old safe door open figure out combination

[stagger]

Got this old safe off of Craigslist today. Its a safe cabinet standard me type with a yale lock. It was made in 1921.The door is open and everything works just cant figure out] the combination. Any help would be very appreciated. Ive done some research and have figured out its a 3 number combination and to turn it 4321. Thanks in advance. Sorry not very tech savvy working on posting pics

[stagger]

[GWiens2001]

So the safe is painted to look like wood? That is pretty cool. And a nice old lock.

Well, one of the numbers is supposed to be 30. That lock is hand change, and if you look at the wheel in your picture, the outer ring of the wheel has numbers on it, and the inner ring of the wheel is toothed, and meshes with the outer ring. The inner ring has a single mark, and it is pointed right at 30. You can check each wheel and see what the number is supposed to be.

Note that I said 'supposed to be'. These are frequently off a bit. Cleaning and lubricating can help the accuracy. What you can do is put the cover with the wheel pack back on the lock, and turn until the wheels are cleared (all turning), and turn it to 30. Then see where the gate is. Then put it back on and turn it the other way until the next gate lines up in the same position. Wash, rinse, repeat. Slow, but it can work.

Gordon

[Squelchtone]

mmmm old Yale friction fence hand change lock..

Here is a couple photos to show you how the combination wheels mesh with the central hub in order to set the combination.



notice central hub engraved line is pointing to 78 in this photo, that is 3rd number of the combinaton for my lock. You can find this little line directly opposite of the hub's "fly" which is the little flag to can move left and right.


The green colored wheel is just one of the combination wheels, below you see 2 more wheels.

There is a brass clip that holds all the wheels onto the central "axle", unclip it and remove that whole wheel and spacer sandwich and clean all the old grease off of it. The wheels are numbered and it is important to put them back in the correct order. Examine each wheel to see what number it is set to, or set your own combination by pressing the central hub on each wheel to pop off the outer number wheel, then make that little tick mark point to the new number you want to set and mesh the hub and outer wheel back together so the little gear teeth align, and you'll hear it snap back into place as one piece.

I wonder if you'll find your combination to be the factory default of 10-20-30

Once you think you know the combination, put the cover back on the lock, and keep the safe door OPEN, then go to the front of the door and spin the dial and try out the combination at least 3 times to make sure you know the correct dialing sequence and are dialing the correct combination, and like Gordon said, watch out for some wear and tear where you set the combination wheel to 30 but the dial actually has to be turned to 29 or 31 to work smoothly. Then after all that, you can close the safe door and be confident that you can dial it and it will open.
hope this helps,
Squelchtone

[stagger]

I cant thank both of you enough. When I got home from church I pulled it apart and got the combination. It works great. Now the hard part of getting it in the house. Thanks again

[mseifert]

Please post pictures of the whole safe .. I am interested in what it look like

[GWiens2001]

Please post pictures of the whole safe .. I am interested in what it look like

Ditto.

Gordon

[Squelchtone]

I cant thank both of you enough. When I got home from church I pulled it apart and got the combination. It works great. Now the hard part of getting it in the house. Thanks again

so what was the combination? =)

[stagger]

Well the combination wasn't the factory set. Here is a full pic I have all the trim its just pulled off to move it. I found a inspection card dated 1921 so that helps date it. Im pulling all the drawers out to make it a gun safe. Im not doing anything permanent and im keeping everything I pull so it can be made original again someday. Im also going to leave the paint the way it is I like the old look to it

[stagger]

One more thing I got this thing for free. A local antique shop bought a building and it was in there. They put a add on cl for free just wanted it out of the way. I was third in line to get it and luckily the first 2 people never showed up.

[GWiens2001]

Dang, stagger! Great find!

Gordon

[mseifert]

Nice Safe and I am glad you were able to find the combo ... Free anything is always nice ..

[stagger]

One last question. Does this safe have any collecter value ? What do you think it would be worth. Not that I want to sell just curious how good of a deal I got.

[cledry]

That isn't really a safe it is a records container. We just gave one away that was very similar to yours, but without the nice woodgraining. The guy that picked it up is going to use it to lock up his paint guns (auto body paint guns that is). The lock itself has some collectors value but the containers not so much.