Figure 16. The front door locks are locked, and the bolts are thrown in the locked position. A Look Inside Aſter turning the handle clockwise and a few tugs, the inner door opened. I took off the back cover to the lock and exposed this beautifully craſted key change lock (Fig- ures 9 and 11). Dave’s book On Antique Safes said they were Dexter locks with three 2¾" wheels, a rear-mounted split driver and two levers. The inner door has a 100-number dial. The driver is split in two halves, and the half closest to the wheels acts as a pre-set with the fourth number set on 0. The dial rotation is 5xR, 4xL, 3xR, 2xL, to 0, 1xR, to 48. The back cover stated it had been serviced last in 1939. We decoded the wheels to find the com- bination and tried it several times, then replaced the back cover. The action of the wheels and dial together was smoother than any lock I have ever tried. Next, we focused our attention on the two locks on the front door. We WWW.ALOA.ORG Figure 17. The top lock is unlocked, and the bolts are retracted. “Like the inner door, both locks were Dexter locks, beautifully ornate and with smooth action.” removed the back cover and discovered three dates: 1937, 1938 and 1939 (Figure 15) and assumed those dates were when the lock had been last serviced. Like the inner door, both locks were Dexter locks, beautifully ornate with smooth action. We found the combina- tion for both locks and tried it several times. As with the inner door lock, the di- aling sequence was similar, except there Figure 18. The bottom lock is unlocked, and the bolts are retracted. were 4 wheels with a split driver. The driver closest to the wheels had a preset number of 0, and drop-in for the other driver was 55. Dialing rotation is 6xL, 5xR, 4xL, 3xR, 2xL, to 0, 1xR to 55 or stop. Each lock would independently unlock the outer door. The combination of the two locks on the front door was different and didn’t match the inner door lock. We replaced the back cover and made sure the owner could dial the combinations. The owner also stated that if we knew of anyone who wants to purchase the safe, to let him know. So if anyone is interested, let me know. Dennis Cassidy has owned and operated Green Moun- tain Safe LLC in Middlebury, VT, since 2009. He has been a member of SAVTA since 2010. NOVEMBER 2022 KEYNOTES 21
