The York Safe & Lock Company of York, Pennsylvania, started out in 1882 making small office safes. Later it built vault doors for the Federal Reserve and for central banks abroad, and in the Second World War it made Bofors guns. Here’s the story, pieced together from directories, trade journals and government records, and how to date a York safe of your own.
1882
company founded in York, Pa.
400
workmen on the payroll in 1907
6,000
employees when the Navy seized the plants, 1944
1946
safe and vault business sold to Diebold
Key takeaways
- York Safe & Lock was organised in York, Pennsylvania, in 1882 to make small office safes; Israel Laucks was its president and his son S. Forry Laucks ran it from 1890–91 until his death in 1942.
- By the 1920s it advertised itself as builder of “the world’s greatest vaults”, including six round vault entrances for the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and vaults in Paris, Shanghai and Tokyo.
- In 1916 it bought the Ely-Norris safe plant, so round manganese steel “cannonball” bank safes also carry the York name.
- From 1938 the works turned to guns. The Navy seized the plants in January 1944, and in January 1946 Diebold, chaired by Eliot Ness, bought the safe and vault business, name included.
- No York serial number list has been published. The wording on the door, the construction and any patent or award date are better dating clues.
In This Article
York Safe & Lock Company at a glance
| Country | United States (York, Pennsylvania) |
| Founded | 1882 |
| Founders | A group of York investors, with Israel Laucks (born 1827) as one of the organisers and president |
| Managed by | S. Forry Laucks (1870–1942), general manager from 1890–91, later president |
| Works | Loucks Mill Road beside the Northern Central Railway, Spring Garden Township, just outside York; wartime plants elsewhere in York County |
| Known for | Fireproof office safes, bankers’ safes and chests, bank and safe deposit vaults, round vault doors, Manard manganese steel bank safes (from 1916) |
| War work | Anti-aircraft gun mounts from 1938; Bofors 40 mm guns and mounts for the US Navy |
| Fate | Safe and vault business, patents and name sold to Diebold, Inc., Canton, Ohio, in January 1946; the remaining company, renamed York Industries, closed in 1947 |
History of the York Safe & Lock Company
A small safe works on Loucks Mill Road
York started small. The company was founded in 1882 “in the manufacture of small safes for offices”, and only a few years later did it begin making bank and safe deposit vaults.1 Israel Laucks, a York merchant born in West Manchester Township in 1827, was one of the organisers and became president. The original capital of $25,000 was soon raised to $50,000 and later to $100,000.2
The first factory was a modest brick building on Loucks Mill Road, just outside the city limits, with the Northern Central Railway behind it.3,4 It burned down completely in 1894, and the company rebuilt it on a much larger scale.1 The workforce grew from about twenty men in 1882 to forty in 1891, 89 in June 1899 and 400 in 1907, when the works covered seven acres and many safes went abroad, especially to Europe.2,4
Israel’s son S. Forry Laucks joined as a clerk in 1887 and rose to general manager, in 1891 according to a 1907 county history, or in 1890 according to the Chamber of Commerce history of 1946. Another son, George W. Laucks, became general sales agent in 1891.2,3 Forry Laucks then ran the business for half a century, and his obituary gave him the credit: he had taken over a “near bankrupt concern” and built it to the top of its field.5
Timeline
- 1882 Company organised in York to make small office safes; Israel Laucks president.
- 1890–1891 S. Forry Laucks becomes general manager; the works cover two acres and employ forty men.
- 1894 The factory burns down and is rebuilt on a larger scale.
- 1916 Buys the Ely-Norris safe plant and the Manard manganese steel bank safe.
- 1920s Vault entrances for the Federal Reserve Bank of New York; vaults for Paris, Shanghai and Tokyo.
- 1938 First private contract for heavy ordnance since the First World War.
- 1942 S. Forry Laucks dies in April; his estate sells the company.
- 1944–1945 The US Navy runs the plants from 24 January 1944 to 1 March 1945.
- 1946 Diebold buys the safe and vault business and the York name; the old company becomes York Industries.
- 1947 York Industries closes and auctions its machinery.
