Automatic Banker's Vault door

radar

I am looking for information on this door. The bank is now a barber shop and the children use this area as a playroom. This spring the door will be disabled as they could possibly get locked in and he has put a chain on the hinge to prevent this for now.I cannot find much on it from any sources. I think after talking with the few older locksmiths that are left that the operation of the door is to set the timers and then use the special tool to charge the open and the close spring. Then when you close the door there is an actuator on the edge that trips the close spring and the bolts extend. Now you can turn the wheel and bind the door shut. I think that was made to stop them from making little spots to allow nitro to flow in the door cracks. At this point I believe the wheel becomes disconnected and does not reengage till the timers expire and the open spring retracts the door bolts. Then the wheel should reengage to allow the removal of binding pressure and open the door.
Please correct any statements that I have made about this type door. Notice that there Is no combination lock on this door making it an automatic locking door.

wylk

I don’t believe the wheel disconnects. When the bolts are thrown, it simply becomes ineffective.

A beautiful book on time locks and automatic bolt motors is “American Genius” by Erroll and Erroll. See page 262 for an image and description of this time lock (I believe yours is a Yale Triple L) and motor, introduced in 1892. Your time lock is a slightly later model based on the size of glass in the door (putting the winding eyelets in metal rather than through the glass).

Could you share with us what you know about the history of the building and its location? I’d have to guess it was indeed a bank built in the late 1800s or perhaps very early 1900s (the Triple L was made into the 1920s).

radar

By becoming ineffective do you mean that turning the wheel will not move the bolts . Also am I correct that the binding of the door makes it difficult for yeggs to build dams and pour in nitro to force door open. The building has a granite piece that says bank building and has a date of 1902. It is located in downtown Oakland Maine. The owner remembers playing in a runoff pipe located under the bank when he was a child. That was about 60 years ago. Also I have been told but have not seen another locked door under the vault. It is supposed to just have a key lock and was used to store extra information. I will be asking about it and maybe going down to take a few pictures.

wylk

radar wrote
By becoming ineffective do you mean that turning the wheel will not move the bolts . Also am I correct that the binding of the door makes it difficult for yeggs to build dams and pour in nitro to force door open. The building has a granite piece that says bank building and has a date of 1902. It is located in downtown Oakland Maine. The owner remembers playing in a runoff pipe located under the bank when he was a child. That was about 60 years ago. Also I have been told but have not seen another locked door under the vault. It is supposed to just have a key lock and was used to store extra information. I will be asking about it and maybe going down to take a few pictures.

The wheel does not operate the bolts at all. It only operates the pressure bar system that helps pull the door fully closed, or helps push the door open for the first fraction of an inch. So if the door is closed and the bolts are in the locked position (“thrown”) operating the wheel will attempt to use the pressure bars to push the door open but it cannot and the wheel will simply stop turning.

The door was intended to make it difficult to pour in enough nitroglycerine to be a credible threat. Assuming the door had to be fully closed or very close in order for the bolts to be thrown, there was very little space between the door and frame, and both were more than strong enough for the tiny amount of explosive that might be introduced. The fully automatic operation had the advantage that there were no holes through the door for combination-lock spindles, holes that might be utilized for manipulation of the boltwork or (less likely) introduction of explosives. Automatic doors had the disadvantage of automatically unlocking even if the building were under siege by a mob of angry folks; all they had to do was wait for opening time, and plunder the wealth, assuming the mob was large enough to keep away law enforcement. Even this possibility was addressed by one maker who offered an option that could wind up the time locks via an alarm/telephone circuit remotely should this situation present itself.

It’s probable that this door was for safe deposit boxes and on the main floor as a convenience for customers, while the bank’s separate money/books vault was in the basement and used a different locking system.

[unknown]

Huw Eastwood

That’s a nice door and great to see something with different locking and pressure bar system for a change.
A real shame it’s not being cared for and appreciated in it’s current surroundings, but then a barber’s shop and toddlers play area aren’t exactly #1 locations for an antique bank door

radar

The Yale lock pictured belongs to Igor Knezevic.
Visit his site to view some of his work and his extensive collection. He travels the world problem solving and opening safes and vaults. He is intelligent beyond his years. It should be of interest to many. At some time he will update his site but he is never home. He does answer his emails.