Victor Safe Yale combination lock

[Johnny3baseball]

Good Evening Gentlemen! I am new to this board but have been a member The Antique Locks Forum for around 6 months but that site still won't let me post replies or picture and I could desperately use some help with an old Victor Safe with a Yale Lock that I purchased last summer for $75. The owner of the safe owned a travel agency and the safe was there when they bought the agency from the original owner. They never used the safe but had the combination. When the travel agency went out of business the building and safe sat there for years. They have since sold off the contents of the building and the desk that held the combination to the safe. It is closed and locked. I was hoping that if I post a couple pictures of the safe and lock on here you guys might be able to give me information on the Yale model of the lock and dialing directions. I just heard from the original owner today and he says that he remembers one of the numbers is 11. I do not want to drill the safe and have already put 100's of hours (honestly, no exaggeration) into research and graphing of the safe. I really want to use this for my own personal use and enjoy the challenge trying to "crack" the safe but also want to make sure that I am doing it correctly. Any information that you guys have would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!
John

https://imgur.com/a/fRnbDOa

[Squelchtone]

hey Johnny Pancakes, please slow up posting your dilemma in like 4 other threads around here, one thread is plenty, I'm cleaning up the others..

the View New Posts link on the left shows ALL new posts, so don't worry your question wont get lost or missed in some sub forum, most folks check new unread posts when they login so I'm glad you made your very own thread, lets keep all the help and advice in this one instead of spread among a bunch of them.

Thanks for helping us keep the forum tidy and organized,
Squelchtone
Forum Mismanagement

[Squelchtone]

Based on some info from a book I have...

Your safe is probably from 1930 to 1950

The lock is more than likely a Yale OC model, Yale OC 9 friction fence lock with only 1 contact point, hand change with the combination wheels attached to the back cover. pic of the combination wheels and back cover: https://farm6.static.flickr.com/5107/57 ... 437b_b.jpg

The door is about 2.25 inches thick until the safe lock body which should look like this https://farm3.static.flickr.com/2762/57 ... 3150_b.jpg

That handle is interesting, I don't think it is original.

When you park all wheels 4R to 20 and then dial Left in the area of 75 to 85 do you feel anything? or park 4Right to 11 as it is perhaps one of the numbers as you said, then dial Left and feel for anything like a contact point from 75 to 80 ?

Squelchtone

[Johnny3baseball]

Based on some info from a book I have...

Your safe is probably from 1930 to 1950

The lock is more than likely a Yale OC model, Yale OC 9 friction fence lock with only 1 contact point, hand change with the combination wheels attached to the back cover. pic of the combination wheels and back cover: https://farm6.static.flickr.com/5107/57 ... 437b_b.jpg

The door is about 2.25 inches thick until the safe lock body which should look like this https://farm3.static.flickr.com/2762/57 ... 3150_b.jpg

That handle is interesting, I don't think it is original.

When you park all wheels 4R to 20 and then dial Left in the area of 75 to 85 do you feel anything? or park 4Right to 11 as it is perhaps one of the numbers as you said, then dial Left and feel for anything like a contact point from 75 to 80 ?

Squelchtone

Squelchtone,
Thank you so much for the response and sorry for getting a little carried away with the multiple posts ! Good call on the handle, it had a cone shaped metal piece around it that was snapped off and laying on the ground next to the safe when I bought it. It looks very similar to the handle on the smaller green safe that Mickey recently posted. I tried parking the wheels at 20 and 11 and I don't feel or hear anything different or unusual in the 75-80. It does seem to have a little more tension when turning to the left after parking the wheels. The spot that I always notice a change in friction is the 53-57 range. One other interesting thing that occurs and I am not sure if it means anything but when I turn the wheel right and park on certain numbers 11, 15, 25, 50, 85 (and probably other numbers) and then turn back to the left two turns to number 3 and then back to the right I get a hard stop at 50-51. Any thoughts?
Thanks for allowing me to join your forum, there is just something addicting about old, well built safes that fascinates me.
John

[MartinHewitt]

On a friction fence lock you should feel a contact point turning counter clock wise, but not clock wise. Often the contact points are around 10. I don't know what could lead to a hard stop clock wise.

[Johnny3baseball]

On a friction fence lock you should feel a contact point turning counter clock wise, but not clock wise. Often the contact points are around 10. I don't know what could lead to a hard stop clock wise.

MartinHerwitt,
Yeah I don't understand it either. I am still doing research on the lock but I believe that it is an OC-9 (Squelchtone and bitbuster) have both said that they believe its an OC-9. I have been unable to find any information on OC-9 locks but have found some information on OC-5 yale locks. Not sure if the dialing sequence is the same but the OC-5 is R-L-R-L. If the OC-9 is the same dialing sequence then it shouldn't dead stop to the right. I was really hoping that it might mean that 3 was the last number but its not sounding that way.
John

[MartinHewitt]

I also don't have any information on the OC-9 (that I know of).

[MartinHewitt]

I searched a bit more about Victor safe locks. What I found so far is: Yale OC-5M, OC-6M, 063 1/2, 073 and S&G 6720. I think we can exclude the S&G. All Yale are friction fence locks.

[Johnny3baseball]

I searched a bit more about Victor safe locks. What I found so far is: Yale OC-5M, OC-6M, 063 1/2, 073 and S&G 6720. I think we can exclude the S&G. All Yale are friction fence locks.

If my safe does have a Yale OC-6 lock in it would that mean that the dialing sequence could be 4L-3R-2L-1R to stop? I am really hung up on the fact that my safe when turning two turns to #3 and back right to 51 dead stops. Being that I was recently told by the original owner that he believes that one of the numbers was #11 I spent some time last night dialing with the sequence 4L-3R-2L-1R to stop all the odd numbers possible and all the 10, 20, 30 etc. one at a time, then #11, then #3 and everytime when I turn back to the right after #3 it dead stops at #51. Anyone have any thoughts on why it would do this? Thanks!
John

[MartinHewitt]

From photos I would say 4R-3L-2R-L to stop.

[Johnny3baseball]

From photos I would say 4R-3L-2R-L to stop.

Just got in it!!! More information and pictures to follow once the kids go to bed.
John

[GWiens2001]

From photos I would say 4R-3L-2R-L to stop.

Just got in it!!! More information and pictures to follow once the kids go to bed.
John

Excellent!!!

Gordon

[Johnny3baseball]

Thanks for all your help and suggestions guys! Turns out that the dialing sequence was 4L-3R-2L-1R and then back to stop (so opposite direction of what most of use thought and a 4 wheel). I am posting a picture of the inside of the safe. Let me know if anyone wants to see anything else. Thanks again for the assistance and suggestions!
John
https://imgur.com/uzzc9zC

[Squelchtone]

whoa nice! where did you get the numbers of the combination? or did you just try enough different ones where one finally worked?

any idea why the dial stopped at 51 during your earlier tests? was the lock opened at that point and ready to throw the handle?

would like to see the inside of the lock, perhaps even what model is stamped inside it.

Thanks!
Squelchtone

[tarver]

Another question for you guys: If I pay a locksmith to come out and drill the lock to open the safe, how much do you think it would cost me to replace the lock with another one? I am good at mechanics, so I think if I can get the lock, I can replace it myself.


https://i.imgur.com/bcWdEyM.jpg