If you ever tour the former Federal Prison on Alcatraz Island in the San Francisco Bay, you will see a plaque proudly displayed proclaiming the Stewart Iron Works Patented Locking Device! Stewart technicians invented this locking system which allowed the prison guards to open particular cell doors individually with a lever system. Prior to the Stewart invention, guards had to open cell doors with keys.
Stewart Iron Works had a division, Stewart Jail Works, that manufactured the fencing, gates and jail cells for such notorious Federal Prisons as Leavenworth, Kansas (1904), Alcatraz, California(1909), and Sing Sing, New York (1914). The jail division was eventually sold.
To view the Alcatraz plaque, click on the link below:
http://www.nps.gov/museum/exhibits/alca/exb/FederalPrison/EquipmentProcedures/goga100_sign_lockingMech2_e.html
Was the company actually call Stewart/Decauter Jailworks? Also I believe Joe Milburn was the designer of the lock system? Joe was a great man to work for when he bought the Stewart Ironworks fence division back. He later turned it over to his two sons, John and Tony and sold a third to Mark R. The company was great to work for till John and Tony left due to conflicts with the third owner. Not long after it was run into the ground. That was a shame. I am glad to see that they are doing better under the new ownership.
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