European hardware -lever locks, profile cylinders specific for European locks. European lock picks and European locks.
by mh » 7 Jan 2007 17:13
greyman wrote:mh, that is totally weird! I was about to post the same lock! I think it's by Juwell or something - they use them on the night safes in Italy. It's a mechanical pushbutton lock, but that's all I know (and maybe that's wrong!).
cheers
greyman
Thanks!
It's not shown at http://www.juwel.it/ or http://www.sercas.it/ , but it also seemed to be somewhat older anyway.
Strange that there are no numbers marked on the buttons, though.
Initially I thought it might accept a large key, like an amulet, with some holes, so that some buttons are pushed and others not...
Next time I'm there, I will have to wait and watch
Cheers,
mh
"The techs discovered that German locks were particularly difficult" - Robert Wallace, H. Keith Melton w. Henry R. Schlesinger, Spycraft: The secret history of the CIA's spytechs from communism to Al-Qaeda (New York: Dutton, 2008), p. 210
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by mh » 7 Jan 2007 17:19
Ok, I thought you guys need longer for the telephone-dial-lock, and I could keep this one for later, but you are so fast
Well, here's my second old German lock
(and the relevant part of the key in the lower right corner):
Now, what's that?
(It would also fit into the Tiny Lock thread, obviously  )
Cheers,
mh
"The techs discovered that German locks were particularly difficult" - Robert Wallace, H. Keith Melton w. Henry R. Schlesinger, Spycraft: The secret history of the CIA's spytechs from communism to Al-Qaeda (New York: Dutton, 2008), p. 210
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by greyman » 7 Jan 2007 17:40
mh, it's obviusly a miniature Bramah lock of some sort, perhaps for locking a show case. I've got no idea who made it though!
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by mh » 8 Jan 2007 7:26
greyman wrote:mh, it's obviusly a miniature Bramah lock of some sort, perhaps for locking a show case. I've got no idea who made it though!
Yeah, that's it!
Although I believe they were mainly used to block access to mortice locks (mainly simple warded locks at that time) - they were inserted into the key hole to prevent the use of hooks etc.
The key is marked with
"HEIMWACHT" (obvioulsy the brand name, translates to Home-Guard or Home-Watch)
and:
"BRAMAH-SPERRER" where 'Sperrer' (m.) is something that blocks - the verb would be 'sperren' - to block.
So this was a Bramah-Blocker for keyholes
The number 841 is also stamped on the key, this could mean they made quite a few different versions...
It has 3 tumblers (evenly spaced - 120 degrees), and each could have a
number of lengths, corresponding to the cuts in the key.
It would be rather difficult to pick without specific tools (how to tension, a strong spring),
but quite easy to decode (or self-impression) with specific tools.
Cheers,
mh
"The techs discovered that German locks were particularly difficult" - Robert Wallace, H. Keith Melton w. Henry R. Schlesinger, Spycraft: The secret history of the CIA's spytechs from communism to Al-Qaeda (New York: Dutton, 2008), p. 210
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by greyman » 8 Jan 2007 7:28
mh, here is a picture of the pushbutton nightsafe lock. I also don't have any info on this, and I think I was mistaken before when I said it wa by Juwel. You can see the brand is Comforti. It looks somewhat like a Simplex pushbutton lock but with more buttons. I would guess that you enter the combo on the outer buttons then push the middle one.
From memory, this safe is in Florence somewhere.
Cheers
greyman

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by greyman » 8 Jan 2007 7:38
mh, the keyhole blocker is nice. I think you are right about the application - warded and lever locks with big keyholes were popular in 19th century Europe and I believe that there were a few blockers of this type around. Not surprised that Bramah also made one. I think the numbers on the key are just the number of the key off the production line, not a model number, but a lot number so to speak. It may also be an indirect code for the actual key cuts. For instance, if there were 10 depths of cut, then a 3 wafer Bramah would have 1000 possible combinations. 10 sounds a bit excessive for such a small lock, so maybe it is just a serial number.
I think Jeremy Bramah is lurking around here somewhere and maybe he can answer this more definitively 
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by mh » 8 Jan 2007 7:40
Thanks for that hint, nice to have a look at their products, and their collection:
http://www.conforti.it/clavis/collezioneclavis.html
"The techs discovered that German locks were particularly difficult" - Robert Wallace, H. Keith Melton w. Henry R. Schlesinger, Spycraft: The secret history of the CIA's spytechs from communism to Al-Qaeda (New York: Dutton, 2008), p. 210
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by raimundo » 8 Jan 2007 12:12
that safe has a square corner ding just to one oclock from the dot on the i in comforti, which brings up the question of why did they make a safe out of sheetrock?
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by UWSDWF » 8 Jan 2007 12:15
interesting but my Itai sucks which makes that site very confusing
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by rohi » 8 Jan 2007 13:21
raimundo wrote:that safe has a square corner ding just to one oclock from the dot on the i in comforti, which brings up the question of why did they make a safe out of sheetrock?
Looks like aluminium to me, just a bash with some steel tool could make this dent.
Ronald
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by UWSDWF » 8 Jan 2007 13:32
Persons with advanced access not alowed to guess this one

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by Mutzy » 10 Jan 2007 7:11
Aarrgghh! I thought ross 700 when I saw that australian lock! , I wish I came across this thread earlier...
UWSDWF, is that an electronic lock of some sort? What part of the world is it from?
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by UWSDWF » 10 Jan 2007 11:16
yeah...
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by mh » 12 Jan 2007 1:41
UWSDWF wrote:yeah...
Maybe you could show the front of the plug...
"The techs discovered that German locks were particularly difficult" - Robert Wallace, H. Keith Melton w. Henry R. Schlesinger, Spycraft: The secret history of the CIA's spytechs from communism to Al-Qaeda (New York: Dutton, 2008), p. 210
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by n2oah » 12 Jan 2007 8:48
Looks like a videx.
"Lockpicking is what robbing is all about!" says Jim King.
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