“The world’s greatest vaults”
York’s catalogue page of 1917 covered the whole range: bankers’ safes and chests, fireproof and burglar-proof safes, manganese steel bank safes, safe deposit boxes and vaults “from the simplest and cheapest to the heaviest and most expensive”, with photographs of vault doors at the American Savings and Trust Co. in Chicago and the vault of the New York Stock Exchange.6 Its New York store was at 72 Maiden Lane in 1904, advertised as “formerly J. M. Mossman”, and later at 55 Maiden Lane.7,8
The best-known job was the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. A York advertisement of 1918 carried an illustration captioned “Weight: 1,500,000 pounds. Built for Federal Reserve Bank, New York.”9 By 1924 the company was claiming “the world’s largest and strongest vault entrances”: six York “revoluble” vault entrances in the New York Fed, “each 10 feet in thickness”, plus vaults for Federal Reserve banks or branches in Cleveland, Boston, Buffalo, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Detroit, Chicago, Louisville, Jacksonville, Minneapolis and Little Rock.8 These are the company’s own words, so allow for a little salesmanship, but the list is specific and it’s repeated in the Chamber of Commerce history of 1946, which says the revolving doors were designed by York.3
The same 1946 history lists York vaults at the Chase National Bank, National City Bank, Bank of Manhattan, Guaranty Trust and Irving Trust in New York, and abroad at the Bank of Spain, the Bank of Portugal, the Bank of China in Shanghai, the Royal Bank of Canada, the Bank of Montreal, the Banco de México, the Bank of Japan and the Guaranty Trust Co. in London.3 A 1933 trade note added that York’s exhibits had won the grand prize at the Panama-Pacific Exposition in San Francisco (1915) and at the Barcelona International Exposition.10 Some of the overseas jobs are described under notable York vaults below.
Ely-Norris and the manganese steel bank safe
In July 1916 the Ely-Norris Safe Co. of Perth Amboy, New Jersey, reported that it had sold its plant to York Safe & Lock, which would go on making the Manard manganese steel bank safe.11 By 1918 York advertised itself as “owners and exclusive manufacturers of Ely-Norris Manard manganese steel bank safe”, which it called, without false modesty, “the strongest safe in the world”.9 These were round-door bank safes of the kind collectors call cannonball safes, and examples lettered “York Manganese Steel Co.” still turn up at auction.12
The Depression and the York Plan
The 1933 banking crisis hit vault makers hard. A wartime account says York was “on its last legs” that year: thousands of failed banks put their vaults on the market, and it’s difficult to sell a new vault against that. The payroll fell to 250.13 Even in September 1938 York still had only 325 men at work.14
In July 1938 Forry Laucks won an Army contract for 138 mounts for three-inch anti-aircraft guns, worth $1,600,000. York claimed it was the first private firm to make heavy ordnance since the First World War. Short of machine tools, Laucks farmed out more than 45 per cent of the machining to small shops around York. The town’s manufacturers turned the idea into the “York Plan” for sharing war work, which was widely publicised.3,5 By September 1941 safes and vaults were only 5 per cent of York’s business, and the payroll had passed 1,600.14
Bofors guns for the Navy
In November 1939 J. A. Cunningham of York Safe & Lock asked the Navy Department for permission to try to obtain the American production rights to the Swedish Bofors anti-aircraft gun.15 A 1942 report says the company “had a finger in bringing a sample Bofors gun” from Sweden, was working on a $60 million contract for the gun by February 1941, and had sub-contracted more than 1,300 of its parts.16
York’s wartime list was a long way from small office safes. It included twin and quadruple Bofors 40 mm guns and mounts for the Navy, depth-bomb fuses, gun shields and slides for cruisers and battleships, and for the Army 155 mm howitzer carriages, 37 mm guns, 90 mm and three-inch anti-aircraft mounts and armour plate. It also made safes, chests and lockers for the forces and the Maritime Commission.3 The Bofors mounts came from a special Navy ordnance plant built with about $8 million of government money.17
