Thread: Salesman Sample Cannonball Safes and Other Salesman Sample Safes

Here are just some of the safes in my collection. I have more and want more so keep me in mind if you have one for sale.

Do any of the cannonballs and similar have shooting bolts or do they ALL have a turning cam action to lock?

Tom, if I understand your question correctly, most but not all of the cannonball type safes have rotating doors of with a lug or a screw thread to hold the door shut and one or more bolts to keep it from being turned. Andrews nice little red model Mosler is a double lug. The design was almost entirely to prevent the introduction of nitro glycerine. And as far as real burglary attempts go, the safes apparently were successful.

Yes you did understand right- I was asking which ones did not have that type of mechanism -obviously round vault doors had multiple bolts shooting outward but which of the cannonballs did?
Cheers
Tom

Almost every cannonball safe that I have seen has a cannon breach type of door that locks by screwing in while the door turns. I have never seen one that has standard pins like a normal safe.

well........-

Interesting Safe. I have not seen that one before. Who makes it? Looks very old. Can you post more pictures of it.

Chatwood 1928

Tom, glad to see the cannonball made to the UK. For starters the earliest one I know of also happens to be the truest to the name and that is the Marvin Chrome Iron dating to the late 1860's where the small door has a shooting bolt. Next in line is the Corliiss which I recently posted a bunch of pictures. Certainly the most interesting mechanically. That door recedes inwardly to open and is kept locked by a huge C-clip type of locking ring. Moses Mosler did patent a version of that safe after Mosler bought out the Corliss Safe Co. where the door unscrews as it moves inward. I believe it was made but have yet to see one. Another that comes to mind is Cramer Safe of Kansas City that had a three way boltwork. And there are a couple of other patent safes which may or may not have been made. On odd one, by Jos. Hall I think, was for a small round door where the door itself is turned to dial in the combination numbers. Doug