Mosler Safe Company

The Mosler Safe Company, Hamilton, as seen through the window of a Pullman dining car on the Cincinnati, Hamilton and Dayton Railway line in 1894.

The Mosler Safe Company was a manufacturer of security equipment, most notably safes and bank vaults, beginning in 1867 and ending with its bankruptcy in 2001.

Founded in Cincinnati by Gustave Mosler as the Mosler-Bahmann Safe Company, it outgrew its original factory and relocated to Hamilton in 1891, where it remained until its 2001 bankruptcy.^[1] Its safes and vaults were renowned for their strength and precision manufacture: several Mosler vaults installed in Hiroshima's Mitsui Bank building prior to WWII survived the nuclear attack,^[2] and the company subsequently produced doors for missile silos and even the vault formerly used to display and store the United States Constitution and Declaration of Independence.^[1] One example, installed at the Atomic Energy Commission's Oak Ridge National Laboratory, weighed approximately 138 tons including the frame. Despite the weight ("the largest and heaviest hinged shielding doors in the world"), each 58-ton blade could be opened and closed manually by one person.

Mosler was controlled by its founding family until 1967, when they sold it to American Standard Companies. American Standard then sold the division to a group of Mosler managers and outside investors in 1986.^[3]

After 134 years in business, Mosler declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy in August 2001, citing continuing debt problems, and ceased operations shortly thereafter. Diebold subsequently announced programs to support former Mosler customers^[4] and ended up buying much of the former company in bankruptcy court a few months later.

The Mosler name carries on to this day in Canada as Chubb-Mosler and Taylor Safes Ltd.,^[5] the outcome of a 1950s merger of Mosler's Canadian operations with those of Chubb Security, followed by the acquisition of Taylor Safes of Canada in the following decade.^[6]

References