Austrian lock safari <pic heavy>

[ARF-GEF]

I was lucky enough to spend a brief period of time in Austria and I found that they have a bunch of very cool locks over there. Of course a lot of Evva-s which are always exciting, and some nice other treats as well.
So of course I tried to snap pics of the nicer ones to share them with you.

First off let's start with a local contender, an Evva padlock with a very intricate keyway:



A heavily used old Winkhaus:


Gege would make more sense but I keep seeing Gece no matter how hard I try...
http://i.imgur.com/n5K0SoJ.jpg


A KABA, either Quattro or Expert, impossible to tell from here.



A very cool early example of evva dual (only early models were made of full brass)



One cannot leave a magnificent majestic Evva 3ks out:



All hail the king: An evva MCS :salute:



This one had no name on it but I happen to know for sure that it's a restricted profile Gege.


As a pause, some really old locks from a museum:



Another Evva dual, this time as a padlock:



This is a lock from the door of a helicopter:



Good luck picking this Zeiss Ikon open



Another cool Zeiss Ikon, it's name is Zeiss Ikon "Sperrrippen"



Zeiss Ikon, insane profile, good luck getting picks in this one



One of my favourites, a BKS Janus, or as my GF calls the lock with the entrance for snowmen



A baton, as so often it was found on telecommunication equipment.



A DOM Saturn, magnificient.



Strange thing, they had this mini safe in the bathroom... Any idea what it does and why is it there?



An intricate but ridiculously open keyway. This is joke IMO.



Evva shows how a keyway should look like:



Finally, to rest your eyes, allow me to give you a reason to visit Europe, to be specific, Austria:


I hope you liked my little lock safari, I met a couple of cool locks
If you have any solution for the mystery of the mini wall safe in the toilet, let me know, and of course, as always everyone is welcome to post any questions, corrections and observations

[GWiens2001]

Is it just me, or is that restricted profile GeGe even wider open than a Sargent LA keyway? Seems unusual for GeGe.

Gordon

[ARF-GEF]

It's not just you that is an awful profile to have for that business. I think it's beacause they had a huge master key system and they started ahving mastkerkeying in the keyways as well. And what I took a pic of is a low level lock, so many keys with different cuts and profiles would have to fit in.

[GWiens2001]

Ahh, that makes more sense. Thanks!

Gordon

[Onz]

This one had no name on it but I happen to know for sure that it's a restricted profile Gege.

Thanks for this ARF-GEF, But manybe some people with greater knowledge can answer this for me. But should that key pin be that high to be able to see the driver pin? Would that cause a security problem due to the fact you can see if the pin has a security pins?

[fgarci03]

Uh oh! Another Lock Safari from ARF-GEF!!
You're starting to spoil us

It's not just you that is an awful profile to have for that business. I think it's beacause they had a huge master key system and they started ahving mastkerkeying in the keyways as well. And what I took a pic of is a low level lock, so many keys with different cuts and profiles would have to fit in.

Thanks for the clarification!

About the safe, I can only think of 2 options right now. And they're both idiotic,so I'm gonna keep them for myself

Evva shows how a keyway should look like:

Not only that, but how a lock should be properly installed! Great find!!


Austria must be a beautifull country. Can't wait to pay them a visit!

Many thanks for sharing these! Keep up the great work!!

[mechanical_nightmare]

Cool lock safari, ARF-GEF. It is always good to see these exotic brands from other countries.

Onz wrote: Thanks for this ARF-GEF, But manybe some people with greater knowledge can answer this for me. But should that key pin be that high to be able to see the driver pin? Would that cause a security problem due to the fact you can see if the pin has a security pins?

Not claiming to have greater knowledge or anything, but it seems to me being able to see the driver pin would only help you estimate where the shear line is for the first pin stack. That can help with picking when setting the first pin. The first driver pin is usually not a security pin anyway, so I think you wouldn't be able to determine the presence of security pins in the rest of the lock just because you can see it. Either way that keyway is way too wide, it shouldn't be too hard to find the spools, etc. by feeling them out.

[Achyfellow]

Amazing, did you find all of those just walking down the streets? They are very fancy stuff, only thing like that I've seen in regular environments is the kaba one in the offices of certain bank...

Very cool!

[ARF-GEF]

Well you have to walk around with open eyes, but if you like locks that is automatic

Yeah, I heard from Americans complain a couple of times that it can be much harder to find unique locks in the US, because everything is ruled by a few huge companies, like schlage and kwickset, or medeco at best.

[GWiens2001]

ARF-GEF is right. If you are interested in locks, it is surprising what you might find. Even here in Tucson, have found some unusual locks. A walk through a large mall (collection of stores in one huge building) might reveal some locks that will surprise you. Most will be standard fare - BEST, Schlage, and some Sargents (which are nice). But have seen U-Change (interesting for the difference in mechanism), ASSA Twin Combi, Schlage Primus, Instakey, Mul-T-Lock, Medeco, even an EVVA. Keep your eyes open.

