Vault Door Book?

[VaultDoors]

Does anyone know of a book dedicated to antique vault doors? Preferably a picture book with color close ups of boltwork, schematics, stats, and a location index? I searched the Web but could not find anything. Locations would be helpful so I could visit the sites when traveling. I have the book American Genius by Erroll and Erroll but that is focused on bank locks and time clocks.

[wylk]

I have been compiling a catalog of "interesting" vault locations. It's a Word document of almost 52 megabytes. Some vault locations no longer exist but are of historical value, some are suspected but not verified, some are still banks which means they probably don't like "vault tourists." I do include imagery when I can find it but I've visited very close to zero of them. Most are in the US. I update/correct it when I make new discoveries.

I don't have much in the way of closeups, stats, etc.

Your avatar is One King West, correct?

Because of the size I don't think I can email it (haven't tried since my provider switched to a new mail server, and your provider may not allow large attachments either) which means I have to get tricky. If you are interested I can temporarily put it on a web page for download.

[VaultDoors]

Yes, it is the One King West vault. I assume its rack and pinion are concealed behind a plate but I am curious to know how it actually functions.

I would also like to know what purpose the two holes in one of the bolts serves.

That would be great if you could share your catalog. I use DropBox to store online files. It is free and easy to use and has a 'public' folder for sharing files.

[Huw Eastwood]

Yes, it is the One King West vault. I assume its rack and pinion are concealed behind a plate but I am curious to know how it actually functions.

As far as I know there were 2 main patterns on these:
The plate or disc visible behind the bolts is static on both types. It has elongated slots (lankets ) machined into it parallel with each locking bolt and behind them- hence they remain hidden. Each bolt is then driven by a pin extending through the elongated slot to one of two mechanisms behind the static plate:

One is a circular plate with diagonal slots engaging the pins which rotates behind the back-plate to drive the bolts in and out.
The other is a similar rotating plate driving 'L' shaped cams which pivot to drive each of the bolts in and out. It's all concealed since the slots are behind the bolts and parallel with them, and the rotating drive plate and the cams are concealed behind the static back-plate that is visible inside the back of the door. Looks very basic and clean but it's all happening underneath.

There may be more designs though, I'm sure Doug will know far more as he's been lucky enough to work or tinker with a few of them!

[wylk]

OK, here is my "catalog" of vault locations: http://w3.uwyo.edu/~jimkirk/locations.html

Comments/corrections not only welcome, but requested. It may be a little cryptic in places, I didn't have public consumption in mind when I started. For example when I write "[Mosler xxx]" that refers to an official Mosler history published in 1999.

[VaultDoors]

OK, here is my "catalog" of vault locations: http://w3.uwyo.edu/~jimkirk/locations.html

Comments/corrections not only welcome, but requested. It may be a little cryptic in places, I didn't have public consumption in mind when I started. For example when I write "[Mosler xxx]" that refers to an official Mosler history published in 1999.

What a fantastic resource! Thank you for sharing. I tabelized the first vault, see page 2.

[Doug MacQueen]

Rhode Island Hospital Trust, Providence R.I. York sq door --- Nassau Nat. Bank, Brooklyn, RS sq door ---Guaranty Trust 5th at 43rd Mosler and/or York --- Bankers Trust Wall at Nassau HHM sq door --- American Surety Bldg. 100 Broadway --- National Exchange Bank Baltimore York door ---Brooklyn Trust ---Equitable Bldg 120 Broadway --- Bank of Montreal ---Citizens National Bank --- Columbia Trust Co. ---Title Guarantee and Trust Co. --- New York Clearing House --- JP Morgan 23 Wall ---Importers and Traders National Bank --- Central Savings --- NY Fed Reserve---

[wylk]

OK, here is my "catalog" of vault locations: http://w3.uwyo.edu/~jimkirk/locations.html

Comments/corrections not only welcome, but requested. It may be a little cryptic in places, I didn't have public consumption in mind when I started. For example when I write "[Mosler xxx]" that refers to an official Mosler history published in 1999.

I have uploaded an updated version. Most (all?) of the major additions have also been posted here on antique-locks. I've identified many more vaults that were engineered by Frederick S. Holmes. And there are minor updates and corrections. It's now an even 200 pages.

[Warren63]

OK, here is my "catalog" of vault locations: http://w3.uwyo.edu/~jimkirk/locations.html

Comments/corrections not only welcome, but requested. It may be a little cryptic in places, I didn't have public consumption in mind when I started. For example when I write "[Mosler xxx]" that refers to an official Mosler history published in 1999.

An extensive and much appreciated piece of work. Thanks for taking the time to share your work with everyone. My knowledge and interest as a collector will be much improved because of your work.

[Sam Kremer]

OK, here is my "catalog" of vault locations: http://w3.uwyo.edu/~jimkirk/locations.html

Comments/corrections not only welcome, but requested. It may be a little cryptic in places, I didn't have public consumption in mind when I started. For example when I write "[Mosler xxx]" that refers to an official Mosler history published in 1999.

Hi, I don't suppose this is still available somewhere online? Thanks. S