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Thread: Emergency Doors

  1. #41
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    Another example of emergency doors yielding to ventilation fans, in this postcard sent in 1921. The bank is in Minneapolis at 730 Hennepin Avenue and is now City Place Lofts.

    Click image for larger version. 

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    The doors are by Mosler.

  2. #42
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    Quote Originally Posted by wylk View Post
    One of the first images in this thread was this:

    Attachment 11764

    I've identified the location as CFS Carp in Ontario, Canada, a cold-war bunker. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CFS_Carp as well as http://www.diefenbunker.ca and http://jenandwillsnorthamericanadven...fenbunker.html. In particular, the following image which also shows the vault has a passageway around it complete with mirrors, intended to foil burglars trying to break in through a wall. Why this is an issue at a cold-war bunker is not clear.

    Attachment 11765

    And while we're at it, the main door (Mosler? Diebold? Taylor?):

    Attachment 11766 Attachment 11767
    Why does the door in the botom left picture have a sign saying "do not touch without gloves" ?

  3. #43
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    Quote Originally Posted by Safeone View Post
    Why does the door in the botom left picture have a sign saying "do not touch without gloves" ?
    Sweat and oils from hands can be corrosive to a variety of metals and alloys. You can see the results of handling the door to the left of the time lock, and above: rusty, dark, stained metal. Since the site is now a museum, artifacts should be protected appropriately.

    Older doors (including day gates) often had handles made of wood, plastic, or other material, and bank managers were supposed to use them instead of the steel parts. This issue became less important as stainless steel came into use.

  4. #44
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    Quote Originally Posted by wylk View Post
    Sweat and oils from hands can be corrosive to a variety of metals and alloys. You can see the results of handling the door to the left of the time lock, and above: rusty, dark, stained metal. Since the site is now a museum, artifacts should be protected appropriately.

    Older doors (including day gates) often had handles made of wood, plastic, or other material, and bank managers were supposed to use them instead of the steel parts. This issue became less important as stainless steel came into use.
    Thanks for the swift and informative response. Odd how something that could withstand hours of attack from anything made from man can be scarred by naturally occuring body sweat !!!

  5. #45
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    For emergency vault doors with jamb controls and a rotating lug ring (rather than locking bolts) - how does the hand wheel rotate the lug ring? I suspect there is a device that rotates the lug ring to overlap the interior lugs and then operated in reverse to align the lugs in the slots to open the door. Here are some examples of jamb-controlled emergency vault doors with encased combination viewers and rotating lug rings:

    Equitable Life Assurance Society
    Click image for larger version. 

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    Also, can anyone explain the bubbled-out crane hinge? It seems like a more elegant design could have been achieved...

    On the Philly Fed's emergency door, the bottom/center lug has a slot so perhaps that’s where the 'pusher' engages to rotate the lug ring?
    Click image for larger version. 

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  6. #46
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    I've never paid enough attention to jamb-controlled doors. It now occurs to me that there is an extra complication caused by having the time lock attached to the door, while the combination locks are attached to the frame. In an ordinary door they are both attached to the inside face of the door and interconnected. In a jamb-controlled door the interconnection has to deal with the separation of the two mechanisms. Is this spelled out in any of the patents?

    As for the emergency door, do we know for certain if the movable/rotating lug ring is on the frame (and the lugs on the door are fixed), or are the frame lugs fixed and the door's lugs rotate? I noticed that the emergency door in your last post has three handles: one on the door for the pressure system, a straight handle on the door, and a hand wheel on the control box. I will speculate that the straight handle "tests" the time lock and deploys an enabling mechanism (perhaps via the slot you spotted). The control box then takes care of lug rotation if the combination lock(s) allow it, as well as the time lock.

    Does that seem likely/plausible?

  7. #47
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    Here are some jamb-controlled safe/vault patents; there are probably more:

    • 1874 - US153348 HINGES FOR SAFE DOORS - JAMB COMBINATION
    • 1877 - USRE7802 DOORS AND HINGES FOR BURGLAR-PROOF SAFES - JAMB COMBINATION
    • 1897 - US575705 CLOSURE FOR SAFES OR VAULTS - CYLINDRICAL VAULT
    • 1923 - US1478085 VAULT CLOSURE STRUCTURE - CYLINDRICAL VAULT
    • 1926 - US1574295 SAFE - CYLINDRICAL VAULT
    • 1937 - US2081316 VAULT - CYLINDRICAL VAULT

    I am not sure if the lug ring moves on the door or the jamb, I just assumed the door. When safes have lug rings, does the lug ring on the door or the jamb move?

  8. #48
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    1887 - US370472 OPERATING MECHANISM FOR THE DOORS OF SAFES AND VAULTS (Jamb Combination)
    1910 - US954547 VAULT AND STRONG ROOM DOOR (Cylindrical Vault)
    1910 - US955933 VAULT AND STRONG ROOM DOOR (Cylindrical Vault)
    1910 - US961227 VAULT AND STRONG ROOM DOOR (Cylindrical Vault)
    1911 - US991228 SAFE OR VAULT (Jamb Combination)
    1914 - US1089018 VAULT ENTRANCE (Cylindrical Vault)
    1915 - US1139074 MEANS FOR AUTOMATICALLY CLOSING VAULT-DOORS (Cylindrical Vault)
    1917 - US376215 SAFE LOCK (Jamb Combination)
    1918 – US1256869 SAFETY VAULT (Jamb Bolt-Throwing Hand Wheel)
    1926 - US1574330 JOINT (Cylindrical Vault)
    1926 - US1610916 SAFE OR VAULT DOORS (Jamb Lug Ring Hand wheel)
    1935 - US2030219 PROTECTIVE RECEPTACLE (Jamb Combination)
    1936 - US2033694 ROBBERY PREVENTION APPARATUS (Cylindrical Vault)

  9. #49
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    Here is the last of the jamb-controlled vault door patents I could find:
    1878 - US204814 BURGLAR-PROOF SAFES (Jamb Combination)
    1885 - US315612 LOCK MECHANISM FOR SAFES (Jamb Combination)
    1886 - US342004 BURGLAR PROOF SAFE (Jamb Combination)

  10. #50
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    1885 - US315613 LOCK MECHANISM FOR SAFES (Jamb Combination) by Henry Gross

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