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Chubb, Royal Mail Pillar Box lock

PostPosted: Mon May 16, 2011 1:57 pm
by Dopug
Hi guys,

I picked this up at a car boot sale on Sunday for 50p (about 75cents) At the time i didn't know what it was but after doing some reseach I have discovered it is a genuine royal mail pillar box lock worth about £50 -£60

It is a 5 Lever lock and very heavy, when i first found it i thought it must be an old safe lock. I spent a while searching for info on chubb safe locks when quite by accident i stumbled across a guy on ebay selling them.

I havent dared take the lock apart in case springs come flying out at me, but if anyone is really keen to see the inside I will open it up and photograph it


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Here's a few links with some cubb/pillar box related stuff


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pillar_box (wiki page about pillar boxes)

http://www.localhistory.scit.wlv.ac.uk/ ... chubbs.htm (some info on Chubb)

http://www.chubbarchive.co.uk/

Re: Chubb, Royal Mail Pillar Box lock

PostPosted: Mon May 16, 2011 3:38 pm
by ChemicalRobot
Cool! For 75 cents that's a hell of a deal!!

(some of your links are broken, by the way)

Re: Chubb, Royal Mail Pillar Box lock

PostPosted: Tue May 17, 2011 12:55 am
by Dopug
Links should be fixed now, cant get the ebay one to work though

Re: Chubb, Royal Mail Pillar Box lock

PostPosted: Tue May 17, 2011 1:20 am
by cyberpick
Nice lock a good find and great pics, the post office lock looks very similar to locks used in h.m prisons the key looks identical.. :bugeye:

Re: Chubb, Royal Mail Pillar Box lock

PostPosted: Tue May 17, 2011 2:29 am
by bezza1

Re: Chubb, Royal Mail Pillar Box lock

PostPosted: Tue May 17, 2011 5:44 am
by mister sour
Ah man, what an awsome lock. You gotta take it apart Dopug! I have only one lever lock and this lock could smash mine with its weight alone! Do it, Do it, DO IT....! :akimbo:

Re: Chubb, Royal Mail Pillar Box lock

PostPosted: Tue May 17, 2011 6:29 am
by Dopug
Cyberpick, do you have a HMP lock? if so i'd love to see it.

Bezza thanks for sorting the ebay link, not sure why i couldnt get it to work.

And mister sour, for you sir i will strip the lock and take some pics of the inside.

Does anyone have any idea how you would go about picking this, is it like a standard leaver lock? I read a post on another forum from a lock smith who was trying to pick one of these for a customer who had bought an old pillar box without a key, he seemed to think it was a 7 gauge (i dont know what that means) and that he couldn't pick it with a standard 2 in 1 pick.

Re: Chubb, Royal Mail Pillar Box lock

PostPosted: Tue May 17, 2011 7:07 am
by bezza1
thats cool mate i would love to see the guts to

Re: Chubb, Royal Mail Pillar Box lock

PostPosted: Tue May 17, 2011 8:04 am
by huxleypig
So they're 5 lever curtained then?

I bet they got anti-pick notches on them. I wonder what the clearance is like between the curtain and the lever bellies (pre-lift required or not)?

Re: Chubb, Royal Mail Pillar Box lock

PostPosted: Tue May 17, 2011 8:47 am
by cyberpick
Dopug wrote:Cyberpick, do you have a HMP lock? if so i'd love to see it.

Bezza thanks for sorting the ebay link, not sure why i couldnt get it to work.

And mister sour, for you sir i will strip the lock and take some pics of the inside.

Does anyone have any idea how you would go about picking this, is it like a standard leaver lock? I read a post on another forum from a lock smith who was trying to pick one of these for a customer who had bought an old pillar box without a key, he seemed to think it was a 7 gauge (i dont know what that means) and that he couldn't pick it with a standard 2 in 1 pick.


Dopug, No dont have one but on the look out 4 one,i have seen one 4 sale on ebay couple of years ago not seen one 4 sale since, as u can imagine its very hard 2 find one as they are under tight control, if one of hm prisons has a key compromise they change all of that suit of locks throughout the prison then they hold those locks in storage for few years then use them in another prison they keep ciculating same locks..

Re: Chubb, Royal Mail Pillar Box lock

PostPosted: Tue May 17, 2011 9:31 am
by uklockpicker
Thats a gr8 find m8, i have one simalar but mines just a general cudbourd lock 4lever non curtained - easy to open :cool: if i get some time later ill open it up , take pics & compair to yours

Re: Chubb, Royal Mail Pillar Box lock

PostPosted: Mon Oct 22, 2012 11:33 am
by 10ringo10
Old post but damn i could have used that chubb lock pic gutted ,as for the reason on a visit to my local scrap metal merchant he had a old pillar box that was layed down flat. ive not seen him for awhile so he damn near jumped on me.... wondering if he,d rememberd i still owe him a fiver he told me he had it sprayed up and was worth at least a grand could i open it, after 30 mins i gave up....but its now frustrating the not knowing whats in there.
For starters the curtain spins freely,the curtain only turns one way also and i inserted a chubb blank to impression the levers which did only leave 5 marks,when i thought it was a 7 lever .
left saying i would reference it...but have drawn a blank so far, the plus side i got a pair of 36 inch bolt cutters and some other cool stuff for free,
and no i did not remember to give him the fiver...any help would be great.

Re: Chubb, Royal Mail Pillar Box lock

PostPosted: Mon Oct 22, 2012 6:30 pm
by 10ringo10
Found one the locksmith chap that his selling it is sending me the photos of the levers , so hopfully i will have some idea and may get to practise picking that one first.
Its a original slam lock so it should do the job and i wont have to make the keys
i will post pics later in the week for your information. :D

Re: Chubb, Royal Mail Pillar Box lock

PostPosted: Tue Oct 23, 2012 3:23 am
by Pickingpaul
what a bargain for 50p, i'll make u a profit, i'll give u a quid for it? :D

have u picked it yet? looks like a nice little lever lock that.

Re: Chubb, Royal Mail Pillar Box lock

PostPosted: Tue Oct 23, 2012 2:09 pm
by 10ringo10
special thanks goes to roy the locksmith from the isle of wight for the photos.
CHUBB ROYAL MAIL SLAM LOCK
sooner than expected but here we have the chubb royal mail ( slam lock ) 5 levers , no anti pick notches present as you can see the curtain with the notch explains the rotation & the bolt must have some form of spring internally at the end of the slotted rod, but not 100% on that.