public industry lock manufacturer founded 1925 headquarters indianapolis in united states key people frank e best founder deceased parent stanley black & decker website www.bestaccess.com best lock corporation is the former name of a publicly traded door hardware and lock manufacturer . originally founded in 1925 as best universal lock company by frank ellison best the privately held company relocated from seattle washington to indianapolis indiana in 1938 where operations expanded and evolved . currently product offerings are now marketed under the best access brand which is one of several trademarked corporate divisions in stanley black & decker s stanley security group . 1 contents 1 overview 2 current best companies 3 competitive challenges 4 references 5 external links overview edit in addition to its associated commercial and architectural primary hardware components such as locksets padlocks specialty locks and accessories 2 best access is primarily known for its small format interchangeable cores which were introduced under frank best s direction in the 1960s as a replacement for the removable core keying configuration that he had first developed in 1919 . best access products are sold primarily and directly to corporate and institutional end users without locksmith and wholesaler access to competitive distribution . its products are typically marketed toward and installed into moderately sized or larger master key systems . from the several keyways that best markets one product line known as their premium key system features a series of key sections of more substantial girth relative to most common industry types . best held patents on the overall shape of these keys until ilco unican corporation now kaba ilco ascertained that the patents were invalid and produced its own compatible blanks which were first distributed with great interest at a 1993 aloa convention . current best companies edit frank best had created several companies for a number of inventions . frank e. best inc. held the original patents while best universal lock corporation was licensed to manufacture and sell the products . best lock corporation was established later to manufacture and sell a new tubular lockset called the 10k . over time the roles of these three companies changed . frank e. best inc. became in effect a holding company above best universal lock corporation which in turn controlled best lock corporation which manufactured and sold the best line of products . frank best s oldest son walter best owned the majority shares of the three best companies and served as president from 1966 through 1994 and it was during his tenure that the full line of mechanical lock hardware was developed . russell best grandson of frank best acquired best lock corporation in may 1994 from his father walter best . he changed the name of best lock corporation in november 1997 to best access systems . on november 25 2002 all holdings of russell best who had acquired all the outstanding stock of the minority shareholders of the three businesses in 1997 in a legally challenged transaction 3 were purchased by stanley black & decker . the company subsequently evolved again into stanley security solutions dba best access systems as it is currently known . in 2005 family members of those that russell best had ousted from the original company began a new enterprise marshall best security in the same indianapolis community and producing the same types of interchangeable cores and related commercial hardware . competitive challenges edit best universal lock unsuccessfully sued falcon lock claiming patent and trademark infringements on its 1960s core redesign . the focus of the suit was primarily on the use of best cores in housings by falcon or by any other manufacturer which best universal lock contended was illegal ; however since housings were not specifically identified in any patent documentation the courts decided that there could be no infringement . subsequently falcon was able to continue to produce housings and develop its own very similar core line to compete with best universal lock . 4 5 best unsuccessfully sued ilco claiming patents infringements over their key blade design and utility patents . ilco counterclaimed that the patents were not valid . in august 1996 court decided that both patents were invalid on basis that its utility patent was already covered in a prior art and that keyway shape was not an ornamental concern for the users . 6 references edit mechanical access solutions . stanleysecuritysolutions.com . retrieved 2015 02 24 . bestaccesssystems.com commercial security solutions provider for door locks and hardware electronic access systems and key control . bestaccess.com . retrieved 2015 05 06 . 1 dead link 362 f2d 221 falcon lock co v. best universal lock co . openjurist.org . 1966 05 24 . retrieved 2015 05 06 . falcon lock co. a california corporation appellant appellee v. best universal lock co. et al. appellees appellants 362 f. 2d 221 9th cir . 1966 justia . law.justia.com . 1964 10 08 . retrieved 2015 05 06 . library home page georgetown law . ll.georgetown.edu . retrieved 2015 05 06 . external links edit pioneers all . best access systems private company information historical reference only not current best access official website best security official website v t e stanley black & decker subsidiaries best lock corporation black & decker blackhawk bostitch craftsman tools dewalt husky kwikset mac tools niscayah porter cable proto sidchrome stanley hand tools people nolan d. archibald leonard bailey alonzo g. decker jr. frederick trent stanley products stanley odd jobs retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title best lock corporation & oldid 729084619 categories lock manufacturersamerican brandsstanley black & decker brandshidden categories all articles with dead external linksarticles with dead external links from may 2015 navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages add links this page was last modified on 9 july 2016 at 19 45 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; 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