Antique Champion 6 lever pancake lock

[Lauren]

I haven't posted anything for some time, and that's because I've been quite busy collecting antique locks. If anyone has ever spent time looking at locks on Ebay, one probably can't help but notice the extensive amount pancake locks of various branding throughout the site. The most common is probably the Champion 6 Lever. These locks are incrediably difficullt to pick; especially for a lock that was patented in 1902 by Miller. And by the way, I haven't been able to pick one yet. The locking principle uses what is called a push key, and when the proper key is inserted six independant levers move to line up each gate allowing the internal latch to engage and thus, the hasp pops open. On a simuliar brand pancake lock, I was able to tension the hasp with a rope and push each lever down until it engaged and the lock opened. Unfortunely, this method just doesn't work for the Champion 6. I knew that if the lock could be picked, the levers would stay engaged and from there, they could be decoded to make a key from flat stock steel material. Just as a side note, most locksmiths have never even held one of these locks or know how to make keys systematically when the keys are lost. And, that's the part the hurts the most, because of all these antique pancake locks that people are selling on Ebay without keys that haven't been opened in a 100 years or less. I've tried researching for the knowledge to make keys for these locks, and it's a desert out there. No one seems to have a clue. One guy told me that you need to impression the blank, and then after questioning him again, he said that I needed to smoke the blank after its been picked. What a joke of information. This guy sells push key blanks on Ebay for $4.50 each. Anyway, out of frustration, I developed a technique for decoding the Champion 6 Lever, and I hope that the information will filter through the web like a poison to give some new life to these locks and more meaning to all lock antique lock collectors. More to come...

[Legion303]

We've had a brief discussion of these on here before. I couldn't see any way at all to pick mine, but the consensus was that it could be impressioned. One person came up with a wire manipulation idea but I never tested it. Looking forward to your decoding technique.

-steve

[Lauren]

Well, I'm glad there's an interest in these old locks. I have such a respect for the quality and simplity of design that truly represented the early grass roots of American ingenuity. Every one of those pancake locks represented many organizations and businesses that make them quite desirable to collect. I like the dual history between manufacturer and end user.

To decode a Champion 6 Lever pancake padlock, you will need the following:

1. Bench grinder
2. Dial callipar
3. Needle nose pliers
4. Empire brand or Craftsman brand contour guage. Home Depot/Sears $8.00 to $10.00 price point
5. Small flat head jeweler's screw driver.
6. Very small plastic zip ties
7. Cup of water
8. Oil

Observations:

1. All 6 levers have to be pressed at various depths to line the gates of each lever to allow the internal locking lever to engage freely from the hasp in order for the lock to open.
2. One must some how measure the difference between gate cuts on each lever relative to each other.
3. The levers stay in a fixed position when the lock is opened.
4. There exists about .020 inch space between levers.
5. The distance from the outer edge of each lever (the visiable area where the push key makes contact in the key slot) to the most inner point of the gate cut (the bottom of the V) of each lever needs to be some how measured.
6. The lever with the closest gate cut to the outer edge of the lever (the visiable area where the push key makes contact in the key slot) equates to a zero depth cut from the edge of the key blank.
7. There can be more than one lever that equates to a zero cut when the observation in (6) is equal.
8. The further the distance from the visiable edge of the lever to inner deepest point of the gate, the deeper the depth cut on the key.

Instructions:

1. Remove a bunch of needles from your contour gauge (you're going to have a few screw ups).
2. While holding and twisting between your fingers, grind the tip of a needle about 5/8 inch long to a new diameter of .020 inch wide on your bench grinder. Do not overheat the needle. Dip it in water every few seconds.
3. Use your standard dial callipar to varify your measurement. The tip needs to be smooth and consistant in diameter.
4. Take your needle nose pliers and carefully bend a 90 degree bend on the newly grounded tip side, so that the arm is no longer than the thickness of a lever (about .050 inch).
5. On the opposite side of the needle (this is the area you have not ground down), bend the needle in the opposite 90 degree direction leaving about 1.5 inches between bends. It's critical that this bend be truly 90 degrees.
6. If you did it right, your probe should lay flat on a level surface with opposing 90 degree bends (some people call this Z-shape).
7. Cut the end of the last bend so that the arm is about 5/8 inch long. Again, 90 degrees must always be maintained on both sides of your probe.
8. Take a new needle and overlap it on top of the probe, alligning the tip of the new needle to the inner short bend side of the probe.
9. Bend the new needle at the point just barely beyond the 5/8 inch bend side of the first probe to 90 degrees. Cut the excess so that it is also 5/8 inch long.
10. Zip tie the new needle tightly to the first probe. Always keep the two 5/8 sides of each needle parallel and in same plane as if laying flat when taking measurement. Think of this arrangement as two overlapping spoons.

