Western Electric 30C Payphone Lock

[huxleypig]

That Matt Blaze paper is very good and he allowed me to use some of his photographs for a talk I did a while ago. However, I was always disappointed with the lack of exploitation content in there.

Actually, scratch that, I just made a prototype decoder using what he suggests. They tried really hard to stop this by having a constant spring pressure pushing the stump towards the gates. The stump itself has a very unique shape to it, it's a big 'U' shape and the lower part can have no other practical purpose (that I can detect) than to block off access to the lever gates. It is possible to get between the edge of the levers and the tip of the stump but it is difficult because you've also got the washers that act like fixed wards, and the very front washer hangs down lower than the rest too. However, you can make yourself a bit of extra room but I am not going to do this because this might not have been possible when the lock was fitted. We are only talking about 1mm though.

[macgng]

not the right switch, its for the coin box being removed and after the vault door opens...

also it is totally possible to decode these locks with out disassembling them. i can confirm that right now after talking to one of the phone guys i know about some other locks i need keys for.... keys can be made with out disassembly.

i suggested in chat about using a key blank for picking... here is a picture:

WesternElectricPayPhoneLockBlanks.JPG

[macgng]

ask and ye shall receive:

"It's an intrusion lever for a micro switch that mounts to the 2 little holes above the button. Never seen the switch or how it's wired.

Abloy and Medeco locks have a similar setup"

...

[Patrick Star]

Interesting to see a switch for tamper detection. I have only seen switches indicate whether it's locked/unlocked - to either disarm or trigger an alarm system.

[huxleypig]

Interesting to see a switch for tamper detection. I have only seen switches indicate whether it's locked/unlocked - to either disarm or trigger an alarm system.

I think that's what it is. Sure, tampering might set it off in the case of this lock (would for definite if you overlift something) but I think it is specifically for knowing when the lock was opened. Maybe there were certain hours when opening the lock wouldn't trip an alarm or something. You could wreak havoc, going around tripping the alarms (just by lifting a lever v high) and disappearing to a safe distance to see if/when the feds arrived. Theoretically.