novel research

[PamelaH]

I hope someone can help me with this question. I have a situation in my historical novel where a character needs to open a combination lock on a small safe or strong box. The year is 1871, and the combination is 3 numbers (specifically, a woman's measurements). Is this feasible? Would the combination lock work essentially the same as today's?

[oldlock]

Where is the story set ? 1871 is going to be early for combination locks but some where in production.

Paul

[PamelaH]

Where is the story set ? 1871 is going to be early for combination locks but some where in production.

Paul

It's in the American Old West.

[oldlock]

Yes, on the whole the dialing procedure will be the same as modern locks.

Paul

[greyman]

I hope someone can help me with this question. I have a situation in my historical novel where a character needs to open a combination lock on a small safe or strong box. The year is 1871, and the combination is 3 numbers (specifically, a woman's measurements). Is this feasible? Would the combination lock work essentially the same as today's?

Yale's combo lock is apparently from 1863 so you're OK.
http://www.bookrags.com/sciences/sci.../safe-woi.html

Or you could use an alphabetic dial lock. I'm no sure if these were made in 1871 but it would be close. Fichet in France made 3 dial locks, so you could use three letter's from the person's name as the code for the lock.

The French ones had 3 little dials that clicked around as you turned them to line up the right letter. There was a ratchet so they could only turn one way. This would be kind of nice, for instance you could use a woman's name like "Eve" as the combo.