Experts - Can you help me identify this lock?

appertwoodcraft

Hello all, I cam here looking for some help.

I’m not a lock guy, (nobody’s perfect) I’m a cabinetmaker and furniture maker. I am working on a reproduction of an old tool chest and I am hoping to identify the lock used. I’ve enclosed the three best pictures of it I have. It appears to be a full-mortise combination box/chest lock from around (give or take 20 years) the turn of the 20th century (I could be off but that seems to be when the chest was made)

I found this site while searching for expert advice and you guys seem to be an amazing resource. If any of you experts can assist me in identifying and possibly locating a lock like this I will be very much in your debt.

Sincerely yours,
Nick Appert
Appert Woodcraft

Pschiffe

Nick, can’t really tell much from your image but you apparently require a combination chest lock. Yours could have been made by any number of manufacturers but one thing I am certain of is that no such lock is extant. Attached is an image of an Eagle No. 2001 from their 1938 catalog, long obsolete and out-of-business. If you want something functionally equivalent, consider a Combi-Cam lock with hook bolt, see link:
http://www.combi-cam.com/

Pete Schifferli

Dean Nickel

There might be someone that might have one. I will PM you the name and number.

Tom Gordon

or you could use a box lock which would have a key instead of the dial -they are available new in a variety of sizes.

Doug MacQueen

Nick, I agree finding a key lock would be far easier than a dial model. But if you are determined to stay with the dial, I could make you a brass lock to fit, utilizing a small old dial and ring. Or convert an existing key lock (if you can find one that fits) into a dial combination version. That is one sweet tool chest, by the way. Doug

Adrian Weber

I would love to have a chest like that!
Good old quality…

bbcci

A perfect example of tight tolerances and fine craftsmanship in wood. Quite a testament (and resume) to the skills of its maker. Are the white inlays mother of pearl or a white wood?

If you don’t get something from Dean’s contact or find one elsewhere, I think Doug’s idea/offer to fabricate is the next best way to go. Staying true to form on the craftsmanship and heart of the project might have made the original owner smile. My 2 pennies worth - please, keep the change.
Best of luck with it.
Bill

Doug MacQueen

here is a selection of used keylocks found at the Cleveland Key Shop. The length of the faceplate on the smallest is about 2″ and the biggest at 4″. Doug

Richard Phillips

I’d be surprised if it is a mortice lock. As Cleveland shows, there are numerous half-mortice key boxlocks of various sizes. The comlock should only have a small hole for the spindle, so a keylock could be fitted with little cosmetic work needed - a nice brass plate should serve.

Somebody might be able to adapt a com padlock mechanism to a boxlock case, but the new linkplate needed might not be so neat.

Richard Phillips

If you are being obvious that what you are making is a modern version, it would be fair to use a modern lock. Several of us have suggested keylocks. In Britain, the epitome of quality would have been a Bramah lock, and you should not need to wait too long to find an old Bramah boxlock for sale - they are not vanishingly rare.

However, you could buy a new Bramah box lock. They are available in brass (polished or lacquered) or chrome finish.

Turn-of-the-century US keylocks would have been typically flat steel lever lock with nozzle, from Corbin or Eagle. There are probably a few of them around in the US still. You might buy a cheap box to salvage the lock from it?

Tom Gordon

Hmmm
i think that I may have a chrome one of them - I shall have a look.

appertwoodcraft

Thank you ALL for your replies, interest and expertise. After some follow-up, I believe pschiffe to be correct in his ID as an Eagle Lock #2001. Thank you pschiffe!!!

Now to find one. I am trying my hardest to create an accurate reproduction of the chest, So I prefer not to consider other locks until I am convinced an Eagle 2001 is unobtainable.

Anyone’s got one, please let me know. If you know someone who does, please inform them of my interest. Your continued help is more appreciated than I can say.

Thanks all, and happy New Year.

Nick

Jim Casey

Hi, I just came across this thread, and MAY have something you could use. But before I go digging in the dungeon, I wanted to see if you in fact still need it. (as your last post was almost a year ago) 🙂
let me know.
Jim.

appertwoodcraft wrote
Thank you ALL for your replies, interest and expertise. After some follow-up, I believe pschiffe to be correct in his ID as an Eagle Lock #2001. Thank you pschiffe!!!

Now to find one. I am trying my hardest to create an accurate reproduction of the chest, So I prefer not to consider other locks until I am convinced an Eagle 2001 is unobtainable.

Anyone’s got one, please let me know. If you know someone who does, please inform them of my interest. Your continued help is more appreciated than I can say.

Thanks all, and happy New Year.

Nick

[unknown]

appertwoodcraft

Jim, I’m still looking. Please dig if you can.

Nick

Jim Casey

Hi Nick,
Ok, I dug out what I remembered having, it looks identical to the eagle lock pictured here:

However, I don’t have the top piece with the hooks. Mine does not say anything in the center of the dial either, so could have been a knock off at the time. I think that top piece would be a lot easier to track down or even fabricate, as it looks like the same type used in most roll top desks. The thickness of the wood this lock is made to fit is ⅞″.
The overall dimensions are 3 ⅞″ Left to right, 2 17/32″ top to bottom. The dial ring is 2 ⅜″. The dial can be put on in one of 17 different positions, to give 17 different possible combinations. The combination is determined AFTER the lock and ring are mounted, by viewing through a hole in the back while turning and lining up the gates. It is a three wheel lock, dialing sequence is L-R-L-R til stop. This lock is very old, and should be plated or something as you can’t even read the numbers easily. Let me know if this sounds like something you may want, and I’ll take some pics of it, and figure a price.

Jim.

appertwoodcraft wrote
Jim, I’m still looking. Please dig if you can.

Nick

[unknown]

annarosy

[INDENT]There might be someone that might have one. I will PM you the name and number.

[/INDENT]

appertwoodcraft

please do annarosy, and thank you!