First Republic moneyboxes, treasure boxes, spinning-wheels and keys to them. Part 4 - Tresoria cash box

Hexagon type, wrench manufacture

A couple of days ago I managed to steal two hexagonal type pouches again, because as usual they were without keys, there was no choice but to make a key.to make the key again and to preserve the information about this type for future generations and unfortunate people who get their hands on the same type of wallet as traditionally without a key.

I have seen this type of cassette quite often so perhaps the following information could be of use to a wider range of people. We've even had one unfortunate LP here: the Střádanka

But first, just a brief description

The cassette is from the workshop of a very well known company in its time, Tresoria, in contrast to other types which are made of sheet metal, which was then nickel plated. This type (patent 41766) is completely cast, probably from zinc alloy, and then the necessary grooves are milled into the casting to hold the bottom lid with a lock and the mechanism against pulling out coins. The hole for banknotes is unusually located at the bottom of the cash box lid. In my opinion, the production of this moneybox could be noticeably cheaper than in the case of the nickel-plated variants.

Lock and key

I had already seen this type of lock on one of my Tresoria caskets(see part 2), so it was nothing new to me and I had already made one key for this type of lock.

The lock contains 3 different deadbolts that can be combined freely, so theoretically you could achieve several possible combinations, but what I looked on the internet so all originalThe original keys look the same, even without following this, so when I made a key to the exact size of the lock according to the original locks, the key came out the same.

Even when I made the key, it was possible to open another lockbox of this type with it, so I suspected that bordering on certainty that the locks on this type were always configured the same even though the lock design allows the lock layout to be easily changed.

My assertion was further confirmed by a post here on LP (link above) which also used one key to unlock two identical lockboxes from different sources.

SO IT CAN BE SAID WITH ALMOST 100% CERTAINTY THAT THIS KEY IS UNIVERSAL AND WILL UNLOCK ALL LOCKBOXES OF THIS TYPE.

For this reason I have also decided to extend my series of articles about caskets with this quite often seen type which I have not described in the past. Since the key is universal it will certainly help a lot of people.

Making the key

The first thing to decide here is whether you will follow the original configuration of the locks and your key will then be universal for all cassettes the sametype - in this case it is a good idea to describe the locks by numbers in order, or make your own combination and the key will open only your cashbox.

The first thing to do is to sensitively drill out the two aluminium rivets that hold the lock on the bottom lid and get new rivets straight away. Next you will need to get the material the key is made of, the sheet metal thickness is about 1.7mm.

In this case the lock is held on two sides by the sheet metal, it will need to be straightened slightly to disassemble the lock. The lock has 3 deadbolts and a cutout in the lock latch, overall the key can be described in a total of 6 main parts that are necessary for the construction of the key.

The key is made from the bottom, after removing all the locks, the first thing to do is to file the key's guide shank, which fits exactly into the guide hole in the lock. Next, it is necessary to file the part that fits into the lock latch - this part serves only to move the lock latch.

If everything is glued together and the mechanism works correctly, it is possible to start inserting the individual locks one by one and filing the keys.and test whether the locks move correctly and clear the way for the latch bolt.

Next, we add more locks and use the same principle to modify the key on the other locks. Here you need to take into account that one of the locks (the last one) is made of thicker sheet metal - this should also correspond to the thicker protrusion on the key. It is not necessary to constantly test whether the whole mechanism is working properly and adjust the key accordingly in case of a problem.

If everything is successful and properly tested, I recommend temporarily attaching the lock to the lid with a stitch.If everything works without any problems and nothing is sticking, the lock can be lubricated and riveted to the lid again.

Here are a couple of photos of the production key which may help others.

In conclusion: there are quite a few of these lockboxes among people and since the universal key works in them, as in the case of the so-called fork key (part 2), this information may still be very useful in the future.

P.Z.

Here you can find the previous articles in the series about strings and caskets

• First Republic cash boxes and cash boxes part 1.
• First Republic cash boxes and cash boxes part 2.
• First Republic cash boxes and cash boxes part 3.