John Tann

Tom Gordon

There is a John Tann “list 9a” safe plaque on eBay at a silly price.
does anyone know what a list 9a door was like?

Huw Eastwood

I think safeman has one for his front door- I bet he’s got a brochure…

Syd Waterman

Hi Tom.. Catalogue scans attached. Original list 9A and also Improved list 9A
Cheers.
Patent

Tom Gordon wrote
There is a John Tann “list 9a” safe plaque on eBay at a silly price.
does anyone know what a list 9a door was like?

[unknown]

list-9a.pdf

559kB

improved-list-page-1-9a.pdf

431kB

improved-list-9a.pdf

437kB

safeman

Huw Eastwood wrote
I think safeman has one for his front door- I bet he’s got a brochure…

No Huw, I keep it inside.

…. the plate on Ebay is the iron plate attached to the inside of the
lockcase cover.

The 9a door was made from 1887 until 1901. Inexplicably the ‘Improved’ was made from 1875 until 1892. One odd one was made in1902. Can’t explain why it still featured in the 1920’s catalogue.

[unknown]

Huw Eastwood

I was joking safeman, I didn’t word it very well- typing in a rush.
I wasn’t referring to the plate, I was joking that you probably have an actual List 9A door as your front door!

Gary Stephenson

some pictures, the details from the Tann records are not for this particular door though.

Gary Stephenson

Interesting that the anti explosive devices were optional extras.

Tom Gordon

What sort of AED’s do you think they were?
Quite a good door, but he still aint going to sell the plate at that price!

safeman

Tom Gordon wrote
What sort of AED’s do you think they were?
Quite a good door, but he still aint going to sell the plate at that price!

Hello Tom, here’s the patent drawing from 1919. Late on the scene compared to Ratner (1913). I’m also attaching a photo of the device as fitted and also one having operated successfully after an explosive attack on a Tann Dreadnought in a London Diamond dealers plus an image of the Tann Newgate Street showroom making the most of their success.

[unknown]

Tom Gordon

safeman wrote
Hello Tom, here’s the patent drawing from 1919. Late on the scene compared to Ratner (1913). I’m also attaching a photo of the device as fitted and also one having operated successfully after an explosive attack on a Tann Dreadnought in a London Diamond dealers plus an image of the Tann Newgate Street showroom making the most of their success.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]17206[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=CONFIG]17207[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=CONFIG]17208[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]17210[/ATTACH]

What a magnificent reply.
Thankyou -I love it that you have the same guy leaning in the doorway, a few decades apart.

[unknown]

Huw Eastwood

Those Tann relockers are particularly impressive, used to see later versions of them on quite a few bankers series probably from 1950s they were used on lots of models pre-glass plates- beautifully made castings with deep sawtooth cuts and always struck me as impressively engineered for a part which in majority of safes might never actually get to do its job…

Gary Stephenson

proper engineering, I suspected that type, but wasn’t sure as hadn’t seen inside a 9a door.
Now that is what I call a shop front.