One King West, Toronto

wylk · 2012-03-10T05:37:00+00:00

A Toronto hotel, One King West, includes a former bank (Dominion Bank, 1914). One floor below the main level there is a large vault with a 4-foot-thick door: It is peculiar because the bolts can be seen but the boltwork is hidden (additionally there are only 20 bolts instead of the more common 24). The only other one I’ve seen like this is in the Federal Reserve Bank in Cleveland (which has 16 bolts) and is made by York. So, tentatively, the Toronto vault is probably a York? I haven’t run across any patents for this style of boltwork. Can anyone help?

VaultDoors

VaultDoors wrote
There must be a light source in the Pennsylvania Treasury Vault periscope as the dial appears to be lit:

[ATTACH=CONFIG]10487[/ATTACH]

There is a “1” hand and a “2” hand on the dial that I suspect corresponds to each knob and since there are two periscopes this vault actually has four combination locks.

Here is footage of the #2 combination dial pointer in motion: [video][/video].
This clip is embedded in the Bank Vault Anatomy presentation.

[unknown]

VaultDoors

Here’s a more recent pic of the One King West treasury vault door

VaultDoors

I believe the bolt throwing mechanism for the jamb control vault at the PA Federal Reserve Bank is shown bolted to the left side of the door jamb:

I have not seen this in other jamb control vaults so I suspect others were designed with the bolt throwing mechanism mounted on the interior door jamb rather than the side.

FYI - The Bank Vault Anatomy presentation has been updated: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/74738260/Bank_Vault_Anatomy.ppsx

VaultDoors

Here’s a clip of the One King West vault from the movie RED:

[video][/video]

timelocks

You’d think they would have tried to get the missing time lock movement replaced before shooting! They should have called me, I rent props to film studios. My latest was a time like in the new Marvel Comics movie, Ant Man.

VaultDoors

One King West’s safe deposit vault and National Commercial Bank & Trust are the only known Remote Combo Viewers to have what appears to be a gearbox bolted on the side. All other remote combo vaults (with or without viewers) are flat on the side:

One King West’s treasury vault which was designed by the same Engineer (Frederick S. Holmes) and built at the same time, by the same builders (Remington & Sherman Co.) does not have this external gear box. This door is lighter than the safe deposit vault door so maybe that’s the reason?

I thought newer designs would cover the external gearing within the RCV unit but if that were the case they would be wider and they are not:

Except for the Cleveland Federal Reserve’s RCV which I believe is extra wide to accommodate the pressure plug:

VaultDoors

On the two remote combo viewers with external gearboxes, the bolt-throwing handwheels are attached at the bottom of the gearbox. On remote combo vaults (with and without viewers) the bolt-throwing hand wheels are located in the middle of the remote combo unit.

Huw Eastwood

Talking of 1KW, what happened with the styrofoam model you were making?

RiemannHypothesis

Hahaha, i asked him the same thing 🙂

VaultDoors

It sounded like a good idea at the time…I soon realized that creating a scale model requires more time and effort than I was willing to invest. After thinking about it a little more, I would rather have a full size Remote Combo Viewer than a scale model vault door. I just need the dimensions so I contacted Matt Black, the Marketing Director for 1KW and asked if I could take dimensions to build a model and he was fine with it. Since Toronto is quite far from AZ, I was hoping an Antique-Locks member in Toronto could go to the 1WK hotel to measure the RCV (and vault doors). If I cannot find a member then I know a 3D printing company in Toronto that can scan the RCV. After plans are developed I will find someone to build it. It will eventually reside in my Bunker (still under construction), I’m just not sure where or how to mount it.

I need to determine the materials - steel, aluminum, or wood that is painted to look like steel.

I also need to determine the level of detail for the model:
Do I really need to show the small screws that fasten the panels?
Do the unmarked knobs need to spin and rotate pointers inside the viewer over a combo dial?
Does the interior need to light up?
Does the bolt-throwing handwheel need to spin?
Does the pressure plug need to move?

I would build it exact if I had the funds but the details can get expensive quick so I need to determine an affordable balance between form and function.

RiemannHypothesis

Hey VaultDoors 🙂

Interesting Bunker, you have there 😃 Okay, about the material:

If you want to have it made of aluminum, the size cant be the original, because of the weight. BUT on the other hand you have the nice metal feeling when you touch it.
If you take wood (beech would be good), the scale could be much bigger, so more at the size of the original RCV.

To your questions:

Yes
At least the knobs should rotate
Depends on the detail of the interior.
Yes
Not necessarily.

Best regards

Maik

VaultDoors

The object mounted on the door jamb is used to release the time lock snubber in the event someone is locked in:

It is operated by a small hand crank that passes thru the day gate:

wylk

Some other pictures of the release mechanism:

VaultDoors

Excellent pics, thank you for posting!

wylk

In another thread it was mentioned that the side plate of the combo viewer has been replaced with Plexiglas. Here are a few images –

wylk

I was asked about the interpretive sign next to the controls. This is hopefully readable:

VaultDoors

The sign reads:

THE VAULT AT ONE KING WEST

TAKE A MOMENT AND CHECK OUT THE INNER WORKINGS OF THE LOCKING DEVICE.

After a century, the craftsmanship remains intact. Look inside the viewfinder, turn the crank, activate the light and look back in time to see a finely tuned machine.

What you are looking at is a time lock with two little wheels that adjust the time. Turning the big wheel moves the locking pin into place.

< TAKE A CLOSER LOOK

PRESS THE BUTTON TO ACTIVATE THE LIGHT

There is a failsafe inside the vault that can release the lock in case someone is accidentally locked inside.

VAULT FACT

wylk

The frame-side boltwork operating pins are shown below. The top pin was extended and the lower pin was withdrawn. I did not play with the controls.

Above, there is a small “box” that guides the pins and provides a place for one of the locking bolts. Behind that is a larger box for the combination locks and such. There is a “drag mark” leading away from the lower pin most likely made by the door’s corresponding pin, during an opening or closing.

Above, generally the same view but with flash which brings out different details.

Above, a different view. The pin looks like it has been dinged and there is a gouge in the frame as well as another drag mark on the right side of the image. There is also a small pin that looks like it might be an interlock of some sort for the larger boltwork-operating pin but that’s just a guess. Dings and marks have been commented on in earlier posts.

VaultDoors

Here is an interior view of a remote combination viewer vault door closed and locked. This is one of two rectangular vault doors located at the Industrial Trust Bank in Rhode Island. If anyone has pics of other closed and locked remote combo vaults please share, thx.

timelocks

The time lock on this vault was originally a Sargent & Greenleaf Model M. It has since been altered to accept modern and much smaller Swiss movements. The original configuration would have looked like this example

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