Parker Hardware Question

[Dave Fuller]

I just finished making a new Gun Room item, the ammo storage trunk shown below. I've been looking for a padlock and keep wondering if Parker's hardware business ever made such a thing? Anyone ever seen one?

[Dave Suponski]

Dave,That is one sexy looking ammo locker.Nice Job! Yes Parker did in fact make padlocks.They pop up on Ebay from time to time.Sorry I dont have one right now or I would let ya have it.

[Destry L. Hoffard]

I've seen a couple over the years, but never with a key. I wonder if a good locksmith could get one working?

DLH

[Steve Huffman]

A Winchester box with a Parker lock sounds like the best of both worlds. Nice box

[Dave Fuller]

Thanks Guys... Hopefully some more Googling and eBay searching will turn one up. I just occurred to me that Vol 2 of TPS has a section on Parker Hardware I'll take a look at that too.

[Bill Murphy]

I have not seen any evidence of a Parker lock, but I have seen Parker items that are not in the hardware catalogs, so, who knows.

[Robert Delk]

An acquaintance of mine has one of the largest collections of padlocks in the country. I"ll ask him as he has many rare and some unique padlocks,some of which he keeps in a bank vault.I have never heard of a Parker padlock in 40 years of collecting odd locks. They must be pretty rare if they exist. Keys can be made for most locks,altho' it can get expensive.

[Robin Lewis]

This lock thread has me surfing the net and I didn't find any lock information but I did find something of interest. Look at all the functions old Charlie was doing....

GUNS AND HARDWARE.--CHARLES PARKER.
charles parker commenced the manufacture of coffee-mills in 1832, in a factory 25 feet by 40, two stories high, with horse power. He now occupies sixteen different buildings, with dimensions as follows: No. 1, office and plating room, 18 feet by 45. No. 2, coffee-mill and burnishing shop with additions, 20 by 26, used as a store and varnish room; also addition for a coffee-mill shop, 15 by 25. No. 3, spectacle shop, 20 by 108. No. 4, tobacco-box shop and friction rollers. No. 5, coffee-mill shop, etc., 25 by 30, with addition, used as a store and varnish room. No. 6, vise shop, 25 by 160. No. 7, engine and boiler-room, 29 by 48. No. 8, finishing shop, 24 by 100. No. 9, store-house, 60 by 100. No. 10, screw shop, 30 by 200. No 11, foundry, 66 by 360, with additions. No. 12, blacksmith-shop, 16 by 20. No. 13, coal house, 20 by 20. No. 14, annealing shop, 20 by 20. No 15, coffee-mill shop, 30 by 45, with additions, 28 by 25, for oiling shop; also a japanning room, 10 by 15. No. 16, packing-room and carpenter-shop, 30 by 30. These buildings have been built from time to time as the busi*ness increased and demanded more room. The motive power is furnished by an 80 horse-power Corliss engine. Mr. Parker has, in connection with business here four other concerns controlled by him; one located two miles east of the city, one two miles west, one two miles south, and another half a mile west, where there are made iron spoons, ladles and forks, scales and hinges, machinery and guns, britannia spoons, and German silver spoons and forks; employing at these four concerns at different localities about three hundred persons, besides two hundred which are occupied in manufacturing coffee-mills, screws, spectacles, eye-glasses, tobacco-boxes, vises, butts, lanterns, match-safes, faucets, iron bench-screws, scis*sors and shears, cranks and rollers, barn-door hangers and rollers, gate and plain hinges, gridirons, bed-keys, wagon-jacks, scrapers, pulleys, lamp-hooks, window-springs, thumb-latches, hammers, gimlets, call and hand-bells, &c.

Probably there is no manufactory in the country that manufactures such a variety of goods as Mr. Parker. Among other inventions and improvements introduced to the public by Mr. Parker, is a breech-loading, double barreled shot-gun, which is the result of over two years of the most thorough experiments, and is claimed to be the best gun in use in this or any other country. The barrels are self-locked. The advantages claimed for his cartridge are, that it is a central-fire, coned, metallic cartridge, and is capped with the ordinary percussion caps. The weight of the gun is from 7 1-4 to 7 3-4 lbs. In connection is the United States Screw Company, incorporated in 1863, owned by Mr. Parker. The machinery for this branch of his business is all new and of the most approved kind.

[Dave Suponski]

Guys..Check out TPS Volume 2 pages 889-892

[Dave Fuller]

Yep there it is... Not the most attractive lock ever but it would be great to find one. Plus, the key style might help if you needed to have a key made.

[Don Kaas]

Very, very nice...now you need a small Parker lamp for the shelf as well and their big seller, Meriden Mfg. curtain rods for the window on the right...:)

[Dave Fuller]

Thank you Don, both good ideas. Gun collecting is difficult enough and my new venture into padlocks is not going so well. I'm thinking it might take awhile to locate my first Parker curtain rod.