Laucks’s death and the Navy seizure
S. Forry Laucks died in April 1942, aged 72. His obituary gives 11 April; a local historian gives the 12th.5,18 The Chase National Bank, as his executor, sold 8,890 of the 10,000 shares to a group of New England and New York investors. Business Week names them as Harry and Louis Levine of Commonwealth Plastics, Leominster, Massachusetts, and says they paid about $2.2 million in 1942; local accounts date their takeover to 1944.19,20,18
On 21 January 1944 President Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9416, and on 24 January the Navy took over the York plants, citing “unsatisfactory management conditions”. The Navy stressed that there was no labour dispute.17,21 Business Week found the seizure “shrouded in mystery”, and it’s easy to see why: the plants had just won a star for their Army-Navy “E” award, and eleven executives were removed, including the chairman and the president. About 4,500 of the 6,000 employees were union members, and the special ordnance plant alone had $100 million of unfilled orders.22 Part of the property was taken by condemnation in June 1944, and the Navy handed the rest back on 1 March 1945.21
Eliot Ness, Diebold and the end of York
On 3 January 1946 Diebold, Inc. of Canton, Ohio, announced that it was taking over all of York’s safe and vault business: patents, tools, service contracts, orders, sales branches and the name York Safe & Lock. The plants were not included. The man behind the deal was Diebold’s board chairman, and the name may ring a bell: Eliot Ness, the former Prohibition agent, who had joined the board in 1944 representing its largest shareholders.23,24 Branches and dealers carried on as the York Safe and Lock Division of Diebold, and in January 1947 that division was publishing from Canton.24,25
The York company itself became York Industries, Inc., and planned to make plastics machinery and microfilm equipment.23 It didn’t last. In June 1947 it announced that it would close, and that July a four-day auction sold its machinery for about $1,500,000; an offer of $675,000 for the buildings was turned down.19,20 According to York historian Stephen H. Smith, the main plant was bought in 1949 by the Cole Steel Equipment Co., which made office furniture there.18
How to identify and date a York safe
No York serial number register has been published, so a number on its own won’t date your safe. The clues below will get you further. For methods that apply to any maker, see our guide on how to date an old safe.
Clue 1
The name
“York Safe & Lock Co., York, Pa.” is the usual wording up to 1946. “York Manganese Steel Co.” marks a round bank safe of the Ely-Norris type, from 1916 on. “Division of Diebold” or a Canton address means 1946 or later.6,12,25
Clue 2
The door
York’s fireproof safes of about 1917 had a “seven-flange” door: seven steps around the edge, matched by the frame. The bolt work and lock sat on the inside of the door, behind a hardened steel plate, with outside hinges riveted on.6
Clue 3
Patent and award dates
A date only tells you the earliest possible year. A York salesman’s sample with a patent date of 31 July 1906 also carries a Panama-Pacific Exposition award decal, so it dates from 1915 or later.26
Clue 4: construction and the paint inside the door
The 1917 catalogue illustration shows “York Safe & Lock Co.” lettered across a lined panel on the inside of the door, with painted decoration below it, on a safe with panelled sides and cast feet on castors. A name painted on the outside is usually the first owner’s, not the maker’s.6
The same page lists the construction points York wanted buyers to check: an outer casing bent from one continuous steel plate with solid corners, wrought-iron angle frames bent and welded in one piece, a tongued and grooved back, and an inner lining of sheet iron and wood. Between the two walls was the patented “York Improved Filling”, a “silicious fireproof compound” of “electro vulcan, asbestos and magnesian talc”.6 So a York fireproof safe of this period should be treated as containing asbestos: read do old safes contain asbestos? before drilling, cutting or emptying one.
