s / Chi cago .

H-28 2

H-467

H-468

H-469

H-470

H- 471

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''WHAT PUBLICATIONS ARE SAYING"

The Antiques & AuctionNews has been very generousi n giving ADCA publicity. Wepar t icul ar ly enjoyed theircomment s on Len Blumin'sregular fe ature and WinApple gate's story. For thos ewho do not get their finepubl i ca t i on , we arer epr i nt i ng the article. Formore information aboutAntiques & Auctions Newswrite P.O. Box 500, MountJoy, PA 17552 .

Dorothy Ann Miller ,president of AntiqueDoorknob Collectors ofAmerica, reports in the

"N ovember-Decem berissue of The DoorknobCollector that the annualconvention in Indianapo­lis, Indiana, was an un­qualified success.

The theme for the 1989convention, slated forSeptember 21-24 in IowaCity, Iowa, will beMallory, Wheeler andCompany. Maude East ­wood's feature article onthe company in the latestDoorknob Collector pro­vides much informationon the company.

Until the publication ofThe Antique Doorknob byMaude Eastwood in 1976,doorknob collectors hadlittle or no communicationwith fellow collectors .

As a direct result of thepublication of this book, aconvention was held inSeptember 1981 in Waver­Iy, Iowa. Collectors fromtwelve states , mostlystrangers to each other,met and formed the An­tique Doorknob Collec­tors of Amer ica, anorganization devoted to

associating those interest­ed in collecting antiquedoorknobs and relatedhardware.

Officers were elected,and yearly conventions areheld in various cities .Seminars, banquets, andtrading sessions are held,and, most importantly,friendships are made andrenewed .

A continuing campaignto enroll others and toshare knowledge is a pri­ority. Future plans includea permanent museum ofantique hardware.

AJways an eye catcher isthe collection of doorknobphotos presented in eachissue of The DoorknobCollector by Len Blumin.

Collectors and non­collectors alike will enjoy"Trials of a Convention"by ADCA member WinApplegate. The irony atthe conclusion of the arti ­cle is priceless!

Anyone interested inthis organization and itsnewsletter should write to :Doorknob Collectors ofAmerica, Inc., P.O. Box126. Eola, Illinois 60519­0126.

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198 8 Convention Award Winners

Left t o ri ght: Ray &. Lore tta Nemec (best single knob), LenBlumin (best Russell &. Erwin dis play), Kae & Ray Zyc(best m tallic and best non - m etallic dis plays)

DOORKNOBS TO BE FEATURED

A story on doorknobcollecting and the AntiqueDoorknob Collectors of

erica has beententatively scheduled toappear sometime duringJanuary in Antique Week. Itis a weekly antique paperthat services primarily theMidwest.

If you would like morei nf or ma t i on about th ispubl i ca t i on , the address isAntique Week, P .O. Box 90,Knightstown, IN 46148.

Letters

This kno b y ou' l l f i nd isa l ways tight ~ CVNVlN7IONAs corn grown on i t ' s mot he rc ob Se.ptembeJl. 2 /-24, /989Un l i ke i t though when it isr ipe I owa. Ci..t~1 IowaThe r e ' s no come o f f t o t h i snew kno b."

( Ed itors ' no t e : For ad­d i t i onal information aboutProu t y ' s Rigid Door Knob,see p a ges 179 and 180 i nAnt i q ue Bui l ders ' Ha r dwa r eKnobs & Accessories by MaudeL. Ea s t wood . ).

Once on a door ' t wi ll s oremainAs bol t s ho l d firm "twil lnever bobAnd all the old kno bs p ut t oshameBy this mos t n ov e l rigidknob.

"Each year t o a ll t h ingsbr i n g s ome t h ing newTha t ma ke s the he a r t wi t hgl a dn e s s t h r obThe last , of wh i c h we of fe ry ouMake s doors c omp l e t e ar i g i d knob .

Meda l freely given bu tEmporer Napo l eon III ma de aspecial v i s i t to s e e themachine i n operation a ndpersonal l y congratulated Mr .Pr ou t y .

La ter Prou ty went toProvidence, Rhode Island tomanufacturer the " Ri g i dDoorknob," in connectionwi t h the b us i ne s s of t he NewEngland Bu t t Company . Theknob was a great s u c c es s i nPr ov i de nc e bu t he a l t h fa iledbefore he could introduce itin ot he r large pla c e s . Ma nyof t he h ou s e s in Spencer d ohave t he s e knobs and t heyare very effi cie nt. Mr .Pr ou t y was quite ar hymns ter . Th i s i s wha t h ehad to s a y a b out his n ewknob:

THE RIGID DOORKNOB

All the doorknobs in myhous e were made by AugustuvB. Prouty. The s e seem to bea rarity as t he onlybuildings I ha v e seen themi n are around this area . Ihave taken several picturesof the d oors and knobs . Thel ock was patented on October24, 188 2 .

