Special thanks to....Mastersmith, who I've thanked multiple times both publicly & personally - but I'll say it
AGAIN.
Your generosity to share
this pass-along with all of us here at Keypicking has changed my life.
It allowed me to begin teaching myself manipulation & enter into the wonderful world of safes.
I'll never forget the day it arrived on my doorstep 3 1/2 years ago. Pure enjoyment ever since.
Sometimes we do little things having no idea the profound affect it may have on someone.
Well that's precisely what has happened here. Thank you Mark. It all started with you.
Altashot and his colleagues for confirming this beautiful lock as a Mosler. As well as some very
interesting info on old antique locks - the craftsmanship, the surprising degree of precision,
and the intensive hands-on approach that was used for assembling each and every one.
I also want to thank you for always finding the time for me and my questions.
And I know you do not always
have the time.... but you somehow
make time.
20+ yrs of hard earned knowledge & experience in your field. A true passion
for what you do. And
equally passionate about helping & sharing what you
have learned. An absolute rarity in my book. One I
do not take for granted.
manipulation #22MoslerGroup2 ... 3 wheel ... hole change ... spring-loaded fence So I went a little overboard on the photos. And for that I will say
to
some of you... I'm sorry
And to
others... you're welcome
I decided to service only the insides of this one... leaving the original '
aged beauty' on the outside untouched.
Dial ring goes on the
tube, followed by the
tube nut that firmly presses the dial ring against the face of the door.
One of the reasons this lock first caught my eye - Muskegon is a town not all too far from me.
L.C. Walker and his son Shaw Walker were/are big names in that town. Their company, started
in 1899, was geared toward businesses. Office supplies, equipment, and record keeping systems.
Altashot (on his way out the door of the shop) took a quick look at his files for me and was able to
confirm that the company did indeed make fire resistant file cabinets and
possibly safes as well.
It's unclear whether they made locks. But
my guess is that Mosler was commissioned for the
locks that would then be fitted to these safes and/or filing cabinets. But again, I'm not sure.
. . Before fully assembling I wanted to give you a couple shots of the re-locker in this one.
At first glance it struck me as a bit 'crude'. Nevertheless, it does its' job quite effectively.
A thin strip of metal with a slight upward bend. Mounted to the lock case by two rivets.
Several views of the bolt and the area that's been modified to accept the re-locker.
Notice the tab on the edge that's been cut/punched downward.
And on the underside, a notch was created by filing along side this tab.
I wanted to picture the wheels and #'s in their entirety for future reference. But I also thought
some of you mathematical number-figuring-freaks might enjoy it, lol. The choice & placement
of numbers is
far from random. The sequence of the numbers and which ones are excluded
on each wheel need to be considered in order to account for a variety of things. Like where
the gate lies, maximizing keyspace, pickup differences, protecting the forbidden zone, etc.
These wheels are known as
hole change. Similar to the mesh change type, the wheel pack
must be disassembled in order to change the number for each wheel, then reassembled.
A flip-sided view of w2 with its' corresponding
drive pin spacer inserted.
Serving a dual purpose, 1) its' orientation dictates the combination,
and 2) also serves as a drive pin on either side of each wheel.
The width of these stationary drive pins as they progressively stack upon each other
can create for some very large pickup differences (
that I was not accustom to!) lol
e.g. The rotational difference for wheel 1 becomes a whopping 17.5 increments.
...and in a very large world... a small stack of joy.CONTACT AREAApproximately 17 incs wideLCP 18 . . . . .
RCP 35
ROTATIONAL CONVERSIONpickup differences for wheels 3, 2, 1
6.5 .... 12.5 .... 17.5 .... respectively
READINGSLEFT contact point
ONLY...taken in
tenths every 2 incs
BINDING ORDER2 - 1 - 3UNKNOWN COMBOR9 - L46 - R88It wasn't long into this spin that I quickly acquired a new found respect for those of you
who tackle some of these old locks in the field. I definitely underestimated this one. lol
At times, readings required a very light touch. Pulling the dial out gave me better results.
There were also times when wheel(s) lifted the fence off the cam enough to where I was
unable to determine an exact reading. These areas are
marked with an X on my graphs.
Also, due to the large pickup differences you'll see
unmarked areas in the graphs.
Either within the contact area, or where it would cause other wheels to be disturbed.
Reading in tenths on this dial meant the differences were excruciatingly minute.
It was sometimes quite a debate between tagging a reading as 7 or 8 tenths, etc.
So although these graphs may
seem fairly clear and definitive...... don't be fooled.
The all wheels right rotation reveals a gate, 57. I first attempt to tag this gate through isolation...
but the enormous pickup differences really put a crimp in my style here. I'll have to work on that.
I revert to a high test. Realize too, the large pickup differences of 17.5, 12.5, and 6.5.
So as I throw each wheel up from 57 to 60, I'm moving them much more than 3 incs.
AWR @ 57 . . . 18.9R57 R57 L
60 . . . . . 18.9
R57 L
60 R57 . . . . .
18.7L
60 R57 R57 . . . . .
18.7Not quite what I had hoped. The test equally indicates
both wheels 1 & 2.
I tried one other thing before moving on. But by no means is this fool-proof either.
The idea is to utilize the large rotational differences of each wheel to tag this gate.
57 was originally found with
right rotation. I run all wheels
left starting about 20 incs prior to it.
IF a gate shows up & corresponds to one of the pickup differences it might at least provide a clue.
If a gate occurs about
17.5 incs prior to 57... it's w1.
12.5 incs before 57... w2.
6.5 incs before 57... w3.
The glimpse of a gate
does appear around 45. Evidence of w2 being the rightful owner seems to be mounting.
But regardless of whether I can definitively tag wheel 1 or 2... my next action would be the same; run wheel 3.
W3 has nothing to say. So I roll on the assumption that 57 is w2.
Time to run wheel 1 by itself while placing wheels 2&3 at 57.
Here's a gate that could go unnoticed if you're not paying attention!
Readings spike slightly at 88, then never drop back down again.
Looking back on my previous graphs, I can safely figure the gates to be
at least 3 increments wide (maybe even 4). From the initial spike at 88,
I decide to go one increment in from there and chose 89 as the gate.
L89 - R57 - With known gates for wheels 1&2, it's time to run w3 for the money.
W3's gate
very obvious. And the fence
desperately wanted to drop in... but not quite there.
We need to re-work w1. Remember the spike in readings that never dropped back down?
Pushing w1 from 89 up to 90, and....
OPEN: L90 - R57 - L82.5The correct dialing procedure for this particular lock is of a RLR configuration though.
Working a wheel at a time allows me to find the true center of each gate. I can then
apply the pickup differences to convert the rotations & arrive at the original combo.
R9 - L46 - R88. . . . . . . . . CONCLUSIONS . . . . . . . . .In short, I have more manipulations to run through this lock &
ALOT more homework to do. lol
I'm sure there's some holes in my game.
Please feel free to point them out! I'd love to know!I'd have to say my biggest obstacle with this lock may be the large pickup differences.
But with time I'd imagine they'll become less of a hindrance and more helpful instead.
The RCP that was ignored throughout this manipulation: During my first AWR graph
I initially was taking
BOTH contact points (not pictured). I found the RCP to be non -
existent for a good portion of the dial. However, as subtle & illusive as it is, keeping
tabs on it
may prove useful. Its' sudden appearance could help light the way.