Linus Yale (27 April 1797 – 8 August 1858) was an American inventor, manufacturer of bank locks, and 1st

Mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well ...

of Newport, New York. His patents were signed by President

Andrew Jackson Andrew Jackson (March 15, 1767 – June 8, 1845) was an American lawyer, planter, general, and statesman who served as the seventh president of the United States from 1829 to 1837. Before being elected to the presidency, he gained fame as ...

. His son, Linus Yale Jr., would later found the Premier manufacturer of locks in the United States, and be a pioneer in the American lock industry through the Yale Lock Company.

Early life

Yale Lock inside factory Image from page 1285 of

Yale was born in Middletown, Connecticut, and later moved with his parents to Salisbury, New York. He married Chlotilda Hopson, 27 September 1815, and they had four children. His brother was Allen Yale and his cousin was Burrage Yale, who married the daughter of Col. Boardman. Burrage was a manufacturer of cutlery and machinery with Mr. Lamson in 1820, and by the 1850s, they cofounded Lamson, Goodnow & Yale, which evolved into a gun-making machine manufacturer based in

Shelburne Falls, Massachusetts Shelburne Falls is a historic village in the towns of Shelburne and Buckland in Franklin County, Massachusetts, United States. The village is a census-designated place (CDP) with a population of 1,731 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Spr ...

, and

Windsor, Vermont Windsor is a town in Windsor County, Vermont, United States. As the "Birthplace of Vermont", the town is where the Constitution of Vermont was adopted in 1777, thus marking the founding of the Vermont Republic, a sovereign state until 1791, when ...

, with Allen Yale being part of the venture. Their company was behind the majority of the weapons manufactured to the

Union Army During the American Civil War, the Union Army, also known as the Federal Army and the Northern Army, referring to the United States Army, was the land force that fought to preserve the Union of the collective states. It proved essential to th ...

Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln ( ; February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was an American lawyer, politician, and statesman who served as the 16th president of the United States from 1861 until his assassination in 1865. Lincoln led the nation thro ...

during the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states ...

, and supplied companies such as the U.S. government, U.K. government,

Springfield Armory The Springfield Armory, more formally known as the United States Armory and Arsenal at Springfield located in the city of Springfield, Massachusetts, was the primary center for the manufacture of United States military firearms from 1777 until ...

Colt's Manufacturing Company Colt's Manufacturing Company, LLC (CMC, formerly Colt's Patent Firearms Manufacturing Company) is an American firearms manufacturer, founded in 1855 by Samuel Colt and is now a subsidiary of Czech holding company Colt CZ Group. It is the s ...

, Remington Arms,

Amoskeag Manufacturing Company The Amoskeag Manufacturing Company was a textile manufacturer which founded Manchester, New Hampshire, United States. From modest beginnings it grew throughout the 19th century into the largest cotton textile plant in the world. At its peak, Amos ...

, and many others. They were also one of the largest cutlery manufacturers in the U.S during that war, and supplied bayonets and muskets to previous wars, such as the

American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...

, the Mexican-American War and the

Crimean War The Crimean War, , was fought from October 1853 to February 1856 between Russia and an ultimately victorious alliance of the Ottoman Empire, France, the United Kingdom and Piedmont-Sardinia. Geopolitical causes of the war included the ...

Napoleon III Napoleon III (Charles Louis Napoléon Bonaparte; 20 April 18089 January 1873) was the first President of France (as Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte) from 1848 to 1852 and the last monarch of France as Emperor of the French from 1852 to 1870. A nephew ...

. Around 1858, they acquired the bankrupt Robbins and Lawrence Armory with Eli Whitney and

Samuel Colt Samuel Colt (; July 19, 1814 – January 10, 1862) was an American inventor, industrialist, and businessman who established Colt's Patent Fire-Arms Manufacturing Company (now Colt's Manufacturing Company) and made the mass production of ...

, a long time associate, and produced weapons such as the

Springfield Model 1861 The Springfield Model 1861 was a Minié-type rifled musket used by the United States Army and Marine Corps during the American Civil War. Commonly referred to as the "Springfield" (after its original place of production, Springfield, Massachus ...

