West Coast Chain Manufacturing Co. founder W.R. Lummis invented the Original KEY-BAK® Self-Retracting Key Reel in 1948. As a switchman on the Pacific Electric Railway in Los Angeles, he saw brakemen and switchmen injured when their dangling key chains got caught on moving trains.
Lummis had an idea for a reel that would keep keys within reach at the wearer's side, safe from snagging on moving rail cars and machinery. His idea became the first KEY-BAK.