What Was He Thinking

Doug MacQueen

When I ran across this patent a few years ago I just had to laugh. This “over the top” vault door was actually an attempt at solving a problem with big round vault doors. That being the amount of swing space needed in order to open the door. I don’t imagine too many of these babies were sold. Doug

Tom Gordon

It always amazes me that they made round doors at all and that they worked reliably. Considering how over engineered they were, it seems little more effort to have a double door instead of a single. I would love to see one if it ever existed.

Dean Nickel

This guy didn’t go with the “KISS” concept.

The round door was a very simple idea that we know worked well for some cases several decades. But as was pointed out took a bit of room for the swing. The other downside was the ease of service…. not. 20+ ton door takes a bit of specialty tools to work on. They are cool to look at. :8):

Doug MacQueen

Definitely cool! Maybe I reduced the picture too much because it is fuzzy and looses some of its ridiculously funny visual effect. And I should have added a standard round door for comparison. I am not sure, Tom by what you mean when you say that round doors were over engineered but in this case that statement is certainly true. Doug

NatSafeMatt

this thing is sweet…lets build a scaled-down version for fun…you know…in our spare time. Thanks for posting Doug…these things are cool to check out.

Doug MacQueen

While I have considered making a miniature Matt I don’t think I want to deal with that one. I can barely stand to look at the patent drawing. Here is another round door patent to compare. Doug

wylk

The round vault doors were probably easier to make, in that size and at that time, than any other shape. Round is indeed simple and reliable, I am not aware of any successful breakin through such a door. Usually a vault is compromised by tunneling underneath (e.g. Baker Street robbery - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia or Albert Spaggiari - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia), or occasionally by extreme cleverness (such as The Untold Story of the World’s Biggest Diamond Heist).

More modern manufacturing allows rectangular openings and floor-level sills, and electric/electronic alarms (actually, the rapid response they enabled) removed the need for such massive doors.

That patent is interesting because it discusses one way to construct the hinges. One of many patents that describe the door itself is 816,049. I have a small pile of similar patents if anybody really wants to build a model!

2buy1

You can go to Dttling - Finest German Handcraft - since 1919 and click on Colosimo. Very cool, don’t know how much he is asking for one. Anyone know the cost?

bbcci

Think I’ll have to pass on this, would be cool to own one though!

"The safe comes with mounting equipment as well as a luxury finishing, and the quality people have come to trust from Dottling. Price for the Colosimo is $23,800.

Ariel Adams publishes the luxury watch review site aBlogtoRead.com."

wylk

Yes, very pricey. I downloaded the PDF and looked closely. Mostly impressive work but I was disappointed with some of the rounded edges on the bolts and gears, and the jeweling on some of the parts. I’d also like to know the purpose of the ring of black screws around the opening. Still, if somebody gave me one, I’d keep it.

Tom Gordon

Lovely ?Yes! But I still prefer this one
:-)

Doug MacQueen

Haute safeoligy??? Nice try but I think I’ll pass on it also. The socket head allen screws aren’t gettin it. And the box itself is very plain. But then I guess if all you want is an armored humidor for your Cuban cigars it does the job. At least we aren’t talking about the Narcissus. Doug

wylk

The original post was about a two-part round door. There is one in Baltimore, though of a different design, discussed elsewhere. Just to tie the two threads together, see https://www.antique-locks.com/showthread.php/2024-Two-Part-Round-Door.

stephane

Tom Gordon wrote
[ATTACH=CONFIG]4150[/ATTACH]
Lovely ?Yes! But I still prefer this one
:-)

me too ! Tom, if it’s your i am your man for a deal.

[unknown]

Tom Gordon

stephane wrote
me too ! Tom, if it’s your i am your man for a deal.

Sorry Steph, but there are two others the same that I have come across, so don’t lose hope.

[unknown]