After Gary's amazingly unexpected Hobb's Progress G posted, I'm now wondering if anyone has anything on the elusive and even higher grade Hobb's Branch Bank?
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After Gary's amazingly unexpected Hobb's Progress G posted, I'm now wondering if anyone has anything on the elusive and even higher grade Hobb's Branch Bank?
At a tangent, when did Chubb take over Hobbs?
Hobb's Hart was in the same year they took over Chatwood-Milner- 1956
Huw, was the branch bank safe a higher grade than the prog g?
I thought I had seen on old literature that the branch bank was a prog e quality?
will have a dig through my old info
Gary, tbh all I have to go on is the 5th edition Tann book which does list the Branch Bank a full grade higher than the Progress 'G', on par with a Chatwood Diamond and Special Diamond.
I'm curious on the Branch Bank as they seem as elusive as the Milners Diamond, never even hear a rumour let alone get to see a photo, but then we thought that with the Progress G's until you posted that one!
As I'm sure you know safeman on here compiled the gradings for the Tann books so hopefully he might also have a bit more info for us.
Cheers Huw, a lot of makers seemed to have a branch bank model, wonder if it was marketing thing so banks looking for a safe would be drawn to that model description, I have worked in a lot of banks and seen a lot of hobbs stuff including a model that is regularly described as a Hobbs Bankers, but don't know if this was the true designation or what safe engineers called it just because it seemed to be the safe Hobbs used a lot in the banks.
If anyone has a brochure for the branch bank or knows if it is Hobbs or Hobbs Hart specific I would be most interested.
I probably have some old literature that is not on computer somewhere, will carry on digging.
Gary, you've got me wondering about this Hobb's Branch Bank versus Bankers name thing now. Looking at the Tann book there is indeed a Branch Bank listed under Milners, Ratner and Hobbs, but for Hobb's there is strangely no Bankers model mentioned and yet like you say you hear the term Bankers far more than Branch Bank.
Also, under Hobb's the models listed advance up the grades but with the Progress D's listed directly above the Progress Bs, and the Progress C is strangely slotted in with the progress E in the next grade above !! Makes little obvious sense to me tbh....
Gary tbh a Hobb's Bankers rings a distant bell with me too, although I have to admit I can't really remember seeing anything I do recall mention of it here and there and also on the net.
A quick look at safeman's website shows reference to a Hobb's Hart Bankers but can't see mention of a Hobb's or Hobb's Hart Branch Bank, so it seems a bit reversed from what's in the Tann guide which lists the Branch Bank but no Bankers, under Hobbs or Hobb's Hart.
Saying that though the Hobb's listing in the Tann guide does seem pretty odd with the Progress C's grouped with the E's in the grade above the D's...
Interested to know what you dig out from your old literature, unfortunately what little I've got is mostly 1960s onwards.
cheers, Huw
Facts are sadly lacking in this area so this is pure conjecture. As Hobbs changed their body construction method from 4 bend to full 12 bend sometime into the early 20th Century it could be assumed that the Progress G became the Bankers and subsequently the SE1. This could have coincided with the general improvement to ABP Qualities by others around the period of WW1 as oxy-acetylene became more generally available with Ratner and Hobbs sandwiching ¼" copper within the door plates. Explosive resistance followed immediately after greatly improved by Ratner with their fully automatic Safety Bolt in 1918. The Tann device was initially a thermal device but served both purposes,
The term Bankers was used by most for their ABP grades and Branch Bank was the same quality but fully packaged with internal fittings such as teller's cupboards and coffers.
Most of these improvements went for nought in the 60's and 70's as delamination side-stepped these measures.
The only illustration I have of the Hobbs SE1 is attached. The Branch Bank as I remember it was more or less identical. The door furniture was in Phosphor-Bronze.
Attachment 17271
Here are the specifications for the Progress Range circa 1910.
Attachment 17272 Attachment 17273 Attachment 17274
If all this doesn't make sense blame the lovely person who took me out for yet another Birthday Lunch.
Some info I have been able to dig out, some brochure info showing branch bank safe as progress E quality ( although this is not to say that at some other time they didn't do a branch bank model that was a bit higher quality, or even a special so to speak)
Also some pictures of what I have always been told was a Hobbs Bankers safe, although I have always seen this with just two protector locks fitted and wouldn't class it as a patch on the progess G (could just be that it is of a different era though)