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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Mar 2010
    Location
    Wisconsin
    Posts
    147
    Country: United States

    Default Identify this wall/floor safe?

    It's been kind of slow around here but with some recent activity I thought I would throw this out.

    Can anyone identify this wall safe? It is very generic with no identifying marks on the safe or the lock. It is a very nice quality casting just under a foot square with one inch thick walls. A rotating door that latches with less than a quarter turn. Original paint is olive drab. (military?) The front and the rear were machine finished, the sides were left rough cast.

    2emfxjt 1


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    The lock also does not have any identifying marks. Three wheels to the wheel pack and the fence was originally spring loaded which makes me think it could be used for a floor safe. The safe was drilled at some point on the side and the lock bolt punched back into the lock. That caused damage to the fence, spring, and put a couple bulges into the lock body. It had been repaired but did not operate reliably so it sat on a shelf in a laundromat for nearly 55 years. It was picked up by my uncle who then gave it to me.

    6gcv1z 1

    mj4oxt 1

    I am currently reworking it. It has had the lock refurbished so that it works reliably. Seeing that it is not a collector safe I am doing a full custom restoration. All the sides will be smooth, the knobs along with the dial and dial ring as well as the hinge will have new nickel plating. It will get gold leaf and custom lettering and stripes.

    Why, you ask? It is a tribute piece that I will give back to my uncle to display in his house. He is the one who got me interested in safes and has had a big influence in my life. At 87, he is still adding to his collection of old tractors and bulldozers. In fact, I hauled one for him this week.

    Body work is done and it was painted today. I will gold leaf it once the paint has cured. The shiny parts are already back from the plater in record time. Stay tuned for the finished product.

    314ayat 1
    Last edited by 00247; 15-06-17 at 03:58 AM.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Nov 2014
    Location
    Bulgaria
    Posts
    686
    Country: Bulgaria

    Default

    That is an interesting piece. It would make an interesting wall safe. In that case I would have left the sides rough.

    Always pleased to see any safe refurbished and saved from scrap.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Oct 2009
    Location
    Cleveland, Ohio USA
    Posts
    1,433
    Country: United States

    Default

    Diebold with the pre 900 lock. It may have been called a 800 model?

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Aug 2013
    Posts
    1,754
    Country: Wales

    Default

    Very nice, i think those were called the 'Cashguard', remember seeing very similar in old Locksmith Ledgers but with a radiused slot cut in the hinge plate and a single stop pin sliding within the slot. That'll look great when it's done and I bet he'll love it when you present it back to him.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Mar 2010
    Location
    Wisconsin
    Posts
    147
    Country: United States

    Default

    Can anyone date it? I thought it was from the 40's / 50's by the quality of the casting and that the innards of the lock are more cheaply made than what I am used to in the antique safes. It came out of Chicago to Northern Wisconsin around the early 60's. I still wonder why there are no markings of any sort.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Oct 2009
    Location
    Cleveland, Ohio USA
    Posts
    1,433
    Country: United States

    Default

    More like the 20's or 30's near as I can tell. I worked on one that was the same chest but encased in sheet metal covered concrete.

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Mar 2010
    Location
    Wisconsin
    Posts
    147
    Country: United States

    Default

    Here are some pictures of the lock internals.

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  8. #8
    Join Date
    Oct 2009
    Location
    Cleveland, Ohio USA
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    1,433
    Country: United States

    Default

    That plate screwed into the lock case was an internal relocker mainly in response to wheelpost punching attacks which had become popular back in the earlier 1900's.

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Nov 2014
    Location
    Bulgaria
    Posts
    686
    Country: Bulgaria

    Default

    I can't see how it works.

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Mar 2010
    Location
    Wisconsin
    Posts
    147
    Country: United States

    Default

    I can see how the plate would be pushed in the case causing it to bend at the ribs in the plate essentially locking the bolt. What i don't understand is; in this application where the bolt can only be retracted with the fence dropping in the wheel pack and the resulting rotation, a punch attack would not retract the bolt. Unless the safe could be turned sideways to get the bolt to move. Possible on my workbench but not when installed in a wall.

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