[ ... ]
Post by EvanPost by Ignoramus32441Now, regarding key: the safe has a key hole in the lock. I do not have
that key, and the safe seems to open and close without the need for
any key. So, what is the purpose of that key? For changing
combination? Is that what you were referring to?
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Post by EvanThe change key hole is inside the safe on the inner surface
of the lock case... That is what you need if you want to
change the combination of the lock...
I believe that this combination lock (based on the photo of the
front panel of the safe -- actually a security file cabinet) is of the
kind where you disassemble it, and change the relation between the hub
and the outer disc (where the notch is to allow opening when all are
lined up). It also does not have the tumbler in the middle of the
combination dial to switch from dialing mode to the retract the bolt
mode. So this one would not have a change key, unlike the Sargent &
Greenleaf ones. (It is a vintage device, FWIW.)
Post by EvanIf you are referring to a keyhole in the dial, that is to lock
the dial so that without the key it won't be engaged to
spindle to prevent someone from casually playing
around with it... It doesn't and won't stop someone
who knows what they are doing as far as safe cracking...
No -- the keyhole in question is not in the dial, nor in the
back of the lock (which was not shown in the photos linked in the
original question). Instead, it is in the center of another section to
the left of the actual combination dial. This section is what withdraws
the bolts in the door -- when allowed by the combination lock having
been properly dialed. And the key simply keeps the withdrawal lever
(actually two wings on either side of the keyhole) from turning -- or
totally disconnects it from the bolt withdrawal mechanism. Without my
hands on the device in question, and considering the one which I had was
left behind in the apartment storage room about 1975, I can't check it. :-)
But it, like this one, has the door designed to slide back on
tracks into a cavity beside the actual file cabinet, so it is out of the
way during normal daytime access to its contents -- at the cost of the
whole thing being a little wider than the more common Diebold security
file cabinets which were at work before I retired.
Enjoy,
DoN.
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