Ultimate & One-off Freestanding Safes

[Huw Eastwood]

Externally the predecessor of the isolators ?

The top lock with the magnifier dial ring - is the lock any different to the normal lock ?

Yes it definitely has an early chrome Isolator look to it.
From what I recall on the mk3s I saw they had the normal big brass cased 4-wheel, with normal 10-lever double-bit locks covered with the normal CM chrome escutcheons on the front.

The brochure refers to this one having the top 4-wheel lock complete with spy shield and check-lock, 'controlling' the 2 key locks with anti-explosive guards. I'm guessing it will be the same lock but have to confess I haven't seen one with the full works 'combo dial' guards over the keyholes like on this.

Talking of the similarity with the isolators Ive got a few early Chubb Bankers, Treasury and early Isolator brochures boxed up so I'll post them when can I dig them out.

[Arcade Al]

At Hatton Garden the alarm was on, and it got a signal out before they smashed the control box. Unfortunately the response was the problem...
They sent out a guard who tried the front doors and found them locked - because they had the key to those doors and were able to let themselves in and out without damage. The inside man suspected of having this key is still at large, with a significant quantity of loot by all accounts!

Back to the subject; what happens if, instead of trying to blow holes in a safe from the inside (explosives in a key-hole or bored/burnt cavity), a shaped cutting charge as used by military and demolition is applied directly to the face?

[safeman]

In response to your comments Al.

Back to the subject; what happens if, instead of trying to blow holes in a safe from the inside (explosives in a key-hole or bored/burnt cavity), a shaped cutting charge as used by military and demolition is applied directly to the face?

Obviously I can't go into much detail here save to say that it comes down to the safe in question and the weaknesses of the particular construction. With the Fichet as previosly illustrated I was asked specifically by the Insurance Surveyors witnesses to adopt the edge blowing technique after having satisfied them that removing the locks would accomplish nothing. From that stage secondary charges of unlimited quantities could have been placed within the lockcase and the door opened. This technique was frequently used in the 50's and 60's without necesserily destroying the contents* as the fire chamber would normally impact towards the back of the interior.

Likewise the edge blowing could have been further exploited by mechanical means exposing the front shooting bolts and leaving the top and bottom ones to be forced by wedge, lever, or jack.

Test houses seem to favour drilling shot holes beween specific barriers to exploit the shear plane.

Shaped charges for piercing or slotting would again just be one step in the total procedure. The detonation could not be muffled being an external charge.

*

The Double Door Hobbs actually contained watches some of which were later identified when submitted for repair. Obviously Shock-Proof movements.

[Arcade Al]

Interesting work! Thanks for the pictures, I find images of actual blown safes endlessly fascinating! Were all of the safes in the pictures attacked by criminals in-situ? The double door seems to have been moved outside and the situation is not clear.

It always intrigues me as to what sort of damage the blast might do to the building that they are in. even with the case absorbing much of the blast, there would still be a certain amount of pressure air displacement... not to mention the shrapnel and the flying rivets!

An externally placed charge could still be significantly muffled... using a mass of sandbags piled against the door or similar heavy, dense objects.

I seem to remember reading of a wall safe in an apartment being blown almost noiselessly due to a large bag of water being suspended over the face of it. Unfortunately it may well have been a fictional account?

[safeman]

Glad you liked the pictures Al. The Hobbs was photographed in our yard. It had been installed on a lift platform in Glasgow's most prestigious jewellers where it was raised from the basement at closing time for loading from the window displays and remained there adjacent to one of the armoured glass shop doors until start of business next day.

The criminals had obtained keys for the door of first entry and the alarm neutralised. The safe was lowered into the basement. At their disposal the had an oxy-acetylene cutter, a packed lance in manageable screw together sections in a golf bag, plus explosives and detonators.

From the attached picture the sequence can be followed. Firsly they attempted to remove a large section from the right hand door. Inexperience meant that they were unable to cut both plates simultaneously which should have been elementary. Next they tried for a smaller section again with no success. The lance was then used and created a hole at the botton right of the small panel.

As can be seen, a very large charge was detonated inside the door using a condom to contain the explosive in position.

If you look closely at the the back of the inner door plate just above the remaining keylock you can just make out a Ratner type dead relocker which had been retrofitted by my company some years before. It has fired and cross-locked but hadn't a hope in hell!

The Stratford Stronghold in-situ behaved impecably as usual with a basic charge. This was due mainly to the formed steel lockcase designed to give-with-the-blow end remain secure even if the outer barrier pan has been dislodged as can be seen in the attached.

The very early Duplex (1930's) was a photograph taken by Ratner in an attempt to discredit the Chatwood against their own Tenacity. There was a weakness in the concealed hinges which the criminals soon learned to exploit before the safe was modified with a rear shooting bolt. This damage, including the splitting of the corners would have been the result of a second bursting charge.

[Arcade Al]

I knew I'd seen that Hobbs somewhere, it's on the Peterman website.

[Chubby]

Looking at those 2 early Stratfords that have been blown the problem seems to be a detachment of the lock case from the door itself. Was that a weakness?

Funnily enough I have to have a look at a big Stratford next week. I shall look at it more critically than I otherwise would have done. They had always struck me as being a well made mid range safe before, with a particularly good door!

[safeman]

A correction to my last post - it was a Service and not a Stronghold. Kromer Novum instead of Yale lock and chrome iron in the door pan instead of Fondu cement.

The formed lockcase with a slab of chrome iron plug welded on front proved to be far superior to the solid 1/2" door plates with light angle frame lockcases when it came to withstanding an explosive charge. When I tested the prototype it was suggested over the congratulatory lunch that perhaps I could try a second shot. This also proved successful as the lockcase, being flexible, allowed the gasses to escape yet leaving the boltwork in place. Chatwood had patented a similar idea back in 1860 with a leaf spring lockcase.

The average criminal of the day who was more used to prying the body plates apart got quite a shock when faced with a wall of security concrete and not a powder chemical fill.

For amusement only

The Stratford design team failed miserably in their efforts by not taking account of the possiblity that some Glasgow nutters in 1979 would remove a 2314 Stratford Service from it's anchors by the use of a fork lift truck with which they then took the safe outside and proceded to raise it 15 feet and drop it on concrete repeadedly until the body eventually succumbed.

[Doug MacQueen]

I love it. That gives new meaning to "drop testing". You got to hand it to them for thinking outside the box, so to speak.

[Arcade Al]

A modern (non-criminal) attempt to get into a safe that I've borrowed from something posted on Facebook by Chris Hewitt:

Here is a Tann i was asked to price to open. A month later they called me in, when i got there i found this! Smashed bottles of whiskey and vodka around, they had given some cheap labourers the task of getting in to it over the weekend so they could unbolt it from the floor. when they finally broke through, the hole was above the shelf and cash drawer so still unable to unbolt it
I fished the broken drill out the keyhole and picked it in 20 mins