Vintage Advertising Still Bank Locks

[1970Vette]

Hello Everyone,

I just joined this forum this morning, and basically did so to get some badly needed information on lock picking and making keys. I collect old vintage still banks mostly manufactured between 1890 up to the late 1930's. My primary focus are the old Home Banking Safes that banks would give out to gain new customers. The bank almost always kept the key to these banks, to promote forced savings. When the little bank was filled, you would bring them to the bank that issued them, and they would open the box, and deposit the contents into your account.

Some of these Advertising Still Banks were made better than others. One of the premier manufacturers was Corbin Cabinet Company. Their banks were basically hand held safe deposit boxes. They also went under other names, some of which were C.O. Burns Company, New York, NY and W.F. Burns Company, Chicago, and later New York also. These Home Banking Safes, usually employed a flat key, much like safe deposit boxes do today. Since the issuing bank almost always kept the key, most of banks that I have can't be opened.

I began trying to pick some of the locks on these banks, but this usually met with very poor success, as the locks are fairly intricate for something made between 1890-1920. I was hoping for some tips on picking and them and making a key for these old bank locks. Most of these are very similar to old drawer locks. Most keys only go in to the lock 1/4 of and inch up to 1/2 inch. The cuts on the key have to be fairly precise to get the locks to open. I have tried smoking / suiting the key, as I was told that it was called, to determine where the resistance is inside the lock, but so far I have not had much success.

I am attaching this youtube video of a much newer Advertising Still Bank, to give you a better idea of what it is I am dealing with. Please keep in mind, that I am not only trying to pick the lock, but to also make a key.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-nfMy5jdnw

Can anyone offer any tips, suggestions or reference websites?
Thank you for your time.

Sincerely,
1970Vette

[Squelchtone]

[Topic moved to Questions from the Public - This Old Safe]

[somenewguy]

I'm of no help since I have never seen one but what a fascinating idea; give out free piggy banks and then force the customers to come back to the bank to deposit the money because they can't get inside on their own!

I wonder how many of these are still out there in the back of kitchen cabinets, with money in them because the customer never made it back to the bank.

[1mrchristopher]

I hadn't heard of these, and looked a few up over on ebay. Some of them do appear to have rather impressive locks, as evidenced by the key that is with them. You want to read up on lever locks and impressioning.

[1970Vette]

There are literally many thousands of these that still exist today. Many were melted down in the War efforts and Scrap metal drives for World War 1 & 2. I know of 2 collectors that literally have 500 banks each. Most of theirs do not have keys.

My focus is primarily 1890 - 1915, as the Advertising Still Banks were very well made, and usually had numerous different locks. Usually a Bank would order a few hundred of these at a time, and naturally they would be keyed alike, so that the bank only needed one key to open any Still Bank presented to them for deposit. I can tell you that the key needed to open a group of these Still Banks, issued to Institution A, would NOT be the same key to open a Still Bank from Institution B, in the same town. By the mid 1920's the pressure was on to manufacturer these Still Banks cheaply, and a key was usually common across the entire line, not mater who ordered them.

Any tips or suggestions are greatly appreciated, as lock picking is not my field, and my knowledge is basically zero.

Sincerely,

1970Vette

[Squelchtone]

Any tips or suggestions are greatly appreciated, as lock picking is not my field, and my knowledge is basically zero.

I think I get what you're after, but I don't think there's some secret knowledge, shortcut or insider trick we can give you that will get all those locks popped open this week. Many of your locks may be similar, but some may look similar to a lay person but may in fact be quite different on the inside so there is no generic instructions we can insert with step 1, step 2, and voila, the box is open.

