Lets ID this cannonball safe.

[00247]

I did some disassembly on the door today. First, to figure out how to get the dial and spindle out and also, to go through some practice assembly runs so I know what to expect when assembling with new paint. I had assumed that with a hole through the door perhaps this National is less secure. Never assume.

Previously I had removed the insides of the lock but the spindle was held in place inside the door somewhere. I removed the time lock and lock case only to discover a 1/2 inch thick steel plate covering door bolt linkage.



Four slotted bolts and it came off. There are a lot of moving pieces to the door bolt linkage but it is simple enough.



Next, I removed the 12 3/4 inch bots that hold on the door lug ring. All the bolts on this safe are British Whitworth threads and most have an odd number of threads per inch for their diameter. This revealed what was holding the spindle shaft in place. A threaded bung that is locked in place by a flat head screw in the threads.



Once this bung is screwed out it reveals a very stout spindle shaft that has a taper on the shaft that matches a taper machined in the door. This along with the thick threaded bung would prevent nitro from being introduced and would make punching the dial a pointless endeavor. To reduce excessive drag on the taper, it was lubricated with a graphite grease.






The dial is just a tight slip on fit. It has a square shaft with one angle corner so it can only go on one way.



After removing the door lug ring there were thin pieces of card stock stuck between the the ring and the main door. Some were several thick, perhaps to act as shims?



Upon closer inspection I noticed printing and writing on them. All together there were 31 of them and they turned out to be cut up employee time cards. Some of them matched up and provide a few interesting tidbits. Most of the time cards are from June 1906 and show working hours of 10 - 11 hours. Here are some fit together to show the top of a National Safe and Lock time card.



Two pieces that match have writing on the back. It says:
Serial 249
Case 7932
Move 33197-198-1??
Motor 1149

Another piece shows the same case number but has the numbers 33577-578-???



My National is number 32650 which becomes a bit confusing. It is a smaller/earlier number but had to be assembled after these time cards. I can only speculate that perhaps the numbers ran concurrently across all models of safes (Mosler numbers did) and the cannonballs/bank chests took longer to complete than the standard square safes.

This safe has had some surprises and has been a real joy to work on.

[David Hovey]

Interesting, thank you for the break down. Enjoy seeing the mechanics on these old chests!

I hope you don't have a fight on your hands reassembling the lug ring? I've learned the hard way and never remove the paper shims when I'm serving a lug door bearing plate. Had a headache of a time trying to re-align a large Diebold money chest so the door would close and rotate smoothly.

If you need more NS&L pics PM me your email address and I can send them over in full resolution.

DH

[00247]

Thanks for the words of advise, David. I assembled the door completely for practice and adjusted the dial ring, the dial/spindle are quite smooth now. I put the lug ring on without shims and spent a couple hours playing with door adjustments to get the door to turn properly. The biggest issue was worn shafts in the top carriage that the rollers spin on. They are lightly pressed in the casting so I rotated them 180 degrees and that made a world of difference. New shafts will be made. I tried switching the carriages top to bottom as the top one carries the weight but they are not drilled the same for the door cover so it would not fit.

Once adjusted, the door turned nicely without the shims despite no lubrication. I will have to shim it again as several of the 12 bolts (I numbered there positions upon disassembly) that hold the lug ring on have ground corners on them to miss the inner support for the compartment door. In order to get those bolts to line up I will have to shim .020 to .025 with shim stock.

I received some pictures of an identical National safe in Arkansas from a member on another forum. It has been redone by the bank that displays it with no respect for originality. He has knowledge of the safe and has access to it. Here are a couple pictures. PMing for the additional pictures. Thanks

[00247]

Here is an update on the National Bank chest. I haven't been breaking any records but have been plugging along on this project as time permits. First the inside was sandblasted as it was a mess of peeling paint. There was a lot of residual mortar left especially in the corners. This body is cast in one piece and it seems they used a wooden plug covered with mortar to create the inner cavity. The inside was very rough where the manganese reacted with the mortar and there were nails fused to the inside surface. The manganese is extremely hard and grinding some of the lumps was a slooow process. The outside of the casting was pretty good although one bad spot was filled with lead.

Inside after blasting, still some mortar left and nails.



Naked and proud. Just like Charlie Rose.



Door hinge casting has a lot of flaws.



A major flaw in the body casting that was repaired with lead.



It took a lot of body work on the body and the cast base to shape them up for an automotive quality paint job. Hours and hours of filler/sanding/filler/sanding and more hours of filler and sanding. Eventually it starts to shape up.





Once satisfied with the overall shape, it is time for a substantial coat of urethane primer. Then comes the process of block sanding the surface to get it as close to perfect as possible. I used wet sanding with mostly 400 grit initially. It takes a ton of time to block the flat areas, corners, and the base. Most of the initial primer gets sanded off and the surface is shaping up nicely.

In primer and some polyester filler touching up pinholes, sand scratches, and other minor flaws. It is just thin filler, most gets sanded off.



Wet sanding.



Having a fork lift really saves the back at times like these.



Once sanded out, it is time for more primer. Then it gets blocked out again. And finally one more light coat of primer and final wet sanding with 600 grit. Wiping down with solvent and checking reflections in the wet surface tells me what it will look like with shiny paint. Perfection is the elusive goal.

Wet with solvent and looking ready for paint.



Hinge parts are ready too.



Then it is into the paint room for the color coat. This is always a challenge as Murphy's law is the order of the day. Precautions like a good paint room cleaning, air filter change, proper paint mixing and filtering, spray gun service, and lint free coveralls minimize the chance of Murphy showing up. With a little luck and not screwing up, the paint turns out nice.







This week I will pick up the nickel plated parts from the plater. The safe project will then be at a stand still until I get the computer corrected art work from my tracings of the original artwork back from the graphics gal. Once I receive them I can put on the gold leaf stripes and lettering which is the fun part of the project. There are still many hours to go until completion.