Congradulations! You just made a very, very small set of callipars.

How to use the tool you just made:

1. Take your very small, flat headed, jeweler's screwdriver and gently press it in between two levers. I like to number all 6 levers calling lever 1 as being the one closet the front face of the lock, and lever 6 as being the one closest to the back of the lock. So, press the screwdriver between levers 1 & 2. This pronates the lever stack just enough to insert the callipars that you just made without damage to the lock. Remember there's only about .020 inch space between levers. So get the callipar thickness right.
2. Oil the levers. This reduces friction.
3. Insert the tip of the needle callipars between levers 1 & 2. The tip needs to lay flat with the small tip pointing toward the center neck of the hasp of the lock. You may need to pull the overlapping zip tied needle out slightly to give yourself space to insert the small hooked needle in more easily.
4. As you gently press the needle callipar between levers, begin placing 90 degree rotational pressure on the instrument. When the tool rotates 90 degrees, the small tip is now inside the gate of one of the levers. Keep your rotational orrientation correct. You may be probing the wrong lever in your mind.
5. Pull the probe out slightly while it is in its new 90 degree position. This position is the most critical point in your attempt to measure the v-point position of the gate.
6. While maintaining outward pressure of the probe to engage the v-point, press the second overlapping needle so that the tip presses on the outer edge of the lever that you are measuring.
7. Make sure that the both needles are parallel. You may have to adjust the rotational position of the zip tie to keep everything nested.
8. Are the 5/8 inch sides of your mini callipars 90 degress and parallel?
9. Take your standard dial callipars and measure the outside saparation of the 5/8 inch side of your mini callipars. Write this number down. You just measured the edge distance of your lever to the v-point of the gate.
10. Very carfully, press the mini callipar needle that is currently engaged in the v-point of the lever in slightly so that it can be rotated back 90 degrees without damage to the small tip.
11. Looking back at step 10, you often can try rotating the mini callipar needle a 180 degrees to probe out the next lever, in this case lever 2. You may have to rotate the needle and also probe in and out to find the next gate position. Just, always keep the orrientation of the needle straight in your mind to avoid damage to the probe. Because if you damage it, you are going to have to start over and make a new needle as in step 2 (instructions) and start all over with your measurements.
12. Measure remaining gate positions of levers 3 and 4, 5 and 6.

What to do with your measurements:

So, you hopefully managed to callibrate all 6 levers without damaging your mini callipars to avoid errors.
Look at the smallest measurement that you made (there may be identical readings). This number represents a zero cut(s). Use this number however, to get a difference between all the other numbers. For example, if lever 2 was my smallest reading at .160 and lever 3 was measured to be .260. The difference is .100 in. Therefore, my depth cut of lever 3 would be .100 deep. And if lever 4 was measured to be .185, the depth cut for 4 would be .025 (.185-.160=.025). Remember, the .160 number is the bases for all your differences between other numbers and is also the zero depth cut.

[Lauren]

I just got another Champion 6 lever padlock last week without a pushkey, and it truly put all my skills and patience to the test. First of all, the tolerance between the levers was much less than the other locks that I experimented with. It had a gap of about .015. This meant that I had to grind down my probing wire down to .010 inch in diameter. I was able to decode the lock, but it still would not open. If you are so much as + or - .010 in. off in your measurements the gates will not line up allowing the hasp lever to freely engage. Sometimes these locks get sticky, and all the lubercation in the world doesn't help. In this case I needed an edge.

It was always one of my observations that if one could somehow tension the hasp lever (something simuliar to that rope tension technique) that the lock could possibly be picked. Well, you can't do this with a Champion 6. So, I cleverly made a shim (about .008 in thick) that goes between the hasp of the lock and the housing. Its design and unique shape allowed me to tension the engaging lever inside the lock. While under pressure, I was able to put me first attempted push key in the lock, and once in the close range it easily made it possible for me to individually push the few levers in the right depth. I found that this technique might make it possible to open these locks in general as opposed to my de-coding tools. The lock finally opened.

[MrWizard]

I have been collecting vintage locks of all kinds for years. Not long ago I started getting some push key type locks. My first one was a Franklin 6 lever pancake type. Got it from an antique store without a key in very nice condition not a ding on it. Must have been in someones sock drawer and never used! I never tried making a key for these type locks before so it sat on my shelf for a long while with my other vintage padlocks. One night I decided I would try to pick it open. Thought this is not going to be easy as the levers have some fairly strong springs. So as I always try first I applied outward pressure on the shackle to see if any levers would bind and they did. That was a good sign I may have a shot at getting this guy open. To my surprise I had it opened in minutes thought well that was fun. The levers was now locked in open position so could see it should be easy to decode and hand filed a key to work. All I had handy unfortunately for rods close to the right size was large size paper clips. Being soft metal it was easy to straighten and make 6 matching ones. Filed them flat on the ends dropped them into the keyway vised gripped 2 small pieces of rubber on them took it out made the key worked perfect.