Clue 5: addresses and names by period
Most York safes say only “York, Pa.”, but labels, invoices, catalogues and dealer plates often carry more. These are the years each is recorded:
| York Safe & Lock Co., Loucks Mill Road and N.C. Railway, York | Factory from 1882; directory address 18994,27 |
| 72 Maiden Lane, New York (“formerly J. M. Mossman”) | 19047 |
| 55 Maiden Lane, New York | 1920s advertisements8 |
| “Ely-Norris Manard” or “York Manganese Steel Co.” | From 191611,12 |
| York Safe and Lock Division of Diebold, Inc., Canton, Ohio | From 194624,25 |
Clue 6: York serial numbers
There’s no public York serial number lookup. Diebold took over York’s patents, service contracts and orders in 1946, but we haven’t found any published production register, and we don’t know whether one survives.23 Note the number anyway and send it to us with photos: dated examples from owners are how serial lists get built. The York County History Center, in York, is the natural place to ask about local company material.
Notable York vaults and safes
- Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Six round “revoluble” vault entrances, advertised from 1924 as the largest and strongest in the world.8
- Kincheng Banking Corporation, Shanghai, 1927. A press photograph shows a lorry towing the York vault door through the streets; the installation was supervised by Palmer Bescherer, York’s far-eastern manager.28
- The tomb of Sun Yat-sen, 1927. York received an order for a vault door for the tomb of the Chinese leader, to be cast in bronze instead of steel but otherwise like an American bank vault door.29
- Equitable Trust Company, Paris, 1928. Built in York and shipped from America, it was described as the first American vault installation on the European continent, with a 27-inch door and safe deposit boxes of both American and European types.30
- Bank of Japan, Tokyo, 1931. Half of this vault filled a train of thirty-eight railway cars. At 187 by 83 feet and two storeys high, it was said to be the largest in the world.31
- Bank of Portugal, Lisbon. The round door at the top of this page, now in the bank’s Museu do Dinheiro, carries plates for York Safe & Lock Co., York, Pa., and Coffres-Forts York, Paris.32,3
- Washington, D.C. One of four vaults from the old Riggs National Bank and American Security & Trust buildings, kept by the Milken Center for Advancing the American Dream, is a York vault.33
Myths and mix-ups
York was the largest safe maker in America.
Sources disagree. A Diebold company history calls York the largest pre-war maker, but Business Week in 1946 ranked it second, behind Mosler.34,23
Eliot Ness “cracked” York Safe & Lock.
It was a business deal, not a raid. As Diebold’s chairman, Ness led the 1946 purchase of York’s safe and vault business.23
The Navy seized York because of a strike.
The Navy blamed “unsatisfactory management conditions” and said there was no labour trouble.17
What is a York safe worth?
As an informal guide, not an appraisal: ordinary York office and floor safes are worth hundreds of dollars, not thousands, and many sell for little more than the cost of moving them. On a safe-owners’ forum, a 300 lb York safe offered at $2,500 was called “grossly overpriced”.35 Round bank safes and salesmen’s samples are a different market:
| York safe | Sale or estimate | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Salesman’s sample of a round-door safe, about 1916 | Antiques Roadshow auction estimate, 2024 | $30,000 to $50,00026 |
| “York Manganese Steel Co.” cannonball safe, restored, 43 × 25 × 27 in | Morphy, May 2022, then a lot with the same description in April 2023 | $31,500, then $10,80012 |
| Manganese spherical safe, about 450 lb, restored | Morphy, March 2013 | $9,44036 |
Original paint, a working lock with its combination, and a clear York name or plate add most. Our guide are old safes worth anything? explains what buyers pay for and where to sell.
I have a York safe: what now?
Weight
How heavy is it?
We haven’t found a York catalogue with weights. A small York floor safe may weigh 300 lb (136 kg) and a York spherical safe about 450 lb (204 kg); office safes of chest height weigh much more.35,36 Measure it and use our safe weight calculator.
Opening
Combination lost?
Call a qualified safe technician; in the US, a member of SAVTA is a good start. Drilling blind can hit the hardened plate behind the lock and ruins the door’s value. See locked out of an old safe and old safe combination locks.
Moving
Moving or getting rid of it
Use a professional safe mover, check the floor and stairs, and remember the asbestos filling before any cutting. Our guide covers how to move or get rid of an old safe.
Not sure what you have? Send us photos of the door panel, the dial and any plate, number or patent date, with the outside height, width and depth, and we’ll help you date it. Our page for anyone who has inherited or found an old safe covers the first steps.
