Re: Old Combination Lock
Maybe a bit information about the German combination lock situation on old safes ... In Germany the key lock was much more used than the combination lock. Every safe had a key lock or two. I don't know since when combination locks are available, but Kromer had their own design before WWI (if I remember the date of my catalog correctly, which I don't have at the moment), e.g. DRP 46083 (now called DE46083). I have never seen one, but I heard they were quite good. They were not sold well. It seems the sales of combination locks improved in the 1930s or latest the 1940s when Kromer and probably also Bode-Panzer introduced their copies of the S&G vault lock. 6550? 6805? Not sure about the number. It probably possible to replace an S&G lock with a Kromer one. The only problem is the threading of the spindle. Besides the GDR combination lock, where a way had to be found through a maze by turning, pushing and pulling to open it, all German locks I know of where of the type with wheels and spring-loaded fence lever. The vault locks were then used on high grade safes (and obviously vaults) as the first lock which also controlled the opening to the secondary key lock. If you see a big German safe with two dials then most certainly one dial is a real one and the other one is fake and just covers a key lock. So we have no friction fence, no gravity fence, no direct entry, no ... (don't know the names for all the different variants). Of the standard type locks I know only one German manipulation resistant lock. It was introduced by Kromer and prevents feeling of the CPs by a magnet controlled disk mounted on the back cover. It is still produced today, but due to its thickness it is not easy to install.
Martin Hewitt, Investigator Chronicles of Martin Hewitt