Chubb Locks
Chubb Locks is a brand name of the Mul-T-Lock subsidiary of the Assa Abloy Group, which manufactures high security locking systems for residential, secure confinement and commercial applications.History
Chubb was started as a ship's ironmonger by Charles Chubb in Winchester, England and then moved to Portsmouth, England in 1804. Chubb moved the company into the locksmith business in 1818, in Wolverhampton. The company worked out of a number of premises in Wolverhampton, including the purpose built factory on Railway Street, now still known as the Chubb Building. His brother Jeremiah Chubb then joined the company, and they sold Jeremiah's patented detector lock.
In 1823, the company was awarded a special licence by George IV, and later became the sole supplier of locks to the General Post Office, and a supplier to Her Majesty's Prison Service. In 1835, they received a patent for a burglar resisting safe, and opened a safe factory in London in 1837. In 1851, they designed a special secure display case for the Koh-i-Noor diamond for its appearance at The Great Exhibition.
In August 1984, the company was purchased by Racal under the chairmanship of Sir Ernest Harrison OBE. After the group was floated out from Racal, in February 1997 it was bought by Williams plc. In August 2000, they were sold to Assa Abloy. In 2006, Chubb was merged into the group Mul-T-Lock within Assa Abloy. The Chubb Electronic Security subsidiaries produce smoke detectors, fire alarms, burglar alarms and glass break detectors.says in the Arthur Conan Doyle short story "A Scandal in Bohemia" that Irene Adler has a Chubb lock on her London villa's door.
