Mosler Safe Company
| File:Mosler Safe Company Logo.gif | |
.jpg) The Mosler Safe Company factory in Hamilton, Ohio, circa 1894. | |
| Formerly | Mosler Safe & Lock Company |
|---|---|
| Industry | Security equipment production |
| Predecessor | Mosler, Bahmann & Company |
| Founded | 1874 |
| Founders |
|
| Defunct | 3 August 2001 |
| Fate | Bankruptcy, acquired by Diebold Inc. |
| Headquarters | , U.S. |
| Website | mosler.com at the Wayback Machine (archived 2001-04-18) |
The Mosler Safe Company was a U.S.-based global manufacturer specializing in security products such as safes and bank vaults. Following bankruptcy in 2001, the business was purchased by Diebold Inc..
History
In 1867, Gustave Mosler and Fred Bahmann established Mosler, Bahmann & Company in Cincinnati, Ohio. After Gustave Mosler passed away in 1874, disagreements arose between the Mosler family and Bahmann, prompting the family to depart and form the Mosler Safe & Lock Company. Both firms operated out of Cincinnati until the late 19th century. Due to expansion beyond its original facility in 1891, Mosler Safe & Lock Co. moved to Hamilton, Ohio, where it stayed until its eventual closure. Meanwhile, Mosler, Bahmann & Company continued operations until approximately 1898.
The founding family maintained ownership of Mosler until 1967 when they sold it to American Standard Companies. American Standard divested the division in 1986, selling it to a consortium of Mosler executives and external investors.
After more than a century of operation, Mosler declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy in August 2001 due to persistent financial difficulties and soon halted its activities. Shortly after, Diebold announced initiatives to assist former customers of Mosler and acquired the majority of the company’s assets through bankruptcy proceedings a few months later.
Products
Mosler gained a reputation for producing safes and vaults distinguished by their durability and meticulous craftsmanship. Notably, several Mosler vaults installed in the Mitsui Bank building in Hiroshima before WWII withstood the devastating atomic bombing, a fact prominently highlighted in the company’s promotional materials.[1][2] Additionally, Mosler safes were utilized by the U.S. government during the Manhattan Project, although physicist Richard Feynman famously enjoyed attempting to unlock them.[3]
During the Cold War, as the U.S. government constructed bunkers and missile silos, Mosler was contracted to supply blast doors. One notable installation at the Atomic Energy Commission's Oak Ridge National Laboratory[4]: 47 in 1961 featured doors weighing roughly 65 tons each, regarded as the heaviest doors ever installed in the United States at that time.[5]
Mosler was responsible for constructing the vault that housed the Charters of Freedom—the US Constitution, Declaration of Independence, and Bill of Rights. The company also supplied the gold vaults for the United States Bullion Depository located at Fort Knox.[6][7] Despite each blade weighing 58 tons, they were designed so that a single individual could manually operate them.[8][9]
References
- ↑ Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedFSSS - ↑ Mosler and the Cold War, The Lane Libraries, archived from the original on 6 February 2012, retrieved 1 July 2013
- ↑ Feynman, Richard P. (1985), Leighton, Ralph (ed.), Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!: Adventures of a Curious Character, W. W. Norton & Company, ISBN 0-393-01921-7, OCLC 10925248
- ↑ Piland, Richard N. (4 May 2015), Hamilton's Industrial Heritage, Arcadia Publishing, ISBN 978-1-4396-5115-5, retrieved 18 August 2023
- ↑ "Oak Ridge National Laboratory through the years". Knoxville News Sentinel. 14 July 2023. Retrieved 9 February 2025.
- ↑ Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedPost Wood - ↑ Tim McKeough (19 November 2015), "From Financial Guru to Brooklyn Ceramist", New York Times, retrieved 21 September 2020
- ↑ Elliot Carter (6 March 2017), "Found: A Miniature Working Model of the National Archives Vault", Atlas Obscura, retrieved 21 September 2020
- ↑ Kratz, Jessie (29 June 2020), "The Mosler Model", Pieces of History, National Archives, retrieved 14 December 2022
External links
Media related to Mosler Safe Company at Wikimedia Commons
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- Commons link is the pagename
- Manufacturing firms founded in 1867
- Manufacturing firms closed in 2001
- United States security firms
- Manufacturers of security equipment
- Defunct Cincinnati-based companies
- Companies that underwent Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2001
- Ohio establishments from 1867
- Ohio disestablishments from 2001
- Defunct Ohio manufacturing firms
- Security companies of the United States