Frequently asked questions
Who made York safes?
The York Safe & Lock Company of York, Pennsylvania, founded in 1882 with Israel Laucks as president and run for fifty years by his son S. Forry Laucks. From 1946 the name belonged to Diebold, Inc., of Canton, Ohio.
How old is my York safe?
York made safes from 1882 until 1946, when the business passed to Diebold. “Manganese steel” or “Ely-Norris” lettering means 1916 or later, a Panama-Pacific award mark 1915 or later, and “Division of Diebold” 1946 or later.
Is there a York safe serial number lookup?
No. No York production register has been published. Send us the number with photos and we’ll compare it with other dated York safes.
How much is an old York safe worth?
Ordinary floor safes usually sell for hundreds of dollars. Restored round York bank safes have made about $9,000 to $31,500 at auction, and a salesman’s sample was estimated at $30,000 to $50,000.
How do I open an old York safe without the combination?
Ask a qualified safe technician or a locksmith who specialises in safes. They can open it with the least damage and set a new combination.
Is York Safe & Lock still in business?
No. Diebold bought its safe and vault business in 1946, and the old company, renamed York Industries, closed in 1947. Diebold (today Diebold Nixdorf) is the successor to the safe business.
Sources:
- George R. Prowell, History of York County, Pennsylvania, vol. I (Chicago: J. H. Beers, 1907), pp. 760–761, entry on the York Safe and Lock Company, via Internet Archive. ↩︎
- George R. Prowell, History of York County, Pennsylvania, vol. II (Chicago: J. H. Beers, 1907), pp. 53–54, biographies of Israel Laucks, S. Forry Laucks and George W. Laucks, via Internet Archive. ↩︎
- Betty C. Peckham, The Story of a Dynamic Community: York, Pennsylvania (York Chamber of Commerce, 1946), “The York Plan” and the York Safe and Lock Company profile (“Designers and Manufacturers of the World’s Largest Vaults”), via Internet Archive. ↩︎
- Stephen H. Smith, “#28 York Safe & Lock Company in Spring Garden Township”, YorksPast, 3 September 2013 (citing the 10th Report of the Pennsylvania Department of Factory Inspection, 1899, and the 1899 York city directory). ↩︎
- Obituary, “S. Forry Laucks”, Holstein-Friesian World, 25 April 1942, via Internet Archive. ↩︎
- York Safe and Lock Co., catalogue page in Sweet’s Catalogue of Building Construction (Architectural Catalog File), 1917, p. 1732, via Internet Archive. ↩︎
- Classified advertisement, “York Safe & Lock Co., formerly J. M. Mossman, 72 Maiden Lane”, The New York Times, 22 November 1904, via Internet Archive. ↩︎
- York Safe and Lock Co. advertisement, “New York Federal Reserve Bank: The World’s Largest and Strongest Vault Entrances”, The Bankers Magazine, December 1924, via Internet Archive. The same advertisement ran in Trust Companies, December 1925. ↩︎
- York Safe and Lock Co. advertisement, “Owners and exclusive manufacturers of Ely-Norris Manard manganese steel bank safe”, Construction (Toronto), vol. 11, 1918, via Internet Archive. ↩︎
- News note on the York Safe & Lock Company, Trust Companies, April 1933, via Internet Archive. ↩︎
- News note, Manufacturers Record, 13 July 1916 (the Ely-Norris Safe Co., Perth Amboy, N.J., reports the sale of its plant to the York Safe & Lock Co., which will make the Manard manganese steel bank safes), via Internet Archive. ↩︎
- Morphy Auctions, “York Manganese Steel Co. cannonball safe”, restored, 43 x 25 x 27 in: lot 3249, 6 May 2022, $31,500; lot 3013, 22 April 2023, $10,800 (prices including buyer’s premium). ↩︎
- Selden C. Menefee, Assignment: U.S.A. (New York: Reynal & Hitchcock, 1943), chapter on York, Pennsylvania, via Internet Archive. ↩︎
