Ultimate & One-off Freestanding Safes

**Chubby** · 05-03-17, 04:11 PM

OK, so once fired it deadlocks in place. So the Australian attack wouldn't work!

**Gary Stephenson** · 05-03-17, 11:17 PM

Originally Posted by Chubby

OK, so once fired it deadlocks in place. So the Australian attack wouldn't work!

curious as to what you mean by the Australian attack, turning it on its ar**?

**Tom Gordon** · 05-03-17, 11:24 PM

Originally Posted by Gary Stephenson

curious as to what you mean by the Australian attack, turning it on its arse?

Giving the safe so much beer that it throws up its contents all over the floor?

**Huw Eastwood** · 06-03-17, 12:28 AM

Originally Posted by Tom Gordon

Giving the safe so much beer that it throws up its contents all over the floor?

Tom that could also be a Welsh attack using Brains SA...

Think Gary had the right idea but adding the extra bit of info I can think that's missing would probably be a bit over the boundary for here, anyway I have to admit that gave me a good laugh Tom

Chubby we all know you like your AED's so knowing an Australian attack won't work why not try the full sideways Bulgarian AED attack using very strong Rakia..

**Chubby** · 06-03-17, 09:16 AM

Yes, some crude AEDs are just a deadfall and in those cases inverting the safe will free them.

**Gary Stephenson** · 12-03-17, 09:19 PM

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.

**Huw Eastwood** · 13-03-17, 10:08 AM

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....

**Huw Eastwood** · 13-03-17, 03:38 PM

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

**safeman** · 13-03-17, 05:12 PM

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.