Not relockers?

wylk

I was recently pointed to a discussion of vault doors on Reddit, http://www.reddit.com/r/pics/comments/18ny2g/old_vault_doors_are_awesome/. A little over halfway down user “VadersSpy” makes some comments about vault doors that I disagree with, particularly his example of door relockers. Here is the post in question with one slight edit to the 12th word:[INDENT]
As a retired locksmith I look at this think and think “F****** relockers”. I circled a few of them but you see that every bolt has one.. And I think about the time a bank president called us 15 mins before the bank opened because he couldn’t open the vault because one of these things, which are held in place by thin metal, had failed and fired securing the vault. Also consider how many people died in these things because robbers would lock them in and on old vaults there was no clear cut way to open them from inside. Lastly I can’t see it here but many of these things were at one time booby trapped with things like mustard gas, so when would be robbers tried to dynamite them a toxic cloud of gas was released. Modern vaults are much better, safer, stronger , and lighter. I like the craftsmanship too, but a little perspective on the functionality makes a world of difference.[/INDENT]

The image he included is this one, which we’ve seen here before but I include it to show what he circled:

What are circled are, as far as I know, simply bearings to help the bolts extend and retract with a minimum of friction, and they serve no relocking function. Here is a good picture of one:

Am I correct in assuming VadersSpy is all wrong about this?

I also take exception to his statement “Also consider how many people died in these things because robbers would lock them in and on old vaults there was no clear cut way to open them from inside.” I once tried to find any examples of people dying in vaults and only came up with one case of murder, one case of death by triggering the CO2 fire system, and one case of death by anxiety-induced asthma attack. So this is way overstated.

Doug MacQueen

Yes those are definitely roller bearings. Relockers were not all that common back then and if used, often hidden from view. On an automatic door like this one, you wouldn’t normally have them, as relockers are usually used as backups for things that get punched, like dial spindles or boltwork handles. The one exception to that I can think of is for thermal protection against burning. Remember this is on the old doors, not modern jewelers safes were glass plate relocker setups are very common. That is the old Cleveland Trust door at 9th and Euclid here in Cleveland, which is now undergoing renovation. Recently some things were stolen from the door, including the nameplate. Fortunately I had taken several pictures and some, if not all parts will be remade. Also the Union Trust (later Huntington Bank) bank across the street is now closed. It is the one that has the huge banking hall, which if I remember correctly was the largest built at the time. Doug

Doug MacQueen

Regarding relockers, now that I think about it, there was a whole slew of patents issued in the late 1870’s or early 80’s having to do with the subject. Can’t remember the guys name offhand though. Most, if not all, were directed towards the use of dynamite against the door face. They include some very nice drawings of several of the locks used at the time. One design in particular that I know of had to do with the time lock getting displaced by the force, and effectively blocking its unlocking action. Doug

Arcade Al

The idea of 24 individual bolts having relockers engaged is hilarious really. It would take days to get back into it, and it would wreck the door beyond repair?

Huw Eastwood

And what about secondary relockers linked to the main relockers in case of all-out attack, not just on the door but on the first relockers as well 🙁giggle):

Seriously though, I used to regularly see a particular type of strongroom door which did have a similar set-up- even with as many as 6 or 7 live relockers and up to 10 randomly positioned dead relockers linked to several glass plates. I think the thinking behind it was that if you did have long enough and the means to work out the positions of them, it would be possible to drill/cut and block them, and then go for the main mechanism. To counteract this they always had an additional single dead relocker mounted behind glass, which was often cross linked to 5 or 6 of the others. So in the event of a serious- and obviously we are talking serious attack, even if you could overcome everything else you would have to set-off at least the one behind the glass even if all the others were overcome. Hope this makes sense- there will be a few UK guys who’ll know what I’m referring to but I won’t say any more than that. They are the only doors I know of that took the relocking principle to anywhere near that level.

Apologies for wandering off the subject but at least it’s about relockers- albeit world’s apart from this old timer in question- that’s a beauty- love the contrasts btw 🙁happy):