. Parts were interchangeable with these weapons and with the Colt musket parts. They had received a special government contract from the

Lincoln administration The presidency of Abraham Lincoln began on March 4, 1861, when Abraham Lincoln was inaugurated as the 16th president of the United States, and ended upon his assassination and death on April 15, 1865, days into his second term. Lincoln was th ...

for this model, and was accepted by the Senate, under the personal request of Secretary of War

Simon Cameron Simon Cameron (March 8, 1799June 26, 1889) was an American businessman and politician who represented Pennsylvania in the United States Senate and served as United States Secretary of War under President Abraham Lincoln at the start of the Americ ...

and

Edwin Stanton Edwin McMasters Stanton (December 19, 1814December 24, 1869) was an American lawyer and politician who served as U.S. Secretary of War under the Lincoln Administration during most of the American Civil War. Stanton's management helped organize ...

, and with the approval of

Joseph Holt Joseph Holt (January 6, 1807 – August 1, 1894) was an American lawyer, soldier, and politician. As a leading member of the Buchanan administration, he succeeded in convincing Buchanan to oppose the secession of the South. He returned to Ke ...

Robert Dale Owen Robert Dale Owen (7 November 1801 – 24 June 1877) was a Scottish-born Welsh social reformer who immigrated to the United States in 1825, became a U.S. citizen, and was active in Indiana politics as member of the Democratic Party in the Ind ...

, Peter V. Hagner, and General James Wolfe Ripley. LG & Yale was one of the companies that shaped the

itself, as they produced gun-making machinery to supply most of the

factories A factory, manufacturing plant or a production plant is an industrial facility, often a complex consisting of several buildings filled with machinery, where workers manufacture items or operate machines which process each item into another. T ...

making rifles,

carbine A carbine ( or ) is a long gun that has a barrel shortened from its original length. Most modern carbines are rifles that are compact versions of a longer rifle or are rifles chambered for less powerful cartridges. The smaller size and lighte ...

s, and pistols for the

. Mr. Lamson, fervant

abolitionist Abolitionism, or the abolitionist movement, is the movement to end slavery. In Western Europe and the Americas, abolitionism was a historic movement that sought to end the Atlantic slave trade and liberate the enslaved people. The British ...

and head of the company, was one of the ten historical representative American manufacturers of the Civil War period. His home was a station on the

Underground railroad The Underground Railroad was a network of clandestine routes and safe houses established in the United States during the early- to mid-19th century. It was used by enslaved African Americans primarily to escape into free states and Canada. ...

network, hosting many African Americans at his table on their way to Canada. An exhibition named "Arming the Union" can be seen at the American Precision Museum, where the factory of Lamson, Goodnow & Yale was located.

Career

In 1857 the village of

Newport, New York Newport is a town in Herkimer County, New York, United States. The population was 2,302 at the 2010 census. The town, located on the western edge of the county, contains the village of Newport. The town is northeast of Utica. History The fi ...

, was incorporated and Linus Yale was elected its first President and Mayor. Yale opened a lock shop in the early 1840s in the village of

, specializing in bank locks for

bank vault A bank vault is a secure space where money, valuables, records, and documents are stored. It is intended to protect their contents from theft, unauthorized use, fire, natural disasters, and other threats, much like a safe. Unlike safes, vaults a ...

s. In 1850 his son, Linus Yale Jr. joined him at the lock shop and began working on improving his father's

pin tumbler lock The pin tumbler lock is a lock mechanism that uses pins of varying lengths to prevent the lock from opening without the correct key. Pin tumblers are most commonly employed in cylinder locks, but may also be found in tubular pin tumbler locks ( ...

. Linus Yale Jr. would later found the

Yale Lock Company Yale is one of the world's oldest lock manufacturers, owned by its parent company, Assa Abloy. Over its extensive history, Yale has received patents for dozens of its products, and the company has distributed its products to more than 120 coun ...

with Henry R. Towne, which would end up becoming the premier lock manufacturer in the United States. They would later add the manufacturing of

chain block A hoist is a device used for lifting or lowering a load by means of a drum or lift-wheel around which rope or chain wraps. It may be manually operated, electrically or pneumatically driven and may use chain, fiber or wire rope as its lifting med ...

s, electric hoists, cranes and testing machines, and become the pioneer of crane builder. In addition to bank locks, he produced a number of locks for use on doors and drawers.Through his career as an inventor, Linus Yale Sr. registered 14 patents under his name at the

United States Patent and Trademark Office The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is an agency in the U.S. Department of Commerce that serves as the national patent office and trademark registration authority for the United States. The USPTO's headquarters are in Alex ...

