Cylinder Lock

Linus Yale, inventor of a popular and effective lock that uses a pin-tumbler cylinder design, was born in Salisbury, New York, on April 4, 1821. As a youngster, Yale possessed a great deal of mechanical skill and ingenuity. His father, Linus Yale Sr., was a successful inventor, having created sawmill head blocks and a millstone process. The older Yale was also interested in new lock designs, and spent much of his time on bank locks. In the 1940s he created one of the first modern locks that used a pin-tumble design. He opened the Yale Lock Shop in Newport, Rhode Island, in 1847.