Opening a jammed Asprey Patent Bramah lock

Plantagenet

Hello

Can anyone suggest how I might go about opening an Asprey Patent Bramah lock on a Victorian box? It appears to be jammed and won’t slide across more than a millimetre or so. Needless to say I have no key.

Thanks.

Tom Gordon

Plantagenet wrote
Hello

Can anyone suggest how I might go about opening an Asprey Patent Bramah lock on a Victorian box? It appears to be jammed and won’t slide across more than a millimetre or so. Needless to say I have no key.

Thanks.

I would guess that it isn’t jammed but merely locked shut. I havent seen one and the chances are that very few locksmiths have seen one. There are very few people who can pick and make keys to it, but how much do you think the box is worth when working, because it may not be worth the work?

[unknown]

Plantagenet

Tom Gordon wrote
I would guess that it isn’t jammed but merely locked shut.

Thanks Tom - That seems like an embarrassingly obvious explanation…!
Is it your understanding that simply closing the box engages a latch which can be disengaged by sliding the escutcheon aside and the box can be reopened? But closing the box and using the key effectively double-locks it so that the escutcheon doesn’t slide and the box can only be unlocked and opened by reusing the key?

Does this also mean if the box was just closed shut the key could also be used to open it in lieu of the sliding escutcheon if that was not known about, or would the latter always have to be employed after turning the key?

Ken

[unknown]

Tom Gordon

Plantagenet wrote
Thanks Tom - That seems like an embarrassingly obvious explanation…!
Is it your understanding that simply closing the box engages a latch which can be disengaged by sliding the escutcheon aside and the box can be reopened? But closing the box and using the key effectively double-locks it so that the escutcheon doesn’t slide and the box can only be unlocked and opened by reusing the key?

Does this also mean if the box was just closed shut the key could also be used to open it in lieu of the sliding escutcheon if that was not known about, or would the latter always have to be employed after turning the key?

Ken

I believe that it is a very useful feature where the unlocked box doesnt fall open when you lift it up. I dont know but I can predict that you will always need to slide the nozzle because that would be by far the easiest thing for them to make with no reason to make it more complicated than it need be.

[unknown]

Richard Phillips

Bramah’s usual method of opening locks, if you send the box to them, is to saw through the linkplate, and then provide a new linkplate. (And whatever keys are ordered.)