- Report on The Saturday Evening Post‘s article about York’s war work, Gettysburg Times, 22 October 1941, via Internet Archive. ↩︎
- Francis X. Murphy, Fighting Admiral: The Story of Dan Callaghan (New York: Vantage Press, 1952), pp. 129–130, via Internet Archive. ↩︎
- Feature on Pennsylvania’s war industries, Pathfinder, 2 May 1942, via Internet Archive. ↩︎
- “Navy to Run York Safe and Lock Plants”, The Washington Post, 25 January 1944, via Internet Archive. ↩︎
- Stephen H. Smith, “Eliot Ness cracks the York Safe & Lock Company”, YorksPast, 20 November 2012. ↩︎
- Associated Press report from York, 24 June, on the closure of York Industries, Inc., Gettysburg Times, 24 June 1947, via Internet Archive. ↩︎
- “York Industries” auction report, Business Week, 2 August 1947, via Internet Archive. ↩︎
- Executive Order 9527, “Relinquishing Possession of the Plants of York Safe and Lock Company, York County, Pennsylvania”, 28 February 1945, Federal Register, 2 March 1945, via Internet Archive. Navy order terminating possession, Federal Register, 3 March 1945. ↩︎
- “Navy Sinks York”, Business Week, 12 February 1944, via Internet Archive. ↩︎
- “Diebold Annexes York’s Line”, Business Week, 12 January 1946, via Internet Archive. ↩︎
- “Safe and Lock Merger”, The Burroughs Clearing House, February 1946, via Internet Archive. ↩︎
- Literature note, booklet “published by the York Safe and Lock Division of Diebold Inc., Canton 2, Ohio”, Bankers’ Monthly, January 1947, via Internet Archive. ↩︎
- Gary Piattoni, “Appraisal: York Salesman’s Sample Safe, ca. 1916”, Antiques Roadshow, PBS, season 29, broadcast 3 October 2024. ↩︎
- A Book of Views Illustrating York County’s Sesqui-Centennial Celebration, September 3–6, 1899 (York, 1899), “Float of the York Safe and Lock Co., Loucks’ Mill Road and N. C. R. W.”, via Internet Archive. ↩︎
- Photograph and caption, vault door for the Kincheng Banking Corporation, Shanghai, The Bankers Magazine, November 1927, via Internet Archive. ↩︎
- “Modern Vault Door for Chinese Tomb”, The Bankers Magazine, July 1927, via Internet Archive. ↩︎
- Illustrated report on the Equitable Trust Company’s new Paris office, The Bankers Magazine, June 1928, via Internet Archive. ↩︎
- Photograph and caption, vault for the Bank of Japan, The Bankers Magazine, March 1931, via Internet Archive. ↩︎
- Alvesgaspar, “Bank safe Lisbon October 2014-1a.jpg”, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0. ↩︎
- “In the Vault”, Milken Center for Advancing the American Dream, Washington, D.C. (accessed October 2026). ↩︎
- “Diebold Incorporated”, International Directory of Company Histories, via Reference for Business. ↩︎
- r/Safes threads (via the Arctic Shift Reddit archive): “Old safe – worth anything?” (18 August 2024); “Value on antique safe” (2 March 2026); “York old antique safe, weighs 300 pounds” (14 April 2025); “Is this old steel safe worth anything?” (2 April 2025); “Got this for $100 but cost me $80 to move it” (14 July 2023). Owners’ and commenters’ opinions, not sale records. ↩︎
- Morphy Auctions, Premier Advertising sale, Denver, Pennsylvania, bidding closed 29 March 2013, prices including buyer’s premium: lot 189, Victor salesman sample screw-door cannonball, c.1905, about 68 lb, restored, $22,420; lot 149, Mosler salesman sample “square cannonball”, c.1903, about 50 lb, $11,210; lot 168, Marvin chrome iron spherical safe, about 2,000 lb, restored, $10,620; lot 166, the same type, about 650 lb, $10,030; lot 202, York Safe and Lock Co. manganese spherical safe, c.1899, about 450 lb, $9,440. Dates “circa” are the auction house’s. ↩︎
