Frankenvault

[wylk]

Here's a curious vault door spotted on eBay, in Seal Beach, California. I'm calling it Frankenvault because it's had interesting transplants to keep it alive.

The lower lock seems to be a somewhat modern Sargent & Greenleaf 6400/6500 indirect-drive vault lock. It's not too new because the case looks like stainless steel while modern versions are painted grey; at the very least, the dial looks too new. It's also currently locked suggesting it's the "backup" lock rather than the day-to-day lock.

The upper lock is even newer, probably an S&G 6126 electronic lock. It's currently unlocked so is probably the day-to-day lock, a good idea since it can keep an audit trail.

In between the locks, close to the 6126, it looks like a hole has been plugged (on the outside).

The time lock may also be a modern retrofit but I'm not as sure about this.

Finally, I'm disappointed the door itself does not announce who made it. I'm guessing Diebold mostly because Mosler liked to etch their name into handwheels and/or elsewhere. Can anybody clarify this?

[Gary Stephenson]

doesn't the electronic lock look out of place, sacrilege.

[Huw Eastwood]

doesn't the electronic lock look out of place, sacrilege.

My thoughts exactly, what an electronic mess on such a beautiful door. They didn’t make the door good invisibly or even make a repro finial cap to match the others, as the one used on the outside below the keypad was nicked from the bottom left bolt guide inside the door !

[Doug MacQueen]

Without comparing the door to pictures I have of similar doors, pretty sure it is a Mosler. Original locks and timelock would have been Yale. I think when I did bank service, you would have had to hold a gun to my head to get me to install that elock.

[wylk]

Doug is correct, it's a Mosler. Here is another example with the name on the upper gear cover wheel (Baker Boyer Bank, Walla Walla, Washington) with, I assume, original equipment and alarm wiring:



A second example (Disneyland, Anaheim, California) has a Mosler name plate attached near the top and I believe a non-original time lock:



This style of door seems to date from the early 1900s (1908 - 1911 for example). I know Disneyland dates from 1955 but the door seems to be a transplant from an earlier era. This space was a Bank of America from 1955 to around 1992 and is now a gallery.