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Consolidated Time Lock Co., Cincinnati, Ohio - 1 movement mounted to Hall's Premier double dial, size #3
Front elevation. This lock dates from about 1870 and the time lock was retro-fitted to the lock around 1882. The key lock at the top middle was an option that could be ordered and controls an anti-tampering device. Turning the key moves a slider beneath the cover containing a small two lever lock, that slider when lowered, will prevent the two buttons located above the wheel packs from being depressed keeping those from being unscrewed and removed. Also the two screw holes seen between the wheel packs are partially covered preventing the removal of the front plate (although one couldn't remove the plate with the wheel packs in place). Finally they also lock in the two custody buttons located at the bottom of the lock, see below for an explanation of their function. The very early Premier locks did not have the Hall profile medallion, instead it was a plain front. An example of this without the anti-tampering and custody options and with a S&G Model #4A time lock can be seen here.
Note: The silver nut on the right hand wheel pack drive cam is there as a way for me to demonstrate the cam's operation, it is not a part of the lock. This photo shows the interior view of the lock. The two red arrows show the lock's 'normal' or more precisely the fences that were original to the lock in about 1870. One can readily see the left fence is a bit lower than the right, these are mounted to a teeter-totter lever which enables each to be used independently to allow either wheel pack's tumblers to be used to open the lock. The term "custody" is assigned to the wheel pack that is responsible for opening the lock. The entire teeter-totter can also be lifted as a unit causing both to stay at the same level giving custody to both wheel packs, a.k.a. dual custody, thus requiring both to be correctly dialed in to open the safe. The changing of custody is controlled by the two knobs located at the bottom, middle of the lock; those knobs have square pins that can be inserted or withdrawn from the two square holes within the two yellow ovals. Regardless of the custody chosen when the time lock's hook is engaged with the stud next to it the entire fence assembly is held aloft above the tumblers of both wheel packs preventing the lock from being opened with even the right combination. This is known as putting the lock "on guard". The white oval at the top middle of the lock as seen in the photo shows the lock is "off guard" because the time lock's hook is not engaged with the stud connected to the fence pair. The two yellow arrows indicate the emergency override fences that are connected to the time lock mounted above. A 'secret combination' that is provided by the Hall company is first dialed in. This allows the emergency fence to drop into the tumbler gates and will result in the withdrawal the time lock's hook from the stud, causing the assembly to drop the regular fences normally used. The operator then dials in the regular combination allowing the time lock to be bypassed and the safe opened. View the video below to see a demonstration of these devices and how the design of Hall's Infallible Lockout Protection ™ system worked to prevent collusion as well as deduction of the secret combination through intimate knowledge of how the lockout fences were installed.Notice how every part has a stamped serial number. The brass components of the lock made about 1870 have serial number 1431. All of the silver colored parts have to do with the time lock and has a matching serial number to that on the time lock dial, serial number 4134. There are a fair number of complex moving parts in this lock and all must conform to tight tolerances to ensure function and reliability. These are largely hand-made devices and the hefty wholesale price of $500 in 1870 reflects this. The time lock adds another $200 to $250 to this which combined, depending on the safe it was installed, could amount to more than the safe itself.
The first photo shows a three-quarter view of the emergency fence with five screw-in studs. These can be rearranged between their current locations to the empty, threaded holes beneath. This changes the secret combination by three digits. The safe's owner could do this in case he is worried about collusion from an employee at Hall, but in reality if this were the only thing standing in the way and without the Infallible Lockout Protection system, it would only induce a minor delay, providing the thief knew the the way the emergency fences were arranged in relation to the normal operating fences. Basically, if one knows the regular fences are in the 12 o'clock position and the emergency fence is at the 4 o'clock position it a simple matter to deduce the combination of the emergency fence from knowing the normal fence's combination. The second photo shows the push lock for the wheel packs. Used in conjunction with the anti-tampering device the lock cannot be pushed in thus preventing the wheel pack's removal. In the back ground are the pair of buttons that control the custody of the wheel packs. These too can be set and locked into place by the same ant-tampering device.
The patent drawing on the left and the photo on the right reveal the heart of Hall's Infallible Lockout Protection system. This patent was issued for a special bolt release and not the Infallible Lockout Protection system which was already in use. Obviously having only a secret combination as a backup to a failed time lock is a very weak solution. It is prone to collusion between employees of the Hall Company and the would-be thief. Even without direct collusion a person who can gain access to the interior of the lock could quite easily deduce the secret combination if he knew the regular combination through deduction of their relative positions as represented by the fences to each other. All that's needed is a simple protractor to measure the degree angle. To prevent this, Hall's system will not allow the secret combination to override the time lock if the time lock is running. After all, one should only need to resort to the secret combination in the event of the time lock's failure. The way this is done is revealed within the two red ovals in the patent illustration and photo. Referring to the drawing and photo the lever marked K, F and a rotates and is spring biased in the counterclockwise direction which would put the time lock on guard. Part a here is a blocking device but serves the same purpose as the hook in the lock being described on this web page that is to hold the regular fences away from the wheel packs when the time lock is on guard. When the secret combination is correctly dialed in the emergency fence drops into the gates arranged according to the secret combination, and that fence is connected to sliding lever L. This event pulls the sliding lever downward as depicted by the red arrow. Pin f is attached to lever L and will push lever F rotating against its biasing spring clockwise releasing the stud holding the regular fences at the 12 o'clock position above the tumblers. At the same time the area marked K moves to the right and the pivoted lever marked R also moves in the same direction. Lever R has a hook on its end and this can be seen in the patent illustration, but is hidden behind the contrate wheel in the photo. The hook on lever R drops onto the contrate wheel arbor S and if the timer lock has failed, the contrate wheel will be stopped and the hook will remain attached. At this point the time lock is put off guard and the operator then dials in the regular combination to open the safe. However if the timer is running the contrate wheel arbor is turning counterclockwise and the hook will ride upward due to the arbor's rotation and fall off the arbor. The bias spring will immediately snap the lever F counterclockwise re-engaging the hook to block the normal fences from operating preventing the operator from dialing in the normal combination to open the safe. This only takes 1-2 seconds preventing the operator from trying to quickly dial in the regular combination. See video for a demonstration of the Infallible Lockout Protection system.
This video demonstrates the Hall Premier double dial, size #3 combination lock combined with a Hall/Consolidated single movement time lock. Shown are the anti-tampering, custody control and Halls Infallible Lockout Protection systems.
Main lock components. Consolidated single chronometer movement c. 1882, on Hall Premier double dial lock c. 1870. Time lock case 3 3/4"w x 3 1/8"h x 2 5/8"d, case #1519, movement #4134, Hall Premier double dial #1431 size #3, about ten of these are known. The earlier Premier locks had plan-faced tumbler wheel packs like this example. Later the Joseph Hall medallions were added until the acquisition by Herring-Hall-Marvin when they were discontinued. file 365 |
