security burglar alarms safes door viewers window locks padlocks founded 1868 founder linus yale jr. headquarters berlin connecticut united states products yale doormaster as cylinder lock digital door viewer digital door locks electronic safe parent assa abloy website http www.yalelock.com http www.yale.co.uk yale is a lock manufacturer owned by assa abloy . it is associated with the pin tumbler lock which is often known as the yale lock . contents 1 history 2 see also 3 references 4 external links history edit the business was founded as the yale lock manufacturing co. in stamford connecticut in 1868 by linus yale jr. the inventor of the pin tumbler lock and henry r. towne . 1 yale & towne manufacturing co 1897 . 2 the name was later changed to yale & towne . 1 linus yale sr. registered 8 patents with the u.s. patent and trademark office between 1843 1857 about his pin tumbler safe lock safe lock bank lock vault and safe door bolt and padlock . 1 in the twentieth century the company expanded worldwide through purchases acquisitions and joint ventures with other companies in the industry and employed more than 12 000 people . it established a british operation by acquiring the business of h & t vaughan a long established lock manufacturer in wood street willenhall the historic centre of the british lock industry and became the major employer in the town . yale locks became the generic term in the uk for pin tumbler household locks and keys although yale neglected the service business and effectively gave away the lucrative aftermarket business in replacement key blanks which sold in the millions annually . the british yale became involved with the early motor industry and supplied locks to various manufacturers until the early thirties when the cheaper diecast based leaf tumbler technology became available . yale saw an unexpected revival of activity in the motor trade from the 1960s onwards when security fitters adopted its m69 window lock as a simple add on fitting to prevent theft especially on vans . this continued to the early 1990s when it was superseded by electronic devices . the british yale had continued to supply all lock requirements to rolls royce motors until 1991 when there was an acrimonious parting . the british business had been sold by its parent to the valor company in 1987 . after a further takeover by williams holdings various sections of the willenhall operation and outlying operation such as their diecasting foundry were closed . ultimately this led to all work being outsourced to the far east and the entire wood street site was closed soon thereafter and demolished after having employed generations of skilled local people . the remainder of the british business was sold to assa abloy in 2000 . 3 the yale security subsidiaries produce fire alarm systems burglar alarms and glass break detectors . from july 2012 assa abloy started to relocate yale from lenoir city tennessee to berlin connecticut to be completed by late spring of 2013 with the loss of about 200 jobs . the factory had been in lenoir city since 1953 and at one time had over 12000 workers . see also edit the adt corporation business technology association chubb locks chubb electronic security security lighting westminster group references edit a b c yale history of yale roland henry . six examples of successful shop management . engineering magazine 12 . 1897 swedish firm to buy williams s yale lock unit los angeles times 8 march 2000 external links edit wikimedia commons has media related to yale lock company . www.yalelock.com official site united states www.yale.co.uk official site united kingdom retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title yale company & oldid 709298597 categories lock manufacturersmanufacturing companies established in 1868american brandshidden categories commons category with local link same as on wikidata 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 in other projects wikimedia commons languages edit links this page was last modified on 10 march 2016 at 04 40 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; additional terms may apply . by using this site you agree to the terms of use and privacy policy . wikipedia is a registered trademark of the wikimedia foundation inc. a non profit organization . privacy policy about wikipedia disclaimers contact wikipedia developers cookie statement mobile view