Chubb Locks

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The Chubb Building, Fryer Street

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 and commercial applications.

[edit] 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 1984, the company was purchased by Racal, who sold it in 1997 to Williams plc. In August 2000, they were sold to Assa Abloy. In 2006, Chubb was merged into the Mul-T-Lock group within Assa Abloy.

[edit] References in popular culture

Chubb Locks is mentioned in Alan Hollinghurst's 2005 novel, The Line of Beauty (in the very last pages).
Chubb Locks feature in several Sherlock Holmes stories by Arthur Conan Doyle.
A highly complex Chubb lock is an obstacle in William Gibson's Neuromancer.
Chubb locks are mentioned in Stella Rimington's 2007 novel Secret Asset (in the first paragraph of Chapter 13).