Cotterill-Wilson Patent Climax Detector Lock

Huw Eastwood

This was a very lucky find with both original keys intact. Nice example with the ‘detector’ guard in the lock cover, and marked both Cotterill’s Patent and Wilson’s Patent. The ‘nine slides’ always seems a bit of a mystery as these locks only ever appear to have 8!

Adrian Weber

Most beautiful lock mate! And looks as being new out of the box, thanks for sharing 🙂-:

Dean Nickel

I am starting to love your collection. :8)::8)::8)::8):

KitBear

Not to nit pick at your lock (which might I say is a very nice example) I only count 8 Sliders also so it can’t be your eyes (they must have lost the “Eight Sliders” stamp 🙂-🙂 and that little brass piece inside the cover doesn’t appear to be a detector, I assume it’s used for ensuring a positive locking position of the cam after removing the key, I don’t see any other use for it, most i’ve seen have an “Anchor” as an anti-pressure device to thwart picking attempts, I’ve seen some without but yours is the first i’ve seen with this piece inside it, If it’s use is not what I think it is then I have no clue as to it’s purpose.

It is a very nice lock though, please take good care of it as I’m sure you will.

Kit

P.s. Mine has 10 sliders but yours if far better looking 🙂-:

Paul Prescott

Nice, your only missing the dust caps on the keys.

Huw Eastwood

Guys there seems endless oddities and controversies associated with these locks and their variants- one thing though- I’ve never seen a set of dust covers for any of these- the pipe bore is pretty slim on them- any pics as I’d like to fabricate a few to match some of the better condition locks I’ve got 🙁happy):

Paul Prescott

Here’s a larger key with dust covers :

http://www.antique-locks.com/showthread.php/117-Early-amp-Fine-Cotterill-safe-lock-amp-keys?highlight=cotterill

Paul Prescott

And these have the smaller cabinet lock sized keys with covers :

http://www.antique-locks.com/showthread.php/77-Cotterills-Lock-Sentinel?highlight=cotterill

Both of these locks used to be mine.

KitBear

I hope to got a really good price for that Sentinel Oldlock, I would love to have one in my collection.

Do you plan on selling your chubb improved patent anytime soon? 🙁think):🙁nod):

Kit

Paul Prescott

Already gone. I sold almost everything a few years ago. I went from three display cabinets full to two shelves in one cabinet in about 6 weeks.

The people in the post office learned to run and hide when I went in the door ……

KitBear

Damn, I would have loved to have had that off your hands, I was so envious.

I can’t imagine why you would downsize your collection, I’m sure you have some very good reasons, I just hope it’s for the better for you and your collection.

I’m sure the Post Office staff still hide when you walk in, silently they curse us I wager, Flea-bay has been many a burden for postmen 🙁grin):.

Kit

P.s, If you have anymore Improved Patent’s, could you please drop me a line if you wish to sell them, Cheers

Huw Eastwood

Thanks for the pics oldlock- the covers aren’t as elaborate as I thought they’d be- yours are amazing examples- very nice 🙁y):

Paul Prescott

Quite simple to look at, harder to make, I tried once and gave up in disgust, I suspect that a tinsmith or similar would have to work with the thin sheet metal.

I’ve also seen such covers on antique bramah keys.

Huw Eastwood

what’s that saying….. oh yea of little faith…………watch this space 🙁nod):

Parautoptic

Looking at some of the beautiful things you have made, I would say that you are the man for the job!

MaxVaultage wrote
what’s that saying….. oh yea of little faith…………watch this space 🙁nod):

[unknown]

Huw Eastwood

Thank you very much Phil- I’m taking a few pics at different stages to show how I’m doing it- stage one of the separate end ‘caps’ is still in the chuck of the lathe awaiting the tiny grooves, so it’s a fair way off yet. I think the critical part with making these is heat treating the thin strip and curving it to not only the right tolerance but also getting just the right amount of spring or tension in it. I wondered if the originals made use of the central bore up the key for a spring clip or pin, as these little caps are nearly always down to just a small amount of friction/tension to hold them on. Seeing that they are just external sleeves emphasises the fit and right amount of tension even more. It’s a case of getting it just right allowing for the additional heating and expansion when silver soldering them in the end caps. I might add some ball finials on the ends on these- the originals you posted oldlock do look good, and that’s how they should be, but I like the appearance of the older bridge ward plugs which often had them 🙁think): plus I like making them on the lathe using just a file and emery cloth. I’ll probably end up making 2 pairs so I’ve got one set ‘as original’ plus a pair with the ball ends. I’m not in a rush anyway- unless I get a job tomorrow which needs the big lathe that is, so I’ll have a think over the next couple of days while I’m preparing the strips and other bits. I’ll post pics as soon as I can 🙂-:

Huw Eastwood

Here we go- only made the one so far as it took most of the afternoon- about 4 and a half hours total. Got a load of pics at all the different stages of making it but don’t know how to upload them in between text- mine always appear in a separate band away from the text. Anyway here goes- I might have to post them as separate replies but at least it’ll get them all on.

Huw Eastwood

I had a re-think on these and decided against turning the end caps from bar and silver soldering fabricated strips like my original idea. The reason was this- I figured it’d be better to make them from solid and had a trick up my sleeve for getting them a perfect ‘spring’ fit on the keys. Pic 1 left shows the rusty steel bar I used, pic 2 shows stage 1 of facing and turning, pic 3 shows rough drilling of the bore. Pics 4 shows it after a bit of cleaning up, pics 5, 6 & 7 getting the slot marked out and cut by hand with the key-saw pictured.

Huw Eastwood

And here’s the rest- struggling on a borrowed laptop from now on as my desktop pc has finally lost the plot- plus our internet went half way through uploading the last lot- these stages follow on from before with parting off the and re-facing and counter-boring the end. The cap was then polished all over and I added the gold band in the flute to set it off- just needs some ageing now to blend it in with the antique key. It’s taken longer to upload this lot and do the photos than it took to make the part! All this writing and uploading the pics has been in a mad panic not knowing if the net connections going to break again, so hope it all follows on right and makes sense! 🙁sweat):

Parautoptic

Superb! 🙁clap):
Thanks for sharing this with us, it is nice to be able to see the stages involved (and the end product is beautiful).