Gordon

[ARF-GEF]

Ohh cool, the situation is much less dire then what I was led to beleive
So guys, wander with open eyes

[LocksportSouth]

Strange thing, they had this mini safe in the bathroom... Any idea what it does and why is it there?

If you have any solution for the mystery of the mini wall safe in the toilet, let me know, and of course, as always everyone is welcome to post any questions, corrections and observations

This seems to be a public restroom (electric hand dryer and auto shut-off taps) so my first guess would be a tips "jar" for the cleaners. But the slot is very big just to put change in. Could be for notes, though. But then I noticed the TV in the background - is that CCTV? If so, wtf?

If it's just a normal TV I'd guess that this is in your (or "a") hotel room, which makes the safe a little puzzling as in that case you could just leave a tip on the table when you leave, no need to "protect it from you" - in which case maybe it's for some kind of registration card which identifies you? Or a feedback card for management? Both things that a hotel might want to recover from someone who has stayed but not want the cleaners to find.

Other options include a small storage for the cleaners to use(bleach and scrubbers), or access to a valve / electricity shut-off - both make you wonder why there's a slot, though.

But yeah, that's my guess. Tips for cleaners if it's public, feedback or registration card, door keys, etc if it's a hotel


Those are some gorgeous locks.. Makes me want to go travelling even more, just to see more interesting locks!

[LocksportSouth]

Hmm. Seems some sub-forums I can edit posts in, and some I can't. So, apologies for the double post.

I've been thinking a bit and it actually would make total sense to have a tips safe in a private hotel room - similar to how a restaurant might choose to have a central tips jar to reward everyone who works on the food, not just the waiters, a hotel might choose to make sure any tips get distributed to all the staff. If they didn't trust the cleaners not to just take all (or a good portion) of the tips and simply pocket them, they might choose to have this safe thing and have one trusted person (or the manager) go around every so often and empty the safes. Also because they're locked up you wouldn't need to empty them after every guest, unlike "loose" tips.

I also thought it make little sense that the slot is so large - again this makes sense if the country uses 1, 2, or 5 euro or whatever currency denominations in note form, similar to the US, rather than here in the UK where we use coins up until £5.

So yeah, either way - that's my vote. Tips jar

[ARF-GEF]

You are right it is a public restroom, but the thing you thought to be a CCTV screen, is a window

It might well be a tips jar. I just wonder, why not label it as such? If people don't know they can/are supposed to leave a tip I don't think many would
Nonetheless I think yours is the best idea so far

Euros are in coins up to 2€ (= approximately 2.2USD/£1.5). I don't think many people tip 5€, in my experience in German speaking countries here tipping is not so widespread (at least compared to US for example). You just pay the price and the waiter gets a decent wage.

[LocksportSouth]

You are right it is a public restroom, but the thing you thought to be a CCTV screen, is a window

It might well be a tips jar. I just wonder, why not label it as such? If people don't know they can/are supposed to leave a tip I don't think many would
Nonetheless I think yours is the best idea so far

Euros are in coins up to 2€ (= approximately 2.2USD/£1.5). I don't think many people tip 5€, in my experience in German speaking countries here tipping is not so widespread (at least compared to US for example). You just pay the price and the waiter gets a decent wage.

Haha! Oh god, now I know that it's a window, it's so obvious.. I was convinced it was a screen!
I know, the lack of labelling is really strange, as you say no-one would probably put tips in there if they don't know what it's for. Maybe there's a custom in that country to have these things and it's just a known cultural activity?

OTOH, I did think of another reason, although it's hella convoluted really - here in the UK, public bathrooms (or at least ones in shops, restaurants etc) usually have a sheet of paper in a frame on the wall or back of the door for "inspection times". It'll have a little grid with hours going from top to bottom (8am, 9am, 10am...) and the cleaner will sign or initial each box so that customers know that the bathrooms have been checked regularly. Maybe in this place, the managers were fed up with cleaners not checking in on the bathroom so they implemented a safe thingy, and whenever a cleaner check in on the hour, or every few hours or whenever, they drop a token or sheet of paper into the slot. Then the manager can easily unlock the box and check to see if the cleaner has been doing their rounds. Pretty convoluted and unlikely but I can't come up with any other reason than tips for this thing. Any of the usual suspects (water valve, electrics switch, cleaning products, etc) wouldn't need the slot. So unless it's a cultural thing to put these tip boxes in, an "in house" reason can be the only alternative - I'd guess

I read a travel guide for Brits travelling abroad a few years back and it recommended 10% tip for Taxis, restaurant, etc but I think in the US 10% is on the low end these days and you're expected to tip more like 20% if you're happy. But I'm not going to go on a political rant about minimum wage and underpaid staff having their salary topped up by tips. Today

Certainly here we tend to tip, but we do have a minimum wage which *used* to be pretty good, except it hasn't kept up with inflation, so now it's borderline poverty line....