History of Locks - Baldwin

Continuing with our series about lock companies and their history's, we present the history of the founding of America's foremost lock and door hardware company, Baldwin.

Baldwin products are often considered at the higher price range of hardware products, but for good reason. Most Baldwin products are warrantied for life.

Severin Fayerman, Baldwin Hardware’s Founder, Tells his “Story”

-Fayerman records “a day in the life” of being a prisoner during WWII

Reading, PA – Severin Fayerman, founder of Baldwin Hardware, recorded his story for

StoryCorps on September 19, 2008. Since 2003, the independent nonprofit oral history project,

called StoryCorps, has focused on “honoring and celebrating one another’s lives through listening.”

Across the country, tens of thousands have told their stories. Each of which will be archived at the Library of Congress, with a selection also being made available on public radio and the Internet.

Fayerman, who was born in Poland, began his story with a retelling of his experience as a prisoner held in several concentration camps during World War II. In the recording, he speaks of a typical day spent at Auschwitz.

Soon after immigrating to the US with his family in 1945, Fayerman began working at a tool and die shop in lower Manhattan. With aspirations toward owning their own business, he and his father began a search for companies for sale and negotiated the purchase of Baldwin Tool and Die Company, based in Newark, New Jersey.

As a result, in January 1946, Fayerman and his father co-founded what was to become Baldwin Hardware only one year after arriving in the US. Fayerman held an active, daily role in company leadership until the sale of the company to Masco Corporation in 1982, after which he assumed the position of honorary Chairman Emeritus, acting as advisor to Baldwin executives and serving as a key instructor at Baldwin University. The company celebrated Fayerman’s official retirement from Baldwin Hardware in June 2008.

Fayerman has chronicled his personal history in a short memoir called, A Survivor’s Story. He now resides in Reading, Pennsylvania and has been traveling since the start of his official retirement date.

Baldwin Hardware manufactures an extensive family of superior architectural and decorative products for the home in a variety of finishes, including its proprietary Lifetime Finish.

Baldwin Hardware products signify quality and innovation, with offerings that include hardware and locksets and exterior lighting, as well as bath and cabinetry accessories. All portfolios are available in a rich variety of finishes and textures.

The Reading, PA based company with more than 60 years of heritage, is part of the Black & Decker Hardware & Home Improvement Group, headquartered in Lake Forest, CA.

Black & Decker also own Kwikset Lock Co.

Profile of Severin Fayerman

Schlage Securekey - coming soon

Schlage, hot on the heels of Kwikset, introduce their own field re-keyable locksets.

I find it rather interesting that many of these types of products are finding their way to market (now - since bump keys, showed why the previous products were infantile)

To be honest, whereas there may be a market for these products, more often we locksmiths are finding that many homeowners do not know they have "that" kind of lock and still will call us to rekey their locks.

Wait until you lose your key.

I havent seen the specs on this product yet, but they say that it is bump proof and pick resistant, but I suggest that it would actually be rather easy to pick (given the quality of many modern day Schlage products) and someone could easily lock you out of your house.

The extra security may or may not be worth it to you, but if you want excellent security for a competitive price with all the abilities that this product brings, look at Bilock. It has been around for decades and has proven itself the world over for it's quality, aesthetic value, ease of use and reliability.

See also Schlage Securekey Problems

See also Kwikset Smartkey problems

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Medeco - Hmmmmm....

An interesting site has appeared on my radar.

I came across this independent site quite by accident, the other day and am delighted to see some other opinions about our signature product Bilock.

"Medeco locks are currently used in over 75% of the US high security market, with few users knowing that they may want to avoid Medeco locks. While worldwide their high security market share is much lower, in the US they still are the predominant high security lock. Unfortunately over the past few years, several vulnerabilities of this system have come into light. While the system certainly offers more protection over a standard pin tumbler lock, in the price range of Medeco locks there are far better security solutions. Keep in mind that most of the vulnerabilities listed here apply to standard Medeco Biaxial and M3 locks (like deadbolts, and padlocks) and not to their line of cam locks, which utilize a different mechanism and still appear to offer a decent level of security (as long as they are not overly master keyed, and some key duplication issues still exist)."

"If you are looking for something that offers more pick or force resistance and the many benefits of a traditional high security lock we currently recommend Abloy and BiLock. Both are very good high security locks, with the Abloy Protec being one of the few locks that has yet to have a documented method of picking, bumping, or imprisoning since it came out in 2001."

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Bypass Sliding Door Lock With Key

Another design, we hope to make available soon is this unique product tailored for securing the common bypass sliding doors, similar to those found on wardrobes and closets.

The first and only lock to insure security on by-passing doors. This specialty-design hook bolt positively engages the strike in the other door and eliminates possibility of prying doors apart. Only the cylinder face or thumbturn escutcheon and return of lock face is visible from room side.

Many applications exist with current floor plans designed by modern thinking, space saving architects. Enabling the ability to easily partition a large room or banquet hall and effectively secure the doors closed.

Installed similar to a drawer lock, requires precision fitting and is best done by seasoned technician.

I have sliding wardrobes in my house too (must be a '70's design) but mine are with full length mirrors. I'm still searching for a better alternative to secure them.

(price on application)

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Solid Brass Pocket Door Locks

Hot on the heel of our recent Pocket Door Lock With Key, we are happy to be able to bring you a different style of pocket door lock made from solid brass.

This product (we will make available soon) is fundamentally different in design, but offers the ability to install to an entry door. Using an inside thumbturn assembly, the lock can be easily opened from the desired side, or from both sides, if needs be.

Below, find the different style handles available, to suit every desired function. Using one body design allows for multiple applications, reducing cost to manufacture. This particular flip bolt feature is unique to sliding door locks and is widely known around the world as the best design for locking sliding doors.

Brass is a self-lubricating metal, requiring less maintenance than the pre-fabricated modern materials used in more mainstream products.

We will be able to provide these locks with different keyways, like Schlage, Baldwin, Kwikset, Weiser or Weslock and we will even be able to master key, if required.

(price on application)

Crime Statistics - Missouri 2008

There are multiple sources of statistics available online for statistics relating to crime. Another medium that provides some interesting statistics is in the source below.
This shows that in 2008, St Louis was ranked 7th in the whole state of Missouri for the quantity of property crimes reported in 2008.

It becomes confusing to understand any mean (average) statistic, when referring to multiple sources, but this particular resource shows that while Missouri is indeed a hotbed of property crime, St Louis is not the leading property crime location in the state.

While this doesnt necessarily reflect the quality of the local constabulary in fighting incidences of property crime, it is pleasing that the state's largest city, actually rates fairly low in comparrison to other cities across the state.

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Nio - Bluetooth Security Tag

At the recent CES2010 in Las Vegas, there were multiple vendors showcasing many new unusual and useful gadgets.

One such product is a novel keyring security tag called Nio.

This is how it works...

Preventing Burglaries Is Impossible, But......

In recent past posts, I included some pictures and comments made by convicted burglars, in prison.

My profession is locksmithing.

As a locksmith, it is my mission to provide you, the home owner or office manager with solutions that will slow down or frustrate a potential burglary and create easy to access systems that protect you, your family and your colleagues.

I cannot 100% guarantee that you will not suffer a break in, but I can provide you the tools to slow down a burglar or hopefully make them go next door.

For an obligation free assessment, please contact us today.