Disc-shaped "pancake" padlock, all bronze with a spring sliding shackle. Reverse is undecorated; obverse has lock name "ECLIPSE / 4LEVER" set in relief against a punched or stippled ground. (tumblers are 4 levers) Machined chamfers on edges of body. Slotted keyhole bottom edge. Rolled steel key missing.
An "18" is stamped onto corner of obverse side of shackle. This lock is pictured in the 1900 catalog of the Slaymaker-Barry Co. as either #432 or #71. See Notes
Soil and tarnish overall with expected abrasions and dents on shackle and back.
Object ID
2002.143.4
Notes
This lock with almost identical design and features (including the "4LEVER" name with same lettering design) was made by at least three other companies. Often only the name above the 4LEVER design was different.
The Slaymaker Lock Co. of Lancaster, PA was known successively as S.R. Slaymaker, Slaymaker-Barry Co., Slaymaker Lock Co., Fraim-Slaymaker Hardware Co. and Slaymaker Lock Co., Inc. opening in 1888 and producing high quality padlocks. They went out-of-business in 1986 after nearly a century of service.
The Slaymaker-Barry Co. was reputed to be the largest lock factory in the world and was established at South Connellsville in the 1890s and operated steadily and successfully until the fall of 1898 when it was almost completely destroyed by fire.
Place of Origin
Connellsville, Fayette County, Pennsylvania
Credit
Courtesy of LancasterHistory, Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
