Charles Courtneys books, Volume I & II

[Oliver]

A question I long wanted to post.
Does anyone else have the Courtney books, which you can read about in "Unlocking Adventure".
I was able about 10 years ago to get the blue safe book from a book table at the Telford lock collectors meeting.
I have never seen another one.
It is one of the two books which had been printed for the MLA members in the beginning days.
The safe book was recollected from the members due to its very sensitive content these days. It contains all the infos you need to open the safes of these days. Factory combinations, charts, etc.
I read the "Unlocking Adventure" long before the blue book came to me. My yaws dropped when I saw the blue book on the table and realized what it was.
Before that I thought part of the Unlocking Adventures stories are just fiction, but after my find I had another thinking about the book.
I am looking for the Vol I which is supposed to be a red book.
Does anyone have the book or a copy of it ?
I am also very much interested in the manipulation device, which is shown on the cover of the "Unlocking Adventure".
I hope that anyone of you guys knows something more.
Oliver

[BBE]

A question I long wanted to post.
Does anyone else have the Courtney books, which you can read about in "Unlocking Adventure".
I was able about 10 years ago to get the blue safe book from a book table at the Telford lock collectors meeting.
I have never seen another one.
It is one of the two books which had been printed for the MLA members in the beginning days.
The safe book was recollected from the members due to its very sensitive content these days. It contains all the infos you need to open the safes of these days. Factory combinations, charts, etc.
I read the "Unlocking Adventure" long before the blue book came to me. My yaws dropped when I saw the blue book on the table and realized what it was.
Before that I thought part of the Unlocking Adventures stories are just fiction, but after my find I had another thinking about the book.
I am looking for the Vol I which is supposed to be a red book.
Does anyone have the book or a copy of it ?
I am also very much interested in the manipulation device, which is shown on the cover of the "Unlocking Adventure".
I hope that anyone of you guys knows something more.
Oliver

I have a copy of Volumes 1 ad 2 and both are blue. One of them is actually autographed by Mr. Courtney. The content of both books relates to general locksmith techniques and codes. Here in the US the third Volume is said by many to e legend. That's because the confiscation seems to have been complete.
BBE.

[BBE]

I have a copy of Volumes 1 ad 2 and both are blue. One of them is actually autographed by Mr. Courtney. The content of both books relates to general locksmith techniques and codes. Here in the US the third Volume is said by many to e legend. That's because the confiscation seems to have been complete.
BBE.

BTW, the blue book in your picture is marked as Volume 2.
BBE.

[Oliver]

thank you for clearing up a little bit of my questions.
Do you have a digital copy of VolI ?
I am also wondering, as one of the books is supposed to be only car lock stuff.
The other thing is that there are only two books mentioned one blue the other red and not a third one.
Maybe the info is just incorrect in the "Unlocking Adventure"
Oliver

[Doug MacQueen]

I am not a collector but I do have several No. 2-1/2 Automatics. These have only a single spring loaded arm that captures the fence / lever. Not mounted but holding the lock up to my ear I can hear the fence as it drops down onto wheels when I move the cam, so it is a possibility. But then again it is a 4 wheel lock and gravity only fence. Definitely would need an amplifier as the feel is so slight.

[oldlock]

Without going into details on a open forum if you are aware of the system developed by Brian Hignett for dealing with vault locks with very soft contacts (sold in the US by Phil Shearer) I suspect that such an approach, when tied to quartering wheels etc would yield results.

[Doug MacQueen]

The 4" holes put in this money chest in the early 1890's were probably that first use of diamonds.

[4xlock]

This was published in the New York Tribune Sat Dec 6 1862
Whoever wrote this clearly does not understand the concept of hardness, as you don't temper diamond, but either way it shows the concept of diamond tipped drills. This was used to promote Franklinite in manufacture of safes and vaults. Somewhere, if I can find it, I have an earlier reference. Interesting to note these are genuine diamonds rather than synthetic.

[4xlock]

A question I long wanted to post.
Does anyone else have the Courtney books, which you can read about in "Unlocking Adventure".
I was able about 10 years ago to get the blue safe book from a book table at the Telford lock collectors meeting.
I have never seen another one.
It is one of the two books which had been printed for the MLA members in the beginning days.
The safe book was recollected from the members due to its very sensitive content these days. It contains all the infos you need to open the safes of these days. Factory combinations, charts, etc.
I read the "Unlocking Adventure" long before the blue book came to me. My yaws dropped when I saw the blue book on the table and realized what it was.
Before that I thought part of the Unlocking Adventures stories are just fiction, but after my find I had another thinking about the book.
I am looking for the Vol I which is supposed to be a red book.
Does anyone have the book or a copy of it ?
I am also very much interested in the manipulation device, which is shown on the cover of the "Unlocking Adventure".
I hope that anyone of you guys knows something more.
Oliver

I have both vol 1 & 2. Both my volumes are blue. I am currently on the hunt for volume 3.
It is quite bizarre that you bring this up now as I was only chatting about this with people at the MLA Telford Lock Expo.

I have been researching what was likely in volume 3. I am positive that it was published and was subsequently removed from sale and all copies or pretty well all were destroyed. Probably by the FBI. Newspaper reports of the time indicated that this is the case. From what I can assertain it contained details on historical lock picking episodes going back 100 years. I don't believe the work was more than a rehash of notes by Hobbs, Linus Yale Junior, James Sargent and other less famous lock pickers of equal or greater skill. The volume will have shown the tools and explained the methods of their use. I have photos of some of the tools that would have been explored from periodicals of the day. It looks like the tools and notes which were used by Charles Courtney (not his but borrowed) were also subsequently removed from the collection where they had been collected together. We know this ,as they were documented before his attempted publication. With regard to the safe opening dialler. I believe that it allowed a rapid turning of safe combination without having to specifically count passes like 4L 3R 2L etc. as such sequence dialling could be done rapidly. With an escapement system this could have been automated with clockwork or small electric motor. A precursor to the ITL 2000 autodialler. I'd love to know where it is now. I believe that the photo on the cover of "Unlocking Adventure" was not allowed in the U.S. Or asked to be removed when it was published.

[Doug MacQueen]

I don't always stay current on what Phil is selling. If it requires dial removal I know what you are talking about. On these early locks though, pulling a dial is pretty much out of the question. Now you have me curious. I may have to mount one of these Sargent 2-1/2's today and see how well it talks.