new safe on wheels

stephane

hi guys. just achieve a old american safe on wheels. very unexpected operation because they are pretty rare here and my favorite with the milners.
ordinary i post photo of original condition after collect but for this time this is something special because i wanted give it an antique look very close to something marked by time. “in the juice” as we told here. curiously the majority of people don’t like something too old over shiny perfect finish ones. can’t understand.
i think, and HOPE this is a victor safe because it is now finish but if i am wrong i will do the job again !
the patent on the lock is the same that my other little victor and the serial # 75878 size : 26.5 × 16 × 17 so detail on the year made is very welcome.
just realize the brass finish point i made for the pivot extended are too long so i am going to short them.
thanks in advance

stephane

hi guys, another question about safes on wheels : why there is wheels on american safes ? same period safe’s product was sometimes bolted to the wall so seem not logical to fit on wheels, especially for small ones can be lift by 2 men !

Cepasaccus

Some thoughts:

Main purpose was often fire safe and a fire doesn’t carry the safe away.
Moving a safe in and out of a vault required the wheels.
Criminals didn’t have means to carry a safe far away like today, e.g. no car or to noisy.
For the buyer of the safe a safe just had to have wheels because safes had wheels.
Criminals didn’t have the idea that they could carry the safe away.

Huw Eastwood

Some discussion of safes on wheels in this thread;
https://www.antique-locks.com/showthread.php/3780-Chubb-Mystery-Safe-on-Wheels?highlight=wheels

stephane

thanks guys for details. interesting link huw but like me some do not understand why these wheels. and some solid arguments are developed, finally no 100% logical. anyway i am very happy with and very cool look.

Huw Eastwood

You’re right Stephane, aside from these discussions no-one seems to have any carved in stone reasons for it.
Wheels can be found on just about every type of American safe from the best and heaviest bankers chests of their day, to the smallest “one-man lift” sized domestic safes, and just about everything in between.
They were fitted on the largest Corliss cannonball weighing 33,000 pounds, and yet they were fitted on safes like yours and ones even smaller -I’m as baffled as you! 🙁think):

BTW your little Victor is a beauty- has a different sort of charm you don’t get with our British or European stuff. Good job on turning and ageing the brass finials, agree they will look better shorter, but can still see you done a superb job making them.

Doug MacQueen

The very earliest safes circa early 1800’s, made here in the U.S. that I have have seen did have wheels. Sheet metal over wood hobnail safes built before most towns even had hard roads. Even so, I suppose the wheels were included to facilitate moving the safe when needed. Anyone that has done much safe moving understands that having wheels does not necessarily make the job that much easier. You still have to lift it into the truck. Several years ago a large jewelers was stolen out of the store. I did have an alibi. The safe was not on wheels. Ever since the advent of hydraulic jacks, it really doesn’t make much difference. But pushing that 33,000 lbs. Corliss ,back in 1880, even with wheels, would still have been a back breaker.

Chubby

Modern jacks and Hiab type lifting arms have changed all the rules.

I saw a Chubb Bankers Treasury once. It had been base anchored. The would be thieves had brought along a device used for lifting railway lines. They had applied so much force to try to lift the safe that they had actually bent the base of the safe. The anchor didn’t give way. If anybody had told me that this was possible I would not have believed it.