Diebold help, please.

Ramprat · 2014-04-23T01:37:30+00:00

Hello everyone, I’m new here and also a novice when it comes to safes. An old friend of mine left me his Diebold safe upon his death. I have known this safe for the past 35 years but, really know little about it. (I will try and post some pictures). I had to help my friend with the main door combination system a couple of years ago. So, I have a little understanding of how it works. However, the inner, smaller vault (I think they call it the TNT proof safe) doesn’t have the tumbler system. In my searches for a replacement lock I have seen some on E-bay but their dimensions don’t fit my door. I’ve heard that my safe might be a “Diebold Peerless”. Which means nothing to me. Can someone here give me some help? Thanks, Steve (aka, Ramprat)

VicZar

After looking around some more I came across an interesting lock that might be the one. I was searching some
post and found this one from 2009.

VicZar

The dial in your safe, does it say, may 18, 1871? I could hardly see the date.

Ramprat

VicZar wrote
The dial in your safe, does it say, may 18, 1871? I could hardly see the date.

I’ve been away from my safe for about a week. We’ve had some flooding here in southern Arizona.
There are two patent numbers on the dial of my inner safe dial. The first is Feb. 1, 1870 and the second is May 23, 1871. There are no arrows on the outer ring of the dial. However, the outer door lock has a patent date of May 23, 1871.
In comparing the recent lock pictures you posted and the cavity of my inner safe door I see some things that cause more questions.
Set aside for now that my lock has a remote dial. The drive spine (which is part of the door) has a large diameter section at the base and would have to fit inside the lock housing. There is also what looks like an alignment pin between and to the right of the right side attachment bolts.
Other than that, it looks real good.
Steve

[unknown]

wylk

Ramprat wrote
The first is Feb. 1, 1870 and the second is May 23, 1871

The first patent is US 99,400 which is for the indirect drive feature (in the patent it is portrayed as being inside the layers of the door while in modern usage it is part of the lock body):

The second patent is probably US 115,230 for a zero-change lock which would eliminate a second mark on the dial ring.

It could also be 115,231 which was for a manipulation-resistant lock which I think was the original Peerless lock using a two-piece “pincer” bolt:

[unknown]

Ramprat

Interesting. Thats a lot of education in one posting. I thought there would be a third gear so the dial and the tumblers would turn in the same direction.
Also, from the way my inner door bolts work the lock would need a sliding bar to prevent movement.
All every interesting. Can’t wait to get home and rethink how the inner door works.
Thank you for all the information.
Steve

wylk

Modern indirect-drive vault locks certainly can have a third gear, here is a Sargent and Greenleaf 6500-series example that is partly cut open for show:

In earlier times with two gears, Diebold probably just rewrote the instructions to reverse the dialing sequence.

VicZar

Wylk you are right is may 23, 1871. I will narrow search to the dates provided.

VicZar

Wylk! great useful information that you just provided. Thank you so much, now I could do a better research.

thanks. VicZar

Ramprat

I checked my inner door indirect drive system today. It must be a three gear system because the tumbler shaft and the dial rotate in the same direction. It also has a 1:1 gear ratio. Hope this might help.
Steve

David Hovey

Thought you might like to see the layered interior mechanism of your Jewelers Chest.

Ramprat

Yep, that’s it. I was thinking of taking mine apart but, you saved me.
(My wife says that I like to take things apart not to fix them but for no other reason but to see what makes them work). I’m sure it’s something you can get treatment for but, I’ll live with it. ;-)

Thanks, Steve

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