Brass Thingey?

[akl439]

Lovely small solid brass (heavy) padlock? It has six barrels which revolve, each has seven letters of the alphabet on, all quite random. It measures 3.5cm x 3.5cm. If it is a brass padlock, what would it have been used on and why letters not numbers? I'm intrigued and would value any information someone could give. There must be so many possible combinations to opening this it would take years!

 

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[Montana Jim]

Welcome to treasurenet!

I'm intruiqued too... why NOT letters instead of numbers? Would it matter?

Does it resemble this one?

 

[akl439]

Hi, yes it does without the bits at the bottom. I'm having problems inserting the image, but will try again.

 

[Montana Jim]

Hi, yes it does without the bits at the bottom. I'm having problems inserting the image, but will try again.

cool... would love to see it... and, is there any markings on it at all?

 

[akl439]

Eeek! Didn't mean for the photo to be that big. You can tell I'm a newbie. There are no marks on it apart from the indented letters on the barrels. Do you think it might have been put on a small safe door? No, that's a daft idea, I suppose you could saw through the top bit quite easily.

 

[Kentucky Kache]

Have you played around with it to see if you can make words out of the rows of letters?

 

[72cheyenne]

Wow...cool piece. I don't have a clue, but am very intrigued. I can't really picture how it would open. The top bar appears to be solidly connected to the arms that come up from the "letter wheels". If it comes apart down at the "wheels", what keeps it from falling apart? I was thinking maybe a sophisticated decoder, but it don't seem to have the full alphabet? Maybe it is a lock and I'm just not seeing its opening point.

 

[intimer]

this is way cool. can't wait to see what it is!

mike

 

[intimer]

began looking on the net found this. first time sent picture hope it works i will add link.

http://www.crookedbrains.net/2009/05/locks.html

scroll all the way down to see a similar lock as yours.

mike

here goes trying the picture.

 

[intimer]

i've gone crazy. i must be wrong:
here's a link to a new style of barrell word combination locks. holly cow never seen such a thing.

diantire.ca/browse/product_detail.jsp?PRODUCT<>prd_id=845524443295278&bmUID=1246337306014

 

[akl439]

Yes, I've tried forming the letters into a word, wondered if it might be a brand name or similar. If you knew the correct combination, the whole right side would come off. It has some play in it and you can feel it would come away. Thanks for your comments and help.

 

[pegleglooker]

Hey,
Try a-p-p-l-e just like Tom Hanks !!!! How funny would it be if it worked. LOL

PLL

 

[intimer]

hey you know it doesn't have to spell a word. wow, you got to take it to your local lock smith, you know they've got years of experience opening locks. some of the older locks may be easier to open.

why not list the letters in column for us to see? i notice all the others are 5 across but yours six? there is a formula to figure how many possibilities you know 10's of thousands don't sound bad. it's better than the lottery.


mike

 

[akl439]

Thanks Mike, definitely some similarities between picture and mine.

Thanks for the suggestion PLL - can't try apple as a letter as there is no letter A in the first tumbler (there are also six tumblers!).

Still, I do believe we're getting somewhere. So, definitely a padlock, definitely old. Shame it has no maker's name on it.

 

[intimer]

six has got to be an upgrade from the five like all the others seen so far!!!

 

[akl439]

Here we go - here are the letters, your time starts now....


Z E Z D Z E
L U L A L I
H C H B H Y
G V G N Y V
T K J O S K
X R T U X R
F P F C F P

 

[intimer]

gulchy
this should be fun

 

[akl439]

Sorry, not gulchy

 

[Monty]

I have seen several locks like that one or at least similar. I had one on my hunting lease for years, but when all my pals got older and blinder we had to change it. None of us old farts could read the letters! I also had a barrel type combination on a big steel lock box. You know like the one Al Gore put Social Security in.... Anyway I worked on it on and off for several years, just every time I would think of it. One day it popped open and.....I wasn't paying attention to what combination I had put in it! DUH!! Now it sits in the top of my closet with many of my "treasure" finds in it and some coins, but it is locked open now! Good luck on getting this one open, but don't forget to write down the combo you use! Monty

 

[mojjax]

Here is a similar one on ebay-

http://cgi.ebay.com/Antique-English...s=65:13|66:2|39:1|240:1318|301:1|293:1|294:50