Consolidated Time Lock Co., Cincinnati, Ohio - Dalton Triple Concussion Timer

The purpose of the concussion unit was to offer a way to override the time lock in case of its complete failure. An explanation of the function of the concussion unit is in the video below. But in short it allows for an override of the time lock using a ratchet to advance a wheel that will allow the timers to be overridden and the safe to be opened with the correct combination. The key to this system is the very high gear ratios as represented trough the use of multiple worm gears resulting in the input wheel needing to be turned hundreds if not thousands of turns to reach a single rotation of the output wheel (see video below). It takes a very long time to effectively accomplish this. Therefore it is unlikely that any unauthorized personnel could use the override before being discovered. Lewis Lilley, a maker that had very limited success, had a similar override system in their lock over a decade ago.

Time lock overrides were generally used when there was only one time lock movement being used; offering no redundancy as found in two or more independent movements so the failure of that one movement was very real. The Consolidated Company and its predecessor, the Hall Safe and Lock Company offered a line of single movement time locks with an alternative override system known as the Infallible Lockout Protection design as demonstrated here and here. This had the disadvantage of using an alternative "secret combination" known only to the company that would be revealed in the case of the lock's failure. Of course one can see the problems of keeping the secret combination secure obviating the entire concept of what a time lock was used for in the first place which is to keep any unauthorized access to the vault when the safe was meant to be secured.

It is rare to find an override system with a lock that has the redundancy offered by two movements. Holms is another company that employed an override with two movements. The Hollar Company used the opposite philosophy that was to keep a time lock wound indefinitely past the time it would normally be set to go off guard in case the owner would want to keep the safe closed, say in the case of civil disturbance.

There is a hole 1, in the back of the time lock that allows a plunger to push a ratchet located on the other side.

The ratchet lever 2, rides upon ratchet wheel 3, attached to arbor 4. Worm gear 5 meshes with worm 6 meshing with dial wheel 7 upon which is mounted a release pin, circled, (see photo below) as well as the concussion dial. Notice also the hand lever, A, that can be positioned and locked into four positions that successively restrict the travel of the ratchet. At the least restrictive position a total of 102,144 clicks will turn the output wheel one revolution; at the most restrictive only one-quarter turn. See video below.

These photos show the concussion unit from below as well as from the side. The fence lever in the second photo is shown in its released position allowing the fence to drop down into the combination lock's wheel pack when all of the wheels are aligned when the correct combination has been dial in; allowing the safe to be opened and bypassing the time lock.

This video is a demonstration of the Consolidated company's Milton Dalton time lock model Concussion Triple equipped with a special override mechanism. Concussion timers were a very small genre of time locks with few examples extant. It shows how the override mechanism works and the key to this design is the multiple, very high ratio gearing that requires the person using the override to turn the input gear many hundreds if not thousands of turns to wind the output dial to the point where it overrides the time lock. In this example there is an eighty ratchet toothed wheel meshing with an eighty toothed wheel resulting in a 6400 output times a 2.66 x 6 wheel for a total of 102,144 clicks to turn the output wheel one revolution. Assuming one second per click this would take 28.37 hours, more than the number of hours on the dial in the first place! Adjusting the restriction lever to its most restrictive would cause the time to lengthen by four equaling nearly four days. Assuming one could click the ratchet four times a second for a full 24 hours, one might be able to disable the lock in little over one day. Trying to click the lock faster will not make it open earlier.

Please excuse the wrong nomenclature used for this part, it is a ratchet lever, not a pendulum, which was a component used in an earlier model of concussion time lock.

Model - Concussion Triple, c. 1887. Lock has a standard Consolidated two movement timer set and equipped with a concussion override unit mounted below. Concussion timers saw very limited production and are rare. This and three other models are in the Harry Miller collection, photos below. The first is identical to the one illustrated here and the second is also depicted in American Genius, page 270 it is an earlier manufacture having a patent date of February 8, 1876 and using an internal pendulum acting as a ratchet. One other example of the concussion timer illustrated on this page in addition to the one in the Miller collection is known to this author, see below. 5"w x 4 3/4"h x 2 7/8"d, case #27, chronometer movements #7001, concussion timer A27. file 209

The first photo below is an identical timer to the one illustrated here and one sold in 2019 on eBay. The chronometer movements number 6402, concussion timer A20. The difference in movement numbers from this example at 6402 to the author's example of 7001 is 599. Yet the difference between the concussion timers, assuming they were also numbered sequentially is a difference of only 7. This indicates the relative scarcity of the production run of these timers.

The next three photos are other concussion models by Consolidated from the Harry Miller Collection. The second bears a resemblance to the first but has a decorative plate across the lower half of the lock. It is identical to the lock illustrated in American Genius, David and John Erroll, page270. Given the mechanism in the first lock, this plate could not have fit as seen here and so the concussion timer must have been of a substantially different design. The patent drawing shown in Erroll's book on page 271 cannot be the same time shown on the prior page as the case is a not the same design. That extensive patent had many time lock iterations to demonstrate their use in concussion, many of which were probably not put into production.

What is interesting is that the chronometer movements are numbered 6877, about halfway between the one sold on eBay and the one in the author's collection. Why a significant design change in the middle? Another explanation is that the upper movements have been changed out at some point. I believe this was the case, it appears that this example is of an earlier design The third photo is identical to another on this website the Dalton Concussion and Calendar Timer.

The other two smaller locks look to be earlier designs. The first is identical to the lock herein studied. The patent link shown on this page illustrates this type of lock and must have been a later improvement as it is dated 1893. The second one has a patent date one year earlier, 1886 and has a conventional single chronometer movement with the second a dial that probably performed a similar function to the clockwork lockout device on the lock in the first photo but lacking a calendar function, however without being able to closely examine this lock this is a mere speculation. At this time, with the exception of the two locks seen on this website the one off eBay, and another in a private collection identical to the second photo below, none of these designs have been seen outside of the Miller collection.