Thanks for the comments- I wondered how long it would be posted before I had to explain a bit more! 🙁blush): Hope this doesn’t ruin your enjoyment of it, but it’s actually one I made only about 5 or 6 years ago.
I’ve always had a strong interest and fascination with the American cannonballs and money chests 🙁nerd): as here in Britain we had nothing like them apart from just 2 candidates- the Chatwood Cylinder safe and a square-bodied, round-door Chubb. I won’t elaborate on those as I’ve seen they’ve been discussed on here many times before.
I’d made several larger model vaults and cannonballs over the years, and had the idea for the tiny Corliss when I was sorting through a box of old antique brass handles, knobs and safe drawer fittings etc.
At the time I was actually starting on a ‘smallest’ miniature working model of the York Cleveland FRB door- it was about one inch diameter and was to have the 16 working bolts operated by the centre hand wheel. Simplified ‘working’ admittedly, in so much as in that size it obviously wasn’t going to have working combo locks the size of grains of sand! But a working model nonetheless.
I was actually making the CFRB door with the intention of getting it in the Guinness Book Of Records, but on contact I found that unless the record already exists they will not consider assessment for new, likewise if it is a so-called ‘subjective’ category they will no longer consider entry. 🙁doh): This was disappointing, but I can understand their reason. I had encountered similar with building a tiny miniature steam engine- something made to a different specification to what they have as reference, in order to achieve the record, is very difficult for them to determine and assess, it instantly becomes ‘subjective’, and they’ve made those rules as a result of controversial subjects and attempts in the past.
Anyway, the end result was that I decided to hold fire on the CFRB model in favour of the tiny Corliss- I’d only made breech-lock and threaded door cannonballs before, and using an antique cast brass knob for the main outer ‘shell’ of a Corliss-type seemed a good idea! Once I’d figured out the construction it all went from there- Lots of very fiddly hand filing, shaping, lots of turning, intricate boring and milling done under magnification 🙁sweat): etc. I was originally going to enamel it and give it some lining detail, but decided on the ‘antique’ brass look in the end.
It’s a fun piece though, and always creates a bit of interest 🙁happy):
