Typos and other mistakes

wylk

I recently discovered a Victor safe on eBay with a small typo (the auction was item number 160542101242 if you want to see the image). On the inside of the door is a patent list (patent dates rather than patent numbers, which was more common until the very early 20th century) and one of the listed patents is wrong. It says “Oct. 2. ’89.” but it should actually read ’88, not ’89. This is understandable on older safes where the lettering was done by hand as well as the pinstriping and other features. Manufacturing eventually drifted towards pre-printed decals (later, stamped and/or silk-screened plates) which would eliminate these quaint errors.

Does anybody have other examples of such mistakes on safes or locks?

wylk

Another example I ran across is in the current Journal of Lock Collecting, with a Mix lock labeled “U.S. SREET LETTER MAIL”.

oldbiscuit

Wylk, I just finished reading my copy of the journal and for some reason I fail to see what your talking about.. The Mix lock has “US Street Letter Mail”. What do you find wrong with that? I must be missing something, Mark:=-:

wylk

Check page 9, bottom-right, Figure 24.

On the next page (10), first paragraph, second sentence "… Note that the word “Street” is missing its “T” in Figure 24."

Just for extra humor, there is a typo in the description of the typo, it says "Street: instead of “Street”.

oldbiscuit

Got it!! I must be blind !! I looked at that several times,and even after reading the article and still missed it. 🙁think):

wylk

Here’s another example, spotted on eBay. The first date listed, April 1, 1899, is not possible for a US patent because that’s a Saturday. They probably meant April 11, 1899 which would be for patent 622,753 for a screw-door safe.

Then there’s August 12, 1904 which was a Friday. All US patents are issued on Tuesdays.

I suppose these could be foreign patents but the first one sure looks like a typo. I would have expected a plate like this to be semi-mass-produced and thus scrutinized a little more carefully before production, compared to one-at-a-time hand lettering.

00247

You are correct on the mass produced thought. My safe has the same tag.