Schlage




Two extraordinary men, one a brilliant inventor and the other an astute businessman, forged a partnership in 1927 which led the way for Schlage Lock Company to become the pre-eminent leader in the door hardware industry. These men were Walter Schlage and Charles Kendrick. Walter Reinhold Schlage, sometimes called the "Lock Wizard of Thuringia," referring to the small town in central Germany where he was born, was not only a master mechanic/inventor but also an adventurer. Mr. Schlage's brilliance was recognized early in his life by his father who interceded on his behalf to gain his admittance to the Carl Zeiss Optical Works in Jena at age 14. During the four-year student-apprentice program, Walter Schlage learned drafting, applied mechanics and engineering, and received a special award of merit for his scholarship.

His desire for adventure, whetted by the world travelers who stayed at his father's hotel in Thuringia, drove him to leave Germany and head for London. There he found work as a scientific instrument maker for Hilger, Ltd. In less than a year, his curiosity about the world persuaded him to book passage for the United States. Once in America, Mr. Schlage became employed at Western Electric Company.

A product of the old German work ethic, Walter Schlage labored at his job, and then went home and experimented with lock mechanisms– his abiding interest. His first invention, patented in 1909, was a door lock that turned lights on and off.

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