Is your hope just to have them open/unlocked or to have working keys, which Im going to guess adds value to the item? If hands on work like smoking blanks or learning how to pick with wires is not really your thing, getting really friendly, and I'm talking 12 to 18 year old Scotch friendly with an old timer local locksmith would be the next best thing. They could probably impression the boxes for you which opens the container and makes a working key at the same time.

likewise, if you actually want some tips from us that are not just guesses, you'll have to post some photos of your actual boxes, not just a video of someone else's similar box. to post photos here, upload them to your favorite hosting site such as flickr, photobucket, imgur, or tinypic and then Copy/Paste the link into your reply.

we'll help as much as we can, but its sorta like teaching someone how to fix a car over the phone or throw a football by reading a how-to booklet.

Squelchtone

[1970Vette]

Hello Squelchtone,

Thank you for your reply. You hit me with a few terms that I am unfamiliar with, but to answer your question, my hope is to open these banks, and to make working keys. I have and a little luck opening a few of these, it was probably just luck.

I keep trying to smoke a key blank, but I am not really sure of the proper way of doing this. Does it takes a lot of practice? I am going very slowly, trying only to remove small amounts of metal with a set of very fine sharp files that I have. So far, I have had better luck just guessing. One fortunate thing, is that there is really only about 3/8 of an inch area to make my cuts, so it does seem to reduce possibilities somewhat. Not sure how precise my cuts have to be, as these locks are 100 years old.

What exactly is impressioning the lock?? Are there any examples of this on line? Is this something that I can do myself?

Apologies for not posting photos of exactly what I am talking about. I will confer with my teck guy (my son) over the Thanksgiving Holiday, and try to get accessible photos up for all to see.

Many thanks to all who have responded so far!

Sincerely,

1970Vette

[billdeserthills]

Smoking a key and impressioning, while being two different things are both the same for your purpose. You cannot usually gain an impression upon the key while making a key for a steel blank, as the key blank is too hard.
Mostly impressioning a key refers to properly preparing a brass key with a file, so the stronger parts within a lock actually make a mark upon the brass key, and in the exact places You need to remove. The rules change with a flat steel key however.
The idea behind smoking a key is to use the actual black soot that comes from a flame, to coat the key, thereby allowing this soot to be scraped off in the areas needing to be filed. Many locksmiths prefer to use a marker
instead of a fire. You need to make sure the marker has dried fully-before you insert the key into your lock, otherwise you can make a mess of things.

There are tricks to making a flat steel key by hand, your most important possession being a large amount of patience. You also need to remember that with a steel key, or even a barrel-type key, often times the clearest and most persistant area marking is at the place You should never file, not until the rest of the key has been completed. This is usually found at the tip cut, at the very front of the key, although rarely it can be found at the opposite side.

I have made many such keys, since an old friend came into my shop years ago, looking for keys to his antique padlock collection. I still recall telling him to "just toss that old thing in the trash, the new lock you buy will come with two keys." He explained that he had already been to 6 or 7 locksmith shops and that he wanted to have a key made, to fit his padlock. Being summertime and having little else to do, I decided that if anyone could make these old keys, it was definately supposed to be a locksmith, so I set about finding books and other info to help with my quest. One big help was the large selection of steel keys my Dad already had hanging on the wall
It wasn't long before the guy was sending me his seconds and then I was collecting old padlocks too.

Anyhow why not try the marker? You'll begin by finding a blank that fits well into your keyway, color the keyblank with your marker. I'm sure You already know about filing a throat cut, this will allow your blank to begin turning in the keyway. Next, turn your key to the right, until it stops and give it a wiggle. Now remove it and see where, if anywhere, the marker has rubbed off & file there (as long as it isn't the tip). You need a very thin flat file, as you don't want to be making spaces that are wider than the levers in your lock. Now color again with your marker and again insert your key and bind & give it a wiggle. Make sure the marker has dried before you re-insert the key. Remember that very little of what you are doing is luck, as you can only file where a mark is being made. One nice thing for you, is these locks are fairly simple, and will only have a couple of levers inside. I'm sure you know from the couple times You have succeeded that there is a wonderful feeling, and some disbelief when the lock actually opens.

[1970Vette]

Hello billdeserthills,

Thank you so much! I will try your recommendations tomorrow!

Sincerely,
1970Vette