CHATWOOD SAM - help dating

[Gary Stephenson]

Turned this up, it came from a long time Chubb safe employee, I think at one time it was used as a demo lock to take customers through the operation and changing procedures. The tarnish on it is mega, I will start polishing it up and may even consider doing a cutaway, time permitting.

[Gary Stephenson]

work in progress

[macs_07]

It's coming up quite nicely, maybe that is what I should do with mine.
Fair lump of brass, thick walls.

[Gary Stephenson]

Yes it is quite thick in places to cut though, but mine was in quite a rough condition, so needed some TLC. I would imagine a 4 wheel SAM? to be very much a rarity. Are the other suspected Aussie made locks all 4 wheelers or mostly 3 wheelers?

[macs_07]

Was there such a thing as a 4 wheel SAM lock??
Is it a copy/fake, I don't know having never seen another up close and the accompanying post is a revelation to me. And again why do a 4 wheel and to what end user was it intended.
It seem odd to me that there would be a market for them, pretty specialized lock to make individually.
I will at some stage ask around a few people in the industry and maybe even see if I can find another to look at.

I will ask around before I commit or receive concrete confirmation one way or the other.
Still an interesting lock.

[Gary Stephenson]

I have never seen a 4 wheel version before this one.

[chubbbramah]

Mine has a 'bolt' in form of a ring, to which was connected a shutter, which was moved vertically to cover the keyhole of an Invincible key lock below it. There was a long vertical safe plate (which I don't have) bearing the index mark, and the dial rested on the upright safe plate. Mine is also wanting a spindle, which I am told was individually made, so i cannot mount it. Afaik the lock was designed to be mounted vertically.

A copy of the SAM lock sounds a surprising venture — not that I say it was not done. But it was such an expensive lock that Chatwood later decided to use something cheaper for most safes — basically, a copy of the S&G comlock. Still for the very top-of-the-range, Chatwood had the 5-spindle lock, made in batches of 5.

One uncommon/rare variant was a numerical dial. I have only seen one. At least, I was told it was from a SAM, but it might actually just have been from the Chatwood version of the basic S&G comlock.