Hall's Safe & Lock Co. 1893 or older...
Posted: Tue Jan 29, 2013 10:40 am
Okay so my father runs an small rail road museum that resides in an old Depot in town. Inside the old depot is a Well's Fargo office(part of the museum now and no longer actually functioning.) Inside the old W.F. office is a Hall's Safe & Lock Co. safe. I have done some research on these and found that if the Hall's has an apostrophe before the S then the safe must date prior to 1893 because of a legal case about that time. Laramie was founded with the trans continental railroad ca 1868 so I know that the safe isn't older than that. My personal guesstimate is somewhere in the 1880s.
Now the local locksmith has been contacted and indicated that he would drill it which the museum obviously doesn't want. This gives me the opportunity to have a go at it. So here is what I have discovered so far. I have read through the following resources on safe manipulation. Wayne B Yeager's book, Marc W. Tobias's volume on Locks, Safes, and Security, and the Safe Cracking for Computer scientists guide. So I have the fundamentals but each of these guides has slight discrepancies with one and other.
My first task, finding the contact area, has been a bit difficult. The lock spins freely and I can feel the fly wheels as I pick them up. I have counted two distinct and one fairly subtle click as I go AWL and AWR so I believe I have 3 wheel flys in the wheel pack. When I go AWL to try to find the contact zone I do feel a distinct tight spot at about 130/0 on the dial. (Oh I forgot to mention that this old thing goes from 0-130 instead of the usual 0-100) Now at first I was thinking this was one of the sides of the contact area but now I am having second thoughts. I don't feel this tight spot except when I go AWL(It may be there just more subtle) So now I am wondering if I am feeling an irregularity in the final wheel?
So here are my concerns-
1. Should I be approaching this manipulation like a standard S&G type 2 dial?
2. I'm thinking some WD 40 will help me get a better feel for it. I did ad some oil to the dial(At the seem between the dial edge and the safe) Is that the best way to apply oil? If should it sit a while before I attempt manipulation? (I felt a very slight improvement but not dramaticly in my last session two days ago. I have yet to go back and try it again)
3. Any common ways of determining if it is a lost cause? I am guessing it is okay because I can feel the wheels pick up and it does spin freely, albeit stiff and heavy on the fingers.
Any thoughts? I do have a friend who might give me a more modern safe to play around with. I am thinking this will be the best way to get my feet wet(or fingers in this case.)
Now the local locksmith has been contacted and indicated that he would drill it which the museum obviously doesn't want. This gives me the opportunity to have a go at it. So here is what I have discovered so far. I have read through the following resources on safe manipulation. Wayne B Yeager's book, Marc W. Tobias's volume on Locks, Safes, and Security, and the Safe Cracking for Computer scientists guide. So I have the fundamentals but each of these guides has slight discrepancies with one and other.
My first task, finding the contact area, has been a bit difficult. The lock spins freely and I can feel the fly wheels as I pick them up. I have counted two distinct and one fairly subtle click as I go AWL and AWR so I believe I have 3 wheel flys in the wheel pack. When I go AWL to try to find the contact zone I do feel a distinct tight spot at about 130/0 on the dial. (Oh I forgot to mention that this old thing goes from 0-130 instead of the usual 0-100) Now at first I was thinking this was one of the sides of the contact area but now I am having second thoughts. I don't feel this tight spot except when I go AWL(It may be there just more subtle) So now I am wondering if I am feeling an irregularity in the final wheel?
So here are my concerns-
1. Should I be approaching this manipulation like a standard S&G type 2 dial?
2. I'm thinking some WD 40 will help me get a better feel for it. I did ad some oil to the dial(At the seem between the dial edge and the safe) Is that the best way to apply oil? If should it sit a while before I attempt manipulation? (I felt a very slight improvement but not dramaticly in my last session two days ago. I have yet to go back and try it again)
3. Any common ways of determining if it is a lost cause? I am guessing it is okay because I can feel the wheels pick up and it does spin freely, albeit stiff and heavy on the fingers.
Any thoughts? I do have a friend who might give me a more modern safe to play around with. I am thinking this will be the best way to get my feet wet(or fingers in this case.)