, and were signed by the President of the United States

. These patents included innovations about a

threshing machine A threshing machine or a thresher is a piece of farm equipment that threshes grain, that is, it removes the seeds from the stalks and husks. It does so by beating the plant to make the seeds fall out. Before such machines were developed, thre ...

sawmill A sawmill (saw mill, saw-mill) or lumber mill is a facility where logs are cut into lumber. Modern sawmills use a motorized saw to cut logs lengthwise to make long pieces, and crosswise to length depending on standard or custom sizes (dimensi ...

head block, combination

lock Lock(s) may refer to: Common meanings *Lock and key, a mechanical device used to secure items of importance *Lock (water navigation), a device for boats to transit between different levels of water, as in a canal Arts and entertainment * ''Lock ...

, pin tumbler safe lock,

bank A bank is a financial institution that accepts deposits from the public and creates a demand deposit while simultaneously making loans. Lending activities can be directly performed by the bank or indirectly through capital markets. Because ...

lock,

vault Vault may refer to: * Jumping, the act of propelling oneself upwards Architecture * Vault (architecture), an arched form above an enclosed space * Bank vault, a reinforced room or compartment where valuables are stored * Burial vault (enclosure ...

and safe door bolt, among others. The innovations made in the gun-making industry were useful for the door lock industry, as gun locks and door locks were similar in design. After the civil war, the factories stopped manufacturing weapons and started using their capacities to manufacture others products such as sewing machines, bicycles, factory-

canned food Canning is a method of food preservation in which food is processed and sealed in an airtight container ( jars like Mason jars, and steel and tin cans). Canning provides a shelf life that typically ranges from one to five years, although ...

home appliance A home appliance, also referred to as a domestic appliance, an electric appliance or a household appliance, is a machine which assists in household functions such as cooking, cleaning and food preservation. Appliances are divided into three ...

s, and

automobile A car or automobile is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of ''cars'' say that they run primarily on roads, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport people instead of goods. The year 1886 is regarde ...

s. The knowledge gained through the war effort was thus very useful for the Yale Lock Company as each part of the lock system was designed to allow its manufacture with machine tools, just like the concept of the precise-machine tools of interchangeable parts used by his brother Allen Yale at LG & Yale during the war.

Family

Around 1850, Linus Sr. built the Yale-Cady Octagon House for the marriage of his daughter, Chlothilda to Ira L. Cady. The building is now listed on the National register of Historic Places. Just as his son, Linus Yale Jr., his grandchildren would be part of the

industrial revolution The Industrial Revolution was the transition to new manufacturing processes in Great Britain, continental Europe, and the United States, that occurred during the period from around 1760 to about 1820–1840. This transition included going f ...

. Catherine Brooks, his wife, was born into a prominent New England family, and was credited for her active work in the

cause in Philadelphia, where she worked as a teacher at the school of abolitionist architect

Theodore Dwight Weld Theodore Dwight Weld (November 23, 1803 – February 3, 1895) was one of the architects of the American abolitionist movement during its formative years from 1830 to 1844, playing a role as writer, editor, speaker, and organizer. He is best known ...

. She was the daughter of John Brooks, a doctor and member of the Legislature. His grandson was the Governor of Wyoming Bryant Butler Brooks, and his cousin was the Bishop of Massachusetts

Phillips Brooks Phillips Brooks (December 13, 1835January 23, 1893) was an American Episcopal clergyman and author, long the Rector of Boston's Trinity Church and briefly Bishop of Massachusetts. He wrote the lyrics of the Christmas hymn, " O Little Town o ...

. Catherine's favorite teacher was the famous

Ralph Waldo Emerson Ralph Waldo Emerson (May 25, 1803April 27, 1882), who went by his middle name Waldo, was an American essayist, lecturer, philosopher, abolitionist, and poet who led the transcendentalist movement of the mid-19th century. He was seen as a champ ...

, who was also from Massachusetts. Her sister, Jean Brooks Greenleaf, was married to Congressman Halbert S. Greenleaf, and was elected President of the New York State Women's Suffrage Association.

