Bank of Spain -- Locked on Both Sides?

wylk

In another thread, user “timelocks” asked about exiting a locked vault.

Here’s a weird one. The Bank of Spain includes a vault whose door appears to include locks and controls on both sides!

I can only assume that if you’re accidentally locked inside, you either need to know one or both combinations and how to operate the wheels, or you will be told over an intercom by somebody outside. I’ve never seen this before.

Note the apparent lack of time locks.

Another feature of the vault is that it can be flooded as a security measure if necessary. I assume they would not place paper securities in here, only gold and other waterproof items. Or, if they trust the door is watertight, close it then begin the flooding (assuming the water enters the area outside the vault proper).

See http://www.forocoches.com/foro/showthread.php?t=2132928 and http://jubiladito.blogspot.com/2010/06/camara-acorazada-del-banco-de-espana.html for a few more details. Run them through your favorite translator as needed (e.g. http://bing.com/translate)

A couple of other images:

I can’t tell who made the door. Mosler? Diebold?

Paul Prescott

Very strange. I’ve seen escape doors before in large vaults, but they are usually plain & smooth on the outside.

VaultDoors

This article states the Bank of Spain was a customer of York’s as well as the banks of China, Portugal, France, Japan, and the Royal Bank of Canada.

wylk

I put a little more thought into this and I am now even more confused. If somebody gets locked inside a bank vault and this is discovered, the usual problem is that the door cannot be quickly opened from the outside because the time lock would prevent it. Thus there is a time lock release on the inside of many more-modern doors to facilitate an escape: the “prisoner” can defeat the time lock while the bank manager(s) can dial the combination(s) from the outside.

But this door does not seem to have time locks. If somebody is trapped inside, the manager(s) can simply open the door from the outside. So, what’s the point of having an extra set of controls on the inside? What are the odds that if somebody is locked in, it will be somebody who knows the combination(s)?

How about an unorthodox operating procedure. An official needs to enter the vault to conduct an audit (or other work) but bad guys might know this and attempt a robbery while the door is open. So, the official locks the door behind him to prevent entry. When he’s done, he opens the door from the inside and relocks it. In actuality there would likely be two officials, to check each other. And probably some procedure in case they do not come back out in a reasonable time. Put more simply, the door is intended to be locked at all times except for entry/exit. Would that explain the arrangement?

Dean Nickel

The locking of a door would make sense in two conditions. One as you describe as well the contents is high value like most vaults should be. The other is for secure data. Work happens inside and the door is only opened while there is a shift change. I would hope there would be a bathroom inside for the second condition.🙁sweat):

Arcade Al

Perhaps it’s so that if there is a raid or a run on the bank you can lock yourself in.
(Joking!)
🙁rofl):

Brian Smith

Hey guys. It looks like a York to me. I have worked on a lot of them. I think you are overthinking this door. It was once a common arrangement to have two doors to the same vault. This kind of two sided door is not so common, but the concept is this; Your hall closet has a knob on the outside, but a small twist on the inside, why? Because in-to-out traffic is possible, but not likely. Your door to the bedroom or basement stairway has the same hardware on both sides because two way traffic is expected whether there is a secondary opening or not.
Considering the time lock absence, maybe the place is open day and night, or has ’round the clock security. If there’s one thing I have found to be true in security equipment, its expect the unusual.

Brian Smith

p.s. the whole point of a pressure system door is to exclude intrusion of liquid, ie. nitroglycerine. I tried to explain that to the pres. of the bank of Hardin, Il back in ’93 as we looked out his lobby doors at sandbags up to our chin, that barely held the water back, when the Mississippi flooded. He wanted instead to put his sd boxes up on stands and stay open ’til the last moment. He did. It flooded his vault and he paid the price. Could have just closed the door.