World's Largest Round Vault Door

[wylk]

On the surface it would appear that the non-load-bearing hinges are as represented in the diagram. However, let's look at the Remington-Sherman US patent 793,703 (filed 1904):



As can be seen, the upper-right hinge in fact does support part of the load. The crane bears down on the journal 10, which in turn bears down on the housing attached to the vestibule (frame). This matches the configuration of One King West. I would have no doubt that the same configuration is used on the "other" hinge point at the Cleveland Fed. Proper installation would involve fiddling with the two adjustments to get the door height correct, and to distribute the load equally across both thrust bearings.

[Doug MacQueen]

While I am not clear on the patent explanation regarding the down force, all the hinge blocks(knuckles) are load bearing. There considerable side loads to be taken into account.

[VaultDoors]

Here is the door shock around 2010

[VaultDoors]

The CRF emergency door has an access panel at the bottom crane hinge block, assumed to be used for servicing the the hinge components and apply lubrication. Not sure how the main door hinge blocks are serviced.

[VaultDoors]

Speaking of door stops, the MN Federal Reserve door appears to have a door stop attached to the bottom crane hinge knuckle. It may be a jamb control vault due to the absence of combination dials on the door.

[VaultDoors]

Also, part of the entrance platform appears to be attached to the door.

[VaultDoors]

The crane hinge on the Cleveland Trust vault is connected via 'hinge pin' extending from top to bottom. This design appears to be common on doors with 'X' pattern pressure systems

Cleveland Trust


Others

[VaultDoors]

I do not see a bolt-throwing hand-wheel on these doors only a pressure system hand-wheel, nor are there any combination dials or jamb controls... The only jamb control I see is on the Cleveland Trust door in the form of a hand-wheel that I believe operates the entrance platform. There is an interesting electrical panel above it.

[VaultDoors]

Also, there is some sort of 'escape hatch/chamber' at the rear of the Cleveland Trust vault that leads to the emergency door. This does not appear to be a common vault feature.

[wylk]

The crane hinge on the Cleveland Trust vault is connected via 'hinge pin' extending from top to bottom. This design appears to be common on doors with 'X' pattern pressure systems

Quickly glancing over my photo collection, it seems that the "X" pattern was used by Damon and Hollar, and they both used the solid "hinge pin" but not exclusively.