Madeline Yale Wynne Madeline Yale Wynne (September 25, 1847 − January 4, 1918) was an American artist, teacher, writer, and philanthropist. Life Madeline was born in Newport, New York, the daughter of Linus Yale, Jr., and Katherine (Catherine) Brooks. Her brother ...

became an artist and philanthropist. She married Senator Henry Winn, son of Senator Reuben Winn, and studied at the Art Students League of New York. John Brooks Yale joined the

Union League The Union Leagues were quasi-secretive men’s clubs established separately, starting in 1862, and continuing throughout the Civil War (1861–1865). The oldest Union League of America council member, an organization originally called "The Leag ...

of New York, and married to Marie Louise McCulloch, daughter of U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Hugh McCulloch, who played a central role in financing the

under

. John became Treasurer of the Yale Lock Company, and helped Henry R. Towne scaling the enterprise into a global company, with 12 000 workers and their products sold in more than 120 countries. He also became the Representative of the

Illinois Steel Company The Illinois Steel Company was an American steel producer with five plants in Illinois and Wisconsin. Founded through a consolidation in 1889, Illinois Steel grew to become the largest steel producer in the United States. In 1898, several other s ...

from N.Y. in the

Empire Building An empire is a "political unit" made up of several territories and peoples, "usually created by conquest, and divided between a dominant center and subordinate peripheries". The center of the empire (sometimes referred to as the metropole) ex ...

. The company was the largest steel producer in the United States and they later acquired

Carnegie Steel Carnegie Steel Company was a steel-producing company primarily created by Andrew Carnegie and several close associates to manage businesses at steel mills in the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania area in the late 19th century. The company was formed ...

with J.P. Morgan. Julian L. Yale (1848-1909) was the owner and President of Julian L. Yale & Co., a Railway supply business from the Railway Exchange Building and the

Rookery Building The Rookery Building is a historic office building located at 209 South LaSalle Street in the Chicago Loop. Completed by architects Daniel Burnham and John Wellborn Root of Burnham and Root in 1888, it is considered one of their masterpiec ...

in Chicago. He introduced the Shelby Steel Tube to the railway market. His notable customers were

, Illinois Steel, Lackawanna Steel, and others. He also became a member of the Union Leagues of New York and

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

, the Chicago Club, the

Chicago Athletic Association The Chicago Athletic Association was an American football team, based in Chicago, Illinois. The club itself had been organized in 1890, and in 1892 it formed a football team. The team was built around veterans of Chicago's University Club football ...

, the Cliff Dwellers Club, the Union Club, and the St. Louis Club. Another member of his family was William Henry Yale (born 1859), dry goods merchant, owner of Townsend & Yale, one of the oldest and largest commission house in the U.S., with offices on Fifth Avenue, New York,

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

, and

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...

. The firm was the sole agent of the

Boston Manufacturing Company The Boston Manufacturing Company was a business that operated one of the first factories in America. It was organized in 1813 by Francis Cabot Lowell, a wealthy Boston merchant, in partnership with a group of investors later known as The Boston A ...

, one of the very first factories in America. William Henry Yale was a

Yale Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wor ...

graduate, and a member of the

Yale Club Yale University is a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Sta ...

Sons of the American Revolution The National Society of the Sons of the American Revolution (SAR or NSSAR) is an American congressionally chartered organization, founded in 1889 and headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky. A non-profit corporation, it has described its purpose ...

, and the

Union League Club The Union League Club is a private social club in New York City that was founded in 1863 in affiliation with the Union League. Its fourth and current clubhouse is located at 38 East 37th Street on the corner of Park Avenue, in the Murray Hill ...

of New York. His father, Henry Clay Yale (1829-1897), was also a member of the

of New York.

Patents

Patents by Linus Yale Sr. from the

, signed by the President of the United States,

: * 20 Jan. 1830 mill stone dresser — Salisbury, New York * 17 Sept. 1833 horse power — Otsego, New York (with P.C. Curtis) * 17 Sept. 1833 threshing machine — Utica, New York (with P.C. Curtis) * 11 Sept. 1835 sawmill head block — Utica, New York * 17 May 1838 grain threshing machine — Little Falls, New York (with S.W. Stimson) * 29 July 1841 sawmill dog — Newport, New York * 20 Oct. 1843 combination lock — Springfield, Massachusetts (with C. Wilson) * 13 June 1844 pin tumbler safe lock — Springfield, Massachusetts * 13 Feb. 1849 safe — Newport, New York * 18 Oct. 1853 a bank lock — Newport, New York * 28 Feb. 1854 a bank lock — Newport, New York * 22 May 1855 a bank lock — Newport, New York * 5 Aug. 1856 vault and safe door bolt — Newport, New York * 8 Sept. 1857 padlock — Newport, New York

References

Sources