Chubb Office Safe

Years ago I had a Chubb Office Safe. It was a 60s model, I should think. Finished in Black and grey. The carriages went the full height of the door. It had a not very well made single bitted Chubb lock. I fitted an S & G 3 wheel combination lock, with glass plate to beef it up. The door was very hard all over. I ended up having to drill it using a radial arm drill to take the spindle!

There was a single dead aed on it. The trace to that went out horizontally from the lock- it was a piece of stiff wire with a circle on the end which had a ballbearing in it, A second piece of wire was also linked to this gearing and went straight down to the plunger, which was at the bottom corner. I never could work out why they had used this particular link. Of course it woukld have worked fine had the lock ever been attacked.

I wondered if anybody had any observations to make on this model.

I always quite liked the office quality model. Slight bevel on the door edges and if I remember correctly the lock was a 6 lever similar in design to the 6k75 lock, unusual to hear Chubb locks of that era described as a not very good.

This was certainly not a 6k75..

What was the thinking behind the ballbearing used as a link in the trace to the AED?

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Originally Posted by Gary Stephenson

I always quite liked the office quality model. Slight bevel on the door edges and if I remember correctly the lock was a 6 lever similar in design to the 6k75 lock, unusual to hear Chubb locks of that era described as a not very good.

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Gary were those the early generation of the Commerce models? Can remember seeing a few like that, opening/re-keying etc but they had distinctive stepped doorplates, they were pretty thick too easily 3 or 3.5 inches, with nicely bevelled edges around the door front like you say, and the heavy continuous hinge divided by chromed spacers to match the doorpull and handle.
Always thought those locks were the early 6k75s though, going from memory.

Also from memory I encountered a variation which was identical externally but had the even weirder sliding and pivoting bar relocker linkages around the perimeter of the boltcase with the 'sprung triple gated Lever relocker' (for want of better description :-)
Think that type of dead relocker was seen more on the early ABPs though?

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Originally Posted by Chubby

What was the thinking behind the ballbearing used as a link in the trace to the AED?

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Chubby, in your original post you pretty much answered your own question in that the simplicity of the looped wire over the ball bearing was exactly that- very easy and cheap to manufacture but also very effective in its operation.
It guaranteed very sturdy contact when held 'off guard' but also provided sensitivity by its small and precise contact area ensuring it was instantly triggered under attack. Dont forget this was before the development and use of tempered glass plates.

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Originally Posted by Huw Eastwood

Gary were those the early generation of the Commerce models? Can remember seeing a few like that, opening/re-keying etc but they had distinctive stepped doorplates, they were pretty thick too easily 3 or 3.5 inches, with nicely bevelled edges around the door front like you say, and the heavy continuous hinge divided by chromed spacers to match the doorpull and handle.
Always thought those locks were the early 6k75s though, going from memory.

Yes Huw , that is what I think of as office quality, although I don't think the were related to the Commerce models. I also think of the locks as being the early version of the 6k75 design. Green case and 6 thicker levers rather than grey 7 lever or black 8 levers. And I have seen dual control versions of the 6 lever version

Also from memory I encountered a variation which was identical externally but had the even weirder sliding and pivoting bar relocker linkages around the perimeter of the boltcase with the 'sprung triple gated Lever relocker' (for want of better description :-)
Think that type of dead relocker was seen more on the early ABPs though?

I have only seen that relocker design on ABPs, but god knows what they did as odd production runs in the factory.



Chubby, in your original post you pretty much answered your own question in that the simplicity of the looped wire over the ball bearing was exactly that- very easy and cheap to manufacture but also very effective in its operation.
It guaranteed very sturdy contact when held 'off guard' but also provided sensitivity by its small and precise contact area ensuring it was instantly triggered under attack. Dont forget this was before the development and use of tempered glass plates.

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As Huw says Chubby
This relocker setup was used on other similar aged Chubb safes

I do not understand the description of the ball bearing setup. Is there perhaps a photo/drawing? My guess is that this ball bearing is like a standard ball bearing ring and not just a ball without bearing, and that this ball bearing is held by pressure between door front and lock?

Simpler than you are thinking probably

photos

The one I traced the date on was 1952 to give an era, don't know how many years they were produced for, but we don't see too many of them so probably not a long lived model, brochures for anyone interested.

Yes, that's the baby. It was a tough unit!

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Originally Posted by Gary Stephenson

photos

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Thanks! So this is a passive relocker, which fires, when the lock is disturbed?

Correct, a passive or dead relocker as we call them in the UK.