Time Locks: How a Clock Kept the Bank Vault Shut
In the 1870s robbers stopped trying to beat bank locks and went after the people who knew the combination instead. The answer was a…
Locks & Mechanisms
How safe locks, fire-resisting construction and security mechanisms developed, and why they mattered.
6 articles
Old Safe Combination Locks: How to Dial One, Change It and When to Call a Technician
You have the numbers, but the old dial won’t cooperate. This guide sticks to the makers’ own instructions: how mechanical safe combination locks are…
What Is a Chubb Key? Lever Locks, the Detector Lock and Old Chubb Safe Keys
A Chubb key is the key to a lever lock, and in Britain the name has stretched to cover almost any mortice deadlock key,…
Inventing the Fireproof Safe: Who Invented It and How Early Fire Safes Worked
No one person invented the fireproof safe. It took English patentees, New York ironmongers, a stereotype founder with a bag of plaster and a…
The Chubb Detector Lock: How It Works and Its History Since 1818
In 1818 Jeremiah Chubb patented a lock designed to do something no lock had done before: let its owner know that someone had tried…
Safe Lock Mechanisms: A History from Lever Locks to Time Locks
A safe is only as good as its lock, and the lock on an old one can tell you a lot about it. From…