Now I am getting to the point of this reply here in this thread. I thought great I'll get some other pancake locks and do the same thing this is cool. Well I got a Champion 6 Lever and the frustration started right away with it. Applying pressure on the shackle did nothing to help get this one open! I worked on it for days on an off got nothing but sore fingers and a headache. I'm the kinda guy that just refuses to give up so off I go to try to find a solution to this. I found someone online that had a probe method said great now I'm getting somewhere. NOT! I tried forever to get it to work not even close to working. I took the measurements as best I could did the math and tried the rods in the vise grip gag again set to those depths and nothing. This went on forever taking the measurement again over and over thinking this lock is not ever going to open. Now here is the point why I am telling all this. I join this forum in hopes someone here has the solution. And I found Lauren had some post about Champion locks but didn't see the above tutorial on how he was able to decode them. I PMed him asking a million questions and was still hanging on to the single probe method that had failed to work, asked what am I doing wrong! Finally I asked the right question "do you have any pictures of the probes you use posted someplace that shows how you use them that works?"

I have to tell you his method work like a charm. Within less than an hour using his mini caliper system I had one of the 2 Champions open! And I have to say there was such and exhilarating feeling when it pops open with a resounding snap. I ran back to the computer to tell him IT WORKS! Later on same day I thought do I dare try to get this other one open. Again in less time than the first one it snapped open I couldn't believe it! Had to run back to tell him the second one is open now! I can't wait to get a third one and do it again! Although I was able to use the crude rods and vise grips I highly suggest getting one of his great looking decoders it will make it so much easier and really is the only way to go if you plan to do these locks.

I have a tip you might want to try. I didn't have small nylon ties to make the mini calipers and had the idea to use some heat shrink tubing I have instead. It worked really well for me to hold the 2 probes together. I used the 2mm dia one I have in a various size kit from Harbor Freight. Just big enough to slip over the already short bent end of the probes and shrinks nice and snug and stays where you slide them great. If it loosens up after using it repeatedly you can reheat it again I like it.

Hope this long winded story inspires others to try your hand at making keys for these really well made locks it can become addicting once you get one to work for you so look out you will want to do more!

Richard

[Lauren]

That's a great testimony, Richard. And, when I can make difference for a collector like yourself, it makes all my writings worth it!

[MrWizard]

I just got another Champion 6 lever padlock last week without a pushkey, and it truly put all my skills and patience to the test. First of all, the tolerance between the levers was much less than the other locks that I experimented with. It had a gap of about .015. This meant that I had to grind down my probing wire down to .010 inch in diameter. I was able to decode the lock, but it still would not open. If you are so much as + or - .010 in. off in your measurements the gates will not line up allowing the hasp lever to freely engage. Sometimes these locks get sticky, and all the lubercation in the world doesn't help. In this case I needed an edge.

It was always one of my observations that if one could somehow tension the hasp lever (something simuliar to that rope tension technique) that the lock could possibly be picked. Well, you can't do this with a Champion 6. So, I cleverly made a shim (about .008 in thick) that goes between the hasp of the lock and the housing. Its design and unique shape allowed me to tension the engaging lever inside the lock. While under pressure, I was able to put me first attempted push key in the lock, and once in the close range it easily made it possible for me to individually push the few levers in the right depth. I found that this technique might make it possible to open these locks in general as opposed to my de-coding tools. The lock finally opened.

Lauren

I am also interested in seeing what the hasp shim that goes between hasp and housing is shaped like. And proper use as not to have it snap off and become a permanent part of the lock. I have a idea how it would be but again since yours works it's best to enquirer about it than speculate.

If it is something you would be willing share a picture of in a post that others could see as well that would be great. If it is something you would rather not show and a pm would be better idea please do so.

Richard
It's An Illusion. Unless I Can't Fix It, Then It's A Reality.

[Lauren]

It's a sickle shaped tool that I was able to use for the particular lock in my post. It has a raised lip that bends flat for insertion and bents back to catch the fence lever. Torque is applied to pressure the fence against the lever tumblers. I made the tool out of frustration. Frankly, I would never use this tool, nor do I need it anymore. If good probing is accomplished of the lever stack with good measurements, no other technique is necessary.

[MrWizard]

Thanks

Ok that is what I thought it would look like and you know I now agree that with practice the probing technique nothing like it should be needed. Just thought I would check to see if I was to think I need to apply pressure on the fence if for instance it may be stuck for some reason like dirt, broken spring it may come in handy to try it to assist it to move in the gates. I am a big fan of the mini calipers it worked for me the first time applied when nothing else did.

Richard