I am enclosing an articlewritten by Henry Tower aboutthe doorknob. Do you haveany additional informationon t his doorknob? I f not , Ihope what I have s e n t youc an be added to your data.Ernest L. RobertsSpencer, Mass .

I n 1882, Augustuv B.Prouty, son of LibertyPr outy , a wire manu f a c t ur e r ,i nv en t ed and patented the"R igid Doorknob . " He wasborn i n Spencer,Ma s s a ch us e t t s , October 5 ,18 32 ; d i ed i n Providence,Rho de Is land, J u l y 19 , 1897 .At t he age of 13 he l e f tho me a nd we n t to Leices terto l earn t he card c lothingbus ines s. In 1833 he movedt o Worces ter, and i n 1881 toProvidence, Rhode Island .

Wh i le i n Worcester heconstructed a card ma ch i newhich dou b l ed t he capacityof the ma c h i ne s then used.He t ook His machine to Pariswhere i t attracted muc hatt en tion at the ParisExposi t ion. Not only was a

(The f o l l owi ng is f r om"Historical Sketche s ofSpencer , Na s s a c hu s e t t s , "Vol ume IV, Page 128 , byHenr y Towe r )

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Museum ••• continued from page 3

~

Hote l'S

Mom's ~~.. =======~~

TOWEL RACKS

~our5

WANTED. Knobs, number K-214 .~wi th arabic de s ign , f lat orround. Also, any Victorianhardware (knobs , plates,locks , hinges , etc. , forr es t or a t i on project.) JohnDecker , 517 Clayton St .,Sa n Francisco, Ca 94117 .

WANTED. Trade or buy. Knobswith single letter. I amtrying t o complete thea lphabets. Don Friedman,4900 Jerome, Skokie, I L600 77 . Ph : 312-679-4424.

Count r Culture / By Mamtta and Maratta

CLASSIFIED AD SECTI ON

WANTED. Tr ade or buy , k not­wi t h three running deer . ~0

Thr a l l , 145 Chamberl a ' ~

Rd., Broad Brook, CT 06 0Jc .Ph : 203-623 -5278 .

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FOR SALE . Casse t t e .I nt er v i ew of RobertTwombley on Louis Sullivan,His Life and Hi s Work.$7.95 pos t pa i d , payable toADCA P.O. Box 126 , Eola, IL60519-0126.

FOR SALE . 19 ant i querosewood/walnut door knobsets with escutcheonplates. $20 per setpostpaid. Wi l l considerbes t offer f or lot . JamesBaird, P.O. Box 516,Pe t er s ham, MA 01366.

FOR SALE. Book, VictorianDecorative Art by Leona rdBlumin. $11 . 00 postpaid foreash book. ADCA, P . O. Box126, Eo1a, 1L 605 19-0126 .

Member s are reminded thatyour dues entitles you toadver tise items for sale,t r ade or wanted a t nocharge.

WANTED. Mallory Wheeler,any of their hardware. Alsowanted B- 126, B-128, 0-119,H-25 1, J-101 , J-102 , K-302(two) . Also co llectfurni t ure , cabine t andwindow hardware . Have manyknobs to trade , i nc l udi ngB- 113 , B-114 , B-215, B-218,E-105, H-111, H-204, H-206,H-211, H- 213 , H-21 7, H- 220 ,H- 221 , J-209 , J-214 andmany ot her s not in LenB1umin' s book. DaleSponaug l e , 247 Summi t Ave .,Buffa lo, NY 14214- 1933 . Ph :716-8 34-3970.

Artist icNo 10

Hdw. Co.

4. SchlangenBldrs. Hdw. Cat.5. Logan GreggCat. No. 110

This brings the totalnumber of catalogs in t heLibrary to 22 .

A thank you to SteveMenchhofer who has loanedhis Yale Catalog No. 26 tobe copied f or t he Archives.

FROM THE ARCHIVESby Alice Chadonich

I

The Emil Mi l l er MemorialLibrary has been enhancedby two fine donations.

The ADCA memberspurchased and donated"Early Locks and Lockmakersof America" by ThomasHennessy.John Holland donated thefollowing books:1. A Collection of YaleCatalogs2 . Garcy Hardware Co. Cat.No. 253 . Brass Goods Mfg. Co.1911

ADDED ATTRACTION

While in Terryvi l le, youshoul d a lso visit t he El iTerry , Jr ., water wheel ,which i s located two blockswest of t he museum on Ma inStreet . This 20 ' di ameterwater wheel has a geararound t he circumferencethat adds speed t o theshaft, which was us ed tooperate the machinery of oneof America's f i r s t lockf ac t or i es, Lewi s McKee an dCo., in the early 1840 ' s .This wheel is t he onlyorig ina l one of it s kindl ef t in the country, mak i ngit a special at t r a t i on .(reprinted with permissionof Tom Hennessy . ).